How to become a food blogger──Complete guide to running a local food blog

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This article The author Taiwan Greedy Fat, runs the blog “Taiwan Greedy Fat Fun Story”, using his camera and keyboard to record the unforgettable food and beautiful scenery he has experienced. Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.

The author has been running the blog “[Taiwan’s Greedy Fat Fun Story] (https://twpang.com.tw/blog)” for more than two years. It has always been run with a part-time mentality (will be explained later), not as a main source of income. A lot has happened in the past two years and I have a lot of feelings. When I first started operating for three months, I wrote an article about my blogging experience, “[Blogger’s three-month experience sharing (1) - Platform promotion] (https://twpang.com.tw/blog/post/189850039)”, please also refer to it.

Here, I would like to share my experience in running a blog in the past with everyone. I hope it can be a reference for friends who are interested in running their own blogs in the future, so that they can avoid unnecessary mistakes in the future. In terms of qualifications and ranking skills, the author does not dare to claim to be a master blogger. If there are errors or deficiencies in the content, you are welcome to share your comments.

Position your blog

Positioning is the axis of the blog and the most important branch of the blog, allowing everyone to understand the writing theme of your blog. Focus on positioning to attract people from the same group to browse your blog repeatedly. After operating for a long time, you can even make the audience immediately think of your blog as long as they see a certain keyword.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepFNpSaTkGv0NSPkK65qKgThi09r0T6Sh3zhhFeuCbY9E V9TjyM7SiErvMkkN549Z_TylN-4yYczTI97ZpUa7ExI47RsWcgRXnVkqM_YlrOQ4u-E9GcrRpRIfgVtTMlnUJvk3RXrRrWXB/s1600/1.PNG)

Although the author started blogging around the island, after returning to Wenshan District, he clearly focused on the food in “Muzha” and “Xindian District”. Nearly 40% of the articles in the blog introduce the food in these two areas. Although writing about the delicacies of these two regions is the focus, there is no rule that you cannot write about non-related articles from other regions. The author still puts food and travel experiences from various places into the blog to increase the richness of the blog.

But be sure to remember that bloggers must maintain the [main axis] of their blog (https://www.contenthacker.today/2017/10/web-design-principles.html), and do not let non-main axis articles account for an excessive proportion, otherwise it will become a multi-faceted and confusing place for the audience. If you want to write articles in other categories, it is recommended to open another blog to avoid confusion among original readers.

There are so many food bloggers, is it okay to just focus on writing about restaurants in Wenshan and Xindian District?

The author chose these two areas to write based on his own convenience. In fact, Taipei’s food battlefields are concentrated in crowded places such as Da’an, Xinyi, and Zhongzheng Districts. Netizens will first focus on these traffic artery areas when searching for dinner parties. There are many restaurants in these areas with a wide variety of choices. Even well-known foreign restaurants will choose to open in these places when they expand their business in Taiwan. In comparison, the number of people searching for Wenshan and Xindian is indeed a little less.

It may be a bit strange to say this, but I am not bragging. I am indeed the first blogger to organize food notes in Wenshan District according to different systems and categories. When I started posting food blogs on PTT Wenshan Edition, I discovered that the author was actually a pioneer of food bloggers in Wenshan District.

Although the overall number of views is not as exaggerated as the blogs in the food battle area, the Wenshan Muzha District restaurant area is still a blue ocean. The author happened to enter this [niche market] by accident (https://www.managertoday.com.tw/articles/view/2545). Since no one writes specifically about the food in Wenshan District, the blog can naturally rank at the top of the food search rankings in Wenshan District. This also allows friends who want to know about Muzha food to see my blog first. The more times you search, the more profound your impression will be.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5IV5l5KdSEB45JJDfnXFxajFcuv5_R8yzHwE-C9Rnmqhn wHmD7DrDp7qVAWGKLiTdsdKHPWCPD39qW5TGjHuDBLD6lFCVFApQvNtCo6SD8rMkHp0jckph1sK-vNDGKGMIEHobDbF-44Af/s1600/2.PNG)

Taking the author’s blog as an example, it first focused on food writing in Wenshan District, and then began to compile “Wenshan District Food Collection”. This article contains hundreds of Wenshan District food notes that the author thinks are pretty good. Then according to the different needs of netizens, we developed various sub-categories of Wenshan District gourmet lazy buns, such as [Wenshan District Vegetarian] (https://twpang.com.tw/blog/post/199943428 -%E3%80%90%E9%A4%90%E5%BB%B3%E6%95%B4%E7%90%86%E3%80%91%E6%9C%A8%E6%9F%B5%E4%BA%9 4%E5%AE%B6%E7%B4%A0%E9%A3%9F%E9%A4%90%E5%BB%B3%E6%95%B4%E7%90%86%28%E7%B7%A3%E8% 81%9A%E6%88%90), Wenshan District Breakfast and other various types of lazy bags in Wenshan District.

This allows readers who have more detailed needs for Wenshan District food to find the restaurants they want in the author’s blog. At present, an average of about 1,000 people visit the gourmet lazy buns in Wenshan District and Xindian District every week, which can be regarded as a small achievement of painstaking efforts.

Looking for untapped markets and establishing your own positioning, grasping these two elements will be beneficial to the development of your own blog and find your own niche market in the vast Internet. The market is not limited to the subject matter itself. Taking food as an example, in addition to cuisine categories and regions, alternative writing styles, picture presentations, and community management may all be alternative blue oceans. You can try to observe what other unsatisfied groups there are on the Internet, and use this to create a small world that can bring them together.

writing skills

The author originally started the blog “Taiwan Greedy and Fat” with the purpose of documenting the roundabouts around the island. At the beginning, writing a diary around the island was like a running account (if you are interested, please see this link). I told everyone what I did when I got up in the morning during the trip, the scenery along the way, what attractions I visited, what I had for lunch and dinner, and finally introduced the B&B where I stayed at night. However, the entire article looks like an ordinary diary. At most, only relatives and friends can support it, and it is difficult to attract general readers to read the article. [](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihyphenhyphenUGbssGKJ_c27-2cU6bkIaxr8BeJU5wj500R48V 5_Sk0FFBVpesB0-P3mAMVx3LfQsgiMlfp8kPHrVnAH4CMfih4Inj_2Apj3P7qijhtgxGRKOiPnkNIxaJ3TlZtEiFdMF9Ma89X12SF/s1600/3.jpg)

It’s a rare experience to travel around the island alone in 25 days. It only happens once in a lifetime, so of course I have to write it down in a blog.

After I returned to Wenshan District and started writing in local restaurants, I discovered that writing about traveling around the island was two completely different things. After all, when I was looking for a restaurant, I had read a lot of food notes. When I read the articles with a reader’s mentality, I felt that there was nothing special. I thought that by taking photos with my mobile phone and writing some text, I could create an article in a few minutes.

But starting to actually write and discover is another story. How to express inner thoughts, how to describe the small things observed, and how to describe the taste of food in order to attract people are all difficult. Although it has been written for two years, it is still in the exploratory stage; I cannot say that it is well written, but readers are still willing to support this kind of writing.

First, the author roughly summarizes the three key points of the food journal article - environment, service and food taste. For detailed introduction, please refer to the author’s [previous article] (https://twpang.com.tw/blog/post/191115058). The author’s writing style will take a long time to explain the details of the meal and the internal environment of the restaurant. Compared with ordinary food notes, there will be more text and photos, and the length will be slightly longer. The length of the article has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it allows readers to read in detail and learn more about the restaurant. However, the disadvantage is that some readers may find it too boring and may become impatient during the viewing process.

The author has browsed many food journal articles, and indeed many bloggers deliberately put their faces in the articles. But I have a round figure and a face that may be deducted, so I try not to show off my shame. It is more practical to focus the article on the subject matter (food, scenery), so that everyone can concentrate on collecting the information they want, and do not lose interest after seeing the author. In addition, I suggest friends who are new to blogging. If you accidentally capture a passerby when taking a photo, please try to cover their face so as not to cause trouble to others.

Photography Tips

The author has never taken photos with a single-lens or cannon-level camera. I mainly take photos with my mobile phone (Sony Xperia Z3/Z5). I can handle most situations. There is no big problem when taking photos of food under normal circumstances. The more troublesome thing is that when the light source is unstable, the image may be blurred, like an oil painting. In addition, when shooting night scenes, it will be quite difficult to shoot with existing mobile phones.

The key point for the author when taking photos is to keep the main subject in focus (https://digiphoto.techbang.com/posts/1083-focus). When the picture below describes the texture of ramen noodles, the noodles must be clearly illuminated to impress the reader. Please remember to pay attention to the light source, never backlight, and keep the lens clean at all times.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9HB0mRxBslP4cLegq0pNRXNouB0GfyqfQbOvRXIU_HBJW THbE6bmOOFI6-zZm6R2o5ixUCxNVyChBQ-qqXkbdtSZySIvSonVuS30p55DBY1HUgCcU14wZdK8B234nP1O94ZELlTNOhT_F/s1600/4.jpg)

In addition, if you are like the author and are friends who use mobile phones to take photos, I highly recommend using Flickr App. Pixnet also supports the embedding of external photo galleries of this program, which has a large capacity and can be uploaded as you go with your mobile phone. If the photos do not require post-production, this system is very convenient to use. As for how to embed Flickr in the new version of Pixnet, please refer to the author’s previous article.

Do bloggers have to be in business? Is it okay if I don’t take over the job?

You must be curious whether bloggers can make money? Suppose first, if the author does not accept Industry Distribution, can I survive? The answer is impossible. Without professional support, bloggers will definitely not be able to live. Next, let the author start to talk about it.

Bloggers’ income can be mainly divided into two parts:

1. Sponsor’s online advertising:

Bloggers will embed online banner ads in the article text and sidebar to obtain advertising profits; currently, Google AdSense is the largest, followed by BloggerAds, Pixnet MIB, etc. Based on the author’s current blog traffic, with an average daily traffic of 3,000 to 4,000 people, I have used the above three types of advertisements at the same time, and the total advertising revenue created in one day is only about NT$20.

You read that right, it’s only 20 yuan. After a month, I will receive about 600 yuan at most (several hundred yuan of bank cross-border fees will also be deducted). One month’s income is not enough to pay for National Health Insurance. How can I survive? This does not include the food and beverage expenses in the food diary.

This is a very real problem. Even if the author increases the traffic of the website to 10 times, assuming that the advertising revenue also increases 10 times with the traffic, it will only cost 200 yuan a day. It is really better to go out to work and make more money (based on an hourly salary of 150 yuan, it is more cost-effective to work for 2 hours).

A blog with a daily traffic of 30 to 40,000 people can be considered a top blogger in Taiwan. Without knowing other more profitable online advertising, the author believes that such pure online advertising income cannot support bloggers. Unless you can live by breathing air, there is no way to support yourself through online advertising alone. At most, it can only be used as a small pocket money.

The introduction of malicious clicks is not within the scope of the author’s consideration. After all, the regulations of each advertising platform are quite strict, and the heaviest penalties may even cause the account to be blocked.

2. Contact manufacturers for sponsorship fees:

Sponsorship fees should be the main source of income for bloggers. There are both cases when bloggers find manufacturers, and when manufacturers find bloggers. According to the information that the author has learned, relatively small bloggers can earn at least 500 to 1,000 yuan per article (there is also a free trial); medium and big bloggers can earn 5,000 yuan per article, or even more than 10,000 yuan is possible.

Recently, due to the influence of the famous YouTuber HowHow’s videos, people are not as repellent as before. But this is an effect that can only be achieved if the manufacturer does not interfere with the production of HowHow at all; otherwise, a more traditional manufacturer would faint on the spot when seeing HowHow’s shooting method.

In addition to the above royalties, there is also a commission mechanism. Bloggers put the manufacturer’s purchase link below the article introducing the manufacturer’s products; after a certain period of time, the manufacturer will settle the purchase volume of the linked product and give the blogger a certain percentage of feedback.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEM-Jm1E6D2fg79zUxnzwWdEkh1T_Eeli7cWSUe7R7fvm- gOFyXLWDm-FwOj_HUSqy1ZwlhTX_QxYu9qj64XOQf_wY59Umj0XI6LZ8gwt7bYxl_gTGFSm-R7xsP819UV8hYq1Ji_B97PKs/s1600/5.jpg)

(The picture is a news picture and has nothing to do with this blog)

Finally, let’s talk about the author’s blog. So far, I have not accepted any manufacturer invitations or free trials. The author currently sets his blog as an amateur blog. Everything is written based on personal mood. If you think the store is good, write it down and go there to visit again when you have time. On the other hand, if I feel dissatisfied with the store (there are very few stores), I will be less likely to put it on the blog.

Well, there are two reasons for not writing specifically negative articles. First, writing an article requires not only setting up an external library for the batch, searching for information, but also spending time writing it. If the merchant is really unsatisfactory, writing about it on the Internet will attract a lot of infamy from netizens, which is like shooting a rock in the foot, which is completely inconsistent with time and cost efficiency. Secondly, writing a negative review may cause unnecessary trouble for yourself. Even if the article I write is not an invitation article, there will still be manufacturers who say that the author has damaged their goodwill and threaten to file legal proceedings. The negotiation process is very troublesome.

Having a hard-written article removed from the shelves is like being separated from your own child, which is really unbearable. Therefore, once the author encounters a restaurant or accommodation that is really unsatisfactory, I would rather not write about it than cause a lot of trouble for myself.

Although the author’s blog is not accepted by the industry, I have written about 30 articles about food in Wenshan District, and local shops still come to visit me. When a store invites me to dine at a restaurant and write down my experience, I will basically go there for a period of time (about three to four weeks) whenever it is convenient and write down my experience and send it back to the store.

The reason why it took so long that the store even forgot about my existence is because of my personal emotions. I don’t like to let vendors know that bloggers are dining in restaurants so that they can give me extra benefits or free entertainment. After reading the article, many merchants were surprised and said to the author: “So you are the customer XXX that day?” The author hopes to write an article from the perspective of an ordinary customer, who will disguise himself as a mystery shopper to avoid being discovered by the store.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMcXuOBvYmCAfMz8BvQRxper34-yIAGkBWw03W7KHvabA6 7AKAUgcSDMomO3wSBQx9lykW_gW8wjs0VPI2cp2DY9zzNTVHrK5fFL6UXSM0M9HJIaE4QwoL5UrnTSoLXca8dxxn_1lWiifw/s1600/6.png)

The reason why I don’t charge a fee is that before I started blogging, I had seen newly opened stores with good taste fail to promote their business, and even ended up going bankrupt. Just to maintain their daily basic expenses, these stores have already tried their best, and there is no spare time for publicity (although from a business perspective, this is not a good strategy). It hurts my heart to see this kind of store, so I try not to interfere with the store’s operations. While running a food blog, I introduce Wenshan’s local delicacies, and hope that more people can see the beauty of the store.

In addition to the reasons mentioned above, after all, I am running a blog with an amateur mentality. Although there are many enlightened manufacturers now, and some have begun to advertise that they will not restrict bloggers’ writing, I am still worried about encountering relatively conceited manufacturers (the kind that say OK at first, but turn out not to be OK). The author still hopes to feel that the blog is a small world where I can express my thoughts freely. I don’t like being asked by the invited manufacturers to restrict which words cannot be typed and which photos cannot be posted, so I have not yet started to accept professional support.

Whether a blogger is accepted by a business partner and how to cooperate with the business owner is all a matter of personal preference. There is no right or wrong decision. The above description is only the author’s personal style. After all, every manufacturer and blogger’s situation is different, and there is no difference between who is right and who is wrong. Only high-quality content articles will allow bloggers to win the favor of manufacturers and readers. Of course, some people say that the author’s ideas are too naive, but the author still hopes to retain the aspirations of young people.

How to find stores to use as writing materials?

Every local has a list of their favorite pocket restaurants. Yes, the author also started writing the list of pockets near his home. Next time I will ask my friends and family about other restaurants with good reputations. When there is no list, I will refer to this author’s previously written article to search for restaurants that are the subject of my writing.

After promoting articles on the Internet for a long time, netizens will naturally come to recommend the pocket list to the author. The process of exploring and publishing new food while discussing with netizens is quite interesting.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFflaMprz2Et8h3gNt_ofQHb5-yORCv7s5EE4wbuK3xirZ 0uLgvPbD6Uxt2ExR4yXuaHrUrbDiVyBOgRni6SNoQWFNRTk2zRxDQ2tQl9GoUs3Dy5RtH7h9mRvtbcmB8uK8ugl34E_w2-fN/s1600/7.png)

How does food diary help store owners?

Usually after writing the article, the author will go to PTT Food Edition and Local Edition to promote the article. If it is a restaurant in Wenshan District, it will also be promoted to local Facebook groups. If there are no special circumstances, a store in Wenshan District should be able to get about 500 to 700 page views in half a month. During this period, the first wave of early adopters will visit. If the merchant can grasp the good reviews created by this wave of customers, there will be a chance for a multiplication effect, and the good reputation will be transmitted like a sonar.

In addition to the promotional traffic in this half-month period, the author also writes about gourmet buns in Wenshan District and Xindian District. Each post on buns has an average of about 1,000 views per week. When netizens browse Lanrenbao, they will indeed have the opportunity to see restaurant links, allowing netizens to follow the Lazybao information to find store information and then make purchases. Up to now, there are still restaurants saying that the restaurant should be on my list, which made me realize that my article does have some influence.

But please remember that food journaling is not a panacea. If the store later fails to maintain quality, or accidentally evokes memories of dissatisfaction from previous consumers, the negative reviews from netizens may expand like a multiplier, affecting future customers who are willing to come to the store. Food notes are like a double-edged sword. There is a good side and a bad side, and there is the possibility of harming the store owner. Among the stores that the author has written about, some have closed down. There are many reasons behind this, and the closure of stores is not entirely related to turnover.

Article promotion

If an article is written and has not been promoted, unless it is a super fan, few netizens will enter the Pixnet page to follow the article. Most articles also need to be promoted before they can be seen by everyone. The author’s main promotion platforms are, first of all, my own fan page, PTT, FB local communities, and fonfood food diary platform. For detailed data, please refer to the author’s article - [Blogger’s three-month experience sharing (1) - Platform promotion] (https://twpang.com.tw/blog/post/189850039).

The two major platforms, PTT and Facebook, not only have huge traffic, but also focus on interaction with netizens (villagers). After an article has been promoted on the platform for a long time, you will still encounter some sharp words questioning the content of the article or the possibility of business matching. Although most netizens are friendly and have good interactions on the platform, there are still a few irrational remarks. After all, everyone has different perceptions.

Novice bloggers must learn to adapt and respond appropriately to different opinions. But remember, there is no need to please every reader. People who don’t like you will still dislike you no matter how hard they stalk you. Don’t try to make 100% of people like you, it’s impossible.

data analysis

In addition to writing articles when running a blog, it is also very important to know what your audience looks like. In addition to the Pixnet backend, the author recommends that you install [Google Analytics] (https://analytics.google.com/) (referred to as GA) to your blog. GA is a powerful free traffic analysis tool today. It can not only know the gender, time distribution, and method of entry of visitors, but also has a variety of analysis methods that allow bloggers to understand readers’ preferences and browsing methods.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhID8v4Ur-IFVjoi7dMxhuWgHD9_s8N6JeT6kM2Gnma9e8i uBVR7y1KqGw6fpkhCc3oovFO42g4CjGot2cf5fEXc1jxeIPLdkYk20RqWIrCJSFXPOaLIhWUAG4XtGiIwVeZMc3xu7jEoXrF/s1600/8.png)

The picture above was taken in the early morning of 1/28, so it is normal for the numbers to plummet that day.

With this data, bloggers can know how strongly their articles are being promoted on the platform. Even when the traffic of a certain article suddenly explodes, you can use the GA analysis tool to know what platform it is coming from and the general type of the audience. You can even make some adjustments in the way you write. Before I installed GA, I thought everyone browsed blogs on computers, but later I discovered that mobile devices were the most visited. Therefore, how to make mobile phones convenient for browsing is the focus of writing food notes in the future. [](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZs6NcdBd_VbqDt9H8BvbDwZM5kc5FHVmsOYiusnnjP7b9 l2KlPjqGExhd6GPYMS-KuU780Ufg7vJLmXuZLxrqTqIbl2m2BG03o34il03SozyAPf0Gub0sYqrhk7qTwge5gCMI7tx9jV5V/s1600/9.png)

When making the chart, I discovered that the traffic of Thai snacks in Wenshan District suddenly exploded. At that time, the traffic came in from Google search. After asking netizens, I found out that there was a food program at that time that happened to introduce the restaurant.

If you are interested in the GA data analysis of the author’s blog, please refer to the article [Google Analytics Browsing Data Analysis] (https://twpang.com.tw/blog/post/203695336) written by the author previously.

SEO-Search Optimization

Search engine optimization These words feel very profound. In fact, the ultimate goal of SEO is very simple, which is to allow articles to appear on the first page of the search rankings. The higher the ranking of articles, the more people will attract clicks, thereby achieving the purpose of increasing traffic. The author initially thinks that applying it to the Pixnet blog will not be too complicated. Here I will list three points for your reference based on my own experience. Please let me know if I am wrong.

1. The pictures and text in the article must be rich. Under normal circumstances, Google search will not place articles with only a few pictures or a few lines of text at the top of the search rankings. Remember to make your article well-illustrated. Also remember not to talk too much that has nothing to do with the subject matter, or deliberately post content repeatedly in an attempt to increase page traffic.

2. Mention the name of the subject matter and related keywords as many times as possible in the article, so that netizens can easily find the article when searching. Which keywords you want to strengthen, you can check Google Trends to understand the keywords that are currently popular among netizens. Remember, don’t deliberately copy and paste the same keywords all the time, and don’t deliberately make keywords that have nothing to do with the article.

3. The title is very important. The author later became accustomed to putting the subject matter at the front of the title, and then adding related keywords to the title, so that Google search can more easily capture the keywords of the article.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGrOIvBW-fgg1pOGT_q2MyDF3lxGMh94MHDhcl5MMTnyGXk WZQv4mlaWMZ93xP-rkse2cMayC0ENof1gvHluf7IXpzkeeb82YKA2m7LU2hcfOmhH7tKkVrN2VUoffgR3JTX8vpp8Jd59Gx/s1600/11.png)

4. Although the “unconfirmed” news is correct, there are rumors that if Google ads and GA analysis are included in this article, it will also help improve search rankings.

Although I have taken courses on search engine optimization and read several related articles, I do not dare to claim to be an expert or master. There are still many articles that have not been ranked on the first page of searches. Pixnet’s SEO is pretty good; if you don’t want more advanced results, as long as you meet the first three points (the fourth point is unproven, you can do it or not), you can roughly complete the preliminary SEO.

In addition, the search discussed in this article is mainly based on Google search, because it accounts for more than 80% of the market share in Taiwan. If you have not logged your blog into the Google search database, please go to Search Console to log in to the URL so that Google search results will display your articles.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHa9H4rqATzeVYhSDhkQJrGXLhEBhFmqjGL8LEdxzgDs2JT 8ddi7vMKngSHzkNAIb1HVecm-P7g0O993tSsgkX3aokx3a7BZBki2dc0otgFqJtPkmUoSKnTBt5dvnF33YtfKgV38mDhO45/s1600/12.png)

If you are using Pixnet’s blog system, when writing an article, please remember to enter keywords into the system so that search engines can capture the keywords.

Give another example. Suppose you want to search for restaurant A. At this time, there are two articles A and B introducing restaurant A. The writing content of the two articles is as follows:

• Article A: A very long travelogue (travel around the island), with hundreds of pictures and thousands of words, of which only 10 pictures and 200 words introduce Restaurant A.

*Article B: Dedicate 15 pictures and 600 words to introduce the restaurant food, without any other unnecessary information.

At first glance, the overall picture and text of article A are excellent. If according to the previous description, the search ranking of article A should be ranked before article B; but the actual search results are completely opposite.

Under other conditions being equal, the Google search engine will tend to rank article B higher than article A. Although Article B does not have as many pictures and texts as Article A, search engines prefer articles that focus on the subject matter rather than a hodgepodge of articles. This also made the author regret later that I didn’t write down my 25-day trip around the island, and split it into dozens of articles about accommodation experiences and food notes.

In order to prove the importance of Google search on long-term blog operation and influence on traffic, the author has compiled the following table for your reference.

The picture below shows the data the author grabbed from GA in June 2016. At that time, the traffic imported by Google search accounted for only 15% of the total, and the main source of traffic was PTT promotion.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK8uRea1kILviNrJveRhRzhQMkUvE7-PUQ5MEh9AhPUfo_N CqaByv9fvZDKJw7xxmBLTTkMDl-jsTpIlEjgKj60N53nqUgqkpBrzTLVUyE9itsOl6lqobbTUDxc-HnEgVtzfF26vyfINxE/s1600/13.png)

The following GA data was captured in January 2018.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ-yseuGGVkc3tzeTRGsWhCEBp0rXEKKe95Ug12YkJDBNEh ORZYhAgGZUX3H7dz5SY1KQw_yuTLgBDFpgQ-Z-utfKkZpwcoqznU03fOYOR-aQQqpJap5HUjrofX93DdmcGAAN4vAPTBVj4/s1600/14.png)

After a year and a half, Google search traffic has accounted for more than half of the total. On the contrary, direct traffic, mainly PTT, dropped to less than half of the previous level. In fact, the promotion efforts have not changed, and there were still many readers reading it that day. This means that even if articles have been promoted on Facebook and PTT in the past, those posts have already been submerged by the accumulation of new posts over time, and readers will not go back to click on articles from several years ago. At this time, only netizens who are accustomed to using Google to search for articles have the opportunity to give those forgotten articles a chance to be read again.

Based on the analysis of the trends in these two figures, I believe that the proportion of search imported traffic will continue to rise in the future. The author recommends not to give up promotion on other platforms because of this. After all, GA analysis will also evaluate the traffic of each platform, which will indirectly affect Google search results.

advertising effect

Although the author placed online advertisements just for fun, many people must have found it strange, why do bloggers place advertisements so well? Here, I would also like to share with you some of my experience in advertising. The author will put his articles on PTT and Facbook fan page. Of course, netizens can also see the author’s blog articles through search engines. Now that some netizens have read my blog, shouldn’t they be satisfied?

Before placing the advertisement, the author also felt that this kind of promotion should be the limit, the number of viewers should have almost reached its peak, and everything that should be clear should be understood. But after placing the advertisement, I discovered that the two are completely different worlds.

The author uses Facebook Ads and is very satisfied with the advertising effect because it allows me to select the scope of promotion and further segment the audience groups. If you are interested, you can refer to the author’s previous article “[First experience with Facebook advertising promotion] (https://twpang.com.tw/blog/post/217302486)”, and I won’t go into the rest of the details.

The author believes that after placing Facebook ads, there will be two benefits:

1. Use the repeated exposure effect so that readers who may have passed by the article in the past will have a deeper impression of the author’s blog due to the additional exposure effect (think of a mother-in-law looking at her son-in-law, the more they read, the more they like her). At this time, it can also be paired with more thrilling propaganda to catch the audience’s attention, allowing readers to further follow the author’s blog and fan group, and also increasing the audience’s stickiness to the blog.

2. Develop unknown groups. Although the author works hard to promote articles on various platforms and try to improve the ranking on the search rankings, there are still some viewers who rarely use these tools to search for food. Therefore, placing advertisements has the opportunity to expand the audience group effect and let them notice the characteristics of the author’s blog.

At present, online advertising can be roughly divided into two types: Google and Facebook advertising. I suggest that you do a good job of data analysis before placing an ad, and understand the general profile of your readers before placing an ad, so that you won’t feel so distressed if you spend your money wisely.

Whether or not to place ads is actually a matter of opinion. It all depends on the resources available to the individual, the type of article, the business cooperation plan, and the development stage of the blog. There is also no right or wrong decision about whether to use advertising or not. There is the best strategy at the moment in each situation.

Facebook fan group management

The author has not started playing with Instagram yet, and the Facebook fan page was established several steps later, and it has only been in operation for about a year. Various methods have been tried to increase the popularity of the fan group, but the effect is not obvious. This part really needs to be improved, but there are still some tips I can share with you.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtecPuQNRlvbpbyP-eboOoPkyY3acjO74Qyog0tvB2BXh8X j6aZmA3lVxnPnBCK8gll7c479o2IkVarfrD3kxMjExz7j0BRFFR8-mi0BTQu0cFwczEenQuIJjhPIQgK5JrEXpAoFzP0YQI/s1600/15.png)

The main goal of running a fan club is to increase [blog traffic] (https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo). In addition to sharing blog articles, I will also add various local food and attraction news to share with fans to attract their attention. Of course, these news will not increase the traffic of my blog, so I will add relevant food links of my blog at the bottom of the post to increase the chance of people clicking on it.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjECdPYfsk-PssXlQ281W95SiT5x_tbmJp2bBH4FsVigfnZR 7W711hJlPurV43a8qheR1j0XiLOGISFFUe6DiyhAU87C3XaVVHexvX0JppKv1Gjpr5RIgAUxrohsPVbc8Zi3_-0YBv3ngHO/s1600/16.png)

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6u3NwRVCr9X0URMnMTW8LY_Oj3X8ikz_l_giGju4tsiv13 j2LWwT4mpoZe1Ak87UrQlFsABN1IAswdtbLkUDGtlHGk4z7XaNVGJ8YuCDxG7jP28LOK0RxUsHs7EFfLi8x2y66ZiZrcotE/s1600/17.png)

Put related blog articles at the bottom of news posts so that everyone can click on them.

However, on my fan page, there is really very little interaction with fans. Almost all the posts are likes or expressions of emotion. There are very few fans who leave messages to interact with the author. This is also the focus I will focus on in the future.

To promote the fan page, in addition to using PTT’s signature file and displaying the fan group information in the sidebar of the blog article, the author tries to hide the fan group information in other places.

As a result, it’s less common to see the author repeating fan page information (and like buttons) in articles. On the one hand, it makes it easier for readers to browse the articles, and on the other hand, fans who have joined the fan page do not have to see a recruitment recruitment notice every time they read the article, which in vain causes a lot of discomfort.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY4GYGXQwAbF96L2vwt9PiVihenXojomyhmGaA5L3qg9f1k 9CNb-29c6-vmTobgZYLQgOHGWcK3QXd3HFydK6v9x0Brr7taYsAuUA1JIxd12G7E39CgVs9XsevhSIgqOJ_boP2huTrXOJg/s1600/18.png)

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJk6vl2hDLHNM0mWkMg6rm4qreVXSn5s-eIS8zLLIkRI2YT fB90OQS7nanILk-74cgIsiEAg4rxWfe7SHKEwWvhei6SVXz7RPOWI_Y7OThnKizuZU2TA2UUDHybBW-5KW8byrJnijO0UlI/s1600/19.png)

Except for a few Facebook ads for fun purposes, the author has not done any other fan page promotions, so the number of fans is still very small, which is a bit pitiful. Well, this part is also the focus of my future research.

If there are deficiencies in the above data analysis, or if there are any errors in interpretation, seniors are welcome to discuss it together. The author’s argument may not be correct. After all, everyone’s situation is different. Please give me your advice! ★ Thanks again to [Taiwan’s Greedy and Fat Fun Story] (https://www.facebook.com/a12425/) for authorizing the reprint. Thank you hereby.

★ Photo Credit: Rachel Park

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Further reading

• Why write a blog?
• Yu Wei talks about personal branding: Learn from foreign celebrities, learn 10 tips and sell them now
• Refining Content Power Lecture Experience: As long as you are willing to start, there will be a personal brand development course when flowers bloom

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