Summer can be a traffic wasteland for a food blogger as readers head outside and away from the kitchen or the city's restaurant scene.  So why not make use of the down time to prep your blog for the very busy fall and winter blogging season?  Shareba Abdul shares 11 tips to get your blog prepped for the busiest time of the year for food blogging.

11 Tips To Prep Your Blog For Fall This Summer | Food Bloggers of Canada

I’m in a live-in-the-moment kind of person who likes to enjoy things as they come. This is why I don’t like it when stores start putting out merchandise for holidays three months in advance. Who wants to think about Halloween in the middle of summer?! Unfortunately, it’s not just retail companies that need to plan ahead.

As much as we don’t want to think about it, our busiest season is coming up. From September to December we have back-to-school, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas and New Year's to write about. Between the special events and seasonal recipes, it can be easy to spend every moment creating content for your blog. This is great, but I know you’ve all got housekeeping that you need to do, and now is the time to get it done.

Here Are 11 Tips To Get Your Blog Into Fighting Fall Shape:

1. Start Brainstorming Ideas For Fall Posts

Can you go beyond creating a pumpkin spice or apple recipe? Challenge yourself to stand out from the crowd. If you need some help, try reading this article on writing prompts for food bloggers.

2. Make a Game Plan

Once you’ve got a list of ideas, see if you can start creating an editorial calendar for the last four months of the year. If you’ve already started this, you’re in great shape.

3. Get Ready for Recipe Testing

If you’ll be doing a lot of recipe testing in the coming months, you should read this post about setting up a recipe development notebook. Organization always makes things easier.

4. Make Sure You're Staying Safe

Now might be a good time to make sure that you’re taking the right precautions to stay safe online. There are lots of good photos opportunities coming up in fall, so let’s make sure that we’re sharing safely.

5. Improve Your Images

Speaking of photos, have you been wanting to improve your images? This article can help you get out of that photography rut.

6. Be Pinterest-friendly

Of course, once you have nice photos you want to make them easy to pin. Be sure to add your alt tags and a pin-it button. You can find more details about using Pinterest on the Food Bloggers of Canada website.

7. Make Your Blog Load Faster

With all of the awesome content and beautiful images that you’re going to have on your website, the last thing you want is for people to leave before your page loads! Use these easy (and FREE) tips to help make your blog load faster.

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8. Watch Those Links & Tags

You should also make sure that any sponsored links on your blog have been designated as nofollow and that you’re using <h> tags properly. These aren’t the most exciting tasks, but you’ll be happy that you checked up on these. Oh, and check for any broken links on your website too.

9. Organize Your Files

One thing that I really need to catch up on is organizing my files. It’s so easy to lose track of photos, recipes and notes on your computer. It’s a big job, but it’s worth it in the long run.

10. Create a Professional Invoicing System

If you’re making money from your blog, you might want to take a look at your invoicing system. Are you happy with it? Is there anything you’d like to improve on? Why not make those fixes now before securing your sponsored holiday posts?

11. Take a Break!

Last, but not least, make sure you enjoy some time off! Is that counter-intuitive in this list? Maybe … but I think it’s really important to give yourself some downtime before the crazy season begins.

This isn't an exhaustive list, but it’s a good idea to make sure that you’re on the right track with all of these. Actually, writing this article made me realize that I have some work to do myself.

So while I might avert my eyes from the winter jackets that are on display at Costco, I will take a few minutes to get myself ready for fall. I hope you will too. If you have any tips to add to this list, please add them in the comments below.


11 Things to do to Get Ready for Fall Bloggingwas written by regular FBC Contributor, Shareba Abdul. Shareba is a food blogger and freelance writer. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Applied Arts in Media Studies, a Diploma in Journalism, and has a passion for writing, photography and blogging. You can check out her yummy discoveries at InSearchOfYummyness.com or connect with her on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Google+.

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12 Comments

Lesley Ellen Harris
Reply

Another item to add to the list is do a copyright audit. First, make sure you have a copyright notice on your website. Are the years accurate in the notice? If you started your blog in 2012, then the notice may be: Copyright 2012-2015 Lesley Ellen Harris. Also think about unauthorized uses of your images – if that’s an issue for you, consider water marking or tracking software for images – there are so many new products out there. And be aware of the images and content on your blog – is it all original and owner by you? If you do not own the content, did you get permission to use it in your blog?

Trudy @eatliveandplay
Reply

This is a great post. I was just starting to think about Fall this week so this article arrived just in time. I have Excel template that I use for my social media calendarization that has a separate row for each social medium and columns across the top for each day of the week. I found that planning this ahead of time along with my posts enables me to keep on track.
Thanks for the thoughstarters!

Julia (@Imagelicious)
Reply

Great article. I especially like the first point as fall is associated with pumpkin spice and apples for me, but it’s a really good challenge to do something else. And point 8 about tags is really interesting.

Thank you for all these articles, they provide a lot of information. I am so glad I joined this wonderful network of bloggers!!!

Anna (Hidden Ponies)
Reply

I love the idea of prepping posts, even though I don’t typically do holiday specific posts since I’m not a cook-ahead kind of person and never will be 🙂 Maybe one I’d add is scheduling your old-but-relevant posts into your social media queue for the appropriate holiday times!

Alisha
Reply

I totally needed to read this today! It’s been a while since I went over my own blog and made sure things were in tip top shape. Great article! Thank you!

Jane H
Reply

This is a very helpful post, all great tips. Looking forward to reading the other links in your list. I’m trying to hold onto summer, but I do need to get ready for Fall in regards to my blog!

Kourtenay Main
Reply

This is a fantastic list and great reminders.
I’ve been taking #11 to heart over the Summer!
Fun is almost over here in the Mid West, school starts next week.
Booooo! lol
Time to get back at it and prepare for the Fall.
Thank you for this!

Elle Ay Esse
Reply

THIS POST is why I love blogging. It is never to early to start prepping for the next season. We bloggers are a lot like fashion designers in that we not only have to plan ahead but also work ahead of what we live. Thanks so much for sharing this post, It’s definitely helpful!

– E
http://www.eae-design.com/

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