A dream to thrive and a yearning for greatness is crucial to a business’ growth and success, especially in a highly-competitive industry such as health and wellness coaching. In fact, trends indicate that merely about 50% of small businesses succeed in the first four years, where the other half fall into collapse and bankruptcy.

This only goes to show that all businesses have a 50-50 chance of surviving within the first four years. By carefully plotting your plan, leveraging effective marketing techniques, and learning from experienced proprietors, you can overcome challenges and succeed in the long run.

Most wellness business owners and health coaches believe that starting a wellness business online requires a certification, a website, and building a brand are all essential aspects to establish a business. While these are important in the first stages of your venture, we listed 5 vital steps for a profitable online wellness business.

Figure out your specialty

Because the health and wellness is a big industry currently valued at $400 billion, there are certainly millions of organizations and independent proprietors that work within this line of business – from network marketers, health coaches, and personal trainers. Taking a piece of this pie could be a challenge.

One of the most vital first steps is to find a niche you can focus on. Instead of tagging yourself as just a usual health coach, try to identify a specific area of focus such as fitness for moms on the go, digestion wellness, vegetarian nutrition, and even skin health. This will ensure that you can tap a specific market and get in touch with patrons on a more intimate level. Before choosing which specialty you’ll focus on, you might want to look at the competition first and settle in a niche that’s not yet saturated.

Become visible and stand out

Once you’re settled in your chosen niche in the industry, it’s time to market yourself and let everyone know you exist. The first few months will be vital since this is where you’ll have to establish what you do, your level of expertise, and why they should follow your advice and get your services. Be ready to spend money during this phase, but don’t worry, once you succeed in getting your first client and provide quality service, it’s all a matter of time before word about you spread among the community.

Create a strong presence and try to reach the right audience. Be visible and create compelling content online. Use the right channels to be visible:

• Establish and optimize your website
• Create a social media presence and stay active
• Start an email list for newsletter remarketing
• Create a vlog that shows your expertise and provides value to your audience
• Consider partnering up with another health coach by doing events and workshops hand-in-hand

Offer a FREE gift

Who doesn’t like free stuff? Even if your target market belongs to the rich and affluent, as long as it provides real value and it’s free, they’ll be enticed to take it. Create exceptional free offers that your audience won’t be able to refuse.

You may ask, what is this for? One of the most important assets of an online wellness business is a solid network of potential clients, and one way to get this is by building an email list. A free whitepaper that talks in detail about your chosen expertise will most likely compel your audience to provide their emails, and can get opt-in rates by as much as 50%.

Use an autoresponder

As you grow your mailing list, you’ll eventually be faced with the task of sending and replying to emails on a regular basis.

Utilizing an autoresponder along with your newsletter campaign enables you to send personalized emails to every single one of your patrons, making it easier for you to initiate a conversation with your potential customers.

When replying to inquiries, however, try to respond personally to make them feel valued and address their specific needs. Apply basic sales principles such as asking for the sale every chance you get and listening to buy-in cues that your potential customers may be giving out.

Sell affiliate products

Once you’re able to build a considerable email list, leverage this to generate extra income by joining affiliate programs. Different companies – from establishing Fortune 500 brands to small businesses just like you – are starting to do affiliate marketing to push their products to customers. Commissions in affiliate marketing programs can reach 50% to 70%, providing you with a source of additional income that you can use as capital for improvements to your business.

With today’s technology, marketing yourself and your business is made easier than ever. Just stay passionate about what you do and put your best foot forward in running your wellness business online to succeed.