As a content writer, I am often asked what my passion is, what subjects I prefer to write about. The answer is simple for me: health and fitness. Why? Because when I’m not writing, I’m either working out or teaching classes. I have teaching certifications in Spinning, Pilates and group fitness, and I’m currently working on my 200 hours in yoga. I was also a certified personal trainer, but gave that up to write.
Melissa B is a 5-Star writer at WriterAccess
In addition to my fitness frenzy, I also have, or believe I have, a finger on the pulse of nutrition. I have a ‘nutrition specialist’ certification (which is basically a training course designed to give participants an overview of proper diet and diet recommendations for their personal training clients) and am always trying to learn as much as possible about science, doctors, researchers are saying about today’s nutrition. I know that it can be one thing today and another tomorrow, but I like to gather as much information as I can before I write for my clients (or making food choices for my family).
Research, Research, Research
As a freelancer, I have a number of clients who ask me to write content for their health and wellness sites. I love doing this for them, since this is my favorite thing to talk about; however, in order to feel good about the quality of content I am providing for them, I feel research is key; and that research must be current. A strong background in the area helps, but we can always know and learn more.
One organization’s site I visit regularly is FamilyDoctor.org. Their blog posts are timely, and link to their relevant studies. Otherwise, I tend to search for journal articles; I love getting my facts from these publications, especially when I can view the research.
Whether my clients are life coaches, dog food companies, or medical marijuana dispensaries, they can all benefit from factual health information. A life coach might add a post about eating right and adding yoga to daily routines in order to get rid of stress and balance a life to work ratio; a dog food company might blog about the healthiest ‘human’ foods to add to a pup’s diet, and a medical marijuana dispensary could benefit from a post which explains the side effects of prescription medications versus cannabis. All of these clients need me to know quite a bit about health. I want to bring them facts that will draw new leads; those leads might come from anywhere, but those eyes all got to their posts because they were looking for information on health, information contained in that post.
The Digital Presence
Today more companies are looking for branded content. I write many social media posts to post on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Typically, these need to be short, sweet and factual. We need to draw the readers eye to the link. We need them to want to want more information about that topic, about that client’s brand.
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Right now the digital age impacts nearly everything in our lives, including what eat, how we workout, and how we take care of ourselves. Social media, and the internet at large, allows us to be more informed consumers, and more connected ones. Your customers can have conversations with you via chat, via Facebook comments, via tweets…motivating people to take part. That online presence offers you more opportunities than ever before to make a connection with leads and garner new customers.
That change means that I have to be able to write strong, smart content that will help my clients build an online community that will motivate readers to take the next step. To ask for more.
Their brands need to be personal. They need to see health and wellness married together in Instagram posts, in Facebook posts, in tweets; the links need to bring them to knowledgeable content that makes their lives better. Individuals need access to more content (more and more all of the time) which helps them make better, more empowered decisions when it comes to their health. And as a content writer in this niche, it is my job to provide that content.
Writing for the Health Conscious
Sometimes I feel that this subject, these subjects, come with a great deal more responsibility than others. I know that I need to provide factual content (not that we don’t provide facts in other areas, but when we are dealing with health and wellness, we must provide information that enriches people’s lives honestly).
At the end of the day, my clients are using the content as a platform for the promotion of their brands, and they need that content to be an accurate reflection of their brand; readers will share the content if it is funny, if it is knowledgeable, if it is accurate. I need to be all of these things in order to get ‘likes’, ‘shares’ and clicks for my clients.
I know that to be a great writer in this area I need to enjoy what I’m writing about, and I do.
5-Star writer Melissa B has been a demand generation content writer for six years. She writes e-curriculum, marketing campaigns, blogs, press releases, e-books and more. Melissa has her BA from Rollins College, where she majored in English, and her MS in Education from Nova Southeastern. She also a technical writing certificate from California State University.
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