How to Write an Online Cooking Column

A cooking column can be a good way to build a network of people interested in the same food-related topics that you are.

If you are an outstanding chef or people are always asking you for a copy of "that recipe," then you may be the perfect person to write an online cooking column. While getting a cooking column in the local paper can be difficult unless you know the right people and have a history of working in publications, writing your own online cooking column can be a great way to build your portfolio, gain experience and even earn some money.

Things You'll Need

• Internet
• Computer
• Blog

Instructions

1. Build a blog. A blog is a network of web pages that contain "posts" about the blogger's (author's) opinions, thoughts and ideas.They tend to be informally written and conversational in tone. You can create a blog for free using many different websites and types of software. Many blog directories will actually do all the web design for you, leaving it up to you just to select a background and theme, upload pictures and start typing. If this is not sufficiently customizable for you, then consider registering your own website and then uploading blog software to the site. You will have to pay for the registration, but the blog software can be found for free and is highly individualized. If you are not familiar with this process, then consider hiring a coder or a college student to help you set your blog up and help you get started. These "professionals" vary widely in the amounts they charge based on their reputations, level of customer support and experience.

2. 

   Start writing. You may wish to discuss trends in cooking, cooking techniques or even just place recipes online for use and review. Whatever is on your mind, you can write about it on your blog. Make sure that you use proper spelling and punctuation in order to make sure that your column is taken seriously. People tend to read blogs to learn and be entertained, so make sure that you are informative and amusing regardless of what aspect of cooking you are discussing. You can also solicit responses, which will keep readers returning for more information and to see how others felt about their opinions as well as your own.

3. Update regularly. The best way to establish a good reputation for your online cooking column is to have new content appearing regularly so that people will revisit your blog over and over again. Make sure that you write at least once a week, and more often than that is highly recommended by internet marketing experts. Your personal experiences will add dimension to the blog, but make sure that you also include helpful cooking information like tips, tricks and recipes. The more often you update your blog, the more likely people are to find on the blog website or in the search engines. This will help you build your credibility as a cooking expert or experienced cooking commentator.

4. Promote your column. Once you have an online cooking column, you will probably want people to read it. Start out by making sure friends, family and neighbors are aware that you now are working online. As you create more content and more history for your column, you may decide to promote it using paid advertising on or offline, or even by inviting people individually to your website. Many online columnists use MySpace, Facebook and other social networking sites to promote their writing by leaving people invitations to visit their column's website. You should find people who you think will be interested in reading about cooking and invite them to your blog to read.

5. Consider advertising. You can also make money with your online cooking column even though you started it yourself for free. You can sell advertising space directly to other vendors or you can use search engine sponsored, content-related advertising. Content-related advertising requires you simply to insert a short piece of code into your blog--the blog software will tell you where to do this based on what program you are using--and advertising related to cooking will appear on your site. When readers click the ads to learn more, the search engine will pay you.

Tips & Warnings

• When you are looking for free blog software, one of the most comprehensive sources available is Word Press, a free software used by nearly all internet marketing "gurus" and thousands of other business and pleasure bloggers as well. This software has hundreds of themes and the support team will help you set up your own blog using their system. There are also other simpler but also less customized blog directories available such as www.blogger.com. Some people even use MySpace for this type of writing.

Resources

• You can sign up for a WordPress Blog here.