As of 2019, the fitness industry was worth an astounding $100 billion and only continues to grow as people become more and more interested in their health.
If you’re a health enthusiast, you might be interested in creating a platform for yourself, not only to inspire others to improve their fitness but also to get a piece of this incredibly profitable industry. And what better way to do so than to start a fitness blog?
Unlike working in a gym or office setting, running your own blog allows you to be your own boss, with complete autonomy in your schedule and virtually unlimited potential for growth.
But having health and fitness knowledge and starting a blog around these topics are two very different things. If you’re new to the blog world, starting your own can feel overwhelming, even impossible.
That’s why we’ve compiled this guide to starting the ultimate health and fitness blogs! By using these steps, you’ll be on the road to success in no time.
Keep reading to learn more!
1. Make Sure You’re Qualified
First and foremost, you need to have some form of qualification to give advice about health and fitness. Showing that you know what you’re talking about will inspire trust within your audience, but will also make you more favorable with Google, which is what you need in order to rank.
This can be a formal degree, a certification, or a wealth of experience in the field. As long as you have something to point to that shows you’re a professional, you’re good to go.
And as a health professional, you should only give sound advice. Once your blog gains traction, you’ll likely get offers to promote spammy products, such as weight loss lollipops or miracle diets.
Stay away from anything that could diminish your rapport with your audience and Google. These companies will put some money in your pocket in the short term but can ruin your reputation and, in turn, your long-term income.
2. Choose Your Niche
If you’re just getting started in the blog creation process, you may be thinking, isn’t health and fitness a niche? Technically, yes. But it’s far too vague.
Remember, you’re going to be competing with established bloggers and large corporations, both of whom will find it much easier to rank for any given topic than you will. This is why you need to be specific when choosing your niche.
Don’t say “health and fitness” and call it a day. What specific topics are you passionate about? Do you enjoy hiking? Circuit training? Fitness for parents?
Now, that doesn’t mean you have to write about one topic forever. You can expand further into the broad niche once you’ve begun to pick up steam, but it’s easier to break in if you stick to a certain category within your niche.
Say you start with a blog all about hiking for exercise. This is specific enough that you won’t have as much competition, but broad enough that you should have plenty to write about. Then, as you gain a following, you can experiment with expanding into kayaking, rock climbing, and other activities you think your audience would enjoy.
3. Pick a Name and Platform
Once you have your niche, it’s time to pick your name. Try to pick something catchy, original, and not too difficult to spell.
Don’t forget to future proof your title as well. Sure, you might start within the kayaking for fitness niche. But you don’t want to name your blog Kayak King if you plan to include topics beyond kayaking in the future.
Instead, choose something a little broader. You want something that fits the outdoor fitness theme without pointing directly to kayaking, leaving you free to explore other subjects when the time comes.
Don’t be afraid to ask friends and family for ideas! You never know where you’ll find inspiration. At the end of the day, however, remember that the name of your blog is far less important than the content you put on it.
When you have your name, you need to pick your platform! While there are many to choose from, WordPress is widely accepted as the best one on the market.
Not only does WordPress offer excellent customer service, but also gives you thousands of themes to choose from, allowing you to make your blog your own. Don’t worry, we’ll get into more detail about blog design later!
4. Research Keywords and Topics
A keyword is a topic, word, or phrase that someone will type into the search bar to find your blog. Choosing the right keywords is crucial to gaining organic traffic (visitors who find your site through unpaid search results rather than paid ads).
The trick is to choose keywords that have a high search volume with low competition. Like any market, it’s much easier to find success if there’s a demand for your product (or content). The goal is to rank high or appear among the top of the search results for a given keyword.
The best way to ensure you’re choosing keywords that will allow you to get closer to your goals is through keyword research. There are multiple tools available online that will help you determine which keywords will work best for you.
It’s better to start bringing in traffic early with a less competitive topic than to spend months attempting to break into one that’s highly competitive.
Let’s continue with the kayaking example. Attempting to rank high for the keyword “kayak” is going to be a waste of time. But “best places to kayak” is a little more specific, and likely far less competitive.
You want to be as close to the number 1 spot in search results as you can. The higher your position in the search results, the more clicks you get. The higher your clicks, the bigger your audience, and the greater your potential for profit.
Over time, you’ll build authority with the Google algorithm. This means Google recognizes and trusts your site, making it less and less difficult to rank high in the search results.
5. Design Your Blog
When designing your website, you have two options: design it yourself or hire a web designer. Thanks to drag and drop themes, you no longer need to know how to code to design a website, so doing it yourself with no experience is possible. However, if you choose to design it yourself, there are a few things to keep in mind.
When In Doubt, Go Minimal
It’s easy to get carried away with fonts, colors, and widgets. But in order to make your site as appealing to users as possible, it’s best to keep things simple.
Use a maximum of two readable fonts and three to five brand colors. You can use any colors you like, as long as your font is clearly legible. That said, your colors should be in the details, not the main part of the blog.
This is because white space is very important. White space draws attention to the content of your blog, rather than distracting users with the theme. It also makes it easier to create an aesthetically pleasing layout that doesn’t overwhelm visitors.
Yes, you want your site to have some personality, but your main goals should be to have a fast, mobile-friendly website that helps to guide your users to your content.
The Three Clicks Rule
Speaking of guiding your users, anyone who visits your website should be able to find whatever they’re looking for in three clicks of the mouse or less. This means making your layout as simple as possible while maintaining an attractive design.
It’s not as difficult as it sounds!
Keep your menu to seven items or less and avoid drop-down options if you can. Drop-down menus might seem like a good idea, but they’re difficult for Google to read and can confuse your users. Also, remember to make your logo link back to your homepage.
6. Produce Quality Content
Web design can be fun, and you should enjoy creating something that you love! However, be careful not to focus so much on your blog’s theme and layout that you neglect the content itself. Your content should always be your number 1 priority.
Because even the most meticulously chosen keywords and perfectly crafted layout won’t help you if your content isn’t any good.
Posting to your blog often is important, but it’s better to write a little less and give your audience high-quality articles than to post a dud every single day. Go into every article with the goal of making it the best of its kind on the internet.
Ensure that each piece is researched, formatted, and thoroughly checked for spelling and grammar. Yes, a beautiful site can draw users in, but fantastic content is what will keep them there.
Here are a few tips for crafting the perfect blog post:
Keep Your Paragraphs Short and Sweet
Forget everything you learned in school about how to craft paragraphs and sentences. The rules are completely different on the web. Keep your sentences short – two lines or less, and your paragraphs three sentences or less.
If you want to emphasize a sentence, make it its own paragraph!
Separate Text with Headings and Images
The best way to scare off a reader is to throw a wall of text at them. Your blog posts can be as long as you like, just be sure to add headings and images to break it up.
When writing your posts, keep in mind that users are coming to your site to find information, and 99 times out of 100, they want to find it as fast as possible. They won’t take the time to peruse your 3000-word blog post for the few sentences they need.
Headers help them to find the section of the blog that contains their answer. And who knows, if your writing is good, they might find themselves reading the whole post after they have their answer!
Images are also great tools for bloggers because they keep readers engaged as they’re scrolling. But don’t choose just any image. It should be high-quality and relevant to the content around it.
If you want to take your content a step further, consider adding video elements! Video is an internet user’s favorite way to consume information and can take your blog up a notch. Whether you add an explainer video or footage of you doing the activity you’re talking about, video is never a bad idea.
Make Lists (And Lots of Them)
Google any topic and you’ll likely find that the bulk of the first page is made up of lists. This is because users love lists. Bulleted or numbered lists are the ultimate means of obtaining information quickly.
Your entire article can be a list (The 10 Best Places to Kayak), or you can throw a list into a section of an article (Here are 5 reasons to kayak this summer). Try to put a list in every article you create.
Always use a numerical list if the sequence is important or if you included a number in your title.
You’re Ready to Start a Fitness Blog
You already had the knowledge, now you’re ready to start a fitness blog and share it with the world! Starting with a blank slate can be tough, but as long as you stay positive and confident in yourself, you can build something you love.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, remember you don’t have to do it all at once. Take it one small step at a time, and soon you’ll look back in amazement at how far you’ve come.
For more tips and tricks on turning your passion into profit, be sure to take a look at our blog!