If you have an amazing story to share with the world about weight loss, then you should create a blog about it. Weight loss blogs are extremely popular and can help inspire readers to take better care of themselves.
Today, I am going to demonstrate how to create your very own weight loss blog.
Come Up With Your Story
The biggest mistake beginners make is not coming up with a rough idea of their website before jumping into web development. Brainstorming is an essential part of any business.
The most important part of weight loss blogging is why anyone should listen to you. Did you significantly reduce your own weight? Do you have a degree in diet and nutrition? How many years of experience do you have?
If you take a few minutes to look at other weight loss blogs, you will find that the successful ones always have a reason why visitors should listen to them and you are going to need one too.
You also need to spend time thinking about the design, features, and type of content you will produce. Only once you have a plan, should you start building a website.
Find A Webhost and Pick Out a Domain Name
The first step to starting your blog is finding a great web host. A web host is a company that rents out a web server for your website. It is responsible for maintaining the server and keeping it online 24/7. Thus you are going to need a good one.
Here at GreenGeeks, we offer fast speeds, excellent support, strong security, and one of the best uptimes in the industry with a guaranteed 99.9% uptime. However, what really separates us from the competition is our commitment to the environment.
As a web host, we understand that every website leaves a carbon footprint. But at GreenGeeks, we ensure the websites we host do not. This is accomplished by carefully calculating how much energy we use and purchase three times that amount in wind energy.
You will also need to select a domain name, which we give you for free upon signing up. The domain name is your website’s URL. Thus, it needs to be short, easy to remember, and catchy. I recommend making a list of domain names because there are millions of websites in existence.
It is very likely that your first pick is already taken.
Why WordPress is the Best Platform to Build Your Website On
The next major decision you have to make is what CMS you will build your website on. There are many platforms to build your website. But without a doubt, when it comes to blogging, WordPress is the best option.
The platform is built for blogging and thanks to the huge library of themes and plugins, it can be used for any type of website. On top of this, it is perfect for beginners. Unlike other CMS platforms, WordPress does not require any coding knowledge.
This means you can create your website from scratch without writing a single line of code.
How to Utilize Plugins And Themes for Your Weight Loss Blog
The hardest part of starting a weight loss blog is actually building your website. What makes this so hard is the number of options you have at your disposal.
Keep in mind that while there are thousands of free plugins and themes available, you might want to consider premium versions. Premium or pro plugins come with extra features and, most importantly, dedicated support.
This can be very useful when starting out but will cost you more money.
Plugins
So what exactly is a plugin? It’s a file that you install and activate on WordPress that adds a specific feature or series of features to your website. It’s the equivalent of an app for your smartphone, and there are thousands to choose from.
What plugins you choose are dependent on the type of features. For example, if you want to create a schedule for your community to follow on their weight loss journey, you might find the Events Calendar plugin a really good addition.
One word of warning though, the more plugins you add to your website, the slower it gets. Thus, you should try to minimize your plugin usage.
Themes
You also need to consider the theme you select. A WordPress theme decides how your website looks and even comes with some features, so it is not purely cosmetic. When searching for a theme, make sure to visit the theme’s demo website.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to get a grasp of what a theme is capable of looking like without spending a significant amount of time customizing it. Thus, seeing what the demo sites are capable of is the best way for a beginner to get an idea of what the layout looks like. But fear not, you can change your theme later should you decide to mix it up or improve.
Marketing Your Weight Loss Blog
You are also going to have to come up with a gameplan on how your website will get discovered by visitors.
Blog content can help your website rank highly on search engines, like Google, and there are many tips and strategies you can use to achieve this. I highly recommend making sure all of your future content is SEO friendly to boost your traffic.
However, that is not enough. You are going to have to explore other avenues.
And I’m sure you’ve already considered social media. Without a doubt, marketing on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and others is a great plan. But keep in mind that you need to regularly post on these channels.
Another great marketing strategy is to create a book or ebook. This might sound crazy when starting out, but I assure you the most serious weight loss blogs offer visitors recipes, diets, and workout schedules. This is perfect content for a book and can add a lot of credibility to you as a content creator.
Just the Beginning
These are really just the initial steps of building a website. In reality, content creation and marketing will be your main focus for the rest of your website’s lifespan. Just remember that quality content is far more important than quantity.
Thank you for sharing this informative article about weight management. I hope there are a lot of practitioners who could read this and be guided accordingly.