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Delicious food blogging: BritMums Live session

Delicious food blogging: BritMums Live session

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The Brit Mums 2013 Food Blogging Session took place directly after lunch (quite appropriately), and was chaired by the inimitable Kerstin Rodgers of Ms Marmite Lover.  Kerstin was joined by the font of all wine knowledge Helen McGinn of Knackered Mother’s Wine Club,  the incredibly creative Jeanne Horack Druiff from Cook Sister, and Emma Raphael of Bavarian Sojourn (also BritMum’s Foodie Round up  Editor). Over the course of the 45 minute session the Panel covered a veritable feast of Food Blogging tips, topics and suggestions….

The first topic was how to create a good looking food blog, and the importance of good quality visuals – all the more relevant what with the rise in popularity of sites like Pinterest and Instagram (which can be incredibly useful in terms of good exposure, and blog promotion!) Plenty of useful food photography tips were given – when to find perfect light and how to use it; investing in certain equipment such as a tripod etc. and the use of interesting props, all of which help give your blog that professional and original feel.

It was of a general consensus of opinion that a great food photograph will help encourage readers to stick around and try a recipe, instead of hopping off to search for another more delectable looking version. A light hearted debate ensued about the amount of food photographs to include in a post, and whether step by step photographs were a “yay or a nay”…  Helen McGinn pointed out that they really could be useful, and had helped her on the path to success after a school fête scone baking disaster…

Vlogging was also covered. All of the Panelists felt there would be a steady rise in this across the Food Blogging world, as food blogging really is the perfect vehicle for it.

The Panel also spoke about reviews, and the question of how many is too many? Maintaining the  right balance is so important, and whilst it’s fabulous to be asked to review products, it’s also essential that bloggers feature only those that are of particular interest and relevance – include too many, and you could risk losing readers to boredom.   Jeanne emphasised that bloggers should not sell themselves short – many of the companies that approach food bloggers are huge, and can well afford to pay a good rate for bloggers to feature a post or host a review.

Making sure that recipes are written out clearly (and that weights and measures etc. are precise enough) was also covered, as was featuring an overly popular recipe. Whilst of course there’s nothing wrong at all in this, making your post stand out from the crowd by giving it a slight twist or including an original accompaniment is always a good idea…

Did you know that there’s a correct way to write out a recipe?  Kerstin enlightened us by stating that ingredients should be written down in the order that they appear, so if eggs are first in the mixing bowl for example, they should get first place on your ingredients list. Readers like it if you keep it real too, so the Panel said that any problematic aspects of recipes should be included and you should write about what you did to rectify the situation. Including foreign metrics charts for overseas readers is also something to think about.

Food Blogging in particular can feel quite competitive and cut throat at times, and the Panel stressed that food bloggers really shouldn’t lose sight of the great supportive community that it can be.  The very fact that no two blogs are ever the same anyway is what keeps the food blogging world so interesting.

All the bloggers present were encouraged to join the BritMums Food Community and submit recipes to each month’s Foodie Round-up. The BritMums Foodie Round-ups exist to promote blogs in the BritMums Foodie Community, and all food bloggers were welcome to join in, no matter whether they are established, or just starting out.

See you in November at BritMums Food?

About Emma Raphael

Emma Raphael left the UK for Copenhagen in 2009, with her ever-patient husband and two small children. Having enjoyed a couple of years in Scandinavia, Emma and her family found they enjoyed Expat life so much that they now reside in Munich – where the pace of life is relaxed, her language skills are small, and the mountains and bier halls are very large. Being one half of a self-proclaimed foodie couple, Emma enjoys the new produce and restaurants in each new country she resides in, and has made it her mission to convince people that English food no longer deserves the bad rap it once had. She can be found in the kitchen when she’s feeling homesick, trying to recreate comfort food from home. She also has huge passions for travel, photography, art, wine, gardening (although according to her Bavarian neighbours, she’s not much good at that!) and her family (of course)!