How do you become a nutrition writer? Where do you find one?

Published by Stefan Nordström on July 14, 2020

what is a nutrition writer? how do you become one?

A nutrition writer is an expert on writing about health, foods, vitamins, minerals and bordering topics. There seem to be more and more of us, as healthcare information and business increasingly moves to the web. But how do you become a nutrition writer? And maybe even more importantly (depending who you are): why should you bother hiring one?

Let’s sort out all of these burning questions and more in this article. If you want to skip the words and just hire a nutrition writer, hit me up through the information provided below.

About Stefan Nordström

Digital marketing consultant
7 years of experience
Expertise: SEO, copywriting, newsletters, conversions, digital strategy
nordstromstefan86@gmail.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-nordstr%C3%B6m-9689bb5b/

How do you become a nutrition writer?

Let’s start the nutrition writer article from the right angle: how do you become one? Well, it’s not a straight and obvious path – that’s why I as a Swedish digital marketing professional want to share my way there. 18-year old me certainly wasn’t expecting to write thousands of words about vitamins and minerals in 15 year’s time, but it’s where a Bachelor’s in digital marketing and a few years in pharma got me.

I was mostly working as a strategist and planner for a while, but the writing returned. Once I decided to become a digital freelancer, I realized that I had picked up a lot of knowledge about health and nutrition.

Creating content about many different diseases and pharmaceuticals meant I suddenly knew way more than the average person about health topics, and it didn’t take long before I landed a couple of great clients in the field. Suddenly, I was a freelancing nutrition writer for real. Once you’re niche, you’re niche, apparently.

What can you write for?

Being an online nutrition writer is not only about web sites. On the contrary, there are several digital platforms to write for, and many of them require special skills. Sometimes, it’s an uphill battle to get it all right, but it’s also a good opportunity to niche yourself. How about becoming the new in-demand expert for health newsletters, for instance?

Aside from web sites and newsletters, there is plenty of work to be found in social media, and don’t forget about digital magazines, ads and video material.

Maybe even more importantly, who?

But who can you work for? Well, the most obvious options are pharma and supplement companies, and there are many content creators among those. My first freelance nutrition writer gig was a big medical site that wanted to write about pretty much everything in health, including vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

Don’t forget the abundance of online pharmacies, online doctors and health test companies. Many of those want to write about nutrition. The same goes for many web sites in exercise, motivation and overall well-being. Once you start digging, there are many potential nutrition content clients out there.

Doctors, nurses and copywriters

But nutrition writers can come from many different backgrounds. In my experience, some of the most common are:

Doctors
Nurses
Dieticians
Researchers (and students)
Niche copywriters
Other types of niche digital marketers

For those with a background in medicine, being a nutrition writer is a great side-hustle, and some even make it their main one. Coming from that walk of life, there is also a lot of practical experience to offer, sometimes making the material more personal and unique. Also, I’ve seen a few researchers and students craft material on their health areas of expertise.

But what can I as a digital marketing-based nutrition writer offer you? Well, the answer is as easy as digital marketing. I don’t doubt that a lot of the health professionals can craft great material, but there is a different side to digital, as well. In the end, you want to make sales, or at least achieve some kind of measurable business objective.

And that’s where you need a digital marketing expert, specifically an SEO copywriter if you’re working on website content. A nutrition writer that also knows SEO can help you write informative, medically correct content that also gets traffic and drives sales. Isn’t that the full equation that most of us want to achieve with our digital content?

What should a nutrition writer know?

Anyway, I already jumped ahead slightly to this section, but let’s do it anyway: what should a nutrition writer actually know to craft great content? Since, we’re online, let’s be readable and put it into list form. A nutrition writer should be good at:

High-level writing, editing and proofreading
Basics in nutrition and health (in-depth is even better)
Fact-checking and finding sources
Search engine optimization
Writing in an informative way
Writing for different audiences and target groups
Making unique and personal content
Crafting mobile and tablet-friendly material
Being entertaining (really helps to ease up, when appropriate)
Basic web publishing/editing skills (not a must, but it helps)
Performance evaluation and analysis (once again, not a must, but it’s a really good thing to know – at least if you want to drive new business with your content)

Looking for a nutrition writer?

Are you looking for a nutrition writer to help you create quality content for your online platforms? Well, as I said in the beginning: you’re in the right place. I’m a freelancing digital marketing professional that is simultaneously niched in nutrition and skilled in SEO. I’ve worked in the pharma industry, and I’ve also helped many companies as a freelance digital consultant.

Interested in getting nutrition content both informative and selling? Get in touch with me by adding me on LinkedIn or e-mail nordstromstefan86@gmail.com.