August 3, 2008
New Fitness Blog Community for Ambitious Fitness Bloggers
Got a Fitness Blog? You are going to like this. I've been working on an innovative idea with a couple of other big-time fitness bloggers, and I couldn't wait to tell you about it. I have partnered up with Scott Kustes from Modern Forager and Mike O'Donnell from The IF Life to form a new fitness "Mega-Site" that will benefit every member who joins.

[If it has been over 5 years since you went on a tropical beach vacation, then something needs to change in your life. Life is too short to spend doing things you dislike. Aim for something big…whatever that is…and then do it!]
We Are Looking for Generous Fitness Bloggers!
I actually started Fitness Black Book, because I was a bit turned off by all the sales pages disguised as fitness blogs. I certainly don't mind people who make money from their blog, I just dislike it when that is the main focus. The sites that draw me in are those with a "give first" mentality. Sites that help you without spending a dime. I can quickly tell if a blogger wants to genuinely help people and get his or her message out. If this is you, then we want to work with you!
Why Would You Want or Need to Work With Us?
If you have a "give first" and generous mentality, then we will help you increase the amount of visitors to your website dramatically. We will also help get your name out there on the internet. At some point, we plan on collaborative ebooks and things of that nature…the first goal is to get each and every member to critical mass as far as daily visitors are concerned. Don't get stressed out if this sounds technical…good content is over 1/2 the battle.
The Criteria to Join our Health and Fitness Blogging Community
We are looking to work with a wide variety of fitness bloggers…not just people with my point of view (even though I'm right…LOL). No, seriously…more than anything we are looking for people with passionate view points. It could be that you only like to train with kettlebells, or you are a long distance runner, or you are in the process of losing 100 pounds, or a natural bodybuilder getting ready for a competition, or you are into CrossFit, etc. We want a wide range of viewpoints.
Think of This As a Massive Online Fitness Magazine
We are looking for people to maintain their blogs as normal, but occasionally contributing an article to the community site. Why would you want to do this? Well, because this becomes free publicity as well as a very valuable link back to your site. As our community site gets more and more powerful in the Search Engines, these articles will reach a bigger and bigger audience. With dozens and dozens of authors writing unique content on our shared Fitness site, it is just a matter of time before Google sees this site as an "authority site".
But Hasn't This Has Been Done Before?
Kind of…but here is the biggest difference. We are going to train you on how to get much more traffic than you are currently getting on your own personal blog. All three of us have high-traffic fitness sites…that exploded out of nowhere. I am the Search Engine specialist and was actually going to write an ebook on getting high rankings in Google, but I'm focusing my attention to helping you guys instead. According to Google Analytics, my site has been found by over 96,000 different search terms. I know a thing or two about getting listed all over the place in Google. Scott and Mike are amazing authors and WAY more tech-savvy than me (aka computer geeks). They are also better at making friends and have TONS of contacts within our industry.
A Small Window of Opportunity Here
I hate to say it, but if you want to ever have an online business you need to start immediately. I suggest that anyone who has any interest in this, go read this free report called The Rebirth of Internet Marketing. Basically, if you don't become a "Market Leader" quickly…it is going to get tough out there for you. Here is an excerpt from the free report:

This Isn't Just About Money. It Is About Improving The Internet.
I know that the goal of "improving the Internet" is a big one, but I'm serious. I don't like to go to Google and constantly see Big Businesses at the top of the result pages. I want to help you guys get there…"real people" helping other people. I'm already there with this site and I'm having a blast. At some point I will create paid products, but remember…I believe in giving first. If you help enough people the money follows. We want to help you help more people!
For Most of You We Plan on Building a Really Great Resource
All of you who aren't crazy enough to spend a LOT of their spare time building a blog…are really going to enjoy our site. The site is called Fitness Spotlight. Scott and Mike created it as a site that highlighted the "best of the web" fitness posts each week. I loved the idea and then helped them look for great posts as well. I actually only did it for a week, before we decided upon a new direction. Instead of pointing people towards posts on other people's sites we decided we wanted unique content contributed by talented authors…much like a magazine.
Maximizing the Strengths of Dozens of People
The idea is that each person can write about their specialty. As an example…someone on this site once asked me about shin splints. I don't know how to minimize shin splints, but I know there is someone out there who does. Why would I write about this subject if an Olympic track coach who has a blog could write a post on this? How about losing 200 pounds, bench pressing 405 pounds, running a sub-4 minute mile, etc.
How to Apply and Team up With Fitness Spotlight
Go to this link: Fitness Spotlight Fitness Blog Community
It is pretty self explanatory. Remember, the main thing we care about is that you have a genuine desire to help people with your fitness knowledge. Some of the most successful fitness blogs I've seen are written by regular people who have dropped 150 pounds, or got back the pre-baby body, etc.
Tags: Main, fitness blog, fitness sites, fitness tips, if life, intermittent fasting, modern forager

Comments
August 3, 2008
Felicity said:
Excellent idea! I'm looking forward to see the result!
Anyway, I love your and your partners' blog very much! Keep up the good work.
Mark McCullagh said:
Rusty - who cares about the tropical vacations? I just wanna be holdings hands with that beautiful blond. As a prelude to more intimate interaction, of course…..
Jon said:
"They are also better at making friends and have TONS of contacts within our industry."
I know you're good at making friends too! Don't be so modest
August 4, 2008
Angie Schumacher said:
How Awesome! What a great idea Rusty! I'll be over there checking it out!
munchi said:
Bench 415? Wow, I am still trying to crack 315 lol. I too have been following your site for a while now though this is my first time posting. Must commend you on some great content though.
August 5, 2008
Lorna said:
Rusty:
I had a favor to ask. Could you please make an article that specifically addresses what type of body men prefer in women. It is perplexing to me that while the vast majority like "real" women with "curves" (aka heavy thighs and love handles), I see these same men checking out slim girls. Could you please do an article about what type of female body is desirable to men in general? This would be highly helpful. I have found that many men are scared to voice honest opinions because of the stigma attached to appreciating slenderness in women.
Hope you read this comment.
Thank you very much!!!!
-Lorna
admin said:
Felicity,
Thanks for the compliment. We plan on building this to a large level…and those that contribute in the beginning are going to reap the biggest rewards.
Mark,
I dig your new Wordpress Theme. I'm checking out everybody's blogs to get ideas.
Jon,
I'm good at making friends…I was just clowning around. Scott does seem to be better at connecting with other bloggers online. Mike's good too when he wants to be.
Angie,
I look forward to having you help us post over there. You have been getting a lot of traffic to your site as well! I believe we started our blogs at the same time. I know you remember what it was like when you wrote and it felt like nobody was reading. Great job on building a monster site!
Munchi,
Yeah…I'm pretty sure my wrists would snap if I tried to bench press 400+ pounds! I have no desire to ever bench over 400 pounds, but everyone is different. With my long arms and thin frame…225 pounds and under is what I stick with.
Lorna,
Men don't get judged as much on their looks, so I don't feel bad talking about that subject. I feel bad adding to the onslaught of what an ideal woman looks like, because I just think there is so much focus on this.
Rusty
Helder said:
It's a fantastic project that can help thousands of people, keep it up Rusty.
August 9, 2008
Tom Parker said:
Wow Rusty. Looks great. I've already got the badge posted to my blog and am just awaiting approval (fingers crossed). This could be a fantastic opportunity for lots of little known fitness bloggers with some excellent ideas to finally have their voices heard. I wish you all the best with it.
Tom
admin said:
Helder,
I expect to see you join up with us buddy
We all like your writing style.
Tom,
Scott Kustes (from Modern Forager) is handling the approvals. He will approve you for sure. The main thing we want is people who are writing to help others. Your blog does a great job at that. You have some monster posts that must take hours to write! You have a very high quality site.
I'm part way done with my case study on Fitness Black Book. I'm going to outline how I got over 1,000,000 page views in less than 12 months…and how my site has been found in Google for over 98,000 unique search terms. I also will show how to get indexed high in Yahoo as well (last time I checked I was #3 for the term "fitness" in Yahoo out of 424,000,000 results…almost half a Billion results).
I was going to create a paid course on all of this, but opted to do all of this for free to help everyone in our network excel. I want all of you to dominate!
Rusty
August 30, 2008
Caleb Lee said:
Rusty!
Discovered your blog a while ago, this is my first time posting though.
I also added the badge to my blog today, and am waiting to be approved. I think this project is a great idea!
I have a relatively new blog, but I'm putting up good content about everything that has worked for me in my decade plus obsession with martial arts, strength training, muscle building and general conditioning.
Talk soon!
Caleb
November 5, 2008
RL Morgan said:
Rusty,
I've read almost everything you have posted. You have a great site here with wonderful original content.
I have added the badge to my blog and hope to start working with you and your partners in the near future. My blog is about a family man (me) that has let himself fall into disrepair over the past few years. I am currently blogging about my ascent out of the pit of fatness toward fitness.
Cheers,
RL