How to Create a Fitness Blog – 5 Steps to Profit

Everywhere you go, people are constantly going online to search for products or services that can help them live a healthier life. If you are a health enthusiast, then you have got yourself a niche with a lot of opportunities. But where exactly do you start? 

First, you’ll need a website so let me show how to create a fitness blog from scratch and ways you can make it profitable.

Step #1 – Choose a Domain Name

A domain name is basically the name of your blog followed by an extension such as .com, .net and .org. There are generally two ways to construct a name – using keywords or brandable phrases. I like the latter because it is less commercial, but that’s just my personal preference.

While there are many platforms that offer ‘free’ domains, you need to understand what that actually means. Subdomains are free because you don’t need to register/pay for them. If you are paying for a website package that includes a ‘free’ custom domain, find out what it would cost you to own that domain in case you want to switch platforms later on.

However, if you are going to monetize from a blog, that means that you’ll be running an online business so getting a custom domain of your choice would be the best thing to avoid any complication down the road.

Again, there are many places that offer this service and prices could vary significantly for the exact phrase that you want. I’ve done some research on this and found that SiteRubix has one of the most comprehensive package that wouldn’t burn a hole in your pocket.

For about $14/year, you can actually get a top level domain name, privacy protection, business email and technical support. And there’s more…

Step #2 – Choose a Publishing Platform

After getting a domain, you’ll need a website to publish on and I’ve always been a big advocate for WordPress because it’s easy to customize, it delivers professionalism and generally rank better on the internet.

The good thing about SiteRubix is that it connects you to a WordPress site with just a few clicks. There’s no software to download and your blog can go live in less than a minute.

The WordPress platform might be slightly technical, but once you get over that, it’s definitely way better than using drag-and-drop website builders that often come with frustrating limitations.

If you like to check the backend of this platform, simply head over to my SiteRubix review here and see how you can get started for free.

Step #3 – Select a Blog Theme

Inside WordPress, the first thing to set up is to find a theme that suits your niche. A theme is a framework that ties your content together and provides a design layout to make your blog look more presentable.

Fortunately, finding one isn’t that difficult. On your user dashboard, just go to Appearance > Theme and type ‘Fitness’ into the search box. Select a design that you like, click install, and the theme is ready to be used out of the box.

Step #4 – Identify Your Audience

To make your blog come to life, the next thing you’ll need is content, but what are you going to write about? Here’s where your fitness knowledge will come into good use.

As mentioned before, people go online everyday searching for ways to improve themselves physically and mentally. If you can relate to these concerns, you are that much closer to engage with this group of people who are in fact your targeted niche.

Keywords will bridge that gap and here are some ways to research for them;

1. Think of yourself as someone who is searching for fitness related information. What questions/concerns/problems would you type into Google? Make a list of that.
2. Apply the Alphabet Soup Technique. As you type the queries on Google search, pay attention to other phrases that are rolling out at the bottom. These are trending term that you should take note of. 
3. Visit fitness forums and see what topics that people need the most help with. There could be questions that you are not aware of.
4. If you are following a fitness blog, see if you can subscribe to their newsletters. They are usually full of topics that can inspire new ideas.

Whatever keywords you choose, do make sure that they are specific and relevant to your niche. Next, in order to know if these topics are worth writing about, we need to identify how many websites are out there competing for the exact keywords.

The general rule of thumb is to choose phrases that are low in competition so that it is easier for your blog to rank on the search results. Using the Jaaxy Keyword Tool, I can easily uncover the level of competition within seconds.

Each of these keywords is a potential topic to write about. By publishing consistently, getting comment engagement going and socially share the posts, you should start seeing some steady organic traffic growing on your blog.

Step #5 – Applying for Affiliate Programs

I didn’t talk about monetization technique until now due to these two reasons;

1. I want you to focus on your niche first, not on the profit part
2. You need to create some website traffic before selling anything

It’s simple. When you think about your audience all the time, you’ll be writing helpful content that people will trust. That’s a huge factor to convert readers into buyers. Also, when you have an informative site, it’s much easier to get accepted into affiliate programs.

Affiliate marketing is one of the easiest revenue models to start with because all you need is basically a blog with content and earn through sales commissions. The health and fitness niche has a ton of ongoing trend where there are various products/services that you can leverage from. 

Here are some ways to search for affiliate programs;

1. Become an Amazon Associate – the giant marketplace is a gateway to thousands of fitness products.
2. Sign up as a member on affiliate networks like Rakuten Linkshare or ShareASale and browse through their list of potential merchants.
3. Have a brand/company that you like? Type into Google “X product affiliate program” and see if they are offering any.

When it comes to using affiliate links, remember not to oversell. You want to be helping/educating the audience; not pushing products. If people like what you share, they will naturally purchase something that you recommend.

From Blogging to Business

To grow a successful online business, you not only need to know how to create a fitness blog, you also need to have a strong foundation which is content. Producing content based on good keyword research will not only attract the right audience, but also generate recurring income for years to come.

I hope you’ve found this quick tutorial to be helpful. If you like to learn more in details, do check out the tools and training at Wealthy Affiliate that has all the resources to help you get started on the right track.

Have any thoughts or questions? Please leave your comment below and I’d be happy to respond.

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Health Food Affiliate Programs that are Profitable