Health and wellness is still a hot niche when it comes to profitable online businesses. In fact, in 2015, it was identified as a $3.72 trillion global industry that’s expanding every year.
It seems like almost everyone is trying (or has tried at one point) to live a healthier lifestyle. And with all the money still spent in the industry, why not make yourself available to cash in on it? You can start a health and wellness business as small or large as you’d like. Just follow some simple tips to get started and make sure it’s a success.
Find your product
The first thing you need to do is decide what type of product you will sell (if you’re selling physical merchandise), and then decide how much capital you’re willing to put in up front. You can look for suppliers like a vitamin manufacturer or a wholesale company that gives you bulk product at a discount. Typically, to get started with a wholesaler, you need a federal tax ID number and some type of storefront, whether it be online or brick and mortar.
Find your platform
There’s more than one way to start your own health business. You can choose to sell products on the Facebook marketplace, at local vendor’s markets or flea markets, or through other people’s businesses such as Amazon.
But the most profitable way to sell them is perhaps through your own website. Ecommerce platforms like Shopify make setting up shop a fairly simple process, and you can either use it as a standalone store or integrate it with your website. You can then choose to blog on the subject to increase traffic to your site, or you can simply have a storefront and drive traffic through other ways, such as social media or word of mouth.
Market your business
Throwing up your website isn’t enough to get sales. You’ve got to get people’s eyes on the website on a daily basis. It may take a while for Google to recognize you or allow your site to show up in the higher results. So in the meantime, you need to find ways to drive that traffic to you. This can be done in many different ways. One way is to use SEO (short for “search engine optimization)” to get search engines to pick up on your business when someone searches for relevant keywords.
You can also advertise on social media, either posting for free or paying for ads. Or you can write guest articles on other websites in the same niche to get the word out. But the best approach is probably a combination of strategies, each one bringing in its own kind of traffic. Most people keep track of their statistics and tweak their marketing plan until they start getting their desired results.
Optional steps
Along with selling your products, you can decide whether or not to offer additional services. For example, will you offer weight loss coaching or fitness advice? If so, will you do it in the form of paid clients or free blog articles? If you decide to offer some type of service or advice, it’s good to list your credentials on your website’s “About” page.
And these don’t necessarily have to be professional credentials, although that would give you some credibility. But if you don’t have those, you could write about personal challenges you faced and overcame. It’s important to give your readers a reason to listen to what you have to say if you want to present yourself as a fitness expert.
