Making Money From Blogging With Health Blogger, Nelly Darbois

I love to share stories of members of the DNW community that are making money from blogging. These stories share the blogger’s journey and tips about exactly how they make money and get traffic to their blogs. I hope you find these interviews inspiring and helpful in your own journey. This month, we are featuring Nelly Darbois who is a Health Blogger from Kinedarbois.

1. Introduce yourself!

Hi there! I’m Nelly, a 33 years old French woman (you’ll surely see it in my English 😉 ). I have two children, and I live in the French Alps. I am a physiotherapist for a few hours a week. I love my job, but in small doses. That’s how I got into blogging…

2. Describe your blog

I have 2 blogs, both in the health niche:

1. Kinedarbois.fr

It is for: 

• Physiotherapists (and other health professionals)
• Patients who need rehabilitation.

My goal is to disseminate easy-to-understand information on the pathologies that physiotherapists treat. But also tips for the daily professional life of physiotherapists, or for patients to better understand the health system. 

I also write articles for physiotherapists or professionals who wish who wish to switch to another profession or start a side-business.

2. Observatoire-hyperhidrose.fr

This blog is intended for people suffering from hyperhidrosis (excessive sweating) and their loved ones. And to the caregivers who take care of them. My main goal with this blog was (and still is) to better inform and raise awareness about this pathology. 

I write articles to better understand the disease and the treatments. I report on the progress of scientific research. I also propose testimonies of patients affected, with tips.

3. When did you start blogging and why did you start?

I started my first blog (Observatoire de l’hyperhidrose) in 2012. But at that time, I had no idea that you could monetize a blog! I just wanted to share the information I found for myself on this pathology (which I have) because there was no information on the internet in French.

I started my second blog (Kinedarbois) in 2019.

 The goal with this one was to:

1. Present my activity as a home physiotherapist;
2. To keep a written record of the information I had gathered for my patients.

I was taking advantage of this to present my services as a health writer.

And I also thought that in the long run, if my blog worked, it could become a source of income.

But my main goal (and pleasure) was to provide reliable health information based on my experience and research in scientific publications.

I wanted to have a job that could be done from home and at any time. Especially for more flexibility with my young children (often sick… or on vacation!). Physiotherapy does not allow that at all… but blogging does!

4. What is the most rewarding part of blogging for you?

I really enjoy putting information in writing and knowing that it is read, and appreciated! I see it in the amount of time people stay on each article on average (over 10 minutes), and in the comments they post under certain posts.

And of course, to see that I am also making money little by little is gratifying!
I also like the idea of always trying to better answer the questions that people really have on internet.

5. What do you find the most challenging?

The hardest thing for me is to find the right balance between these 3 things:

• Writing about topics that I enjoy very much;
• Writing and taking action to make my business profitable;
• To only implement things that I find ethically ok.

Especially since I have other things to manage on the side: my family life, some hobbies, and my activity as a physiotherapist (which I wish to continue for the moment, even if I could financially stop it).

6. How much did you earn in the last month and how?

Here are some figures on the income that my 2 blogs currently generate.

Monthly blog income:

• Freelancing : $1500 (I just stopped SEO writing and I’m only a consultant and profesionnal Wikipedia editor)
• Ads : $700 (without Mediavine, because my traffic is French speaking 🙁  I am with a French advertising agency)
• Selling my ebooks : $300
• Affiliates : $300
• Coaching: $100

7. What tips do you have for bloggers trying to monetise their blogs?

My first piece of advice would be to choose the subjects on which you write well. You really have to have something to say over and above the average person. And you have to have a lot of fun with it because it will probably take some time before you can make a lot of money.

I think it is also necessary not to disperse and to choose a main source of traffic on which we will put most of our efforts: Google? Pinterest? Instagram? Facebook?

If you do it right, if you start getting regular and growing traffic then you can really start testing things to monetise it. And test different things.

8. How much traffic did your blog have in the last month and where does it come from?

My website about physical therapy:

• 140k page views/month (100k uniques)

My site on hyperhidrosis:

• 5k page views/month (seasonal traffic, much more important in summer)

The sources are the same for both:

• 90% Search
• 7% Direct
• 2% Social networks (mostly Facebook)
• 1% Referrers

9. What tasks do you do that have the biggest impact on your traffic?

Without any hesitation:

1. Choose topics well which there are queries and for which I can create better content than the ones that already exist. And for which the competition is not too high compared to the current authority of my site;
2. Write long and well documented articles with relevant infographics or photos;
3. Take care of alt tags, meta title and meta description;
4. Spend as little time as possible on social networks.

10. What has helped you the most when it comes to getting search traffic?

I think it’s staying focused on acquisition through SEO/Google primarily. Not to spread myself too thin, even though it’s tempting sometimes!

By doing that, you hyper-specialize, and you get a real head start on your “competitors”. By becoming better in SEO, we also become better teachers I think. Because Google values educational content, well explained.

11. What are your main goals for your blog?

I think I got what I wanted. My goal now is to continue producing content for my 2 blogs at the same frequency. But having fun is first and foremost.

I try to write 3 articles per week on my physio blog, and 1 article per month on my hyperhidrosis blog. I know that at this rate, my traffic and my income will continue to grow without doing more. And I think that in a few months, I will decrease the rhythm of publication for my physio blog.

I just want to continue to enjoy what I do and enjoy the freedom it gives me. More flexibility and more time to enjoy the people I love, and get involved in causes that I find important 🙂

12. What are you doing to work towards your main goals? How do you work out where to prioritise your time?

I found a routine that works well for me.

• I schedule my articles at the rate of 3 per week
• I relay them automatically on Twitter
• I make a post on Linkedin per week, and one newsletter per week. All of this content is based on articles that already exist on my site. I also schedule them in advance.
• After putting each of my articles online, I add them manually in Google search console. I’m doing a GoogleMyBusiness mini post. And, ESPECIALLY, I make internal links from already existing articles on my site to this new article.
• I also program 1 Youtube video per week, always from one of my already existing articles. And then I integrate it into the article.

I really try to spend as little time as possible on social media. It’s a waste of time! And that’s often not very satisfying.

13. What three biggest tips/pieces of advice do you have for other bloggers?

It’s hard to give general advice. It depends a lot on where the person is (not yet launched, or blog that is already a source of income, for example). And its objectives.

Generally speaking, I would say:

1. Be sure to write on a subject for which people are really interested, and durably;
2. Have personal or professional expertise on this subject. So you really have concrete things to say which ring true;
3. Consult Google Search Console very often to see what works. And re-adjust accordingly.

14. Where can we find you online?

Thanks for reading! You can find out more about me and my worldwide journey on my physio blog (in French and English). I’m always happy to answer any questions! You can also follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter.

You can find more interviews with successful bloggers here and more posts about making money from blogging here.