As interest in health, wellness, and fitness reaches an all-time high, health and fitness blogs have exploded. This guide provides readers looking to live healthier lifestyles or start their own blog everything needed to understand this booming industry.
Why Health Blogs Are Blowing Up: Statistics
Consider these statistics pointing to the meteoric rise of health content:
- 61% of Americans searched online for health advice in 2022 (Source)
- Searches for “healthy recipes” increased 300% since 2016 (Source)
- The global fitness app market is projected to be worth $120 billion by 2028 as digital fitness explodes (Source)
- The health and wellness industry overall represents a $4.4 trillion market (Source)
With increasing interest in healthy living and getting in shape, informational resources like health blogs have become go-tos for consumers—prompting website owners and businesses to meet this demand.
If you‘re considering starting your own health or fitness site, this is the perfect time. Next let‘s explore the major categories in this space.
Categories of Health & Fitness Blogs
The health and wellness space contains blogs spanning diet, nutrition, weight loss, overall fitness, sports-specific training, mental wellbeing, healthy lifestyle and much more.
Popular health and fitness blog categories include:
| Category | Focus |
| Diet & Nutrition | Healthy recipes, meal plans, various diets (keto, paleo etc.) |
| Weight Loss | Tips, plans & personal journeys for losing weight |
| Overall Fitness | Workouts for all levels, form tips, goal-setting, equipment recs |
| Sports-Specific (Running, Yoga) | Training for particular activities or sports |
| Lifestyle | Holistic wellbeing content on relationships, mindset, self-care |
| Chronic Illness | Navigating conditions like diabetes, arthritis, cancer etc. |
Now let‘s look at prime examples from these categories dominating in terms of traffic and authority in 2023.
7 Best Health and Fitness Blogs of 2023
While there are thousands of blogs competing in the health space, a handful rise above based countless readers and industry credibility.
I analyzed metrics using SEMrush, Ahrefs, and SimilarWeb to compile data on 7 top-tier blogs across categories.
Comparison of Key Health Blog Metrics:
| Blog Name | Category | Monthly Traffic | Domain Rating | Social Media Followers |
| Nerd Fitness | Fitness | 1.5 million | 76 | Instagram: 344k |
| Mark’s Daily Apple | Nutrition | 615,000 | 72 | Facebook: 1.3 million |
| Diary of a Fit Mommy | Fitness for Moms | 156,000 | 55 | Instagram: 1.1 million |
| Hurdle | Mental Health & Fitness | 117,000 | 46 | Instagram: 197k |
| Love Sweat Fitness | Women’s Fitness | 104k | 48 | YouTube: 760k |
| Yoga with Adriene | Yoga | 65,000 | 50 | YouTube: 11 million |
| Competitor Running | Running | 55,000 | 55 | Twitter: 105k |
While traffic fluctuates month-to-month, these numbers showcase high-performing health websites perfect for evaluating competition—and inspiring your own site.
Now let‘s do a deeper dive on a several stellar examples by category:
Nerd Fitness – Best Overall Fitness Site
Monthly Traffic: 1.5 million
Focus: Fitness advice for beginners/”nerds"
Busting gym stereotypes, Nerd Fitness envisions fitness as welcoming place for gamers, geeks and formerly scrawny founder Steve Kamb. With fun, beginner-friendly fitness advice, Nerd Fitness makes getting in shape non-intimidating.
Key Features:
- Long-form guides
- Relatable success stories
- Upbeat tone
- Online member community
- Products/coaching for purchase
Nerd Fitness sets itself apart from intimidating hardcore bodybuilding sites by offering real, practical advice for everyday people versus gym rats.
Mark’s Daily Apple – Leading Primal/Paleo Site
Monthly Traffic: 615,000
Focus: Primal, Paleo & Keto diets
Stemming from Mark Sisson‘s personal health journey, Mark’s Daily Apple provides guidance around ancestral eating principles. The blog shares his nutritional philosophy while providing real, everyday wellness advice.
Key Features:
- Primal/Paleo recipes
- Keto diet tips
- Intermittent fasting
- Myth debunking
- Lifestyle wisdom
Mark’s Daily Apple offers diet and lifestyle advice focused on holistic wellbeing versus trendy fitness industry fads. As founder of the popular Primal Kitchen line of dressings and supplements, Mark writes from a place of credibility and expertise.
Diary of a Fit Mommy – Favorite Blog for Fitness Moms
Monthly Traffic: 156,000
Focus: Fitness advice for mothers
Juggling parenting with hardcore workouts and clean eating isn‘t easy, but fitness influencer Sia Cooper of Diary of Fit Mommy perfected the art. She shares home workout plans, healthy family recipes and motivational real talk on finding fitness postpartum.
Key Features:
- At-home workout plans
- No-gym required guidance
- Meal ideas kids enjoy
- Relatable mom content
- Transformation photos
With a background growing mega-popular blogs The Nourishing Home and Redefining Mom, Sia knows what moms want to see. She masterfully mixes easy, family-friendly fitness content with inspiration moms need.
Hurdle – Top Mental Health & Fitness Site
Monthly Traffic: 117,000
Focus: Mental fitness & sports psychology
A shining example of the rise in mental wellbeing content, Hurdle promotes fitness through the lens of mindset. Founded by former UofO track coach Emily Abbott after her own recovery from PTSD, Hurdle applies sports psychology techniques to help readers overcome obstacles holding them back from fuller lives.
Key Features:
- Mental fitness courses
- Motivational podcast
- Mindset advice
- Sports psychology tips
Blending mental health guidance with physical health best practices, Hurdle delivers game-changing support missing from most mainstream fitness sites.
There are infinite examples to learn from if launching a health or wellness site interests you. Now let‘s get even more tactical on exactly how to build yours successfully.
How to Create a Successful Health & Fitness Blog
The rewards of launching a thriving site are immense, but getting traction takes work. Follow these vital steps for giving your blog its best chance at success.
Research Thoroughly First
Study health blogs with massive traffic and engagement—but don’t copy them. Find untapped angles and underserved topics to stand out in a crowded space. Know the competition inside out.
Establish Your Niche & Specialty
Rather than covering health, diet, fitness and wellness broadly, niche sites perform better by winning authority through focused expertise. Establish a tight content scope around your unique experiences, background or credentials.
Solve Reader Problems
Don’t just share your journey or ideas. Offer specific, tactical advice readers can implement. Publish step-by-step workout plans including exact exercises, reps, sets and tips. Give sample meal ideas with grocery lists. Share actionable mental health practices. Enable positive change.
Open Up Personally
Authenticity converts. Allow your real personality, quirks and even struggles to shine. Yes, share before and after photos, but also the messy inner work along the way. Vulnerability and humility connect.
Write Concise Content
Fitness enthusiasts visit blogs for quick bursts of inspiration and training while on the go. Use scannable formatting including short paragraphs, ample white space between sections, bolded headers, bullet points and lists whenever possible.
By diving into your specialty and keeping readers’ needs top of mind, you’ll craft irresistible content. Next let’s explore major money-making methods.
How to Monetize a Health & Fitness Blog
While blogging for passion and impact are noble enough pursuits, creating a profitable business from your expertise unlocks even more freedom to help others.
Luckily, the multi-billion dollar health industry presents almost endless money-making potential.
Affiliate Marketing
One of the simplest ways for bloggers to earn commissions is through affiliates. Feature certain equipment, gear, supplements or programs and receive kickbacks when readers purchase using your custom links.
I recommend websites like Shareasale, RewardStyle and Amazon Associates to find relevant merchant partners.
Based on your niche, relevant affiliates may include:
- Gear – Fitbits, Apple watches, workout equipment
- Activewear – Gymshark, Lululemon, Nike
- Supplements – Protein powders, vitamins
- Training programs – T25, P90X
- Events – Spartan Races, yoga retreats
With even modest amounts of traffic, affiliate earnings quickly add up through recommending items your audience needs anyway.
Advertising
Another more passive income stream is selling website advertising.
Programs like Google Adsense instantly approve sites related to health and pay per clicks or impressions. As traffic and clicks increase over time, so do advertising earnings.
Other popular advertising platforms used by health and wellness sites include Mediavine, BuySellAds, and Carbon.
Consider ad placement carefully to avoid detracting from user experience—for example sidebar squares and footer banners over intrusive pop-ups.
Digital Products
One of the most lucrative ways fitness experts monetize knowledge is selling their own educational products.
Popular options include:
- Online courses – In-depth video training, PDF downloads & tools
- Ebooks – Digital booklets and guides -> low cost to produce
- Membership sites – Offer exclusive content and community for a monthly fee
- Apps – Workout programs, meal plans and more via app purchases
Information products provide immense value, solve reader problems even better, yet require more upfront time and cost to produce versus affiliate links.
Coaching & Consulting
For qualified experts like personal trainers, dietitians and health coaches, selling 1-on-1 services makes sense.
Coaching packages allow customization specific diets, injury rehabilitation, personalized training plans and accountability. Pricing is also more premium.
Group coaching through virtual courses or in-person bootcamps also scales guidance while earning solid income.
Events
Hosting live gatherings allows deeper audience engagement—and earning potential.
- Meetups – Arrange local hikes, runs, potlucks or workouts for followers
- Conferences – Rent venues for seminars, trainings and speaking engagements
- Retreats – Hold multi-day yoga, adventure or training camps
Events require more work but fostercommunity and unique sponsored partnership opportunities.
The path to a massively profitable site has endless permutations. Dive deeper on what makes sense long-term once traffic is established.
For now, soak up insights from the best in the biz already crushing goals. Let their success guide your own.
Key Takeaways for Health and Wellness Blogging Excellence
Launching an authoritative site starts with understanding audience needs, the competitive landscape, and unlocking your magic mix of value. Remember:
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Share experiences honestly – Get personal and real about your fitness journey
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Stand out with specialty expertise – Own your unique niche rather than covering all things health and wellness broadly
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Solve pressing problems – Cut through noise by providing clear, tactical advice readers can take action on
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Format content concisely – Use scannable layouts for skimmable mobile experiences
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Diversify beyond blogging – Offer further value via social channels, digital products, events and coaching
The multi-billion dollar health industry continues expanding at a staggering rate. Seize opportunities to launch sites solving newly mainstream problems readers face on their wellness journeys.
May this guide provide extensive insights into the real strategies behind top performing health blogs killing the game and monetizing what they know. Filter inspiration through the lens of your distinctive experience and skills.
The rest will come naturally as you build communities who Motivate each other while you empower fuller, fitter lives.
