Help For An Elite Marathoner In The Fitness Niche

Hi Nate!

Wow, a fellow marathoner. I love running although I would not say I'm in the "elite" category. Ran the NYC marathon back in 2003; but haven't been able to do it again. Hope to do it soon though

Now, on to your main topic...

Running is a huge niche (magazines, clubs, blogs and all that jazz). So, one of the easiest ways to increase traffic to your site is to collaborate with other blogs. Become a contributing author and provide useful articles and posts on other running and fitness related blogs. And by "contributing author" I don't just mean making a comment on another blog. I mean getting in touch with the blog owner and providing him/her with quality content.

Naturally, you'll want to add 1 or 2 links back to your site on each article/post you contribute. Doing this will allow you receive traffic back to your site from their visitors.

Of course, doing the above can be quite time consuming; but it's a start.

Also, someone with your elite status and experience may also become a contributing author for the actual physical magazines such as Runners World or Running Times. Just call the editor's assistant, give them your credentials and ask how you can become a contributing author.

Are you a member of the Road Runner's club? I was a member for like 1 year but never got together with them for their "running meets".

Anyway, become a member. Go to the meets -- and bring T-shirts with your website's logo and URL to give away.

This last tip is "old school" -- but running is more a community sport. So, get involved.

Your site seems to emphasize training. I gathered that from the titles of your posts. So, how about offering an Army Officer's Training Tips ebook on Kindle for $2.99. In this way, you can then harness all that FREE fitness-related traffic from Amazon - and get paid when someone buys your ebook!

Lastly, take your coaching to the next level. Give a free class or classes at your local or community college. This can translate to mass exposure for your site and coaching from the younger generation.

Hope the above has been helpful. I know everything discussed is not 100% online or internet related; but since I love running too, doing the above makes sense to me. Honestly, it's what I would have done had I decided to create that running website back in 2003 as I had originally planned.

Run on!

- Jay

P.S. Runners, like golfers, spend lots of money on related gear. So, get some gear (create it, license it, whatever) and sell it from your site. This can be another revenue stream for you.

Thank you ALL for your thorough messages. I REALLY appreciate the time you all took to write in response to my post. I didn't think I would get responses that thorough so THANKS.

DISCRAT/JAGGYJAY...thanks for the running input. I am a featured fitness blogger over at military.com's daily PT and write for stack magazine but I am a total newbie to internet marketing. I just started putting a few google adsense 125X125's on my side bar but am a bit hesitant putting stuff like this outside of my own products.

I have a team currently working on my brand new revamped site which should be up in the next few weeks...will blow the design of my current site away but know from researching that design alone isn't what brings in revenue. I am now coaching three people so that is helping and Jay, you had mentioned product line, I am doing that as well. Will be forming an online shop putting my logo on the T-shirts.

Again, MANY thanks for taking the time to write...I need the input. Discrat...best of luck in the knoxville 10K, thats awesome..35 years in a row! Outstanding. I am hoping to get under the 2.16 marathon barrier but can't race in 2012 on account of a little 'military job' I have to do for the next 9 months but 2013 is certainly on my mind.

Jay..NYC was my first marathon in 2002..I ran it as a part of an armed forces team that was running for lung cancer research...we started in last place and for every runner we passed chase manhattan ban donated $1 to LCR...I went from last (32,189th) to 253rd overall with a time of 2.43.36 (2.51 including the wait for every runner to cross the start line)...GREAT race. Keep it up brother.

Nate

Post on as many forums and blogs as you can find about the topic. Get your name out there and visit Squidoo.com to create a free site that points people back to your site.

Hey Nate,

Since you are an authority in the niche, you should not have a problem providing great content on your website on a regular basis. I see you have already uploaded some interesting stuff that would attract people interested if they knew about it.

The next step would be to try ranking higher in search engines for relevant keywords. These days Google is going through some algorithm changes that a lot of people are struggling to figure out, so perhaps you could try out forum marketing instead.

Find relevant forums and make good quality posts that will convince other members that you know what you're talking about. Before you know it, people will be clicking on the link in your signature, and if your content is good enough, they'll become regulars.

This process is rather time consuming, but as someone who clearly seems passionate about the niche, you have a distinct advantage. It will be difficult to get viewers this way initially, but once you start seeming like an authority to others, the traffic will roll in.

Good luck

Thanks everyone for the tips and suggestions. I know the running industry pretty well and just recently applied for the war room to network with professionals such as yourselves in this industry. I simply just don't know how where to start as I only have one blog. I have a peer fly account that I have yet to even use, sprinkled a few google adsense ads on my site but at the same time I am not interested in making the site look tacky...to boot just shelled out $1250.00 for a total remake of the site coming in the next few weeks

I wrote an ebook, have two apps on the iPhone store soon to be out, two marathon training plans and am researching SEO techniques..I am only getting 80-200 visitors per day to my site...in a world of over 7 billion I am still playing in the kitty leagues...

I guess we all have to start somewhere. Yes, with the games coming up the fitness niche is big and there are a TON of people around the world who run...just need to keep networking to learn from those who are in the know.

I have been competing for over 20 years, professionally for the past 5 years. Although I love writing my own content and helping people I also would like to turn it into a business and earn while I sleep to. I work full time as an army officer and to say that I always have enthusiasm for this line of work I would be lying

Thanks for the tips and am open to all further suggestions.

Nate

Hi Nate,
Love your blog. Excellent. Also love your passion.

There are so many great suggestions here that it was hard to come up with anything else except I would suggest you think about incorporating either Instagram or Pinterest into your promotional strategies.

Instagram started out only available for iPhone but is not available for Droids as well.

A friend of mine who is in the beauty niche started using Instagram to capture a wide range of images related to her niche and it really helped her blog traffic a lot. She made a lot of new friends on Instagram that had never heard of her blog but started visiting.

Because of all the interest in her images on Instagram, she started doing Pinterest to showcase some of the shots and it was also very helpful.

Just think of all the amazing shots you could publish on Instagram in the process of promoting marathons and running in general.

Of course Instagram is not for everyone but if you have an iPhone or Droid the Instagram app is free. If not, you could still set up Pinterest boards to showcase your passion for running.

One other great thing about Instagram is that you can instantly link your images to Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter and you can link it to 4Square. All of those SM channels can help drive people back to your blog.

Good luck to you. Keep up the good work. It will pay off in spades. You have a lot of great things to share.

Hey Nate,

I think your best move depends on what kind of visitors are coming to your blog.

If they're experienced and already fit, maybe you can market physical products. Shoes, watches, shirts/shorts, etc. Runners like sweet gear

If a lot of people coming to your site are just getting into fitness, maybe you can promote programs like Truth About Abs, P90X, etc.

This is, of course, in addition to promoting your own ebook.

Another option is to give your ebook away as a way to build an email list. Then promote products on the backend as an affiliate.