Blogging can be as simple as setting up an account in minutes using a ready-made template or hiring a professional web designer to create a custom-made site, and bloggers range from occasional contributors to those lucky few who earn an income from it. No matter where you fall in the spectrum, there’s plenty of advice out there to help you get started, get connected with your blogging community, hone your writing or up your game and get more professional.

If there’s another site or category you’d like to see added here, let us know at and we’ll add it to the list.

FOOD BLOGGING SITES

• Food Blog Alliance – lots of useful articles from experienced (mainly American) bloggers
• Food Blog Forum – community for food photography, social media and technology
• Food Bloggers Unite – food photography and food blogging tips
• FoodBlogs.com – aggregates food blogs from around the world
• Foodbuzz – aggregates, organises and curates food blog posts
• FoodFight.ie – aggregates Irish food blogs; get yours listed by contacting Damien Mulley
• Foodgawker – a gallery of the best food blog photos
• TasteSpotting – similar to Foodgawker; they describe themselves as a community-driven visual potluck

GETTING STARTED AND GENERAL BLOGGING TIPS

• 100 Useful Links for Food Bloggers – 100 links covering resources; general tips; ethics, freebies, sponsorship and advertising; general tips on writing; restaurant reviewing; recipe writing; food photography; marketing; social media; and monetisation.
• 10 Real-Talk Blog Tips – some of the best, down to earth food blogging advice you’re likely to read, from blogger Joy the Baker
• Beginner’s Guide to Food Blogging via The Food Channel
• Blog Tip: Get Paid for Your Work - Holly from Decor8 urges bloggers not to sell themselves short when it comes to providing content for others
• Branding and Design 101 for Food Bloggers – part 1, part 2, part 3
• Eating Words – Clotilde from the famous Chocolate & Zucchini blog shares her top 10 food blogging rules
• English Mum’s 10 tips on fabulous food blogging
• Food Blogging 101 – How to Start a Food Blog - lots of great advice here for anyone just starting out as well as more seasoned bloggers
• Food blogging do’s and don’ts – some tips on what to do and what not to do from the Delicious Days blog
• Should you start a blog or quit one? Depends whom you ask – Dianne from the Will Write for Food blog gives two perspectives
• SEO management for foodies – how to make sure your blog and your posts get found on search engines
• So you want to be a blogger? Some tips and some thoughts – Niamh from Eat Like a Girl shares advice about getting started
• Social media – some tips on how to use it well from food blogging pro David Lebovitz
• Some thoughts on book writing and starting a food blog – Niamh from Eat Like a Girl shares her thoughts on how she got to where she is now through blogging
• The food blogger’s guide to Google+ – reasons why you should join from Eat the Love
• Top 10 tips for food and drink blogger best practice – tips on blogging best pratice when it comes to PR, sponsorship, etc.

FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY AND STYLING

• Food Bloggers Unite
• Food Pixels
• Junglefrog
• Learn Food Photography and Food Styling
• Food and prop styling for food bloggers

DIY FOOD STYLING PROPS

• Bakers Royale - how to make antiquated wood boards for food photography
• Food Blog Forum – making white textured backdrops for food photography
• Food Photography Blog – food photography props – crackle medium
• Love and Olive Oil – distressed wood photo backdrop

FOOD AND RECIPE WRITING

• 7 Most Common Recipe Writing Errors – from Will Write for Food
• Can a Recipe Be Stolen? – what the Washington Post has to say about recipe attribution
• First write the blog, then write the book – writing coach Dianne Jacob suggests starting a blog as a first step towards writing a cookbook
• Food for Thinkers – an online festival of food writing from over 40 food and non-food writers asking what it means to write about food today
• How to write a headnote – that brief blurb at the top of the recipe is one of the first and best ways to lure readers in, so it’s worth putting some love into it
• How to write a recipe like a professional
• How to write your first cookbook – what you need to do to get your cookbook published
• Interview with Janis Donnaud, Literary Agent – ever thought about writing a cookbook? Here are some tips from one of the US’s top agents
• Looking for inspiration? Open your eyes … and get to work – food writer Domenica Marchetti shares four perspectives on getting and staying inspired
• On food writing – US food writer Michael Ruhlman shares his thoughts on how to get started in food writing
• Recipe attribution – David Lebovitz gives advice about how to attribute a recipe, rewrite it in your own words and when you can call it your own
• Recipe writing cheat sheet - 20 tips on recipe writing from a professional cookbook editor
• The complicated case of the simple cookie – the LA Times asks where recipes come from and who can claim them, with some best practice examples of how to give credit
• Top Ten Rules for Food Blogging – The Food Channel lays down the law on food blogging etiquette when writing restaurant reviews
• Want to be a food writer? Here’s how – Food writer Monica Bhide shares her story of how she became a food writer
• Will Write for Food - food writing advice
• You Are Fascinating – Brooke from the Food Woolf blog gives a pep talk about finding your voice in food blogging

IRISH FOODIE RESOURCES

• Best in Season
• Bord Bia (be sure to follow the lovely Maeve on Twitter (@BordBia), she’s a great friend to food bloggers)
• Bord Bia’s countrywide Irish farmers’ markets list
• Discover Ireland: Food – a listing of food trails, food festivals, cookery schools and more
• Good Food Ireland
• Greatfood.ie
• Grow It Yourself Ireland
• Irish Farmers Markets
• My Chef at Home
• Slow Food Ireland
• The Bridgestone Irish Food Guide
• Your Field, My Fork – buy direct from Irish farmers