How to Start a Fitness Blog | 9 Simple Steps to Success
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If you’ve got a passion for fitness, then you’re probably thinking about sharing that love of exercise with the world – and what better way to do it, than with a fitness blog?
Starting your own fitness blog is a great way to absorb yourself in a world that you love, connecting with like-minded people and sharing your fitness experience.
Plus, the US fitness industry was estimated to be worth a whopping $33.25 billion in 2021 – so there’s never been a better time to get yourself a piece of the action. That said, knowing exactly where to start can be hard – particularly for blogging beginners. So to help, we’ve put together these 9 simple steps for starting a fitness blog. Follow these, and you won’t even need to break a sweat to launch your blog to a whole audience of fitness enthusiasts.
Ready, set… go!
1 Find Your Niche
Finding the right niche for your fitness blog is essential. The fitness industry is broad, and you’ll need to decide exactly which areas you want your blog to focus on.
The first step is to think about which areas of fitness you enjoy, and have a good knowledge of. Perhaps you’re an avid gym-goer, and want to create an online fitness community full of gym tips and workouts. On the other hand, you may want to focus on providing content around at-home workouts, including routines and equipment.
Fitness blogs can cover everything from food and nutrition to accessories, wellness tips, and specific exercise categories, such as HIIT or Yoga.
The key to finding your niche is to discover where your passion lies. It’s no use writing about something that you’re not actually interested in, as readers will be able to sense this lack of enthusiasm in your content – no matter how hard you try!
When you first start your fitness blog it’s important to have a clearly determined niche as this will allow you to attract an audience made up of users who are looking for the content you’re creating. As your audience grows, you can begin to branch out to other areas and topics too – but starting off too broad will make it harder for you to grow a loyal following in the beginning.
2 Create a Brand
Your brand is your blog’s identity, and – at its core – is what’ll set you apart from an ever-growing crowd of fitness blogs.
A brand refers to everything related to your fitness blog that a user can see and consume. This includes elements such as your blog name and logo, the colors and fonts you use throughout your site, and the tone of voice you use within your content.
If you want to build up an engaged community that connects to your content, then having a distinctive brand is crucial.
It’s also important that you take time to carefully create your brand. After all, it’ll run through all of your blog content and communication. Whilst you can certainly rebrand further down the line, it’ll be less of a headache if you can manage to nail your branding from the beginning.
3 Buy a Domain Name
Once you’ve perfected your brand, you’ll need to buy your domain name.
A domain name is exactly what it sounds like – the name of your website. It’s what users will type into the address bar in order to be directed to your fitness blog. Without one, nobody would ever be able to access your website.
When selecting your domain name, think carefully about what the content on your blog is about, and shape that domain name accordingly.
Try to keep it as simple as possible, too. Domain names were created so that users wouldn’t need to remember long numbers and codes to access a specific website, so having an overly-complicated domain name kind of defeats the purpose!
You can purchase your domain name from a domain registrar, providing that it’s not already in use on another website. There are multiple registrars to choose from, too, and you can check out which ones we recommend – such as domain.com – in this article about the best domain registrars.
And, if you’re worried about how much domain names cost, then don’t be. Domain names aren’t usually expensive, and you can expect them to cost between $10 and $20 per year. You’ll need to renew your domain name annually, but most registrars will remind you of this before your domain expires.
4 Sign up to a Blogging Platform
When it comes to creating the structure and layout of your fitness blog, we recommend using a website builder.
Website builders are easy to use, and allow you to customize the appearance and functionality of your website without code, which makes them the perfect option for blogging novices. There’s also extensive help and support available should you need any extra help, and – with different price plans readily available – there are options for every budget.
There are myriad website builders on the market, but we suggest you opt for one of the following three:
Squarespace
Squarespace is one of the most popular website builders on the internet, and – with plans starting at just $12 per month – it’s not hard to see why.
The platform offers extensive customization capabilities thanks to its latest version, 7.1, and has over 113 templates that are adaptable for both desktop and mobile devices.
Wix
Thanks to its drag-and-drop design tools, Wix is super easy to use, especially for beginners who want to be able to customize the appearance of their blog with limited know-how.
As of 2021, Wix has over 200 million users worldwide, so you’ll certainly be in good company if you choose this website builder for your fitness blog.
Wix’s plans start at $18 per month, and users can also benefit from insightful SEO tools, plus over 800 customizable templates.
Weebly
Weebly is an easy-to-use website builder that has great SEO and content features, which makes it ideal for a burgeoning fitness blog.
Plans start at just $6 per month, and you can customize the appearance and features of your Weebly website – without needing to know a single line of code!
Once you’ve decided which website builder is the right one for you, simply select the plan that best suits your needs, sign up and connect your domain name. Then, it’s time to choose a theme and get customizing…
5 Choose and Customize a Theme
A theme, or template, dictates how your fitness blog will look to users who land on it. There are literally thousands of themes online for you to choose from.
Always make sure you choose a theme that has good reviews and is reputable – you don’t want to install a theme full of malicious code!
Once you’ve decided on your theme, you can customize it so that it fully meets your needs. You can alter things such as the font and colors used, as well as the images and layout of each page. Most themes will also let you customize more technical elements of the layout: such as menus, pages, and footers.
Customizing your chosen theme is a great way to put your own stamp on your fitness blog. Remember to use the brand you have already created, such as colors and fonts, to help inform your customization and theme.
Top Tip!
If you’re struggling to pick a theme and get inspired, let us help! We’ve put together guides to the best websites on the web across a range of fitness categories. One of our most recent ones is yoga – so be sure to check out our top 10 yoga website examples for more info, inspo, and inner peace!6 Create Your Blog’s Essential Pages
Before you can begin creating your fitness blog’s content, you’ll need to make sure its essential pages are populated with the right information.
Your fitness blog’s key hubs include its home, about, and contact page. These are the core pages that will help users to navigate around your website, and provide them with the key information that you probably wouldn’t include in a blog post (for example, your contact details).
So what content should you include on your essential pages?
Homepage – Your homepage is likely to be the first page that a user lands on, and, as such, should immediately indicate what your website is about. Don’t overpopulate your homepage; instead, make use of links and images to help direct users to other relevant pages of your fitness blog.
About – You can use your about page to provide your audience with some background information about you and your blog. This is a good place to explain why you started a fitness blog in the first place, and what experience you have that makes your content trustworthy and useful.
Contact – In case it wasn’t obvious, your contact page should feature, well… your contact information! Sometimes, a user may want to get in touch with you to talk about your content – and further down the line, you may even have brands who want to work with you!
Make sure your contact details are easy to find. You can even consider adding a contact form to the page to make it even simpler for people to get in touch.
7 Install Apps
One of the great things about using a website builder to create your fitness blog is that they give you the opportunity to add apps and plugins that help improve the function and user experience of your website.
Some of the main apps you’ll want to consider installing to help improve your fitness blog include:
- Social share icons that allow users to share your content on their social media.
- Previews of your social media platforms, encouraging users to follow you.
- A contact form to help visitors get in touch with you quickly and easily.
- Image galleries that allow you to add multiple images to a blog post, helping to enhance your content offering.
8 Plan and Create Your Blog’s Content
Finally, the part you’ve been waiting for…creating the content for your blog!
If you’ve been thinking about starting a fitness blog for a while, then you’ve probably already got multiple ideas about the blog posts that you want to write.
Before you get ahead of yourself, though, it’s always a good idea to plan out your blog content first. Having a content calendar allows you to plan ahead, and ensure you have a steady stream of content to upload to your blog. You don’t want to launch with loads of posts, only to run out of ideas after a week!
The more frequently you upload new content the better chance you have of growing an engaged audience.
Once you’ve planned out your blog and are ready to start creating content, remember to always write with the reader in mind. Think about who you’re targeting with your content, and try to avoid using too much jargon or complicated terminology; after all, you want to ensure that your content appeals to everyone.
When you’re writing for the web, try to break down your content into easily digestible chunks. Online users tend to have a shorter attention span than those consuming other forms of content, so don’t bombard them with too much information in one go.
9 Promote Your Fitness Blog
Once you launch your fitness blog, you’ll have put blood, sweat, and tears into it. The last thing you want is for all that effort to be a waste of time, if nobody actually reads your blog.
That’s where marketing comes in. Implementing a digital marketing strategy will ensure that your blog gets in front of the right eyes, and will help you to cultivate an engaged and loyal audience.
So what can you do to promote your fitness blog?
SEO
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization, and is the process of optimizing your website so that it shows up in search results. If you’ve written a blog post on the best at-home gym equipment, then you’re going to want that post to appear when a user searches for “best at-home gym equipment”, right?
Right.
Optimizing your fitness blog for search results also includes making sure its user experience is second to none, as well as including target keywords in your content and building a backlink profile.
Thankfully, most website builders provide SEO insights for you, and there are tonnes of apps you can install to help guide you through the process.
Social Media
Never underestimate the power of social media. If you can grow a community on your chosen social media platforms, then you can set your fitness blog on the path to success.
Share your content through social media and engage with your audience – replying to comments, and asking them questions about the type of content they want to see on your blog.
Add social share icons to each post that allow users to share your content with their own social media followers. This is a great way of showcasing your content to a new audience.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a great way to stay in touch with your audience, and keep them engaged with your content. Create a newsletter that regularly lands in their inbox, but don’t be tempted to spam them with too much content – they’ll unsubscribe, otherwise!
You can use email marketing to share new content and offer exclusive insights that users won’t find anywhere else. If you have a product or service that you’re selling alongside your blog, then offering a discount for everyone who signs up to your newsletter is a great way to increase your subscriber numbers.
Consider adding a simple pop-up to your website that prompts users to subscribe, but take care to ensure this isn’t annoying – otherwise, it might end up having the opposite effect.
Starting a Fitness Blog: Summary
Although it might seem like a big task, starting a fitness blog doesn’t need to be daunting, and – hopefully – these nine tips will have helped to make the process even easier.
Remember, blogging is a long game – and success won’t come overnight. If you spend some time setting up your blog and planning out your content then you’ll be giving yourself the best possible start. So get out there, and get going!
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