Loading...Starting a weight loss blog is just like starting any offline business. Don’t be deceived into thinking that there is less risk of failure because you’re operating online and have invested less in tangible assets. Many have become bloggers in this field after being swayed by popular opinion and the fact that a good number of urban dwellers are overweight. But numbers can be deceptive; much as demand for mobile devices is growing, not every brand is making profits. However, if you have discovered an untapped niche in the weight loss industry and have an idea of how you can exploit it through your blog, it could be worth taking the risk and getting started.
Risk is an inseparable part of entrepreneurship. Starting anything comes with the risk of it failing, but this alone should not put you off from trying. You need to persist until that seed of an idea matures into a successful blog sought after by weight watchers the world over.
The following are some of the mistakes that those who seek to offer solutions to people struggling to control their weight through relevant blog posts make.
Contents
1. Lacking The Courage To Get Started
Many would be bloggers, after brewing an idea they think will be a hit for a long while, begin to succumb to self-doubt. They envision all possible scenarios that would happen should they fail soon after getting started. What if I get zero traffic after my first 3 months in operation? What if, a year into blogging, my site still has no subscribers? They call to mind all the would-be bloggers who started off with gusto only to disappear from the blogosphere soon after with barely a whimper. But think of those running successful weight loss blogs that advertise and sell hundreds of diet and fitness products every month. Had they allowed themselves to be hamstrung by fear, they never would have gotten started.
2. Not Formulating A Proper Business Plan
One of the things that will push your blog from a dream to an income-generating entity is a business plan. If you do not put your idea down on paper, hammer it out, critique it and scrutinize its viability with a cold eye, it will remain a mere pipe dream. Or even if you do get it off the ground, it will become unsustainable in a short while. You thus need to develop a detailed plan of execution that clearly shows how you will get start-up funds, your projected income, costs and profit, your target market (age group or class of weight watchers), how you intend to market your blog etc.
3. Lone Ranger Mentality
You have the writing skills, you have the blog, and know how to manage it- heck you even know which are the best affiliate programs for diet supplements and fitness products. Why do I need anyone else, you ask? Simple, there are people with strengths that can complement your blog; with competencies that while do not directly relate to blogging, are necessary for it to grow. For instance, you need SEO experts to help get traffic to your blog. Social media experts can come in handy for this task as well. You can’t do everything on your own, or if you do, your site may never become a big business.
4. Being Too Trusting
As a newcomer into the blogging field you may fall prey to unscrupulous characters who want to reap where they haven’t sown. We’re talking about guys who will sell you a blog promising you easy monthly income, only for you to find out they cooked the financial statements to make a dying entity look like a golden goose. In relation to the previous point, it is thus important to have a trustworthy advisor or mentor with whom you can deliberate decisions before you take them. It also pays to take everything with a pinch of salt. Verify, then trust, as some wise person said.