So as it turns out…it was a new recipe plugin that was messing with my posting!! The Ziplist plugin to be exact. Apparently it needs an update to work with the updated version of WordPress and until it does…it keeps you from posting. Not cool, Ziplist. Not cool.
The Ziplist recipe plugin seemed like a good idea since there are ways you can monetize and expose your recipes to a wider audience…but at the expense of messing with my regular posting? No thanks.
[hey if you haven’t already…enter my sweet giveaway for a MAGIC BULLET blender sponsored by Fairlife milk!]
You might see that I got around it though on Sunday. I used Windows Live Writer which is a program you can type up a post in off-line. It worked pretty well! All I had to do was edit the SEO and pick the categories, tags, and set the featured image. It’s good to know I have an option if WordPress gets all funky on me again.
I thought I would use this incident to discuss what recipe plugin I use and how I sort my recipes…so that you can avoid any potential plugin issues. It’s no easy feat finding the perfect means of sharing a treasured recipe and organizing it is just as important.
I was going to share a new recipe…but I will leave that for later. It’s actually a tweaked version of my Almond Delight Cookies recipe (which got over 100 shares on Pinterest alone…seriously, you guys rock!!).
My Favorite Recipe Plugin
The recipe plugin that I have been using for awhile is called Recipe Card by Yumprint. I love it because it is highly customizeable. From the font to the colors to the layout to adding nutrition information, you can tailor this recipe plugin to match the style of your blog. I actually just switched a few things around and found that it updates all of the recipes with your new theme.
Pretty sweet if you ask me. It also optimizes for SEO according to the recipe plugin page.
These are both using Recipe Card for Yumprint.
How I Organize My Recipes
I was previously using Recipage for both sorting and the recipe on the post but then I heard that Recipage wasn’t so great for SEO. (SEO= Search Engine Optimization or how well people can find your post via search engines).
Not only did I change the way I posted recipes to my blog (with the recipe plugin fromYumprint), I also changed the way I was indexing recipes. One way I thought Recipage might be bad for bloggers is that the indexing doesn’t even take you to a post, you can see the entire recipe in the Recipage tab. This is totally a guess, but I think that would lower the count for pageviews.
So now what I do when loading my recipe onto Recipage is type “see full post” and use the link code in Recipage for both the ingredients list and instructions list.
Otherwise, it is pretty handy to have Recipage since you can sort recipes by tags or simply look up a recipe with the search box. It also looks pretty snazzy and professional. AND it’s much easier for a lazy blogger like me since I don’t have to figure out how to organize my growing recipe bank.
[Tweet “Best WordPress recipe plugin ever!”]
Nutrition Information on Recipes
Another tool I’ve been using is Recipe Magic which I stumbled upon during a procrastination web surf incident. You know..when you read one article that links to another that links to a blog that has a link for a recipe monetizing service…and then 3 hours later you’re like what the heck just happened.
Anyhow I’ve been using this since December and it’s…okay. I like that it does a nutrition count (since I don’t want to necessarily trigger any eating disorder habits in readers by having nutrition information right on the recipe), but it’s not always super reliable. I also like that you can make it link back to the original recipe (and it will cover up part of the ingredients/direction list so you have to go to the blog for the full recipe). As far as the monetization…meh. I was definitely promised a higher number of views and pay-out. Also there is no support. Have a question? Too bad. I still have no idea how we are actually paid.
I like having nutrition information as an added benefit for my recipes on the blog, but again, I don’t want to trigger any disordered eating habits in my readers…what do you guys think about that subject? I mean as bloggers we can’t be held responsible for every little thing..but we can try to be careful, right? I have yet to post a picture of my “abs” or anything like that for this very reason. (okay okay due to the Minnesota winter I put on a nice protective cushion around my muscles so you may not be able to see them at the moment…)
Hopefully this helped those of you who are looking for a new recipe plugin and/or way to organize recipes!
[See more Blogging 101 Posts here]
Tell me….
What recipe plugins do you use?
Do you share nutrition information on your recipe posts and/or would you like it shared on my blog?
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Have you seen an improvement in traffic to your recipes since switching? I’m using recipe but I’m open to a switch if it makes sense… 🙂
It’s so hard to tell (plus I really just look a overall pageviews, etc)! All I know is Recipage is somehow bad for SEO (according to tweets I saw awhile back) so I’m guessing it’s not optimized on the post page and it doesn’t count as a pageview when you switch between recipes if you have a Recipage tab.
Also…the one by Yumprint is pretty! 🙂
Hi Amanda,
Great overview! I actually tried a lot of recipe plugins myself and in the end decided to create my own. Have you heard about or tried WP Ultimate Recipe before?
It would be great if you could check it out and give me some feedback! You can find us at http://www.wpultimaterecipe.com
This looks pretty nice, I will have to try it out. Thanks!
Hi Amanda,
Apparently you’ve marked my previous comment as spam (because it contained a link to the plugin?) but I really am interested in what you think about WP Ultimate Recipe and would love to hear some feedback.
Hearing from fellow food bloggers is always helpful and allows us to try and create the best recipe plugin possible, which others would benefit from as well.
Yep my commenting system automatically sends any comments with links to moderation. I will have to check that out!
i need to look into this!! thanks friend
For sure! I hope it helps! 🙂
I just switched over to the Easy Recipe plug-in after I had the same problem you did with Ziplist. I may have to give this one a try before I have to move ALL of my recipes over! Ugh..
So weird! I know lots of people use Ziplist…wonder why it messes with some blogs and not others?? I guess the one I use now is prettier so that’s good. 😉
I just started using Recipe Card myself after seeing it mentioned on Spoons site. Glad to know others use it as well. Now begins the daunting task of converting all my existing recipes and then of course figuring out a better way to index them. Eek, I’m not looking forward to that last one.
Yeah organizing existing blogging content is a big ol’ pain in the booty…but it pays off later! Kind of like reorganizing your home, right? Speaking of which, I need to clean today!
Please also try the GetMeCooking recipe plugin – it has recipe indexes, centralised recipe management, SEO, SEM, etc. Disclaimer – I am one of the owners and developers.
I use recipe card for my posts. To organize your recipes in a better way if you are on WordPress I simply use the wordpress gallery to add my recipes in a recipe box via categories. http://rantsnrascals.com/recipe-box/ it’s simply and easy. Your images are pulled from your wordpress database for faster loading times and you can be creative with headings in the page.
Hmm but what if I have like 100+ recipes? And I have no idea how to attach these images to posts!