There are over 6,000 food blogs using the same theme. That means that it is tough to stand out in this crowded world of food blogging. Not only that but our users have less and less attention and time spent on our websites. Keep listening if you want to know how you can make your website stand out from the crowd.

If you think about it, there are only a handful of themes that food bloggers are using unless they are using a custom site. We are seeing a shift in this though with the way that we are working with clients to be able to offer more options because it is getting crowded out there in the world of food blogging. What that means for us is that we need to be intentional about how we are using design and strategy for our websites to help it stand out. If you are using that premade theme (you know the one I’m talking about), it is still possible for you to stand out by being intentional with the way that you set things up. 

Add a custom pattern or branded graphics

There are thousands of ways to do this. A really simple way would be to incorporate it into a block that you are using on your site, your footer, or your sidebar. This would be an element that isn’t your primary logo but something different: a sub mark or secondary logo. If could even be something like a photo of you that you have turned into its own block that you are using. It should be something unique and eye catching that still ties back to your existing brand. 

Customize your recipe card

Customizing your recipe card is one of the best ways to get your readers to pay attention and engage with your content. The goal is to have a recipe card that looks different. You want to use color, your fonts, and stand out to be attractive to readers because the recipe card is what they are looking for when they come to your site.  

Use styled reusable block patterns to teach your readers to pay attention

This could be something like adding a background color to whatever reusable piece of content that you use in every post to teach your readers to look for it. One of our clients years ago, talked on her Instagram stories often about how she wanted her readers to go look for the green substitutions block. She said it over and over again so that they would remember when they went to her site to look for the green block. That was something that became so helpful for the readers that she trained them to look for. 

Sometimes we think our readers are just going to get it and the truth is that they don’t know how this world works, They don’t necessarily know all of our tips and tricks so we have to train them. There are so many ways to do this but being intentional and thinking about how you want to do this can make a world of difference. 

In my food blog, I have a block that has a call to action for readers to leave a rating and review. That is a perfect way to see it. I have it right above my recipe card so that they will see it and hopefully take action.

Weave your brand throughout your website 

This is a little more extensive but goes with the first way as well. In the first example, I talked about adding one part of your brand to your site like a custom graphic. But for this, there are a lot of different ways you can weave your branding into your site. I’m going to go over some ways to do this and link to a blog post where we showcase more examples of how we do this for our clients that may give you some ideas that you can implement as well. 

There are a lot of little details that might be on your post design. To name a few: 

• bulleted lists 
• numbered lists 
• headings
• reusable blocks
• separator lines 
• email sign-up forms 
• buttons
• Use color – Most blog post pages have a light or white background color, so a splash of color can grab the reader’s attention. For example, a colorful hyperlink grabs the reader’s attention and lets them know if they tap or click on the link, they’ll go to a new page. 

If you are looking to have support in creating a website that stands out from the crowd, we would love to work with you! We have a brand new way of working with clients who are not quite ready for the custom website investment but need more than our designer for a day service. Our new Crafted website package is perfect for someone who is looking to stand out from the crowd and wants to break away from the premade themes in the industry and create something unique for their brand. 

Our waitlist for this service is filling up quickly so if you are looking to refresh your website this year or beginning of next year,  fill out our contact form here!