Vlog Marketing for Health and Fitness Websites

Abby Campbell, BSc, SFN, SSN, CPT, is a leading professional fitness and nutrition expert, researcher, and published author of One Size Does NOT Fit All Diet Plan, one of Amazon's Top Gluten-Free and Weight Loss Diets. As an entrepreneur, Abby loves to give helpful tips for building online business in the health community. (You may read more about Abby at the bottom of this article.)

Since the economy decline and more entrepreneurs on the rise, online businesses have boomed. From the beginning of 2008 to the end of 2014, new websites increased 5-1/2 times and an additional 551 million sites. What a difference from the one website that was started in 1991 by internet inventor and British physicist Tim Berners-Lee!

As of January 1, 2015, there are nearly 700 million websites according to Internet Live Stats. Health and fitness sites seem to be one of the more popular types where two-thirds of America is overweight or obese and heart disease is the number one killer. You may even find mega sites on how to treat diabetes, cancer, or some other disease. Fitness sites will show you different types of exercises from bodybuilding to kickboxing, while diet sites teach you how lose weight in more ways than you can count.

More doctors have personal business websites providing consultation opportunities to clients. Fitness trainers have the ability to coach from across the nation, while meal plans can be downloaded in a matter of seconds. Those seeking help have choices they've never had before, and they may even find more economical services online than in their local districts. Where it was once easy for an online health and fitness entrepreneur to make a living, it is now harder than ever with all the competition.

Marketing can be expensive, and the traditional type of promotion just doesn't work like it did 10 years ago. Heck, it changes every year! However, there are many ways that the entrepreneur can promote his or her business online. One of those ways is blogging, but we're not talking about traditional blogging. There's a new way to get your message across which is also one way to help the search engines put your website on top. And, that is what you want!

A blog is somewhat like an article. It's just more fun and personable. It is usually run by an individual or small company. However, many large corporations have added blogs to their online businesses since 2009 to attract more consumers to their sites and products.

Informal or conversational style is the goal of a blog as you want your readers to enjoy your writing and come back for more. The more readers you attract, the better your website ranks with search engines. This will put your website closer to the top when someone is searching for your topic.

Most blogs are topic oriented and can be either short snippets of thoughts or information to long rants or reviews of a product. When viewing a blog, the latest blog post will appear first with others below it in reverse chronological order. They can be categorized in a list on the site so that past blogs are easily attainable. Blogs are great places to link actual articles of importance or products for sale.

But, it's now 2015 and who has time to read blogs? This is when you, as a health and fitness entrepreneur, needs to find your creative juices. Other than mere words, what can get your readers to really enjoy your blog site?

What is vlogging? It is short for "video blogging." As you may know, YouTube is pretty popular these days. According to ATYM Market Research, 60 percent of internet users visited YouTube at least once per week in March 2013. Out of that 60 percent, 30 percent visited YouTube a few times per week and another 22 percent visited them at least once per day. Just from these facts, we can gather that online viewers love videos!

More and more people are pressed for time, and reading is the last thing on their agenda. But, that's okay as video blogs are easy to make and probably less time consuming than writing. So, how do you go about changing your boring blog to a dynamic eye-catching vlog? Follow these steps:

1. Pick your topic for your vlog.
2. Open a YouTube Channel where you can add your videos - it's free!
3. Make sure you add your blog's URL to your YouTube channel.
4. Get your camera and make interesting 1 to 5 minute videos about your topic.
5. Continue to make videos; 10 to 20 videos are a great start.
6. Upload your videos to your YouTube Channel.
7. Be consistent with adding videos; one per week is good.
8. Add your YouTube videos to your blog.
9. Enjoy more traffic!

These nine steps are just some simple tips on how to begin vlogging on your blog to attract more people to your site. However, there are many things that you can do to make your YouTube Channel look better with videos. Filming quality is so important.

Marketing your vlog and YouTube Channel is a must if you want to be noticed. Learn how to use social media to engage with your fans, or promote branded merchandise to get the word out about your vlog. Then kick up your heels as you'll be at the top of your competition in the field of health and fitness online!

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Abby Campbell, BSc, SFN, SSN, CPT, is a leading professional fitness and nutrition expert, researcher, published author, and a naturopathic doctorate candidate. For more than a decade, she has coached thousands of women locally and online to lose body fat and lead healthy lifestyles. Hundreds have also consulted with her on gluten- and lactose-free diets due to health concerns such as Celiacs, depression, and developmental disabilities. Abby is from Northern Virginia but now resides near Charlotte, North Carolina. She has been married for more than 20 years and has three grown daughters, one of which is autistic. She is a 20+ year cancer survivor.