A Beginner's Guide To Monetizing Your Fitness Blog As A Side Hustle
/Are you passionate about fitness and interested in sharing your tips, experiences or great information related to fitness and healthy living with others? Then starting and monetizing a fitness blog is a great way to help inspire others while making extra income on the side.
A fitness blog generally provides information on how to stay fit, how to stay healthy, how to live a healthy lifestyle, staying fit through a balanced nutritious plan or through certain exercises, etc. fitness and health related topics. Fitness is a vast field. If you are thinking of starting a fitness blog, it is wise for you to pick a small niche so you can tailor your messaging.
If you have a knack for writing and are passionate about fitness, then starting a fitness blog can be a great side hustle to make money on the side. There are lots of ways of monetizing a fitness blog. If you already have a fitness blog and are thinking of making money from it, then here is a beginner's guide to monetizing your fitness blog as a side hustle.
Danetha Doe, creator of Money & Mimosas®
How to start a fitness blog
This article is for those who have already created their fitness blog and want to monetize it as a side hustle. However, if you have not created your own fitness blog yet, here is a brief rundown on how to start a fitness blog:
1. Pick a specific niche you are passionate about or
2. Choose a name for your blog (it can be same as your domain name)
3. Purchase a domain name for your blog (a domain name is the URL of your blog that people type in their browser to visit your blog). I use GoDaddy.
4. Purchase a web hosting service (a hosting service stores your blog online so people can access it online) I use Squarespace.
5. Start creating great content
Fitness is a very vast niche. There are many niches within fitness. Pick a niche you are passionate or knowledgeable about because it will be easier to start a blog around it, as you already have the knowledge or you can learn about it as you go. Choosing a specific niche will give you a voice of authority within the market. If you are seen as an expert in your niche by your target audience, you will have more success as a fitness blogger.
When choosing your blog's name, make sure the domain name is available for that name. If your blog's name and its domain name are the same, it will be easy for your audience to remember your blog and brand. Also, make sure the name you choose for your blog's name and URL is available on all major social media platforms to create your social media accounts.
Pick a hosting company that provides excellent server uptime and top-notch customer support. If you go for a long-term hosting plan with a reputable hosting company, you could save a ton of money on hosting expenses, as most reputable hosting providers usually offer discounts for longer-term plans (typically 3-5 years). Currently, I use Squarespace. Their customer service is great and the site is super user friendly, but I have had issues when their main server goes down. As Money & Mimosas grows, I will likely transition to a more robust hosting company that offers longer-term plans.
Some bloggers choose to use WordPress. If you go this route, then you can install WordPress from WordPress.org through your hosting account. Once WordPress is installed, your hosting company will send you login details you can use to login to your WordPress dashboard where you will do all things related to blogging. Personally, I have not found WordPress to be user-friendly for non-coders like myself, but others have and love their experience.
Most reputable web hosting companies offer step by step instructions that are easy to follow on how to set up a blog. So you can set up your fitness blog yourself in under half an hour even if you have no technical skills.
Once your blog is up and running, it is now time to write high-quality content that provides information your target audience is looking for. Make sure to post content to your fitness site on a regular basis. Consistency is crucial when you are just starting out to build an audience. You could write 2/3 posts per week or month, depending on your niche.
Make sure to promote your blog. You can do it by doing guest posting on reputable sites in your niche. Social media is a powerful tool to promote your blog. Reaching out to fitness influencers is another great way to promote your fitness blog.
Why start a fitness blog
A fitness blog offers you the opportunity to share your best ideas, advice, and expertise with others who are interested in fitness and health. If you have a passion for fitness, here are some reasons why you should start a fitness blog:
You can create a variety of content types such as written blog posts, videos, infographics, and so on to help solve people's problems and improve their lives.
A fitness blog is a great way to promote your business. If you already have a fitness business, you can promote your business via your blog to increase your exposure to audiences who would probably not be able to discover your business. This means you can reach out to more potential customers for your business.
If you are a fitness instructor or trainer, then a fitness blog will help you establish yourself as an expert in your niche. Creating a fitness blog will help you build your brand, as it will give you authority in your niche. Your blog can be the best tool to help you establish a long-term relationship with your target audience and clients.
A fitness blog can be an excellent source of passive income streams. If you want to generate a passive income from your blog, then starting a fitness blog is an excellent option for you.
As you can see, there are a lot of reasons why you should start a fitness blog. If you are passionate about fitness or health and would love to share your knowledge or passion with others, then you can start a fitness blog to make money on the side doing something that you love doing.
Ways to monetize your fitness blog
There are many ways you can monetize your fitness blog but here are the main ones:
Online ads
You can make money by placing ads on your fitness blog. However, you need a large audience to earn significant money from online ads on your blog. There are many online advertising programs such as AdSense and Ezoic you can check out to see which one is a good fit for your blog and if you can join it to monetize your blog with online ads.
It is easy to set up Google AdSense ads on your blog. Every time someone clicks on an ad on the blog or views an ad while loading a page on the blog, depending on the advertising program, you will earn money for the click on the ad or the impression of the ad.
Sell ad space on your fitness blog
Once your blog attracts a considerable amount of traffic, fitness-oriented companies or brands will pay you to have their ads displayed on your blog. You can also reach out to companies to sell private ad space on your blog.
You can sell ad space on the header, footer, sidebars, etc. sections of your blog. How much you can charge for an ad spot on your blog will depend on the popularity of your blog, your social media following, etc.
Affiliate marketing
Affiliate marketing is a good monetization strategy when you are just starting out your fitness blog. This is where you sign up with a company's or individual's affiliate program to promote the company's or individual's products or services on your blog.
For example, you can easily promote other people's courses, weight loss/ bodybuilding supplements, or other products or services on your fitness blog through affiliate links provided by them and get a commission when someone buys anything from your links. Some affiliate programs will even pay you if someone simply signs up for something through the link or clicks on the link.
To be successful with affiliate marketing, promote products or services that are truly helpful to your audience. Then all you have to do is write informative content that is relevant to these products or services so people can be encouraged to take your desired actions.
Sponsorships
Sponsorships are a great way to make money from your fitness blog.
Sponsored posts can be written by you or by the companies/sites that are sponsoring the posts. If you write the post, you can charge a higher rate for the post.
It is important to note that you must disclose to your blog visitors if you post a sponsored post to your blog. It is required by the FTC.
Sell eBooks
Selling eBooks is a great way for monetizing your fitness blog. It is relatively easy to write and publish an eBook thanks to the software and online publishing tools available out there. If you write an eBook that provides great value, it will be able to generate passive income for you if you market it the right way.
You can promote your eBooks directly through your blog by adding a shopping cart to your blog. Or you can sell it via Amazon or other popular online platforms. All you have to do is provide your audience with a link to the site(s) where they can buy your eBooks. Write compelling content about your eBook to entice people to buy it.
Sell digital courses
Selling digital courses is a great way to monetize a fitness blog. If you have an engaging audience, it will be easy to sell your courses to them. But you must create helpful courses that deliver great value and then encourage your audience to buy them.
If you are a fitness instructor/trainer, then you can create fitness courses to sell from your blog or third-party online platforms like Thinkific or Udemy. If you sell courses on your blog, all you need is add ecommerce functionality to your blog.
Membership
You can provide exclusive content for paid members via a membership section on your fitness blog. Once you have established yourself as an authority in your niche, this can be a good monetization strategy. If you provide great content that is helpful to your readers, this monetization strategy can be successful for your fitness blog.
In conclusion
If you are looking for a beginner's guide to monetizing your fitness blog as a side hustle while you are working full time, then these are some of the monetization strategies recommended for anyone looking to monetize their fitness blog. It is important to remember that you need to provide great content consistently even after your blog has started making money.
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Disclaimer: the content presented in this article is for informational purposes only, and is not, and must not be considered tax, investment, legal, accounting or financial planning advice, nor a recommendation as to a specific course of action. Investors should consult all available information, and consult with appropriate tax, investment, accounting, legal, and accounting professionals, as appropriate, before making any investment or utilizing any financial planning strategy.
