If you want to start a blog, WordPress with Hostinger is your best bet. And right now, you can host your WordPress site with Hostinger for just $2.99.
Blogging can be far more than a hobby. With the potential for ad, product, and affiliate revenue, industry and retail partnerships, and numerous other monetizable elements, building a blog audience is one of the best (and most scalable) ways to make money online.
With fitness industries growing at a rate of 8.7% per year and the sheer number of products and services offered in the space, it makes sense to consider fitness blogging as a lucrative topic. In this article, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about starting a fitness blog.
The 3 Best Blogging Platforms for Starting a Fitness Blog
There are plenty of ways to start your online blogging journey, no matter what topic or niche you want to focus on. But we know these three options work best for the widest range of potential users:
- WordPress with Hostinger — Best overall
- Wix — Best for beginners building a professional blog
- Squarespace — Best for artists and designers
Want to know more about our favorite blog sites and other options? Check out our full, in-depth post ranking the best blogging platforms.
Start a Fitness Blog in 8 Easy Steps
Whether you want to start a fitness blog for fun, as a side hustle, or as a full-time business effort, you’re going to want to get started on the right foot. By following these steps, you’ll be off to the races when it comes to starting a fitness blog.
- Choose your niche
- Create the foundation of your business
- Purchase a domain name
- Design and build your website
- Create the core pages of your blog
- Plan, create, and optimize your content
- Install apps for extended features
- Promote and market your fitness blog
This framework will get you set up on the right track, but there’s one extra step to take before starting our guide.
We recommend opting for WordPress as your blogging platform, with Hostinger as your web host. You can start a WordPress account for free then secure hosting for cheap, or get them both in one optimized package from Hostinger without spending a dime extra. Whichever way you choose, take care of that initial account creation first and you’ll be ready to dive right into our step-by-step process.
Step 1: Choose Your Niche
Before anything, you need to decide what fitness niche you want to target. It’s not smart to just start blogging generally about fitness and health without determining an angle you want to stick to when writing your posts.
If you’re someone who works in the health and fitness industry, you may already have an idea of what you want to cover. But if you’re just getting started on your fitness blogging journey, you’ll need to do some research into the topics within the health and fitness space that interest you most (and will resonate with an audience).
Think about your specific skills, passions, hobbies, and opinions—anything related to health and fitness that can be turned into content.
Niching down can lead you to a broad category or a very specialized topic. Here are a few examples to help guide you:
- Adventure exercise
- Vegan and vegetarian health
- Bodybuilding, weightlifting, and strength training
- Mindfulness, meditation, and yoga for holistic fitness
- Exercisewear and fitness fashion
- Medical and health research
Pick something you’re confident in writing about at length, so that you can position yourself as an expert in the field or a trustworthy advisor for readers.
Step 2: Create the Foundation of Your Business
Once you know what topic you want to orient your blog around, evaluate your aspirations and goals for this project.
To do this, ask yourself the following questions:
- What are my long-term goals for the blog? Do you want to create an income-generating business or just have a hobby blog? Understanding your end goal will help you determine the content and resources you’ll need along the way.
- How will I monetize the website? If you decide that your blog is a business, you need a clear pathway to profitability. Ads, affiliate deals, partnerships, and complementary revenue streams are all ways to make money with your blog. This can help guide what kinds of content you want to make. And don’t forget to tie your blog to your web store if you’re also selling products or services online.
- How much time can I realistically commit to this blog? The amount of time you can invest in your blog should be taken into consideration when planning your content and setting goals. If you have a busy schedule and other hobbies you’re juggling, it might be best to start with something that’s easier to manage, like just publishing a regular blog post or two every week.
- How much money can I invest in my blog? You don’t need much to start a blog—just the hosting and platform fees (if there are any). But running ads, hiring a web designer, leveraging SEO tools, and other additional costs will put your blog on the fast track. Decide what your budget is and how much you’re willing to invest in the success of your blog beyond your time and hosting costs.
On top of answering these questions, you’ll want to determine your target audience and create audience personas in line with the topic you’ve chosen. These factors will help you define a clear strategy you can stick to. You’ll also want to start thinking about the visual look and feel of your blog.
Step 3: Purchase a Domain Name
The process of purchasing a domain name is actually twofold—you must decide on a blog title and then purchase the domain associated with that name.
You’re going to find that a lot of the best domain options for any given blog title are taken, unless you’re using some made-up language or playful misspellings. That’s why this is an entire step unto itself—the process of finding the right blog title that also matches an available domain name can involve a lot of searching on domain registrars, trial, and error
For example, if your blog is called “Mountain Climbing Fitness,” you may need to purchase a different variation, such as MtnClimbingFit.com.
Be aware that your best technique is to get a free domain name through Hostinger when you sign up for their WordPress hosting. You can search for available domains right within their checkout process.
Having trouble coming up with a blog title in the first place? Embrace a uniquely modern trick to help you: ask ChatGPT.
All you have to do is enter a prompt like “I need ten cool names for my fitness blog,” and it will generate domain name ideas within seconds.
You can get more specific with it if the results aren’t distinct enough (try using the niche you came up with in Step 1), and you can play around with it all day long if you want. This is especially helpful if you’re having trouble coming up with a creative name that you can brand.
Once you’ve decided on a blog title that has an available domain name, you can move ahead and scoop it up. And, like I mentioned before, it’s easiest if you wait until you secure your hosting to also grab that domain. You can check its availability on other registrars’ search engines before entering your final choice into the field at Hostinger’s first checkout page.
Step 4: Design and Build Your Blog Site
There’s another reason we recommend WordPress as the blogging platform of choice for this process (or any other blog topic). It’s easy and free to get started on.
But, you’re still starting with a bit of a blank canvas. What should your blog look like? How do visitors navigate the site? What site elements will help create a positive user experience?
It’s time to make the fitness blogging site in your head a reality. It’s time to design the thing.
There are a few ways you can get through this step:
- Design your website yourself
- Use or purchase a good blog template
- Outsource web design to a professional
Designing a website yourself is the cheapest way, but it can be time-consuming and even a bit technical. If you’ve built websites with drag-and-drop builders, WordPress can be a little difficult at times.
But if you’re comfortable with playing around with site design or you want to develop it as a skill, DIY website design is an excellent way to keep your creative control while keeping costs to a minimum.
If you don’t have the time or experience to design your own website, you’re not alone. A lot of people who start blogs choose to cut design time down to minutes by using a WordPress template.
WordPress themes are plentiful, helping you choose an appropriate design without having to do much work yourself. Some are free, but the more professional-looking options tend to cost a bit of money. These can cost as little as $13 or as much as $275 for options that are prebuilt with advanced features.
And, you’re not going to be just stuck with the design as it comes out of the box. Tweak elements or change colors, placements, and almost anything else to make it your own.
The main downside to using templates is the chance that someone else is doing the same thing with the same WordPress theme, making your new blog less original and unique.
Fortunately, If you have a little extra cash to shell out, you can hire a freelancer or an agency to do the design work for you. This route is perfect if you want to stay connected with the progress and changes to your website while also getting a website that looks, feels, and functions just like you dreamed it would.
Web designers can charge wildly different rates from one to another. Freelancers might charge anywhere from $15 to $100 per hour, while agencies will certainly charge more. Sometimes, that greater cost is worth it if you can benefit from the agency also helping you with branding, SEO, and marketing.
Step 5: Create Your Blog’s Core Pages
The core pages of your blog are what most people will land on when they visit your site. These should provide a clear picture of what kind of content you’re producing.
Generally, they consist of a home page, contact page, and about page, in addition to your blogroll.
Your home page should be the main hub for your fitness blog. Here, you’ll want to include a brief introduction on what readers can expect from your blog posts, links to some of your best content, and any other info that would help guide visitors through your website.
Your home page is the most important—it’s where people will create their first impression of your fitness blog.
Your header and subheader should act like a hook, enticing readers to explore more while describing the blog’s purpose exactly.
As you scroll down, categories or recent blog posts should be logically sorted so that readers can quickly find the freshest fitness and health information they’re looking for.
Finally, add a footer with links to all of your social media profiles or other relevant information, so that readers can be informed about your values, stay connected even after leaving your website, or be reassured that their browsing data is kept private.
Your contact page is where people will go if they want to get in touch with you. Include a brief description of what kind of questions people can ask and provide an email address or an embedded web form.
Your about page gives readers insight into who you are, why you decided to start a fitness blog, and how your knowledge and experience make it valuable. This will let them know that they can trust what you are sharing on your website, while also allowing them to get better acquainted with who you are as a person.
Once these core pages are built, you can start adding more content. Namely, your blog posts.
Step 6: Plan, Create, and Optimize Your Content
After you’ve designed your site and set up the core pages, take some weeks or months to get in a regular rhythm of producing new posts for readers and aging your domain.
It’s also a good time to experiment with content types (do you write more lists or guides?) and different forms of media like embedded video. That starts with smart planning.
Planning
Content planning is an essential step in the creation process because it helps you to stay organized and on task.
First, conduct keyword and topic research related to your fitness niche and use that to brainstorm post topics and angles. Find out what people who are looking for fitness and health information related to your blog’s niche like to read. You can mimic other successful or established bloggers, just don’t outright copy what they’re doing and writing.
Then, create an editorial calendar. Set publishing deadlines for yourself and establish a routine output. Like I mentioned earlier, if you don’t have a lot of time to commit at first, you can start with one or two posts per week. But, the more regularly you post, the better. It will help you rise up search rankings faster.
Now that you have an idea of what you want to write and when you want to publish it, think about blog post format. It’s smart to create outlines for common post types
To make your blog posting process easier, it’s best to create templates for each type of content that you post. This way, you won’t have to start from scratch every time you create a new exercise guide for each muscle group or “How to Meal Plan” post for a new dietary consideration from scratch . Instead, you’ll have headings, subheadings, and structure figured out, leaving you to just plug in the meat of each post.
Last, make sure to find relevant images and videos to use in your posts. Walls of text are appealing to very few people, so make sure to break up your posts with some good visual elements.
Creation
Once you’ve planned out your fitness blog content, it’s time to actually create it. While this should be an enjoyable process, it can actually be the most difficult part in terms of staying motivated and focused since the pay-off is rarely immediate (except for the thrill of clicking Publish).
Here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Software helps, but use it sparingly. Copywriting tools, grammar checkers, and other virtual writing assistants can make the process easier. But relying on them completely or using them for every post will make your fitness blog content sound robotic and unnatural. Worse still, Google might penalize you for having stilted or suspicious content.
- Be sure to proofread. No matter how quickly you want to get a new post published, always take the time to review it before posting it to the world. Typos and other errors can hurt your credibility, so be sure to double-check everything.
- Don’t be afraid to have a voice. The best writing has a definitive and consistent tone. If you want your audience to see you as someone different from the fitness blog competition, remember that it’s okay to take a few risks. Most of all, be yourself and let your personality shine through your writing.
- Repurpose and update your content when possible. Sometimes, the best fitness blog posts are refreshed versions of old content that are updated with new tips, information, or perspective. Revisit your previous fitness blog topics and give them an update when you’re able. Faithful readers will appreciate the new additions while keeping posts fresh helps them show up more prominently in search.
Optimization
Some aspects of this guide have already touched on optimization. For example, using Yoast with your WordPress site gives you a tool that checks your content for search engine optimization and delivers tips for improvement.
Also, techniques like updating old content and making sure to proofread are minor elements that can go a long way to staying on page one of Google for your fitness niche.
Beyond that, keep these optimization tips in mind for each blog post you create and publish:
- Add relevant keywords to content and headings without overdoing it
- Using headings and subheadings to organize subtopics and sections of each post
- Use links in your content that direct readers to other relevant posts on your website
- Write meta tags and descriptions for each post that describe its purpose and aim
- Make sure your website meets accessible standards and is mobile-friendly
These activities help increase your fitness blog’s visibility, improving audience metrics (like unique visits and sessions) and search rankings.
Once you’ve gotten a healthy (pun not intended) number of posts published, you can move onto the next two steps.
Step 7: Install apps for extended features
Depending on the platform you use to build your fitness blog, you may be able to extend its features with various plugins and apps. For example, WordPress offers a plethora of tools that can help you optimize your website, get found in search results, and add unique site elements. Just like with the templates, some are free to install and use and others will cost you some money to add it to your site.
An essential plugin to consider is Yoast SEO. Yoast will help you optimize your fitness blog content for search engines and ensure that the content you post reaches its intended audience.
But, as you build out your blog, you’ll find more opportunities where adding a plugin can solve a problem or enhance your blog site. You may want a tool that integrates your social media profiles with your blog posts or you may want to add a payment processor to book consulting gigs or classes related to your fitness blogging.
The key is to find the plugins that best suit your fitness blog’s needs and enhance your audience’s experience of your website while keeping everything user-friendly and secure.
Step 8: Promote and market your fitness blog
This is where a lot of the long-term work comes together. You’ll need to start spreading the word about your fitness blog, so people can find it, read your content, share it with others, and become faithful readers.
Here are some ideas on how to do that:
- Engage on social media. Social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are powerful tools for bloggers, especially those covering fitness and health topics. Use these platforms to post other types of fitness content, which you can use to drive traffic to your blog.
- Reach out to influencers and fitness professionals in your niche. Networking is an important part of any type of blogging, so don’t be afraid to reach out to prominent figures in your fitness niche (or beyond). Many fitness bloggers have built successful careers by building relationships with others in the industry.
- Build links to your fitness blog. Link building is a great way to increase your fitness blog’s visibility and search engine rankings. Reach out to other fitness bloggers or fitness-related websites, write guest posts, and encourage them to link back to your site’s content.
- Run ads. Especially if you’re planning on monetizing your blog through affiliate revenue, running ads on low-competition keywords might get you some traction (and revenue) right off the bat.
Final Thoughts About Starting a Fitness Blog
Starting any kind of blog takes a lot of work. But blogs in saturated niches like fitness can be even more challenging. It’s important to remember that success requires patience and hard work, but it can generate great rewards in terms of personal satisfaction and financial gain.
Take the time to plan out your fitness blog carefully and create high-quality content on a regular basis. With consistent analysis, iteration, and improvement, you’ll be able to build an audience that will keep coming back for more fitness tips and inspiration.
Source: quicksprout
How to Start a Fitness Blog in 8 Simple Steps