Health Guide business

Health and fitness are becoming important to everyone these days. People are eating better, exercising more, and trying to live a healthier lifestyle. The problem is that many people are not as educated as they would like to be on how to accomplish these tasks. This online business can provide people with this information. You can offer your site’s visitors healthy recipes, new exercise techniques, and information about the health industry. You’ll be surprised how many people will continuously visit your site to learn more about how to improve their quality of life.

This type of site can recommend and provide links to health-related products that can be purchased online. Income can be generated through affiliate program revenue from these sites.

This type of site can also generate revenue from selling targeted online advertising to businesses related to health and fitness. Since your Web site’s visitors are obviously coming to your site to view information about health and fitness, you will be able to provide businesses with a highly targeted advertising opportunity. You will want to have a link directly on your home page that says something like “Advertise with Us.” This link will lead the visitor to a page where he or she can view Web site traffic statistics and a listing of benefits of advertising on your site. Testimonials from past advertisers would also be an asset. This would easily encourage businesses to advertise on your site.

SKILLS NEEDED

Knowledge of health and fitness is essential if you’re operating this type of business. Strong research techniques would also be an asset, as you are constantly going to be searching for new health-related information to provide to your visitors. Knowledge of effective online advertising techniques would also be an asset, as this type of business requires a high number of Web site visitors.

COST TO START THIS BUSINESS

Initially you will have to pay for the design, development, and hosting of your Web site, computer hardware, computer software, a scanner, a printer, and possibly a digital camera so that you can take photos of various foods or exercise techniques. If you currently have some of these items, your initial start-up costs will be considerably lower. If you plan to set up a mailing list to communicate with your Web site visitors, you will have to purchase mailing list software to help you organize and maintain your mail lists. You will also have to purchase comprehensive Web traffic analysis software to track where your Web site visitors are coming from. You can use this information to help sell advertising on your Web site. Other costs that you will incur are related to the promotion of your Web site. Estimated cost is $5,000 to $10,000 to start.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES NEEDED TO START

Approximately one to three full-time employees will be needed to operate this type of business. At least one staff member will be responsible for the daily online promotion of your site, while the others will handle all administrative, accounting, and sales activities associated with running the daily business operations.

INTERNATIONAL POTENTIAL

This business has strong international potential as health consciousness has increased across the globe. Everyone will be interested in your health and fitness news and advice.

IMPORTANT BUSINESS ISSUES TO BE ADDRESSED

Since you are promoting health and fitness advice online, it is extremely important for you to generate as much traffic as possible to your site. There are multiple ways for you to do this; however, it is essential that you allocate a significant amount of time to the daily online promotion of the site.

Since you will be viewed as a professional in your field, it is very important that you not offer any health or fitness advice that might inflict injury or sickness on one of your visitors. If you suggest that a particular diet or exercise is effective, make sure that

(1) people can’t hurt themselves following your advice, and

(2) there are no side effects that will harm your visitors sometime down the road.

If you don’t do this, it could prove detrimental to the success of your online health and fitness guide business.

ONLINE MARKETING TECHNIQUES

• Launching a strategic banner advertising campaign on Web sites frequented by your target market would be a great way to increase traffic to your site. Sites that you could place banner ads on include noncompeting health sites, exercise sites, and food and cooking Web sites (for those interested in following a healthy diet).
• You could hold a weekly or monthly contest on your site for free health related merchandise. Perhaps an exercise tape or a treadmill could be the prize, depending on your business model and the availability of sponsors to donate the prize. You could ask people if they would like to be notified of the winner via e-mail. This would encourage them to return to your site and re-enter your contest, thus re-exposing them to your Web site.
• Develop as many links as possible from Web sites, directories, and metaindexes frequented by your target market. There are thousands of health and fitness-related Web sites online. These are the sites that your target market will visit if they are looking for information about health and fitness.
• You could develop an Ask the Experts section on your site where visitors could ask you questions about health and fitness. This would be a great way for you to interact with your visitors. You could provide an RSS feed for those who want to be notified when you update this feature.
• You could contribute articles to health-related e-zines. Make sure you are credited with the article and ensure that there is a link provided back to your Web site.
• Develop a sponsored listings campaign to bid on appropriate keyword phrases with the popular search engines.
• Developing a mail list would be a great way to stay in touch with your visitors. You could have a Health Tips newsletter that could go out monthly, weekly, or even daily to all of your subscribers. This is a great way to encourage visitors to return to your site and will also help enhance the professionalism of your site.

ADDITIONAL INCOME

In addition to selling online advertising on your Web site, you might also consider selling health-related products. You could sell vitamins, nutrition supplements, fitness books, videos, or clothing. This would be a great way to make additional income for your business; however, you will have to purchase the appropriate storefront software to operate at this level of e-business.

ONLINE EXAMPLES 24

Hour Fitness https://www.24hourfitness.com This is a dynamite Web site (Figure 2.6) offering health and fitness advice to its visitors. They also have an Ask the Experts section where visitors can ask the professionals at 24 Hour Fitness questions. This is a great way for the site to enhance its professionalism.

Health World Online http://www.healthy.net This site has multiple interactive features to promote personal well-being and a healthy lifestyle.