how to start a health and wellness blog

How to start a Wellness Blog [in 2021!)

I see you! You’ve been itching to get create your health and wellness blog but keep putting off.


In this blog post, I’m going to walk you through how to start your own health and wellness blog in 2020 and key steps I use for my site and my client’s sites.


Blogging in 2021

I’d be lying to you if I said that getting ranked in Google is a simple process nowadays. Because there is so many sites and businesses publishing information, it can feel a bit daunting to add your voice to the tumult.

But that shouldn’t stop you because I know you have something important  to say in a way that no one else has heard it. And that is really the first step to starting a blog; connecting with that deeper mission you have, the one that pushed you to start your own practice and/or business. 


Steps to start a health and wellness blog

  1. Connect with your why

  2. Plan your blog, catered for your business

  3. Understand your audience

  4. Start writing + keyword research!

  5. Choose a domain

  6. Choose a Website Platform

  7. Marketing your site



Before we dive in, I wanted to share an important algorithm update that has changed the game for health and wellness businesses!



Medic Update of 2018

There was an important update to the Google algorithm that happened during 2018 that affected many medical, health, and wellness sites. 



Since Google doesn’t officially disclose how the algorithm works, it is hard to know exactly what changes were made. What we do know is that when your site is sharing valuable information that might impacts someone health, they want to make sure you are showing strong medical or scientific consensus.



The official term to talk about this E-A-T or Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness (I know I know, no blueberry pancakes).



Essentially, Google wants to protect people from reading and applying fake information to their life from the internet that will impact their health.



So if you are going to say that eating 3 artichokes every day will improve your anxiety, please make sure you have the medical consensus to prove it.



If you aren’t a doctor, one way to go about this is actually collaborating with a doctor who specialized in your field of work to help you back up the information you are talking about. 



One way or another, you need to show Google that the information on your site is trustworthy by a) showing medical credentials and b) linking to other studies that support the medical results you are sharing.



Ok - time to get into the actual creation of your blog!

Step 1 ) Connect with your why

Whenever I want to start something new in my business, I make sure to connect with these questions. If I have a strong enough inner drive and mission, then I know all the practical work will get done. 

Grab your notebook or a Google doc and reflect on the below questions:

  • Who would be helped by the information I want to share?

  • How would the world be a different place if I share this information?

  • Do you have a personal story around why you do what you do?

Further reading and inspiration:

Step 2) Plan Your Blog

Before you get started with writing, I highly recommend you think closely about how your blog is going to connect to your services and business. 


This crucial step is often overlooked or not even considered when creating a website. But if you don’t take the time to consciously map out what you want your blog to do for your clients, it is easy to get lost and start writing about your cat, or your favourite recipes (when you had no intention of starting a recipe blog).

Let’s work our way backwards through how someone comes to your site. What is the final thing you want someone to do when visiting your website? Maybe it’s filling in a contact form. Purchasing one of your smaller services/courses. Signing up for your newsletters. 

Whatever these “conversions” are (that is the fancy word but I like to call it the “golden click”), it is important that you be clear what those mean for your website.

After listing these, think about the journey you would take your client to do one of these things. This is all about creating trust and value through the information on our website.

This can happen by:

  • Establishing yourself as an authority.

  • Give your clients a taste of what it’s like to work with you.

  • Directly impact your client’s lives + business with content on your blog

Have a better idea of what kind of information should be on your blog? Start brainstorming now the different topics, questions, and information that would work towards building trust and value to the people visiting on your site for them to eventually want to take the next steps on your site. 

Further reading:

Step 3) Understand your audience

Once you have a sense of what kind of topics you’d like to share on your site and how that would establish you as an authority + bring value to your potential clients, it’s time to do a bit of research.

This research is designed to inspire you even more and really connect with the people you are going to help with your words. 

In the past, when I surveyed my audience, I would use it as a way to judge and bully myself into being something I was not. Don’t make this same mistake when you start to survey your audience and get results. That means, if something someone sends you doesn’t resonate with you and just makes you feel off, ignore it.

Here’s the deal: we aren’t meant to help everyone. And that’s a good thing! There are different types of businesses for different types of clients. All you need to focus on is the people you are here to help! 

Here are a couple different ways you can get a better understanding of what type of information your audience would find useful on your blog:

  • Talk with current clients: ask them what article they like to read and what kind of topics they already search for in Google.

  • Send out a survey to your email list

  • Use Instagram Stories surveys (or any other social platform)

  • Talk with a mastermind buddy who understands your audience well! 

However you decided to connect with your audience, take the time to really understand and get a feel for their shoes. The clearer you understand who you want to target, the more the information you share through your blog will improve their lives.

Last tip here: remember that you can decide that your problems are very similar to your audience’s problems and use that as a starting point. That first step of connect with the why can really help get in touch with that part of you that really resonates with what your people are going through. Doing all the audience investigation just helps confirm that even more. 

Further reading/inspiration:

Step 4) Start writing! + Keyword research

Maybe some of you have been avoiding this step, while others craving it. It’s time to start writing! 

There are different ways you can go about this step - you can first outline your content and search for keywords and then start writing.

Or you can do some free writing, get a big chunk going, and then go back to restructure and add keywords.

I personally like to have a loose outline, and dive right into the writing. 

Once I’ve got the content to 80% where I want it to be, I add my keywords and all other finishing touches to the post.

Some general guidelines for SEO friendly content:

  • at least 1000 words (of extremely valuable content! If it is 850 and superbly valuable, that’s perfect!)

  • Easy to read and digest (having an outline can help you ensure that the formatting and structure of the information makes it easy to follow)

  • Include keywords in the Title, Meta Description, and Main Body - adding keywords is the cherry on top of a useful blog post. Google actually understand the english language and is smart these days. Stuffing keywords doesn’t work and will get you penalized

  • Include links to other useful blogs (both on your site and external on other sites). If you can give extra value by sharing other content pieces that complement this one, then do it! This doesn’t have to feel forced but really think about anything else you’ve written that could complement this particular piece of content. 

Further reading/inspiration:

Step 5) Creating your website

If you already have a website created, you can skip to the Step 7: Marketing Your Site Section. 

I’ve outline a couple different website tool options and given you the pro/con of each one. 

Remember that having a website is somewhat like owning a plant: one you have it, it won’t survive without water, sun, and a bit of affection. 



One of the best analogies (inspired by my friend Kat Love of EmpathySites) is thinking of your website like it’s an active employee of your business. And you may know that employees require you to give them:

  • Specific goals and direction on where they should be focusing their attention

  • Appreciation for their time and effort

This doesn’t mean you need to be looking at your website every single day, but particularly at the beginning, when you are wanting to spend a bit more time with your blog, I do recommend paying special attention. 

Choosing a Domain + Hosting Options

There are couple popular platforms for small business to stake out there small corner of the internet:

  • Squarespace : This platform is for those of you who want to have complete control of your website, with pre-made templates that beautiful and easy to use. They also allow you to purchase your domain directly from inside the platform. Hosting is included and SEO settings are pretty decent (although there are some limited functionality with site structure).

  • Wordpress: Another easy option get your business website off the ground, although sometimes you do require a Web Developer to maintain certain things. That being said, you have more flexibility in site structure and design and have literally infinite plugins to setup different parts of your site. This is a good option if you want to have more control over different parts of your site and want to add more customized areas of your site (like a membership area).

  • EmpathySites: This is a great option if you are a therapist and want a pre-designed site that is proven to bring in more clients. I personally know the owner of Empathy Sites, Kat Love and she is dedicated to giving therapists the best sites to attract more of their ideal clients.

Extra Resources:

 

Need extra support with your website design/development?




Here are some additional resources if you are looking for extra support with the building of your website:





Final thoughts

Wherever you are at with your website, don’t forget to take it one step a time and not let the whole process freak you out. Even allow yourself to have some fun as you build this amazing representation of your business on the internet!




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