When you are a fitness guru, you are often motivated to pass on your wisdom to those around you. It’s especially true for fitness trainers whose lives took a positive turn when they started learning about exercise, nutrition, health, and wellness. You want to use the knowledge that you have acquired and implemented over the years to inspire and motivate others to take charge of their lives. Today, you have the ideal platform to do just that.
Start a fitness blog!
It’s the ultimate way to tell your story to the whole world and reach people who might need your help. As a fitness expert, you can don your writer’s hat and write on different niches, such as workout and training, nutrition, and wellness. However, it’s not always easy to run a successful blog or retain your readers. It can also be quite overwhelming to start blogging, especially if you’ve never done it before. However, with the right guidance, you can become an excellent fitness blogger in no time.
Let’s explore how to become an expert fitness blogger!
11 Tips for Running a Fitness Blog
Here are 11 helpful tips that you can use to run a successful fitness blog:
- Set a Goal for Your Blog
The first step for becoming a fitness blogger is to have a clear goal in your mind. When starting out, it’s best to set SMART goals for yourself. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. So, simply having the generic idea to create a blog will not be enough. You should ideally break down your goal to fit into the reliable SMART framework.
For instance, your goal is to start a fitness blog that will drive 50 visitors to your site every week within the next three months. Then, you can plan how you will achieve that goal. For instance, you can decide that you will spend at least an hour researching relevant topics every day and an hour every other day to get backlinks for your blog topics while simultaneously writing two to three 500-word blog posts every week.
- Identify Your Audience
The next step that you must take is to ask yourself, “What story do I want to write, and whom do I expect to be my readers?” Identifying your vision will help you identify your audience and vice versa. These two factors will help you set the tone for your blog. It will help you decide on a niche and come up with relevant topics for your blog.
For instance, if you want to start a blog rooted in your weight loss success, hold on to it and create personal posts that highlight your authenticity. Whatever your story is, find the audience that will be interested in reading it. You need to create an identity for your blog and stick to that persona to connect with your target audience.
3. Choose Your Fitness Niche
When starting a fitness blog, you need to have a clear idea of the times of topics you plan to tackle. You cannot go in with the idea that you will just wing it. If you’re an already established trainer, your blog topics should naturally align with your area of expertise. From there, you can slowly branch out and show your expertise in other niches.
Even if you are not a renowned trainer, you need to select a particular niche of the fitness industry. You cannot hope to stand out from the crowd with a generic fitness blog. When writing on a specific niche that you know about, you can quickly establish your authority in that niche. Plus, it will be easier to think of specific topics.
However, choosing a niche does not mean that you cannot branch out and explore other topics. For instance, if you are a cardio trainer writing primarily on cardio, there’s no reason you can’t write a blog post on the benefits of incorporating yoga into your weekly workout schedule to generate better results.
4. Be Authentic
If you want your blog to gain any traction, you need to rise above the redundant content being churned out by other fitness blogs. You need to own your area of expertise and find unique ways to differentiate yourself from the boring, everyday blogs. Don’t write about recycled topics, and work harder to find more eccentric and creative topics for original content.
In a world that is over-saturated with content, you need to find your voice. The best way to put your mark on the world of fitness blogging is to be honest and authentic. If you show your readers that you are creating original content that is fresh and valuable, you will immediately stand out in your particular fitness blogging niche. Remember that you want people to hear your voice and be a part of your vision, so you must remain true to yourself while blogging.
5. Choose a Compelling Name for Your Fitness Blog
A part of being original and standing out from the sea of similar blogs is to choose a unique name for your blog. Instead of trying to land a relevant .com domain, try a newer domain, such as “.fitness” or “.fit.” After all, these domains are more relevant to what you want to do. Plus, you need your domain to match your blog name since the name of your blog is your way to create a memorable first impression on a potential reader, fan, or customer who will come across your blog. Your blog name will give them an idea of who you are and what you do.
If you want t build your career primarily as a fitness blogger, speaker, and consultant, it’s best if you opt to name your blog after you. There’s something quite powerful in creating a brand that is centered on your name. If you have a common name and you can’t find a domain that is not taken, try to create a domain that is similar to your name or one that evokes an understanding of what your blog is about.
6. Create a Blogging Strategy
If you want to run a successful fitness blog, you will need to work on a comprehensive blogging strategy. Once you have locked in on your target audience, you need to think about how you will reach them. Moreover, you need to consider how long your blog posts will be. According to research, the top-ranking content on Google averages between 1,140-1285 words. Plus, longer, in-depth posts tend to generate more leads than shorter ones. You will have to take these stats into account when deciding a standard length for your blog posts.
Additionally, an integral, long-term part of your blogging strategy is how you plan to grow your leadership. For instance, you can add pop-ups to your blog posts that ask readers to subscribe to the blog. It’s a great way to work on customer retention. You can also promote your blog and boost its authenticity by collaborating with other fitness bloggers and guest posting to reach new audiences. You can use email to reach out to other websites to link back to your blog posts to expand your target audience. Plus, it will inform Google bots that your content is credible and valuable.
Your strategy should also include what sort of content you will focus on in your blog posts. Will you post video content, exercise-related listicles, clean eating recipes, posts centered on 30-day challenges, etc.? Selecting one specific area of expertise will help you focus your energies on developing your expertise and authority in that arena. Once you have done that and established a loyal readership, you can experiment, branch out, and try different things.
7. Select a Central Theme for All of Your Posts
If you want your content to be impactful, valuable, and engaging, write each post with a central theme in your mind. Stick to a keyword and then find a topic that can encompass your keyword. Don’t try to cram too much information in your blog post, as that will result in a hotchpotch that will be off-putting for your readers. If you stick to one topic, you can write a comprehensive blog post that is focused, and offers relevant easy-to-understand information.
8. Post and Promote Regularly
When it comes to blogging, you need to post new content regularly and promote your fitness blog vigorously. It doesn’t mean that you go overboard and bombard your readers with inane blog posts without any meaty content, as that will backfire and annoy your readers to no end.
However, you need to post as regularly as possible to ensure that your readers remain hooked. After all, research shows that companies that publish 16 or more blog posts every month benefit from 4.5 times more leads than those that post four or fewer posts per month.
Additionally, you need to promote your blog so that it reaches your target audience successfully. After all, you can’t expect your blog to reach potential readers without putting in any effort. Don’t shy away from posting snippets of your blog posts with links to them on your social media pages and channels. Talk about your blog posts in your social media posts and promote them organically.
9. Streamline Your Content
Always plan your content ahead of time so that you don’t have to rely on last-minute deadlines. If you plan ahead and have a few blog posts lined up for your fitness blog, you will be able to stick to your scheduled posting timeline even if you’re facing a sudden change in your life. Being proactive will prevent you from scrambling to come up with a topic and write a blog post at the last moment. A sloppily and hurriedly written post can damage your credibility. It’s why it never hurts to be prepared for whatever life throws at you.
It’s best if you get started on the right foot and plan ahead for at least a month’s worth of content. It will ensure that you have content for emergency situations. It will also help you greatly if you get stuck in a content rut, or face writer’s block. Having clearly defined goals for each month will also help you stay on top of your game and cater to changing trends and topics in your writing.
10. Be Inviting and Encourage Discourse
You must always try to engage your readers via your writing. Try to write on topics that encourage a healthy conversation. Ask specific questions related to your blog topic in the post. For instance, if you’re writing on workouts to help you lose weight, you can ask your readers which workouts helped them lose weight. The words “comment below” are always an enticing invitation for a reader to give their opinion on your blog post in the comments section.
When you receive comments on a blog post, take out the time to reply to your readers. It will let them know that you care about their opinions and suggestions and want to hear from them. It will also make them more likely to engage with you on your future posts.
11. Be Kind and Humble
Let’s face it; you might come across readers who will disagree with your posts and outright dislike your fitness blog. Such people might even leave discouraging comments on your posts. You can either let their statements bring you down or acknowledge them in the nicest way possible.
Even if you are tempted to start an argument with them or feel bitter about their comment, refrain from stooping to their level. Instead, rise above the negativity and thank such readers for their insight. Make sure to reply to such comments quickly to show your readers that you’re not afraid of confrontation and that you have the grace to handle a tough situation elegantly.
For instance, imagine someone leaving a negative comment on your posts, such as “This diet is horrible. I gained weight after trying it.” It would be best if you reply to their comment honestly and kindly by saying something such as, “Hey (name of the commenter), I’m sorry to hear that the diet didn’t work for you. But you need to remember that our bodies work in different ways and what works for some may not always work for others. If you want to further discuss your diet and why you think it didn’t work in your case, feel free to reach out to me at (your email address).” It’s a kind and genuine response that goes to show you truly care about your readers.
The Bottom Line
Starting and successfully running a fitness blog can be daunting and overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be! With the aforementioned tips, you can become a successful fitness blogger in no time. Just remember to be yourself, have an authentic voice, tell your story, and work smartly to conquer the world of fitness blogging.
Good luck!
