Whether you are just starting a fitness blog or need a bit of a bloggy make over, these easy to implement, (mostly) free blogging tools and tips will take your fitness blog from looking like a hobby to professional status in no time!

 

 

7 must-have tools to take your Fitness Blog from hobby to professional status! Click To Tweet

 

I started a Fitness Blogging Mastermind group on Facebook a few months ago where fit bloggers share tips, ask questions, and support one another. We are currently doing blog critiques to help each lady better her blog and get a fresh set of eyes on it!

 

After reading a few of the fitness blogs and speaking with the bloggers, a couple underlining themes kept popping up…

 

One, most bloggers would like to be making money on their blog, at least some day… Bloggin’ is time consuming and time is money, people!

 

And two, most bloggers start a blog as a hobby or personal journal, but eventually evolve, or would like to evolve, into a business.

 

Put yourself in your readers shoes. If you visit a blog or website that looks cluttered, disorganized, and takes you forever to find what you are looking for… you probably are not going to stick around for too long.

 

If you want to be taken seriously as a fitness blogger (or any blogger, really) and your goal is to have more people read your posts than just your mom (thanks ma!), then a professional looking site is important.

 

Does that mean you have to spend a ton of money? Absolutely NOT!!

 

Everything I am going to share with you below is free, other than this one… self hosting your blog!

 

Hosting 

If you are ever going to make money on your blog, you must buy your own domain name and self-host your site.

 

It can all be really confusing if you are just started out, so I wrote this super detailed blog post:
How to start a freakin’ awesome self-hosted blog on a budget.

 

I use BlueHost (affiliate link) to host my site and am very happy with them. They have a lot of sales so keep your eye on the website if you are thinking of signing up soon!

 

 

Customized Header

It is really easy to make a free customized header in Canva or PicMonkey. Even if you just use a white background and have your blog title written in a neat font – that is way better than having the theme generated blog title across the top of your pages.

 

For my current header, I bought a watermark photo pack on Etsy from Dutch Lady Designs for $3. I then went into Canva and added my header and sub header. Easy peasy.

 

 

Social Media Icons

Most themes have social media icons as widgets in your dashboard. I use the ones my theme provides on my side bar because the colors match my post titles anyway.

 

However, if you do not like the icons your theme provides or don’t have any, here is a fantastic blog post from Great Fun, etc. with a bunch of free options. Simply copy and paste the html code of the icons you like, insert your social handles into the proper places, and add all the code into a text widget.

 

(EX: <a href=”http://www.twitter.com/YOURTWITTERNAME“><img style=”border: 0pt none ;” title=”Become a friend” alt=”” src=”http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy162/donnasimone/
buttons/twitter-pencil256-150×150.png” width=”45″ height=”45″ /></a>)

 

Make sure these icons are easy to find, either at the top of your blog, on the side bar, or in the footer. When I go to a new blog that I enjoy, I always look for these icons and follow the person on social so I can stay connect with them and (hopefully) see updates of the cool stuff they are doing.

 

Great About Page

Oh, this one is so important! Especially as a fitness blogger!

 

Anyone can start and write a fitness blog and there are probably a million people doing what you are doing. How will you stand out?

 

Two things are key here for fit pros: Your About page should highlight your credentials (show people you have the certifications to back up what you are saying) AND your page should be fun.

 

You want the reader to relate to you. Building trust only happens when people feel a connection. Be vulnerable. Be honest. Be YOU.

 

Are you funny? Let your sense of humor shine through. Are you a mom? Share a story that other moms can relate with. Just finished your first marathon? Talk about that!

 

An easy-to-find link to your About page or an author bio box should be very visible on your blog. People want to know the person behind the blog.

 

Additional resource: Amy Porterfield has a podcast episode and blog post all about this – #65: Selling Yourself-The Art of a Winning ‘About Page with Melissa Cassera’. I definitely recommend you taking a read or listen if you are struggling with your About page.

 

From Amy’s post: “Your bio or About Page is only intended to turn on your ideal customers and it should be repelling the people that you want to turn off.”

 

Freebie to collect email addresses

Ok, don’t make this harder than it has to be, people! Start with something simple… something you know. You can always improve it later.

 

In the book, REWORK, there is a chapter called “Good enough is fine.”

 

It states: “When good enough gets the job done, go for it. It’s better than wasting resources or, even worse, doing nothing because you can’t afford the complex solution. And remember, you can usually turn good enough into great later.”

 

When good enough gets the job done, go for it! #ReWork Click To Tweet

 

For my first freebie, I just made a list of all the cues and tips I have given clients over the years to help them master some of the exercises I constantly see people doing wrong.

 

I wrote everything down in a Word.doc. Took some pictures and put them in the word document. Made a little info-graphic on Canva as a special bonus. Saved it all as a pdf. and DONE.

 

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NEED A GREAT FREE OPT-IN?

 

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Pop Up

I used to think pop ups were annoying, but the reality is they work and everyone uses them right now.

 

As Nicole Culver has reiterated on her Blissful Bites Podcast and FB group, people are used to pop ups. Most people will not leave a blog because of a pop up. So, if you are not using them to grow your email list, now is the time.

 

I use WordPress Popups. It is fairly simple to navigate and integrates well and is pretty user friendly.

 

Privacy Policy and Disclaimer

Go check out my privacy policy and copy, paste, and edit it into your site. 🙂

 

May 20 UPDATE: My privacy policy is now updated for GDPR compliance.

 

7 Must-Have (Mostly Free) Tools To Make Your Fitness Blog More Professional #fitnessblog Click To Tweet

 

Let’s Chat

Are you happy with your About page?

How do you feel about pup ups?

Any “Must-Haves” I missed?

 

 

This post contains affiliate links.

Photo cred: Ivory Mix