I am so excited to dive into this today, as it’s something I get a lot of questions about: how to start a wellness blog.
My humble little blog started five years ago, and considering I knew nothing about photography, websites or marketing, it’s been a very slow journey. You know how you always hear about those people who start a blog and then bam 6 months later quit their full-time jobs and start bringing in six figures? Yeah, this is not that blog.
Honestly, this blog didn’t make me any money for the longest time–and that’s totally fine. I have loved The Nourished Mind for so long, that even when I was only getting 700 views a month, I still wanted to keep working at it. So I did: for 5 years.
I don’t think blogging is a get rich quick situation. (Or, if it is, I’m doing it all wrong.) In fact, blogging can actually be quite an expensive hobby. For me personally, I pay a monthly cost for things like:
- an email service provider
- a hosting service
- adobe lightroom/photoshop
- groceries for recipes
- new props/surfaces
Plus things like courses, themes and camera equipment that I bought to help me along the way.
While I don’t think blogging is an instant way to success, I do think there are things that, if I had learned them sooner, would have helped me launch and monetize my blog much quicker. Of course, if you’re starting a wellness blog, you don’t have to do it to make money. If you love to talk all things health and wellness (or whatever niche you’ve got going on) and want to do it just because, then that’s great! Go for it. Live your hobby dreams.
Not everything has to be a side hustle, you know?
If you do want to monetize your blog, that’s also cool. After all, there are costs that come with blogging, so making money to manage those costs is a really good idea, if you ask me.
Hopefully this post will help you get off the ground quickly and gain traction faster than I did. I’m sharing three things that really helped to speed up the learning process, figure out what actually makes a difference, and also made my blog look a thousand times better than how it used to look. (Seriously, the blog in its early days was quite the ugly duckling.)
If you’re brand new to blogging and don’t know where to start, check out this page on How To Start A Blog where I share all the courses and tools I use.
Full disclosure: as it stands right now, I’m not someone who earns a full-time living from my blog. I have a full-time job and do this in my spare time. However, this blog does provide me with extra income. It’s given me income from freelance jobs (for photography and nutrition writing), sponsored posts, affiliates and advertising. It’s great to have a hobby that I love that I can also make some side money from.
Alright, let’s dive in!
1. Learn How To Launch + Monetize Your Blog: Six Figure Blog Academy
Okay, I’m starting with biggest investment, because for me, this course has made all the difference. 6FBA is blogging course created by Kate Kordsmeier of Root + Revel, a really well-known wellness blog. I had first heard of Kate on the Food Blogger Pro podcast talking about how she launched her blog, and I was instantly obsessed with her, her blog, and her business. She just seemed like she had figured it out really early on.
So when I saw she launched a course, I knew I had to invest. It is pricey (but they do offer monthly payment plans that are super affordable)–but I knew it would be worth it, so I took the plunge. And I’m so happy I did. 6FBA does such a great job breaking down exactly what you need to do to launch and monetize your blog.
Each module is super actionable, and the course is loaded with checklists (in fact she’s got a free 99-Step Roadmap to a Profitable Blog download that I refer back to all the time), excel spreadsheets and tons resources to get you going (and to stop spinning your wheels). While you don’t have to be in the wellness niche to benefit from the course, it was actually a huge selling point to me that that was her niche–because a lot of her examples directly relate to my blog, so there have been a lot of aha! moments.
It’s funny because a lot of the stuff she taught I had already kind of known about (like yes, start an email list, and yes, you should be doing affiliate marketing). But even though I knew it, I was doing almost none of it. Probably because I was overwhelmed. (Definitely because I was overwhelmed.) I just didn’t have a plan.
But in the time I’ve taken her course, I’ve already doubled my traffic, increased my income and really started treating my blog like the side business it is. I’ve gained more traction in the last 3 months with this course than I have in the last 5 years. (I wish that was a joke, but sadly, nope!) So if you want to save yourself a lot of time, and are really looking to invest, I highly recommend checking out 6FBA.
If you want to just dip your toes in the water and see if it’s a good fit, check out her free masterclass on 3 Secrets to Profitable Blogging in 2020! Or you can go directly to the Six-Figure Blog Academy enrolment page here.
2. Have A Blog Theme That Reflects Your Brand: Feast Co
A few years ago I decided to switch from whatever free template came with my blog to an actual theme. I decided to go with Feast Co–their Foodie Pro theme is popular amongst food bloggers. I opted for the Cook’d Pro theme, because I liked the layout and fonts.
All of their themes are super cute, responsive and work well for most of your blogging needs.
Since I’ve had this theme, they’ve switched up how they do things, and now you can get all 5 of their themes when you buy their plug-in for an annual fee of $99 (instead of a one time offer of $75 per theme, which you can still do if you don’t want to pay annually). The plug-in is actually something I’m looking to invest in, mostly because it allows you to have a beautiful recipe index and improves the site speed (which as it turns out, is key for increased traffic). But if you’re just getting started, I think just the theme will do.
Make sure you already have Genesis Framework installed, as it’s required to function!
3. Create a Beautiful Email Newsletter: Flodesk
So for the longest time I was using Mailchimp, which, if you’re just getting started, is a good place to start. But here’s the thing: Mailchimp is not perfect. For one, the templates are not cute, so they always look kind of, meh. Secondly, it can be really frustrating to try to create more than one opt-in, or created automated emails, because the backend of Mailchimp is kind of confusing for anything more than a one-time email.
Opt-ins are really important for subscribers, and you want to have more than one to target your audience. So I knew I wanted to upgrade my email service provider. I shopped around and ended up deciding to go with Flodesk for three main reasons:
- The templates are freaking gorgeous. Like actually stunning. (Subscribe to my newsletter at the bottom of this post if you want to check it out!) Flodesk is where beauty and function collide. The templates are customizable, but don’t need much work to look pretty. Plus, unlike Mailchimp, these emails end up directly in subscriber inboxes, instead of their promotions/spam folders–so more people get to see them.
- You can automate work flows + create multiple opt-ins. It’s so intuitive and easy to build. I currently have 3 opt-ins, with plans for more, because it’s that easy.
- The price. So it is more expensive than Mailchimp’s basic plan (I was paying $9.99 USD for their most basic plan, but they do have a free version). Most email service providers, including Mailchimp, increase their prices as subscriber numbers increase–but not Flodesk. Flodesk keeps their pricing the same, regardless of how many subscribers you have, which is amazing. But here’s the kicker: you can save 50% off the monthly price for life using my link: meaning you only pay $19/month.
To top it off, since using Flodesk, I’ve seen a huge spike in subscribers and newsletter open rates. So freaking happy.
OTHER POSTS YOU MIGHT LIKE
6 Things I Did To Improve My Food Photography
How To Meal Prep When You Hate It
The Bottom Line
Here’s the thing: if you just want to blog to blog, you don’t need these things. For years, I loved just sharing recipes and nutrition tips. And that’s a-okay.
But if you’re looking to really elevate your blog + step up your game, I think these 3 tools are probably the biggest game changers for me. If you read my page on How To Start A Blog, I share other resources I’ve used and loved, but if you’re looking to invest, I recommend starting with these.
And of course, you can build slowly, and pick and choose what you think will work for you. It’s not a race. Hopefully, it’s a creative outlet, a source of joy and something you enjoy spending time on!
Okay, there you have it: the three tools I used to really help me step up my wellness blogging game. What do you think–would you try these?
Ps. If you’re not already subscribed to my weekly newsletter, you’ll definitely want to do that, for the latest and greatest in wellness + nutrition (plus I share freebies + discount codes in there!).
With love,
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