Heath Niche, Please help me, What content can I provide to my list?

I've found the most popular content to fall into one of a few categories:

Actionable Suggestions

This is the type of content which tells you what to do. Maybe it's a new trick for marketing, or recipes for dieting, or techniques for painting model kits. People like reading things which they can put into action right away.

Current Trends and Information

This content is focused on something which has either been in the news or is being discussed in the niche. If your niche was video games, for example, then you could write about an eagerly expected title. A health niche could benefit from recent studies on a particular food or supplement.

Reviews

People like to read reviews of nearly anything. This is especially true for anyone who is considering spending money on that item. Negative reviews are sometimes just as popular, if not more so, than positive reviews. Don't ask me why, I just know it's fun to read a review about a really horrible movie.

Motivational Content

People love to be motivated and it's not that hard to do. This is more popular for niches such as weight loss, business development, and anything else which can often take time. I wouldn't rely on this type of content too much but, every so often, it can be a great idea.

I'm sure there are others but these are what I would suggest.

It depends on the relationship you want/have with your list.

One thing 'free content' can do is pre-sell upcoming offers.

Say you were going to promote a product that was for weight loss. You do a series of emails on weight loss that dramatize the problem and offer common solutions.

After your presell emails you could present the product.

The presell emails wouldn't provide any medical/health advice just common sense advice. The emails would "frame the problem" for your audience so when they see the offer it fits the solution for the way the problem was framed.

So the series of emails might be:

Why diet pills are EVIL and do not work
(rile them up against false claims, no selling)

STOP yo-yo dieting with this trick
(freebie 'trick' or idea to help make consistent diet/lifestyle choices, soft sell)

<Name of Weight Loss Guru> is WRONG! Read why here...
(expose common myths that even 'experts' repeat, soft sell)

Wow this really worked for me! Check it out...
(Sales email for the weight loss product you want to sell, hard sell)

You can follow up with "How is the product working" or "More tips on using..." emails.

Use the products/services you are going to promote to help build a number of emails to send before sending the offer to warm up the audience or frame the offer to make it more attractive when it arrives.

Mahlon

Hi PharmaPunk.

First I'd say you might work on getting over the fear of saying something wrong. In fact it might be best to assume you will make a mess of something, learn from it and move on

On the subject of content..yes you're going to limit yourself if you only write about things that you personally have tried.

Some ideas / things I might want to read about:
- recipes for snacks, meals and drinks that offer a healthy alternative.
- how to choose, buy and grow herbs for home health remedies or healthy eating (I always kill coriander ).
- do some research and publish "news' on latest studies or products.
- find great case studies or stories online which show the benefit of remedies or lifestyle change.
- survey your list starting now...even with 2 or 3 subscribers they might have some good ideas...have that feedback loop in your content process going forward.
- interviews with people in that industry (could be simple Q&A via email).
- review books as they come out, include a summary of the biggest ideas in the book and how that might benefit your list.
- think about doing short series and maybe map out a few months of content...January = 7 herbs to improve memory, February = 7 things your naturopath should say before you can trust them March = How to plan a months worth of healthy meals in an hour.
- look at the news stories in your industry and just comment on those..adding your own insights or opinions.
-take written content from news / magazines...summarise it and record daily MP3s..like an email list radio show or podcast.
- create infographics or memes which summarise key facts or cool tips...that's a great way of conveying information which might be really valuable but doesn't require a heap of text. I use Microsoft PowerPoint to make super simple images in a few minutes.
- think about breaking mail outs into different styles Monday is a tip to help guide the week, Wednesday is a case study or a quote or an infographic for quick mid-week inspiration, Friday is a review of a product or book which they could grab and read over the weekend.
- I could go on for hours

As you publish content you'll hit your groove and your list will guide you where they want to go as well.

If you're worried about being an expert...it's OK if you aren't...be the "researcher" the "analyst"..the "Devoted Fan"... market commentator.

Hope something in there helps!

You could make an interview to leaders in your niche. In this way you will be able to create a great content and at the same time build relationship to expert/leaders in your niche.

Find the questions your audience is asking. If you can sometimes a survey is good. Maybe not at the infancy of your list, but people DO like to give feedback.

If you're struggling to figure out what to write I suggest you read this article on copyblogger (no I'm not saying your topic is boring)

How to Write Interesting Content for a "Boring" Topic - Copyblogger

That article and others on the site should help inspire you to write on your niche. Also if you're using the best info available to you, and are willing to adapt to newer, better information, people will appreciate you more if you're genuine and take a stance.

Thanks!

Rob

try writing a comic. i'd definitely read that. plus, it differentiates you from all the other crappy email lists :]

Simple. Survey them. Make a survey on Google drive or Survey Monkey.

Then ASK them what their issues/problems are.

Once you know what they actually want as opposed to what you think they want, then the only way is up :-)

There is some good advice in the above messages too.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than I on the subject will chime in, but I thought this was important enough to mention. When it comes to health products, supplements, etc. you might want to look in to specific required disclaimers.

I'm far from a legal expert, but I'd recommend looking into what type of "this product is not intended to treat or cure any medical condition and has not been approved by the FDA as such.". Obviously, that's not the exact wording, but being that you use these products yourself, I'm sure you've seen the type of disclaimer I'm referencing.

Also, probably something along the lines of "before taking any supplement, be sure to check with your physician."

Sign up to the list of a successful marketer in the niche and see what they are DOING...not what they are SAYING (very different often!) and emulate that.

Don't rip them off but do something similar with a unique twist on it.

Chances are people will have signed up for your list for more of the same as you gave them in the first place on your website.

Well if you aren't qualified to give people advice on the topic then don't.

It's all well and good to share your personal experiences and what worked for you but when you start recommending people do 'XYZ' in medical / health niches it's a dangerous path to be going down.

And a disclaimer on your website probably isn't going to cut it legally should something go wrong.

Legality aside how would you feel if you gave someone health advice that you weren't sure was correct and something bad happened? A disclaimer isn't going to make you feel any better I would imagine.

Tread carefully.

It's already been pointed out that there's no way for you to test all the products you want to discuss yourself.
How about looking into some authority sites in the herbal products niche?

Just doing a quick search I discovered the following blogs with super content:

naturalcowgirl.wordpress.com
herbdocblog.com/how-herbal-medicine-works/

And this blog that, if you can believe it, is compiling a list of all blogs in that niche:
Methow Valley Herbs: Herbal Blogroll

Remember you don't personally have to be the source of all the information you're sharing with your list. You can simply refer your list to some great reference material. Just don't copy it and try to use it as your own, cause that's not cool. Credit where its due, always.

Also by doing some reading into other authority sites you'll quickly discover other topics of interest to both yourself and your list.

Hope this helps, and have a great day.