Online Business » How to Start a Health & Wellness Blog Blogging GuidesGuides How to Start a Health & Wellness Blog

One of the best things about blogging about your passions is that no day has to feel like work. You can write about the things that you love doing whilst making a living, giving you more time to live your life to the full, the way that you should be able to.

Today, we are going to be sharing everything that we know about starting a health and wellness blog with you. From initial concepts to setting up your own website so that you can use it to make money and all of the finer details in between, no stone will be left unturned.

Why you should start a health and wellness blog

If you are reading this article, then you probably already know that you want to start a health and wellness blog. But, if you are currently in two minds, then you might need to hear why starting a health and wellness blog is a wonderful idea. Some of the most common reasons that we hear for starting health and wellness blogs include:

Sharing your expertise

One of the best things about starting a health and wellness blog is the ability to share your expertise with the world. You can help people who are currently travelling on their own journeys through life, and you can guide them in the right direction by using your own life experiences as relatable examples.

To learn more about health and wellness

This might sound counterintuitive, but starting a health and wellness blog presents numerous opportunities to learn more about your chosen niche. As you write about specific topics, you might find yourself spending time researching new areas so that you understand them more, and you might even build a social circle with other influencers.

To advertise your business

If you currently work professionally in the health and wellness industry, then you could potentially use a well-crafted blog to drive traffic to your business. For example, a nutritionist offering tailored diet plans would potentially be able to mention these diet plans on a blog and drive traffic towards them. This could also be used as part of a full circle system, as the business website could also be used to drive traffic towards the blog.

To earn money

Earning money is one of the main aspirations that most bloggers have, as the ability to earn money with a blog gives you much more freedom over how you live your life. There are plenty of different ways that a blog can be used to make a profit, and some of them can be found towards the bottom of this article. You do need to keep in mind the fact that you will need a lot of visitors if you wish to make a significant figure, and you won’t be able to generate that much traffic if you don’t post quality content.

As you can see, there are plenty of different reasons why people choose to start health and wellness blogs. Remember that your reason is personal to you, and no one should ever tell you that your reason isn’t a good enough reason or that you don’t want it enough. If you want to start a blog, then you should do exactly that.

Building your brand

Before you can start to think about how you are going to make money with your blog, and how you are going to drive organic traffic to your blog, you need to spend a lot of time thinking about your brand. Your brand will become the soul of your website, the thing that your readers will recognize and relate to and your own online persona.

Choosing a brand name

Building a brand takes a lot of time, as it involves everything from the aesthetical appearance of your website to the type of content that you create. But, your brand name is perhaps the most important area that you need to consider. When you are thinking about what you should call your health and wellness blog, there are several things that you need to consider:

Is the name that you are thinking of memorable?

Choosing a domain name can be difficult. An ideal domain name will be both memorable and easy to type. If you choose a long and particularly complicated domain name, then it might be easy for your readers to forget what your blog is called.

It can also be beneficial to include keywords that are linked to the health and wellness industry in your domain name. This is because readers can instantly associate your website with the industry, and it can make your domain name easier to remember.

Is the name that you are thinking of similar to that of another blog?

You want your domain name to be as unique as possible. If you choose a name that is similar to the name of another health and wellness blog, then you could struggle to drive traffic to your blog. If you really make a mistake and name your blog after another blog by accident, then you could end up tangled up in a legal mess.

Is the domain name that you are considering currently available?

Before you truly settle on a domain name, you need to make sure that it is available and check how much it costs. Domain names with popular keywords tend to cost a lot more than obscure domain names do, so you need to decide whether or not you want to invest a lot of money to build your brand around a popular keyword.

Once you have settled on a domain name for your health and wellness blog, you can start to think about other aspects of your website.

Finding your niche

Finding a niche for your health and wellness blog can be quite a difficult task, as there are a lot of different niches for you to choose from that come under the same umbrella. We would advise that you never start a blog about something that you don’t thoroughly enjoy writing about because you will regret your decision later if you do.

Imagine having to force yourself to write about something that you simply don’t enjoy – you will hit a roadblock. Before you begin to think about your niche, make sure that you have a pen and paper to hand. You might have ideas running around your mind like a tornado, and writing them down might help you to choose one that you are happy to stick with.

The world of sub-niche marketing

When we take a look at the world of health and wellness, we can see that there are dozens of different sub-niches and industry giants who cover all of them. To make sure that you get your slice of the traffic, it’s worth picking just a single sub-niche or area to specialize in to start with. You could then look at expanding in the future, depending on your chosen domain name. Some sub-niches that you might want to consider include:

Nutrition

When we take a look at the global wellness economy as a whole, we can see that the field of nutrition takes up a large percentage of the market and grows at a rapid pace on an annual basis. People all over the world are looking for ways that they can eat healthier, get healthier and improve their lives through what they eat.

The field of nutrition also comes with its own particular sub-niches, especially when you consider an audience of people who have specific dietary needs. If you were to choose to blog about nutrition, you could potentially post recipes, diet tips, articles about how different types of food can be integrated into the diet and anything that captures your attention.

Fitness

Just like the field of nutrition, fitness is an area that is growing at a rapid pace and currently takes up a large chunk of the global wellness economy. More and more people are looking to improve their lifestyles and become healthier, and blogs on the internet can be used as a major point of inspiration.

If you would like to write a blog about fitness, then you could also choose a further sub-niche to enhance your traffic. You could potentially choose to write about running, training or specific sports and activities.

Weight Loss

Well-researched weight loss blogs tend to perform incredibly well online. Just like the fields of nutrition and fitness, they are most often sought out by people who are looking to improve their own lifestyles. If you were to write a blog about weight loss, you could potentially write about your own personal journey, recipes that can be used to aid weight loss, the science behind weight loss and even the journeys of your readers.

Skincare

If you would prefer to focus on a topic that leans more towards wellness, then you could think about writing about something like skincare. Finding a skincare sub-niche is a relatively easy task, as you could choose to focus on any number of things, from a specific style of skincare and specific products to specific skincare concerns.

One thing to remember when writing a blog about skincare is the fact that a lot of readers like to hear about your own personal experiences, be they with your own skincare concerns or particular products. Honesty is what builds a lot of reliable traffic for these blogs, as it builds a sense of trust between the writer and the reader.

Why is choosing a niche important?

Choosing a health and wellness sub-niche is important because it helps to drive the right type of traffic to your blog. People who are interested in a particular topic will be guaranteed to enjoy the content that you create if that is your chosen sub-niche, helping you to build an audience of trusted readers who will keep coming back to see what you post.

Selecting your niche

As you can see, there are a lot of different sub-niches for you to choose from when you come to start a health and wellness blog. Before you finalize your decision, we would advise that you ask yourself the following questions:

Do you think you’ll still enjoy your chosen topic when you’ve written hundreds of blogs about it?

The thing about writing a blog of any kind is that you really have to dedicate yourself to producing quality content for it, otherwise it simply won’t be as productive as it could be. You might love the topic that you’ve picked, but you might find that writing about it constantly becomes quite a tedious task.

How large do you think your audience will be?

Before you choose your niche, you should try to gain an idea of how much traffic your blog could generate with that niche. We would advise that you start looking at Google Trends to try to find out what your potential audience is currently searching for, and how the interest for your chosen niche is increasing and decreasing.

Could you use your chosen niche to make money?

Once you have worked out whether or not your chosen sub-niche could generate the amount of traffic that you would like your health and wellness blog to generate, you need to try to gain an idea of how much money your blog could potentially make. Remember that some niches will naturally be more profitable than others.

Try to think about what products or services you could advertise, or what products you could plug in your content using an affiliate program. Could you write and sell your own informative eBook? Could you sell your own products? Could you create an online course for your readers to participate in?

Building your blog

Once you have picked a domain name for your blog and your chosen sub-niche, you need to start thinking about the actual process of building your blog. Building a blog is no easy one-step task but, by using the below guide, you will be able to build an optimized blog that perfectly matches your needs in one streamlined process.

Choosing a hosting provider

If this is the first blog that you have ever created, then the world of internet hosting could be quite a minefield. There are dozens of different options and services for you to choose from. Ending up with the wrong hosting provider and the wrong plan could end in disaster, so there are things that you need to make sure that you look for and understand.

What type of hosting best matches your needs?

One of the first things that you need to consider when you are looking for a hosting plan is how much traffic you think your health and wellness blog will receive. If you know that it won’t receive a lot of traffic for quite a long time, then you should look into a shared hosting plan to start with. When you have a shared hosting plan, you share your server and your server’s resources with several other websites.

Unfortunately, as your website begins to grow and generates more traffic, you might find that your website suffers with shared hosting. This is because of how the resources are split. When and if this does happen, you should start to look into either a VPS or dedicated plan that can meet the needs of both yourself and your readers.

What is a VPS?

VPS stands for virtual private server. It is best to simply imagine it as being one step up from a shared server and one step down from a dedicated server. When you have a virtual private server, you are still technically sharing a server, but you have access to a much larger portion of resources and more control over what you receive as part of your plan.

Our pick for new blogs

One good direction for new bloggers to look towards would be SiteGround, an affordable hosting provider that offers several different, easy-to-understand options. We have found that all of their initial default limits are quite high, especially compared to those of their competitors. This means that their users have access to a generous allocation of resources, even when they are using a shared plan.

SiteGround also do daily back-ups of all of the websites on their servers, meaning that you have access to a back-up plan of your own if your own regular back-ups fail. This can save you from disaster, especially when your website is in a position where it is generating quite a lot of traffic.

Installing WordPress

Depending on the options that are offered by your hosting provider, installing WordPress can be a relatively simple and easy task. With SiteGround, you simply have to go to your cPanel and use the WordPress one-click installer that can be found under their “WordPress Tools” section.

Learning to use WordPress

When you first look at the dashboard on WordPress, you might feel slightly overwhelmed. The sidebar is full of options, and if this is your first website, some of them will mean absolutely nothing to you. But, getting to grips with WordPress is actually a relatively easy task, as long as the steps are broken down into manageable chunks.

Before you begin to think about how you want your health and wellness blog to look and feel, you should choose a theme that best reflects your aesthetical desires.

Choosing a theme

Choosing a theme for your website can be quite a complex task, not necessarily because it’s difficult to do, but because there are so many wonderful options available out there. There are thousands on thousands of WordPress themes, and we would advise that you make a list of all of the different features that you want your website to have before you even start looking through them. This way, you can filter through the themes that simply don’t match your needs.

Finding a free theme

The theme that you first start with is a WordPress default. You can keep this theme if you really want to, but it won’t do anything to help your website and how well it performs. By choosing a custom theme, you can really capture the attention of your audience and hone in on your brand.

On WordPress, there are dozens of free themes and templates that you could potentially use. Some are versatile, some are responsive and some are better suited to certain tasks than others. For example, there are free themes that have been developed specifically to showcase portfolios.

Installing themes to your website couldn’t be easier. You simply have to click “Install” on the theme that you would like to explore or use. You can then go into the theme to view its customization options, but you do need to be careful as different themes offer different rates of customization.

Buying a professional health and wellness theme

If you are willing to invest in your health and wellness blog, then you might want to consider buying a health and wellness theme. These are themes that have been built for purpose, meaning that they have been designed with blogs like yours in mind.

These premium themes only have the features that you really need, and they don’t contain a plethora of terrible features that could affect how well your site performs. Themes that have been purposely developed are also known for being easy to use and responsive, often featuring grids and layouts that translate across different devices without any problems.

When you are looking for a premium health and wellness theme, you should also think about the color schemes and fonts that will be available to you, as these should resonate with your brand image.

It is worth noting that premium themes are known for being updated regularly, and they often come with a full level of support. One of the main issues with free themes is that they are often abandoned, meaning that you run the risk of a lack of updates and a lack of support.

Customizing your theme

When you come to customize your theme, the options that will be available to you depend on the theme that you have picked. From your theme’s main customization page, you will be able to set the title of your website and its unique tagline, then there will be a plethora of other customization options. These could range from the layout of a page or a particular section to the color scheme.

An introduction to essential plugins

WordPress plugins come in a variety of different shapes and forms, and both free and premium plugins are available to most users. With free plugins, some of the features that they can offer might still be locked.

Before you install a plugin, make sure that you read the reviews for said plugin and see whether or not it has had a negative impact on the performance of other user’s sites. Some plugins that you might want to consider include:

BackupBuddy

BackupBuddy is a plugin that does exactly what it says on the tin. It can be used to save your site’s data and it can be used to restore your site in a worst case scenario. We would advise that you schedule a series of automatic backups of your health and wellness blog, that way, all of your hard work is kept safe.

YoastSEO

When it comes to generating traffic, SEO should be at the forefront of every blogger’s mind. Yoast SEO is a specialist plugin that has been developed to help you check how well optimised your content is. To learn more about content creation and SEO, keep reading.

Google PageSpeed Insights

There are plenty of beautiful, responsive plugins out there, but the plugins that are really worthwhile are the ones that can be used to check the performance of your website. Google PageSpeed Insights can be used to check how fast your pages load so that you can monitor the experience of your users. If your pages are slow, then this could lead to potential readers looking elsewhere.

WooCommerce

If you are going to be selling anything on your blog, then you should take a look at WooCommerce. WooCommerce is one of the most affordable eCommerce platforms available, and it is known for being easy to use and customizable.

Creating Content

Once you have your domain name picked, your hosting in place and your website looking and feeling exactly how you want it to look and feel, you can start thinking about the type of content that you are going to create. Having a good strategy to follow will help you to ensure that your health and wellness blog is a success.

Choosing what to write about

Before you start reading this section, we would advise that you make sure that you have a notebook to hand. You might find ideas popping into your head and you should make a note of them all, no matter how small they are.

Once you have chosen your sub-niche, you should start researching it. Use a keyword analysis tool like Google Keyword Planner to find out what your potential audience is searching for and what other bloggers in your field are focusing on.

As you look at keywords, you might find potential blog titles among them. Try to avoid going for keywords with no search volume or keywords that look like there would be too much competition.

Once you have your ideas, you should start writing your content. If you are writing something fact-based, then you should think about including official citations to improve the level of trust between yourself and your audience. Make sure that any links open in new tabs. Otherwise, you will be directing people away from your blog!

Sourcing photographs

If you are one of a lucky few, then you might find that you can take all of the photographs that you need for your blog yourself. This will save you a lot of time and hard work, especially if your alternative is trying to source free images.

If you are looking for free images for your blog, then you should start by searching through the creative commons. Naturally, you need to make sure that you don’t accidentally use a copyrighted image on your blog, but creative commons photographs often come with their own terms as to how and when you can use them. These include:

Attribution Photographs

If a license mentions Attribution or (BY), then this means that you can copy a photograph for both non-commercial and commercial uses, as long as you credit the photographer. You are also allowed to edit photographs that are used under this type of license.

No Derivs Photographs

If a license mentions No Derivs or (ND), that means that you can still use the photograph as long as you credit the photographer, but you cannot alter the image in any way.

Non-Commercial Photographs

If a license mentions Non-Commercial or (NC), then this means that you can only use the image for non-commercial purposes. If you are making money with your blog, then you can’t use non-commercial photographs.

Share Alike Photographs

Share Alike or (SA) photographs are photographs that can be used in any way, shape or form. But, other people will also be able to use your edited photograph in the same way.

An alternative would be to use images that you do have to pay for. A lot of the largest photo distributors offer packages where you can download and use so many images a month, and you don’t have to credit the photographer.

SEO optimization for your content

If you have done your keyword research, then optimizing your blog posts should be a relatively easy task. If you write with a primary keyword in mind, then you can make sure that your blog is optimized and targeting people who are searching for that keyword.

Try to avoid stuffing a blog with keywords, because you could be penalized by the search engine for doing that. Consider using keywords to be a fine balancing act. Just enough can help the way that your blog performs, too many and you could destroy the way that your blog performs.

Remember that most people will only click on a post if they like the title and Google is the same. Try to make sure that you include your primary keyword in the blog title and in your URL.

You should also use relative internal and external links. These could drive traffic to other pages on your website, just make sure that the link is relevant.

Marketing

Once you have created content for your website, you should start to think about marketing and how you can use marketing to really improve your blog’s traffic. Social media marketing is now one of the most common forms of marketing, with platforms like Instagram and Facebook paving the way.

Social Media

Social media marketing is now one of the most common ways for bloggers to drive traffic to their websites. Identifying a potential audience can be easy, and being able to interact with your audience makes them feel as though they are valued readers.

We would advise that you lay out a social media marketing plan and stick to it. Think about what photographs you are going to share on sites like Instagram, and what blogs you are going to share on sites like Facebook. Try to react to current events and trends.

If you want to attract an even bigger audience, then you can think about paying for social advertising. This way, you can ensure that your content reaches a wider audience.

Making money with your health and wellness blog

The dream for many bloggers is to be able to make a living using their blog, and there are steps that you can take to make that dream achievable. Some of the key areas that you should focus on include:

Advertising

A lot of new bloggers make money by using Google Adsense. But, there are other options available to you. For example, if your blog receives quite a lot of traffic, then you could look into selling advertisements directly on your website.

You can sell advertisements on your website by setting up an easy to find “advertise with us” page. You do have to make sure that you include all of your traffic statistics and the different forms of advertising that you have available. Whether or not you want to include how much you would charge is down to your own discretion, as this could be discussed after initial contact has been made.

Affiliate links

Once your blog is generating quite a lot of traffic, you should look into what affiliate programs are available to you and relevant to the health and wellness industry. Affiliate programs allow you to include product links in your blog and, if one of your readers makes a purchase, you get a percentage of that purchase.

We would advise that you only ever plug products that you have used, as it could be damaging to your reputation if you plug a product that isn’t good. Everything that you include on your blog should bring value, including the products that you recommend.

Sponsored posts

When you carve a name for yourself in the health and wellness industry, you might find people contacting you to request sponsored posts. These are posts that you get paid to upload onto your website. Sometimes, they can be written by you, and sometimes they are provided by the individual or business paying you.

Please note that a lot of businesses will also be willing to pay you for social media posts, so you should keep your options open.

As you can see, there are quite a few different ways that you could potentially use your blog to make money. We would recommend that you use a mixture of all three of our recommended methods so that you can make as much money as possible.

Frequently Asked Questions about Building a Health & Wellness Blog

What steps are involved in making a health and wellness blog?

Choose a domain name, pick a hosting provider and plan, install WordPress, pick a theme and then work on creating an amazing selection of content, while focusing on SEO and all of the other things that you have learned about in this article.

Why do I need hosting?

Web hosting is what enables your website to function online, and without web hosting your website will not work. When you choose web hosting, make sure that you choose a plan that meets your traffic needs.

How do I set up WordPress?

Most hosting providers offer a one-click install feature for installing WordPress so that you don’t have to worry about the technicalities involved.

How do I know which theme to pick?

You should pick a theme that you feel best represents your brand. Try to look for one that offers you all of the features that you need, perhaps considering a premium health and wellness theme.

Which plugins should I install?

We have recommended several plugins in this article, but you could also browse some of the plugins that are available on WordPress to see whether or not you feel that any of them would improve your blog.

What important thing should I always remember?

If you take anything away from this article, take away the fact that writing good content is paramount. Everything should offer something to your audience, as that is what will keep them coming back.

Can I spy on what other people are doing?

Check out this article by Ian Fernando on Anstrex

Conclusion

As you can see, creating your own health and wellness blog is a relatively easy task, there are just a lot of steps that you need to take into consideration. We believe that the hardest part of creating a blog is building your brand, which is why it’s important to start with your brand name and the way that you want your business to look. Try to make sure that that aesthetic is reflected across all of your social media platforms, and try to drive traffic to your blog by using your social channels to your advantage.