How Articles about Health Can Help Your Business (DIY Guide)

They’re doing it. And you’re wondering if you should do it, too. Psst:

• “They” = your competitors in the industry, and
• “It” = creating articles about health

After all, health articles take time, effort, and, sometimes, money to create.

What if, after pouring in all those resources, all you have to show for it is abysmal engagement? (Think, ~10 click-throughs and zero traction on search engines.)

• The ROI you could see from publishing articles about health (we’re talking cold, hard data)
• Four “characteristics” of health articles that are truly effective in generating leads, increasing sales, and promoting brand loyalty
• A step-by-guide on how you could write engaging, high-converting articles about health for your business — potentially saving you money on a writer

Let’s get started.

What’s so great about publishing articles about health?

Great question. And before I answer it, I’d like you to think about all the strategies you’re currently using to capture new customers. Is it …

• Search ads?
• Direct mails?
• Social media ads?
• Cold emails?
• Trade shows or events?
• Cold calls?

As different as these methods may seem, they share something in common: they’re all examples of outbound marketing. For the uninitiated:

• Outbound marketing: Refers to any kind of marketing where you (i.e., the business) initiate conversations with potential customers to attract them to your brand. You’re essentially “pushing” advertising messages onto consumers — even when they don’t ask for it.
• Inbound marketing: Refers to any kind of marketing where you provide potential customers with the information they’re searching for. You’re essentially “pulling” these prospects in, exposing them to relevant content when they’re ready, and nudging them along the buyer’s journey (more on this in a bit).

Inbound versus outbound marketing — which is better?

92.7% of businesses using inbound marketing see a definite increase in lead generation.

And, sweeter still, inbound leads cost around 61% less than outbound ones. To put that into perspective, let’s say you spend $105 on outbound marketing to acquire one (yes, one) lead. And quick, more math:

• What will it cost you to acquire 100 leads? $10,500.
• But … what if you used inbound marketing instead? $4,095.

Imagine what you could do with these cost savings ($6,405, to be exact). Double down on inbound marketing for more leads? Funnel into new product development? That’s up to you; enjoy the possibilities that have just opened for your business.

Hmm … OK, but does inbound marketing translate to results beyond lead generation? It sure does. 49.7% of businesses using inbound marketing increase sales within seven months.

Why is inbound marketing so effective?

It’s because, with inbound marketing, your prospective customers actually want to interact with you. You’re giving them valuable information when they need it.

You’re answering their questions and/or addressing their pain points, increasing their willingness to “trade” their attention and time in exchange.

Compare that to outbound marketing, where you’re pretty much shoving your services and products in a prospective customer’s face, forcing them to pay attention to you. It can get annoying — especially if they’re not interested.

And … coming back to articles about health

Now, you probably have a clearer picture of why you, a health and wellness brand, should consider publishing articles about health.

It’s an inbound marketing method that’ll help you go from “Ugh, just go away already” to “Omg, so helpful” in prospective and current customers’ minds.

And how will that get you more sales?

Let’s just look at one example of how articles about health could help a hypothetical company selling energy supplements move its target audience along the buyer’s journey.

But wait. “Buyer’s journey”?

This is the second time I’m mentioning it, and if you’ve been wondering whether I’m ever going to explain the term, well, the wait is over.

What is the buyer’s journey?

The buyer’s journey describes the three stages a customer goes through to purchase your product or service:

1. Awareness: A prospective customer becomes aware they have a problem. For example, a person may feel tired all the time even though they’re getting a solid eight hours of sleep nightly. They may search, “Why am I so tired all the time?” to understand, frame, and give a name to their problem.
2. Consideration: Prospective customers actively identify and consider potential solutions. So, in this stage, the individual may have defined their problem as “chronic fatigue”. And they’ll go on to research all the options available to address chronic fatigue (e.g., “What can I do about chronic fatigue?”)
3. Decision: Here, prospective customers evaluate the pros and cons of various options — and eventually decide on the right provider to “administer” the solution. For example, after careful consideration, an individual with chronic fatigue may choose an iron + vitamin B12 supplement instead of reducing their caffeine intake because it better aligns with their lifestyle needs.

Hopefully, as you can tell by now, the type of content a prospective customer wants to see differs based on where they’re at in the buyer’s journey.

So, when you create articles about health, you’re inviting prospective customers to engage with your brand only when they’re ready and receptive. You’re not interrupting people’s days.

Instead, you only show up when they need you and are interested in moving along the buyer’s journey. How pleasant.

Plus, in addition to creating a more pleasant experience for your prospective customers, creating health articles could also help:

• Improve your website’s search engine rankings
• Position your brand as an authority in the industry

Does this mean you should ditch outbound marketing?

Absolutely not. The truth is that, when executed well, outbound marketing can complement inbound marketing by:

• Reaching a group of audience that is not active online (e.g., older people or those in rural areas)
• Quickly creating a specific image or reputation for the brand
• Targeting a group of audience that is not actively searching for the brand’s products or services (i.e., those in the pre-consideration stage)

It’s also worth noting that you can repurpose inbound marketing content into outbound marketing ones. And vice versa. But we’re venturing a little too deep into marketing technicalities — and this article isn’t quite the right place for it.   

So, let’s wrap things up quickly. Here’s your takeaway: in most cases, the best approach for a business is a combination of inbound and outbound marketing.

How to write articles about health

As a health and wellness brand, health articles will, obviously, serve as a cornerstone of your inbound marketing strategy. You know that now.

Meaning? Ideally, yes, you should create articles about health.

But the moment you open that Microsoft Word document or Google Docs? Whew.

• Everything’s blank. How are you supposed to fill it up?
• “Health” encompasses so many things — just what, exactly, will you write?
• Oh, and you’re a business owner, not a “writer”. What if your words aren’t good or interesting enough for your prospective customers?

Hey, hey. Take a deep breath. Everything’s fine.

Or, well, going to be … because I’ll guide you through the five steps you can take to immediately conquer the Blank White Page and create articles about health that’ll attract prospects to your website like millennials to “experiences” and Gen Zs to “authenticity”.

#1: Get clear about your goal

Before you even put a single word on the document, ask yourself these two questions:

• Who are you writing for? Where are they currently on the buyer’s journey?
• Are they still in the exploratory stage, where they’re defining their problem — or are they *this close* 🤏 to whipping out their credit cards?
• What do you want your audience to do after reading the article? I.e., what’s your CTA?
• Download an e-book so you get their email? Check out your other articles about health? Purchase a particular product?

Why?

Well, let’s say you’re a sports supplements company. And you’d like to write a health article on optimal protein intake levels for muscle-building. See how you’d have to angle your articles differently based on where your audience is on the buyer’s journey:

• Awareness:
• How much protein do you need to build muscle?
• What role does protein play in building muscle?
• Consideration (your audience realizes that they’re not eating enough protein and wants to do something about it here):
• X ways to increase your protein intake
• Are certain proteins better than others?
• What’s the difference between whey protein concentrate and isolate?
• Decision (your audience has decided to go with whey protein concentrate; their purchase intent is the strongest here):
• How to choose the best whey protein concentrate
• X best whey protein concentrates

What about your CTA? Why do you have to keep it in mind? Answer: it guides your messaging and ensures flow in your article.

#2: Do your keyword research and come up with an outline

Once you nail the angle of your article, you’re ready to do your keyword research.

And once that’s done, you can go ahead and flesh out your article outline. How? A nifty trick you could use to get your brain juices flowing quickly is to simply list out all the main points you’d like to cover in the article — and make them H2 headers.

For example, let’s go with the topic: “Are certain proteins better than others?” A basic outline could be:

• [H2] What are complete proteins?
• [H2] Animal vs. plant proteins: what’s the difference?
• [H2] What should I do if I follow a plant-based diet?

Your H2s will naturally lead to sub-points, which you could simply include as body text or H3s if necessary.

There you go: that’s the structure of your article, all planned out! Now, you’re just left with the introduction and conclusion. Here are two tips:

• The goal of your intro is to “hook” your audience into finishing your entire article. So, keep it interesting.
• Find a way to (naturally) weave in your CTA to your conclusion. It’s important to plan this before you flesh out your article. Do not abruptly go, “Yo, by the way, buy my product here.” I mean, you could, but it wouldn’t be very effective.

#3: Source and analyze the latest research on the topic

What is the one thing articles about health absolutely need to be to win over the hearts of your savvy, increasingly smart audience? Evidence-based.

That means you need to research and source the latest, highest-quality scientific literature available to back up any claims in your article. But with so many studies out there, how will you ever distinguish between the good and the bad?

Ask yourself these questions:

• Where does it stand on the evidence pyramid? The closer to the “top” of the pyramid, the more you can trust its takeaways.
• Where is it published? Is it in a credible scientific journal or a “predatory” journal?
• Who funded the research? Imagine if a beauty company funded a study that ultimately supported the efficacy of their products — wouldn’t you be skeptical of the results?

#4: Remember: evidence-based, not “boring textbook”

Just because your articles about health must be grounded in credible science doesn’t mean they have to read like an organic chemistry textbook (*shudder*).

So, take the time to distill the essence of all those studies and translate them into plain, easy-to-understand language. Avoid scientific jargon whenever possible. And if jargon is necessary, explain what those terms mean to your audience (yes, in simple terms).

How would you know when it’s “simple enough”? Here are two tips:

1. Pass your text through a free readability tool (my favorite is the Hemingway Editor). Ideally, you should aim for your article to score at a Flesh Kincaid grade level of 8 and below. This means your text is readable by roughly 85% of the public.
2. “Simple” doesn’t mean “dumbed-down language” that’ll make your audience feel like you think they’re stupid. Instead, it simply means clear, accessible language. Granted, it’s a tight line to straddle, so if you’re unsure which side you fall on … send your draft to a trusted third party (e.g., a friend or loved one) who’ll provide constructive feedback.  

#5: Clean up your ugly first draft  

You should have done a whole lot of writing at this stage.

Don’t worry if your article still doesn’t look or sound quite right yet — it’s perfectly normal. Expecting your writing to “gel” on the first draft is like expecting your chicken wings to taste right as soon as you’ve poured the marinate over; they must sit for a while more!

In fact, reality check: first drafts are almost always ugly. But here’s the thing: only when you get all the words out can you begin refining them.

And, as you’ll soon find out, the process of editing and rewriting is truly where all the magic happens. So, go back to your draft with fresh eyes, and comb it for:

• Clarity
• Flow
• Tone
• Scientific accuracy
• Readability

TL; DR: go through these five steps when writing articles about health  

1. Get clear about your goal (Who are you writing for? What do you want them to do at the end of the article?)
2. Come up with an outline
3. Source and analyze the latest, highest-quality research available on the topic
4. Translate scientific findings into plain, easy-to-understand language
5. Complete your ugly first draft, then refine it

Wow, OK, that sounds like … a lot

All that sounds good. But let’s be real for a second. As a business owner, you already have so much (some would say too much) on your plate.

Between networking for publicity, replying to customers’ emails, and working on your Next Big Thing, eking out a couple of hours from your barely-any-breather-space schedule … yeah, impossible.

Plus, even if you managed to cobble together the time needed to work on articles about health, there’s also the enjoyment factor to think about. Maybe the thought of:

• Wading through and making sense of studies, plus
• Writing in general

 … makes you want to throw up a little.

Not having the time or interest to work on articles about health shouldn’t stop you from reaping the benefits.

Peachy Tuesdays’ Blog Writing package takes the whole process of writing articles about health off your hands.

That’s everything from content ideation to ugly first drafts to finished, SEO-optimized masterpieces — so you can focus on the most enjoyable and important aspects of your business. 

Ah, *sigh of relief*.