How to Start a Mental Health Blog

With 1 in 5 adults experiencing mental health problems in the U.S., the conversations surrounding depression, anxiety and other such conditions are beginning to break the stigma. If you want to use your own experiences to write a blog and help others, then you’re not alone. Mental health blogs have become increasingly popular around the world, but there is always room for one more.

So, how do you go about starting a mental health blog? The best way to connect with readers is to create a beautiful, user-friendly blog that people want to return to time and time again. Stunning websites address our need for pleasing aesthetics, and above all else, they make us happy. Compelling content also engages readers and helps open up conversations about topics that truly matter. With this in mind, here’s how to start a mental health blog to inspire your readers.  

Decide on a Niche

Rather than being a general mental health blogger, it’s best to focus on a particular niche so that readers know what to expect from your posts. Are you going to be an anxiety blogger, a depression blogger or a “yoga for wellness” blogger? Think about your passions, experiences,and knowledge and you could put them to use. You don’t need to be a mental health expert, but you should have some knowledge to impart to others; just make sure you add a disclaimer stating that you’re not a medical professional, as this could prevent legal complications down the line. 

Create Your Website

Let’s think about your reasons for creating a mental health blog for a moment. You’re probably building this website because you want to spread awareness or share your experiences to help others. Maybe you specialize in a particular area of mental health, or you just want to become a source of advice and inspiration for others. No matter what your motivation is for creating this blog, the advice remains the same: the way your website looks is just as important as the content. Full-service marketing agencies like Eventige can help you build your site from the ground up, focusing on branding, promotion and search engine optimization to drive more traffic to your posts. 

Brand Your Blog

Whether you want to make money from your blog or you just want people to read it, you need to create a personal brand that speaks to your target readers. If you’re trying to market your blog to others like yourself, then the branding should be easy. Just figure out what you like to look at when visiting other blogs (such as pastel colors, dark tones or calming blues with lots of white space) and work with that. It may take you a while to get your branding right, and you might need help from a marketing company to create your logo or design your website, but once you’ve established your brand, then the rest will be easy. 

Connect With Readers

It’s important to connect with your audience no matter what sort of blog you write, but the subject of mental health is so personal that you’ll want to reach out and speak to your readers directly. One way to do this is by creating of subscribers through a sign-up button on your website and sending out weekly newsletters or inspirational quotes via email. Another way to connect with readers is by responding to comments: this is important, as comments foster conversations and keep readers coming back to your posts again and again.