Build a cooking show/brand for fun and profit

I do a little bit of affiliate marketing. In the grand scheme of things, it’s mostly on this site and I’m small-time compared to most Internet entrepreneurs. Especially sites and brands revolving around cooking. If you can gain a following, that category’s really an affiliate marketing dream. You can monetize referrals for ingredients and tools (i.e. whenever you post a recipe). I can’t help but think you could also work in referrals for appliances. Then say you travel, blog about it on your cooking site, and come up with some trip-inspired recipes. You can monetize the travel referrals. Start a complementary “cooking show” and you’re opening up the business even more. A traffic loop is likely to form between your YouTube and website at that point, you can become a YouTube Partner to get ad money off the videos, then whenever you put out a new show you have even more reasons to update all your social media. Put out some cookbooks while you’re at it. Maybe paid on Amazon, or maybe you give one away to readers who sign up for your email list. If you can build a successful cooking-related brand online, it seems to me like you’ve got it made in the affiliate marketing world. I can’t speak from experience but this is coming at things analytically. There are just so many ways to generate revenue.

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This is your affiliate income smashing through the ceiling of infinity dollars. (Source PushClickTouch)

So the question becomes how to go about gaining traction as a new online cooking brand. It’s a crowded space. I can easily name half a dozen players from when I used to look up paleo recipes a lot (Nom Nom Paleo, PaleOMG, Stupid Easy Paleo, Elana’s Pantry, Paleo Mama, Paleo Plan). And that’s borderline niche.

Start with a brand

I would grab a catchy domain. Something like one of these, with kind of an “out there” brand-able nature:

• Aggressive Cooking (http://aggressivecooking.com - click to grab the domain)
• Cooking with Violence (http://cookingwithviolence.com - click to grab the domain)
• Vengeance Cooking (http://vengeancecooking.com - click to grab the domain)
• Chaos Kitchen (http://chaos.kitchen - click to grab the domain or chaoskitchen.com is in GoDaddy Auction)
• Shady Cooking (http://shadycooking.com - click to grab the domain)
• Raunchy Recipes (http://raunchy.recipes - click to grab the domain)
• Communist Cooking (http://communistcooking.com - click to grab the domain)

Then gain a following

Naming a brand isn’t hard, it’s building a following. What can you do to set yourself apart? The Internet loves sex and violence. Bring those to cooking, even if it’s just with some bikini girl Fiverr gigs. And hey - Craigslist.

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This. With a more business-minded approach. _(Source Funny or Die)_

Epic Meal Time is popular because they’re edgy with cooking. Remember, though, that you’re more likely to make money off of affiliate marketing. Focus there. This means keeping your recipes somewhat practical (unlike sushi poutine) so readers might purchase ingredients and related items through your links. Social media is important to cooking brands online. It seems like most food bloggers are really active on Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram in addition to the given necessities of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. To set yourself up for success as a fresh cooking brand, I might buy some followers to begin with. About 2,000 Twitter followers, Facebook likes, YouTube subscribers - the appropriate metrics. You could even use Fiverr for this too. The idea being that people are more likely to follow/like/subscribe if they see some other people have done it. Just enough to give the idea that you’re new, but you’re growing and could explode into the next big thing. So they should get on-board now and be cool. At that point you’re all set up to succeed. What’s left is creating content that people want to share. Put up some recipes and maybe a video, then perhaps interact with other chefs on social media or users who seem especially active with those accounts. Once you start a little bit of momentum, hopefully everything just snowballs for you. Maintain production quality. Keep pounding the pavement.

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At the top of Success Mountain, you can post about your own brand of cookware… and affiliate link to it at the same time. (Source All Things Target)

Good luck and happy cooking. Update (10/5/2014): This -