Surprising Reasons Why Your Fitness Blog Isn't Converting Readers

What do Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robin Arzón, Jon Finkel, and Ryan Schneider have in common? Fitness and beehiiv.

Platforms like Arnold’s Pump Club, The Pivot by Robin, Books & Biceps, and Thrive25 are some of the fitness industry’s most popular fitness and health newsletters. These newsletters offer different health and fitness knowledge to various target audiences, demonstrating the immense potential for fitness bloggers and newsletter creators to make a meaningful impact.

So what does it take to have a successful fitness blog or newsletter in 2024?

Knowing what not to do is essential to creating a successful fitness blog. We have interviewed our top fitness and health gurus and content creators and gathered practical tips to help you start your journey to fitness success.

Let’s empower your mind and fuel your body — get stronger every day!

Introduction to Fitness Blogging Mistakes

Robin Arzón, founder of The Pivot by Robin, shared:

So many of us strive for perfection, but mistakes happen, and owning and learning from them is essential for creators or business owners to grow and drive their companies to success.

So what are some common mistakes that fitness blogs face?

Let’s start with your audience.

Identifying Your Audience Incorrectly

Congratulations! You want to be a fitness blogger. That is a feat in itself; you have years of experience, education, and research.

So who’s your ideal audience? Men? Women? Runners? Bodybuilders? People age 25-35?

The possibilities are limitless!

However, this is a common mistake that bloggers face when they start their blogs. Keeping your audience too general and broad can create inconsistency with content, voice, and even brand confusion.

Understanding your target audience is one of the most beneficial steps in building a successful fitness blog. When you fail to identify your ideal readers/buyer personas, it can lead to content that misses the mark and struggles to gain engagement.

To prevent reader and engagement loss, research your niche, understand your potential audience’s pain points and interests, and then create content that speaks directly to their needs.

A great example of researching and understanding your target audience is UniScoops, one of beehiiv’s newsletters. Created by Holly Cobb and Gabriel Pang, UniScoops aims to make academia more approachable, fun, and digestible for everyone.

So how do you determine who your target audience should be?

If you are starting from 0, conduct competitor research. This can mean going to your favorite fitness blogs and seeing who their content is targeted to. You can take inspiration from this research or use the information you find to create a different niche fitness blog.

The more specific you can be about whom you want to target, the better your chances of having a successful fitness blog.

Lacking Consistency in Posting

Daily, weekly, monthly—the frequency of posting content is the next critical step that new bloggers tend to make mistakes on.

There are so many posting options, but which is the one for your blog?

The key is consistency.

If your blog posts are too sporadic or irregular, they can affect your audience’s ability to connect with your content and hurt your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

The number of postings varies depending on your business and your target audience.

When discussing The Pivot by Robin, Arzón said:

Co-founder of Thrive25, Ryan Schneider, explained, “We were five days a week (Monday through Friday) for the first eight or nine months when sending our newsletter. Recently, we have scaled back to three days a week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday).”

He continued, “We found that 3x a week was a great balance between keeping the readers engaged and sustainable for us to write a high-quality newsletter while building new products.”

These two fitness and health experts found two different frequencies that work best for their readers. Remember, there is no one-size-fits-all option when it comes to posting frequency.

There are some ways to help you remain consistent with your posting.

First, develop a content calendar and stick to a consistent posting schedule to keep your readers engaged and coming back for more.

Second, after 30 days of posting, gather the details of which post had the highest number of engagements. For those posts, when were they posted and at what time? These metric numbers can help you determine the best time for your blogs to post.

Overlooking the Importance of SEO

SEO is dead in 2024…not.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is alive and kicking in 2024, as in 1997, but it has improved.

High-ranking blog posts drive traffic to your blog, and SEO is the vehicle for success. When you neglect to optimize your content for search engines, potential readers may find it challenging to find your blog.

Luckily, beehiiv offers SEO enhancements like customizable post URLs, meta tags, Sitemaps + Robots.txt, page speed improvements, and no index tags. 

beehiiv’s Senior Growth Manager, EJ White, said, “These are some of the most powerful updates we’ve made to date. Creators are gaining a toolbox full of cutting-edge tactics for growing readership from organic search traffic. beehiiv now comes standard with advanced SEO capabilities rivaling any CMS on the market.”

If you’re looking for organic growth, having an SEO plan is paramount to your blog’s success. David Tao, co-founder of BarBend, said this about SEO, “BarBend was launched seven years ago and has grown quickly through organic, SEO-focused growth.” 

When you’re working on SEO, follow some of the best practices like keyword research, meta tag optimization, and the most important tip — creating high-quality and informative content that search engines can easily crawl and index.

Content-Related Mistakes in Fitness Blogging

Let’s discuss content.

If you were given a newspaper, which article would you gravitate towards?

Would it be because of the article title, the image used, or the introduction paragraph to an article?

These are all considered content.

Content refers to different elements of a campaign, blog post, or newsletter, including copy or text, ads, referrals, and anything featured in the campaign after you open it.

When you start your fitness blog, you may encounter content-related pitfalls. Let’s start with original content.

Ignoring the Power of Originality

Heard of ChatGPT, Jasper.AI, GPT-4, or Gemini? What do they all have in common? Artificial Intelligence (AI).

In 2023, AI took the world by storm. AI, like ChatGPT, uses natural language processing to create human-like text. It can create high-quality content on virtually any topic. Like anything easy, it comes with its own set of imperfections.

The content generated by AI requires human input and edits. It should never be used as is – which leads to originality.

The only way to engage with readers and your target audience is to provide unique original content that your readers can’t find anywhere else.

It’s 100% okay to provide statistics or informative content, but you have to differentiate yourself from the Wikipedia or Statista of the world. If you’re simply regurgitating information that is already elsewhere, your voice will lack depth.

Focus on creating insightful content that offers a new perspective or tackle topics in a way that your audience hasn’t seen before. For example, you could provide pint-size tidbits of solutions to complex problems.

Jon Finkel, founder of the Books & Biceps newsletter, said that in addition to sharing his books and columns on fatherhood, the second component of Books & Biceps is, of course, the “biceps” or workout and motivation section of the newsletter. Finkel looks for exciting fitness trends, workouts, lifting feats, or even new music he pumps in his garage gym to share.

“I also like to share challenges that my readers can relate to and write about my journey,” reported Finkel, “For instance, last summer, I set a goal for myself to bench 315 pounds like I did in college. I shared the workout and my progress along the way.” 

Finkel went on to add, “I also set out to do my first triathlon and wrote about that. The coolest part is that readers chime in and join me. It’s such a great community. We all push each other. It’s that old saying, ‘iron sharpens iron.’”

Another great example of original content is from Mady Maio, the founder of the Camber App. In Maio’s own words, “[Camber] is a travel recommendations app. It is essentially a social version of Google Maps, and we started our newsletter to focus specifically on Los Angeles and things to do and places to be within the Los Angeles community.”

These two creators showcased two different industries using the power of original content to engage and motivate their readers and audiences successfully.

Failing To Incorporate Personal Stories

Another common content-related mistake in blogging is failing to incorporate personal stories.

Fitness is a profoundly personal journey. Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose weight, or just overall wellness, sharing your own story on a fitness blog will resonate with your readers much more than general facts.

Part of incorporating personal stories is finding your brand voice and tone.

There isn’t a hard rule for what makes a good brand voice and tone. It is important to find what sounds like the personality you want to capture for your brand. Some content creators like a formal, corporate tone, while others like a more casual, conversational tone.

Your brand voice should mix what comes naturally to you and what your audience engages with most.

A great example of incorporating personal stories is the Entrepreneurship Handbook (EH) newsletter. EH started its journey as a Medium publication that aims to assist readers in succeeding in entrepreneurship. 

The publication has earned a large following due to its high-quality content, which includes practical advice, inspirational stories, and expert insights on startups. 

EH doesn’t shy away from the gritty realities of startup life.

It tackles the dark side of the hustle - the crushing failures, self-doubt, and mental health challenges - without sugar-coating or turning a blind eye. This honesty offers invaluable guidance for entrepreneurs navigating the emotional rollercoaster of building a business.

“We have 230,000 followers and publish hundreds of fantastic writers on the platform. Medium is a wonderful community of readers and writers,” said Dave Schools, founder of the Entrepreneurship Handbook.

Offering his readers a look into his business journey has helped Dave become one of the top publications on Medium. That’s the power of sharing your story with your readers. It builds a deeper connection.

Not Providing Actionable Advice

When readers visit your site or subscribe to your newsletter, it’s because you provide solutions to their pain points that they can implement into their daily routine. This leads us to the following common mistake fitness blogs face: not providing actionable advice.

When you provide feedback, practical tips, or solutions that are general and found on other websites, you only touch the surface of your audience.

But when you provide informative and actionable content in a clear, step-by-step manner that is easy to follow, you benefit, educate, and provide trust to your audience.

For instance, one of beehiiv’s health and wellness newsletters, Thrive25, doesn’t just offer diet and exercise advice. Thrive25 focuses on nine essential elements that contribute to health and longevity. These elements include mindset, nutrition, movement, growth, sleep, connection, fun, environment, and science.

To further solidify the importance of Thrive25, co-founder Ryan Schneider explained, “We are creating software to provide you with all the necessary information. Dialogues you should be having with your doctors.” 

Schneider continued, “[Thrive25 software] Lab work that is organized and clean, where you understand what it means. And, based on your health goals and where your health is, we tie all the information from the appointments and labs back to your personal goals.”

Not only does Thrive25 offer actionable advice, but it is also diversifying its services and working on software to help its community.

Another beehiiv newsletter creator, Robin Arzón, said, “The Pivot allows me to share weekly the tools in my toolkit. It highlights everything from what I’m cooking in the kitchen to answering questions that folks have, because, of course, people can reply to the newsletter and ask questions to me.”

Arzón has created a safe environment for her followers to continue conversations they may have read and touched upon in one of her newsletters.

Overcomplicating Fitness Concepts

Have you heard the catchphrase “ simplicity is key”? It applies to fitness blogs, too.

Fitness can be a complex topic, which leads us to our next content-related mistake: overcomplicating fitness concepts.

More often than not, bloggers showcase complex ideas and problems by being open books and providing all of the information.

Don’t!

Breaking down the information into bite-sized pieces is an easy way to provide value to your audience. Depending on your target audience, avoid using too much fitness jargon or technical terms.

Focus on breaking down complex concepts—this will set you apart from the crowd.

Neglecting Visual Content

Jon Finkel, founder of the Books & Biceps newsletter, firmly believes in the power of design to enhance the reader’s experience. In a recent interview with beehiiv, Finkel shared his thoughts on the importance of design and the flexibility that it provides to creators, which brings us to our next pain point: neglecting visual content.

Is more visual content better? Or is less better?

Visual content is essential in the world of blogging. Whether using high-quality images, infographics, or videos, visual content can help bring your content to life and make it more engaging for your audience.

Finding a perfect balance between text and images will vary between content creators. Testing different design templates with your audience is a great way to find the perfect balance for your fitness blog.

Finkel was particularly impressed with the abundance of design options, allowing creators to tailor their newsletters to their vision. He emphasized the importance of exploring these options and creating a design that aligns with the newsletter’s brand and content.

“Just like authors spend significant time making sure we get the cover of our books right, newsletter creators have the same chance to make a powerful impression with their landing page and email design.” 

Promotion and Engagement Mistakes

Once you have created your fitness blog, it’s time to promote it and track engagement. Sounds simple, right?

Bloggers beware—there are common mistakes when promoting your blogs and engaging with your audience.

Let’s start with the most popular mistake—underutilizing social media platforms.

Why Trust Me

Linda Hwang has extensive experience in B2B marketing and previously worked at a renowned international facilities management company. She played a crucial role in creating effective content and social media marketing plans there. Now, Linda is a marketing consultant who helps small businesses create compelling brand stories.

Underutilizing Social Media Platforms

Social media is a powerful tool for promoting your fitness blog and engaging with your audience.

If you don’t have any social media platforms, which platform should you start with?

Research competitors’ and mentors’ social media accounts and use this as a baseline. Then, test and analyze your data points.

Failing to establish a presence on relevant platforms can limit your reach and make it harder to build a loyal following.

Take it from Samir Mezrahi, the innovative mind behind one of beehiiv’s successful newsletters, Zillow Gone Wild.

But with a solid strategy in place, social media platforms can expand your blog’s reach and generate potential revenue streams.

For instance, one of beehiiv’s financial newsletters, MarketBeat, successfully leveraged social media to reach a wider audience. The company has a strong presence on platforms like X (formerly known as Twitter) and Facebook, sharing its latest articles and engaging with its readers.

Or how about Robin Arzón? Before her newsletter, she had a growing social media fanbase. She shared, “I think that the beauty of social media is that it casts a wide net, but I think the benefit of a newsletter is not only the written word, but it’s the engagement with corralling all of those different topics into one place.”

To create a robust online community, actively engage with your followers, share your content, and participate in relevant discussions.

Ignoring Email Marketing

Email marketing is an effective way to stay connected with your readers and inform them about your latest content and offerings. Bloggers who ignore the power of email marketing lose out on expanding their reach and connecting with their audience.

When you offer your audience a chance to subscribe, you’re offering them an extension to your brand—VIP ACCESS for the everyday folks.

Who doesn’t like feeling special and noticed?

Whether you offer your audience a free or premium email newsletter, having an email marketing plan catered to your audience and fitness blog objectives is critical to success.

As a blogger, take a page from MarketBeat’s playbook regarding email lists:

From 2010 to the present day, MarketBeat has captured email addresses on every article and subscription they offer. These emails are collected through partnerships with other email newsletters or additional newsletters that MarketBeat started as funnels to their main newsletter.

Email addresses are key to MarketBeat’s success.

Email marketing is a must for bloggers and businesses in 2024 to provide a deeper connection with your audiences.

Take the Books & Biceps newsletter; it’s not just a digest of book recommendations and workout tips. It’s a thriving community of 6,000+ strong sophisticated “meatheads.” Every week, subscribers are treated to a potent mix of timely reading recommendations, sports and fitness motivations, and insightful columns.

Your email marketing should always be personalized, include aesthetically pleasing graphics, and have a strong call to action (CTA).

Not Encouraging Interaction

Fostering a community around your fitness blog is crucial for long-term success.

To do so, you have to offer a give-and-take mentality. You “give” your audience content and “take” their feedback. Too often, as bloggers or business owners, we don’t like input because we’re too scared of the uncomfortable feeling of getting a negative review, but that’s not how growth works.

This brings us to our last promotion and engagement mistake: not encouraging interaction.

When you don’t offer or encourage interaction with your readers, you do not give them a sense of belonging. You only provide them with a surface-level view, and your fitness blog will not succeed.

Take a page from Robin Arzón’s playbook: “Every week, I answer someone’s question [and share the answer in the newsletter].”

Right below the Q&A for the week, she has a call-to-action, “Got a question for me? Share it here!” This encourages her readers to participate, get engaged, and ask her questions.

Technical and Design Mistakes

You’ve written your content and opened all of the social media platforms geared towards your fitness blog, so what’s next? The technical and design aspects of your fitness blog. For beginners, “technical” and “design” may sound scary, but it really isn’t.

There are a few common mistakes to remember before launching your fitness blog.

Let’s start with your blogging platform.

Choosing the Wrong Blogging Platform

The platform you choose to host your fitness blog can significantly impact its functionality, scalability, and overall user experience.

Not all blogging platforms reign supreme.

If you understand coding and HTML, finding a platform that allows you to implement code into its template would be ideal. Similarly, if you need a platform that offers unlimited landing pages with an easy drag-and-drop editor, picking a platform with those features would be perfect.

With dozens of different website platforms, which one should you choose?

The best platform is one that checks off all of your needs and fits within your budget. Also, you need a blogging platform that can handle all the nuances of blogging, like SEO and responsiveness.

To find the best website for your blog, create a budget and email marketing plan for your fitness blog.

Here are three platforms to help you start your fitness blog:

1. beehiiv: beehiiv is an all-in-one inbound marketing platform designed for small and midsize businesses. It provides a comprehensive solution for creators to produce, monetize, and expand their newsletters.

2. Substack: One of the most prominent email service providers (ESPs), Substack is a simple product that allows you to build a subscriber list, blog about what’s on your mind, and share it with your audience whenever you choose. There are few bells and even fewer whistles.

3. WordPress: WordPress is a comprehensive content management system (CMS) and open-source software. It can handle various content types, from blog posts and pages to media galleries and e-commerce.

Neglecting Mobile Optimization

Most bloggers pick a platform, draft their blog post, add photos and URLs, and then publish – thinking, “That’s it. Here comes the engagement,” but that is not the case.

One of the most important features to look for when it comes to a blogging platform is mobile responsiveness. Ensuring that your fitness blog is optimized for seamless viewing and navigation on smartphones and tablets is essential, which brings us to our common pitfalls in fitness blogging: neglecting mobile optimization.

With more and more people accessing information on mobile devices, your blog posts or email newsletters have to be versatile and optimized for smaller screens. Set it and forget it doesn’t apply here.

Always preview your posts or newsletters to ensure that they reflect how you like your content presented in different formats.

Underestimating the Importance of Site Speed

Remember the movie Spaceballs? In it, Dark Helmet says, “No, no, no, light speed is too slow! We’re gonna have to go right to ludicrous speed.” That’s our generation, where everything needs to be done quickly or forget it. We can apply this to site speed.

Site speed is a critical factor in user experience and SEO.

A mistake that fitness bloggers can make is not reviewing their site speed and underestimating the importance of it.

Consider this scenario: You’re waiting in line at the autobody shop to get your loaner vehicle and want to access your car insurance information. You have full signal bars, but the page takes too long to load.

Frustrated? I would be.

A slow-loading website can frustrate your readers and negatively impact your search engine rankings. To combat this, monitor your site’s performance regularly and implement strategies to improve its speed, such as optimizing images, minifying code, and leveraging caching.

Conclusion: Learning From Mistakes To Grow Your Fitness Blog

As this article explains, launching a fitness blog requires strategic planning, consistent execution, trial and error, and a willingness to learn from mistakes.

Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

However, knowing the common mistakes outlined in this article can help you better navigate the waters and set yourself up for long-term success as you build a thriving, engaged community around your fitness blog.

As uncomfortable as making mistakes can make you feel, embrace the discomfort. This will keep you on your toes, and continuing to learn and adapt from them is crucial to your fitness blog’s growth and evolution.

Your subscribers and readers are your lifeline. When you connect with them by offering surveys, responding to their social media comments, sending out polls, or offering a place for them to reach you, you stay attuned to your audience’s needs and pain points.

Use these data points to refine your approach. This will create a deeper connection and build a stronger community.

Are you ready to take your fitness blog to the next level?

beehiiv is a leading platform designed to help content creators like you build, grow, and monetize their online presence.

Trust beehiiv to empower your fitness blog journey. Join today and check out the resources and tools available at beehiiv.