Are you a food blogger and looking for ways to grow your traffic? I am one such blogger and used to be in a similar boat. I started my food blog in order to share my simplified recipes with others and help them save time without compromising on taste. It was a noble thought and I was very excited to do so but soon realized the challenge of drawing attention and reaching out to a wider audience in the digital world. I started reading a lot about it and learned about various ways and channels such as Foodgawker, FoodYub, Pinterest and other such channels. They are all helpful in their ways of drawing traffic and have there respective pluses and minuses. However they all share a common theme wherein, a lot of effort is needed in creating images with certain criteria, adding a description or you may need to wait for the approval. It could be overwhelming especially if you are a new blogger and may also take you away from your main objective i.e. writing blogs on your wonderful recipes. I was looking for something which could simplify this process and yet help in drawing traffic. I discovered Yummly which fit the bill perfectly. It is unique, focuses on food recipes and requires minimal effort in set-up which, once done helps in getting a lot of free traffic to your food blogging site.
What is Yummly?
Wikipedia defines Yummly as a mobile app and website that provides recipe recommendations personalized to the individual's tastes, semantic recipe search, a digital recipe box, shopping list and one-hour grocery delivery. The Yummly app is available for iOS, Android and web browsers.
How to setup Yummly?
As a food blogger, the first step is to create an account on the Yummly website by providing some basic information regarding one's taste and diet preferences. This helps Yummly to recommend relevant recipes.
How does Yummly work?
The next step is to add the Yum button to your blog or website using a social sharing plugin. Most of the social sharing plugins have the Yummly button these days. My favorite is the Shareaholic plugin. Once the Yum button setup, you can YUM your recipe and it will start appearing under yummly.com/page/yourblogname and also start appearing in readers Yummly searches.
How to get featured on Yummly
Follow the steps above (create an account, add the Yum button, announce to your readers on your site, and then fill out this form). Once you have taken all of the steps, you will be eligible for inclusion in various features on Yummly website, apps, social channels, and email.
Best practices to increase exposure
More Yums on your recipes equals more traffic. Bloggers who educate their readers, encourage use of Yummly, and promote their Yummly publisher page see more Yums and more traffic.