1. Never blog out of duty. It’s more like bursting into song.
2. Be aware of your reader by making every sentence readable. But don’t feel you have to write to please. Take advantage of the freedom of having your own platform.
3. Adding a photo makes the blog more real.
4. Go visit other blogs. Read, learn, and leave a comment. Hopefully fellow-bloggers will return the visit.
5. Let people know about your blog via social media. It takes time to build up followers, and you will start small. No account yet? Start now! More on social media at my other blog.
6. Blog about what you know – you are the expert. And you have untapped reservoirs of unique you-ness to draw on.
7. Choose an angle. Don’t be too general, for instance: ‘My blog meanderings’. I chose food as my angle and I am glad I did because I eat every day. I never run out of ideas.
8. If you haven’t got a blog, go to get one. The best way to learn, is to do it. Go to WordPress.com to sign up for your free blog. All you need is an email address to register.
9. I use WordPress because it is one of the most popular and technically well-supported blogs in the world. I also chose WordPress because it is open source and does not belong to a corporate concern, such as Google’s Blogger. This appeals to my anarchic self but there is a practical reason: you can add an open source blog to a website, if need be, but it would be harder with a corporate one. Update: nowadays writers chose Substack.
10. Don’t feel intimidated by the technology. The reason why blogs are so popular is because tecchies have made the technology easy-to-use for non-tecchies such as myself. You will pick things up as you go along. So just do it.
11. Use subheading with the proper html headings to show search engines what you think is important.
12. Many thanks to Mike Farrow, who did the research on the best blogging platform to use (without telling me until recently), saying only: “Go to WordPress.com” (This was in 2008, folks). As always, I listened to him – he is a technical genius, after all.
14. How do I do I get the sort of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) companies pay thousands for ? I think it is because I and the people who comment contribute fresh content regularly. The more visits (doubling every year) , the more Real Food Lover becomes findable. Update, 2025: Hmnn looks like food blogs are losing visitors thanks to AI making it so easy to present content (such as a recipe) without you having to visit the actual blog.
15. This blog started as an experiment and I chose its name, Real Food Lover, spontaneously (literally seconds), without any thought for its S.E.O. future. As it turns out, it was a good name because of the times I repeat the word: food.
16. Why blog? Because blogging offers glorious self-expression, creates a record of your work, teaches you online skills, gives you an unique marketing and communications tool – and it is free.
Thanks for image of Harry Belafonte (1954) to wapedia.mobi
Real Food Lover 
Thanks, Elisabeth for your tips, support and blogging inspiration xx
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….how can I add photos to these messages, anyone kno?
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Thanks, Mark. Do you mean a photo – or ‘avatar’ – to go with your comment?
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yes how do you send photos with comments I can’t work that one out either…do you have to send photos through the e mail so the bloggee can approve them or is there a secret code?
erm whats an ‘avatar’ is this an in term that I’m not in on???
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Try this.
http://en.gravatar.com/
The service is free – all you need is an email address to register.
I took a pic of myself using my webcam and uploaded my pic from my desktop to the Gravatar website. If I can do it, then it must be fairly straightforward. But let me know if not…
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An avatar is an image that represents you. It can be either an actual pic (such as VIZ the corner of my face peering at my webcam wondering if the technology is going to work or whether I am doomed to be perpetually on the outside of everything…) or an image of your choosing. A gravatar is one you can use all over the web hence the g (for global) added to the word avatar.
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What I was trying to say is that you can’t send photos with comments to a blog (or can you with your gravatar thing?) …. Well you were asking to see some pics of the poly tunnels and the produce and I think the only way we can do that is to set up a castle farm blog and link or email you some pics.
Hum but all this technical stuff is sometimes beyond me…… ie photoshop … eek downright scary …..I even went on a course …… yeah I could do stuff the same night I got home from my class ….but several months down the line without any practice and I am back where I started …baffled! Durh…
I am impressed you know all the right terminology (respect)………..I am still using’ ‘thingamybob’,whatsamaflip’ and ‘dodahs’ or when I really don’t get it….. tourette type expletetives!
🙂
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oooh look it worked…I’ve been chasing around my mac trying to work how to do it and it did it itself….brill
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Please could you update the link you have to Gregory Sams currently at http://www.chaos-work.com to http://www.gregorysams.com
on this page: https://realfoodlover.wordpress.com/page/3/
thanks
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Stuart, it is done. The link to Gregory Sams’ amazing website is changed to http://www.gregorysams.com
I mentioned my gratitude to Gregory and Craig Sams for supplying brown rice to my hippy younger-self at this post https://realfoodlover.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/judges-bakery-real-bread/
Thanks for checking the link is now accurate. Stuart, how did you know it was out-of-date?
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Thank you for the tips. They are really useful
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It was lovely to me you!!! i’m going to keep checking your Blog for hot tips, i’m just getting into bread at the moment.
my blog is: docphot.wordpress.com
it’s still in it’s infancy, but I learning 😀 X
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Hi Matthew – your blog is beautiful with some stunning thought-provoking pictures – such as the peaceful demo that got teargassed.
Thanks to Chris Brogan’s great post (see Tip no 6) and the amazing discussion that followed, I found: http://blogwritingcourse.com/
– worth exploring.
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Thank you, Elizabeth, for these wonderful tips. I just began my new blog yesterday and your ideas will set me on the right path as I move ahead. It was such a pleasure and a delight to hear you speak yesterday at the Cafe of Ideas in Bath and to meet your fabulous daughter. I look forward to getting my teeth stuck into your blog now..! See you soon, I hope. Best wishes to M. Arabella x
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Hi Elisabeth
Thanks for the tips! And thanks for the lift!
My blog’s not public yet, so I won’t post the link here, but I’ll let you know when it’s ready.
Have a nice day,
Jethro
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Fascinating and inspiring – galvanising! x
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Really good tips on blogging and some really interesting posts too – thanks.
Like you, I am inspired by food and have set up a website which I hope will become a resource for rice lovers in time.
Thanks again
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if i say tesco is a photocopy of wall mart, i may be unliked
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Really loved that.
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Some good advice – I love WordPress. Long may it reign! I think photos are an absolute *must* – especially for food bloggers. If I click onto a blog with no or poor-quality pictures, I am much more likely to click off again, unless the writing is superb.
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great tips, thanks!
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Thank you, Anni, for your thanks! Appreciated, always…
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Hypercoolce post, c’est curieux de voir comment tout ca a évolué. En tout cas, un grand merci pour votre energie, continuez comme ca!
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Dear Sir/Madam,
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Many kind regards
Shane Luffman
Crazy Chilli CO
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Thank you author for your share. Keep it up.
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Awesome tips for newbie bloggers, mate! Blogging’s all about lettin’ loose and gettin’ creative, not just stickin’ to a boring routine. And tossin’ in some pics?
That’s what makes it pop! I can’t wait to jump in and see where it takes me!
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I agree! And not getting hung up on the perfect pic.
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Thanks for the tips! Blogging should be fun, not a chore.
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So true!
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“Wow, this dish looks incredible! I love how you combined simple ingredients to create something so flavorful. Your presentation is beautiful too — it really shows how much care you put into your cooking. I’m definitely saving this recipe for the weekend!”
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