How to start a health blog

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3 Feb 2024

Starting a health blog is like opening the door to a healthier, happier you and sharing that journey with others. It's your platform to explore wellness, share valuable health tips and inspire positive lifestyle changes. Whether you're a fitness guru, a nutrition enthusiast or simply passionate about well-being, a health blog allows you to connect with readers seeking guidance on their health and wellness journey.

Moreover, if you’re starting a business related to health, starting a blog can be a pivotal marketing and branding decision. By discussing various topics on your blog—you not only have the chance to foster a supportive community, but also to impart your knowledge on potential clients.

So, if you're ready to make a difference in people's lives, starting a health blog may be the way to go.

What is a health blog?

A health blog is a website or online journal where someone writes about health-related topics. This can include anything from nutrition and diet to fitness and exercise to disease prevention and management. Health blogs can be written by anyone, from professional healthcare professionals to health enthusiasts who simply want to share their knowledge and experiences with others.

Health blogs can be a valuable resource for people who are looking for information on how to improve their health and well-being. They can also be a great way to connect with other people who are interested in living a healthier lifestyle.

Why should you start a health blog?

A well-maintained health blog establishes your authority and expertise in the industry by sharing accurate, evidence-based information, and thereby fostering credibility. It adds value to your health business, showcasing your commitment to your audience's well-being in addition to your knowledge.

This type of blog also enables you to educate your audience about various health issues, preventive measures and treatment options. After reading your blog, your readers may feel more empowered to take steps towards improving their health—including working with your business to make lifestyle changes.

On the marketing front, a health blog can attract organic traffic by employing SEO strategies and increasing visibility. Your blog can serve as a precursor to your services or products, answering key questions and increasing the likelihood of conversions.

How to start a health blog in 6 steps

Ready to embark on a journey to promote health and well-being? Here's a streamlined six-step guide to kickstart your health blog:

01. Choose the right health blog niche

Selecting the right blog niche is a pivotal step when creating a health blog to support your business. A focused niche helps you tailor your content to a specific audience, plus positions you as an expert in a particular area of health and wellness. Here are five potential health-related blog niches to consider:

Fitness and workouts: Create a blog dedicated to fitness routines, workout tips and exercise regimens. Cover topics like strength training, cardio workouts, yoga and home-based exercises. Provide guidance on achieving fitness goals, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and preventing injuries.
Nutrition and health eating: Focus on nutrition and the importance of a balanced diet. Offer insights into meal planning, recipes, superfoods and dietary guidelines. Address specific dietary needs, such as vegetarianism, veganism or gluten-free diets.
Mental health and well-being: Address the crucial aspect of mental health and emotional well-being. Write about stress management, mindfulness, meditation, coping strategies and overall mental wellness. Offer advice for maintaining a healthy mind-body connection.
Women’s health: Focus on women's health issues, including reproductive health, hormonal balance, pregnancy, childbirth and menopause. Provide a platform for discussions on women's unique health concerns, and empower them with accurate information.
Healthy aging: A blog dedicated to promoting healthy aging through exercise, nutrition, cognitive fitness and lifestyle adjustments. It provides insights into maintaining vitality as one grows older.
Sleep optimization: Explore the importance of sleep and strategies to improve sleep quality. Discuss sleep disorders, bedtime routines, relaxation techniques and creating a conducive sleep environment.

02. Find a blog maker

Selecting the right blogging platform is a critical step in launching your health blog. You’ll want to choose a blog maker that both simplifies the process of creating your blog and provides other essential capabilities. Here's what to look out for:

Opt for a blog maker that includes integrated web hosting. This eliminates the need to find a separate hosting provider, streamlining the setup process. Additionally, look for a platform that offers 24/7 security measures to protect your blog from potential threats and cyberattacks.
Opt for a blog that offers the right blog templates. A well-designed blog layout, easy navigation and visually appealing elements contribute to a positive user experience. You’ll want to be able to find a template that suits your niche, and customize it by adding your logo, adjusting colors and arranging content elements as part of your blog design efforts.
Opt for a blog that allows you to reinforce your branding. A consistent and cohesive brand presence helps readers recognize and connect with your content. Your branding (as it relates to design) includes elements like colors, fonts, imagery and your blog logo. You can use a logo maker to design a professional logo that aligns with your blog's theme, incorporate health-related symbols, soothing colors or typography that reflects the tone of your blog.

When it comes to starting a health blog, Wix is a popular platform that offers an all-in-one solution for creating and hosting your blog. It provides a user-friendly interface, customizable blog templates, in-built hosting and enterprise-grade security, making it an excellent choice for beginners.

03. Select a blog name and domain for your health venture

Your health blog's name is often the first impression readers have of your brand. A well-thought-out name can convey your blog's focus and personality, making it easier for readers to understand what your blog is about.

When choosing a blog name, consider using a blog name generator for initial thought-starters. A generator can provide creative suggestions based on keywords and themes related to health and wellness. While generated names might not be a perfect fit, they can spark ideas and help you brainstorm.

Your domain name should similarly be easy to remember, easy to spell and reflect your blog's identity. Ideally, it should include a relevant keyword or a hint of what your blog is about. Keep it concise and avoid using hyphens or complicated spellings. Before finalizing your domain name, check its availability. If it's unavailable, consider slight variations or use different domain extensions like .net, .co or .health.

Examples of health blog names to inspire:

VitalWellnessJourney.com
FitMindBodySoul.com
HealthyLivingHub.net
NourishAndThriveHealth.com

If you really want your blog to stand out, consider a .blog domain extension. It's a clear and unique way to help your blog and content pop.

Remember that your blog's name and domain name are integral parts of your brand identity. They'll be featured in your logo, social media profiles and all your online interactions. Invest time in choosing names that accurately represent your health blog's mission and resonate with your target audience.

04. Write and publish blog content

Create a content calendar to organize your topics and publication schedule, ensuring a consistent flow of relevant content, including both evergreen and trending subjects. Opt for topics that offer solutions to frequently asked questions and share insights that highlight your expertise.

When it comes to your blog format, structure your blog posts for readability. Use headings, subheadings, bullet points and short paragraphs to break up text. While there's no fixed word count, aim for in-depth content that thoroughly covers the topic. Longer blog posts (around 1,500-2,000 words) tend to perform well in search engines. However, you’ll want to focus on providing value rather than meeting a specific word count.

As part of planning how to write your blog articles, don't forget to focus on blog titles that pique your readers' interest but accurately reflect your content.

Before publishing, proofread your blog post for spelling, grammar and formatting errors. Consider enhancing your blog posts with multimedia elements, too (e.g., images, infographics and videos). Create a blog post checklist that helps you remember all the things to look out for. Above all, prioritize consistency and quality as you execute on your blog plan.

Article ideas for a health blog to be inspired by:

7 Simple Tips for Better Sleep
The Science Behind Stress and How to Manage It
Superfoods That Boost Immunity
Beginner's Guide to Mindful Eating
Creating a Home Workout Routine: A Step-by-Step Guide

Top tip when planning blog content from Allison Lee, editor-in-chief at Wix.com: “Think audience-first. Not competitor-first. Not even brand-first. Don’t get me wrong—those last two things are important. However, you should never lose sight of who’s actually reading your blog. Too often, bloggers work in a bubble and just write what they want to write about or what they think they should write about. They end up missing the point of blogging or content marketing in general: to engage people based on what they want to learn about or want to know about your brand. It’s not about you. It’s about them.”

05. Promote your health blog

Use various distribution strategies to proactively get more eyes on your blog. You can test a mix of tactics, such as:

Optimize your health blog posts for search engines to improve their visibility in search results. Research relevant keywords by incorporating them naturally into your content and into your on-page optimizations. With Wix SEO, you can access a range of robust tools to optimize your blog for organic search results.
Leverage social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, and Pinterest to share and promote your blog posts. You’ll need to first decide which platform your blog audience can be found on, open an account, and then plan a social media content calendar alongside that of your blogs. You can also consider paid social ads to increase your reach.
Build an email list of interested readers who want updates from your health blog. Then, send out regular newsletters containing your latest blog posts, exclusive content and health tips to build a direct connection with your readers.
Use guest blogging to collaborate with other health bloggers or websites by contributing guest posts. This exposes your blog to new audiences and establishes your authority in the health community. Also consider participating in health-related forums, groups and online communities. Offer valuable advice, answer questions and share your blog posts when relevant. Building relationships within these communities can drive traffic to your blog and expand your audience reach.

As part of your promotion efforts, you’ll need to regularly monitor your blog's analytics to assess its performance. Tools like Google Analytics or Wix Analytics provide insights into traffic, popular posts, user demographics and more. Analyzing your blog data helps you understand what's working and where improvements are needed, or which type of content performs best with your audience.

06. Monetize your health blog

Turn your passion into a source of income by exploring some popular to monetize your blog:

Partner with health-related companies and promote their products or services through affiliate links on your blog. When readers make a purchase through these links, you earn a commission. Focus on products that align with your health blog's niche, such as supplements, fitness equipment, or wellness programs.
Incorporate ads into your health blog through platforms like Google AdSense by displaying relevant ads that cater to your audience's interests. Be cautious however not to overload your blog with ads, as it can negatively impact user experience.
Offer premium subscription content or online health courses to your readers. This could include in-depth health guides, meal plans, workout routines, mindfulness exercises and more. Subscribers then pay a recurring fee to access your exclusive content. Some examples of this type of content include personalized meal plans, workout challenges or a mindfulness meditation series.
Collaborate with health brands or wellness companies to create sponsored content in order to make money from blogging. Write blog posts or reviews about their products or services in a way that provides value to your audience while disclosing the sponsored nature of the content.
Consider selling health-related products, from eBooks to fitness gear, through your blog. Offer voluntary donations with exclusive content or early access as incentives. Host paid online workshops or webinars to engage your audience and provide in-depth knowledge.

Successful health blog examples

Frischer Medical Group

The Frischer Medical Group uses their health blog to explore topics from health foods, potential health scams and wider medical topics like pregnancy.

Nazeeri Family Medicine

The Nazeeri Family Medicine group uses their health blog to write about technology in healthcare, tips for a healthier life and a deeper look into screening tests and medication.

Different types of health and wellness blogging

There are many different types of health and wellness blogging, each with its own focus and audience. Here are a few examples:
Nutrition and diet blogs: These blogs cover topics such as healthy eating, weight loss and specific dietary needs (e.g., gluten-free, vegan, etc.). They may also provide recipes, meal plans and tips for cooking and baking healthy foods. Fitness and exercise blogs: These blogs cover topics such as workout routines, fitness tips and motivation. They may also provide videos and tutorials of different exercises and workouts. Disease prevention and management blogs: These blogs cover topics such as how to prevent and manage chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. They may also provide information on specific treatments and lifestyle changes that can help to manage these diseases. Mental health blogs: These blogs cover topics such as anxiety, depression and stress management. They may also provide tips for coping with mental health challenges and living a mentally healthy life. Holistic health blogs: These blogs focus on a holistic approach to health and wellness, which takes into account the mind, body and spirit. They may cover topics such as meditation, yoga and natural remedies. Personal health and wellness blogs: These blogs share the writer's personal experiences and insights on health and wellness. They may cover topics such as their own journey to better health, their favorite healthy recipes and their tips for living a healthy lifestyle. In addition to these general categories, there are also many specialized health and wellness blogs that focus on specific topics such as:

Women's health
Men's health
Children's health
Seniors' health
Pregnancy and postpartum health
Sexual health
Fitness for specific sports or activities
Healthy eating on a budget
Sustainable living
Mental health for specific populations (e.g., LGBTQ+ community, veterans, etc.)

No matter what your interests are, there is sure to be a health and wellness blog out there that is right for you. So start exploring and find blogs that provide you with the information and support you need to live a healthy and happy life.

How much do health bloggers make?

The amount of money that a health blogger makes can vary greatly depending on a number of factors, such as the size of their audience, the niche they focus on and the monetization methods they use. However, some health bloggers are able to make a full-time income from their blogs.

The average salary for a health blogger in the United States is $51,971 per year. However, the top 10% of health bloggers earn over $100,000 per year.

Health bloggers can make money from advertising, affiliate marketing, sponsored posts, selling their own products and offering services. The more traffic a health blogger has to their website, the more money they are likely to make. Health bloggers can increase their traffic by writing high-quality content, promoting their blog on social media and submitting their blog to directories and search engines.

Here are some tips for starting a profitable health blog: