Not all health and fitness magazines are the same. Just look at the newsstands to see the differences among these publications. However, the good ones have some key advantages over the mediocre ones, by having great writers, great content, great art and great online components. These are the magazines that often stick out and that often gain more loyal readership.

First: Health and fitness magazines use experts. They have freelance writers and staff writers who may cover the general aspects of fitness and health, but they also have columnists who normally are health and fitness experts. These experts are often great writers who also happen to know the fitness and health world inside out and who have a real passion for opening up others’ eyes to the wonderful powers of having a strong and healthy body.

Second: Health and fitness magazines use great graphics. Magazines about health normally use stock art, but the art they use is quite captivating and really helps get to the heart of a particular story or subject. Nearly everyone reading a health or fitness magazine today understands that visuals play just as strong a role in the overall reading experience as the actual content. And the people putting out these fitness magazines understand it too, thankfully.

Third: Health and fitness magazines use fresh content. An online magazine about fitness may grab articles from other places to throw into its own magazine, but health and fitness magazines that are quite established will create all of its content on their own. Original content is very important for any magazine, because it establishes credibility and it solidifies a particular magazine’s presence and popularity over another. Plus, with original content the autonomy is far greater and the ties that these magazines have to their writers and their content is a lot stronger. And it shows.

Fourth: Health and fitness magazines use the web too. For decades, health and fitness magazines have taught generations how to exercise better, eat better, diet better and better take care of themselves. The old days represented solely the print product. But today, most health and fitness magazines are online too, so readers get the print product and the online component all wrapped up into one shiny neat package. They can read articles in print form and then go to the web to gain access to even more information on bettering themselves, their diets, and their lives.