6 Reasons Dietitians Should Consider Starting a Blog

You may be wondering if starting a blog is worth your time as a dietitian. After all, between seeing clients, staying up-to-date on the latest nutrition research, and tackling any other business building tasks – you might think you don’t have enough hours in the day to add one more thing to your plate. 

But hear me out! Blogging comes with a whole host of benefits that can help you in your career as a dietitian.

Here’s a quick look at some of the reasons you might consider starting your own website…

1. Establish yourself as an expert

When people read your blog posts and find them helpful, they’ll start to see you as an expert in your field—and that can do wonders for your career! In particular, blogging about a particular niche helps you really stand out.

For example, if you blog about plant-based nutrition and share similar content on social media, you can become known as the go-to person for information on that topic. Same goes for PCOS, diabetes, kidney disease, gut health, food allergies…you name it.

2. Make more money

As you become known as an expert, people will start to seek you out for 1-1 counseling, consulting work, speaking engagements, or other opportunities. When this starts, you can choose which of these you’d like to take – don’t feel pressured to accept all different types of work.

For example, my main site focuses on food and fitness for runners and triathletes. I sometimes get requests for 1-1 counseling, but that’s just not my jam anymore, so I typically refer those out. Instead, I focus on work offers like sponsored content and speaking opportunities.

But even more so, starting a blog gives you the ability to make money through more passive revenue streams, like ads on your site, affiliate marketing, or selling online courses and e-books. Making money while you sleep? Sounds good to me!

3. Sharpen your writing skills 

If you have any interest in doing freelance writing – whether that’s for digital properties, magazines, or writing a book – blogging gives you a low-pressure way to sharpen your writing skills.

Not only do you have complete control over the topics you write about, but you can also experiment with different styles, tones, and structures without worrying about a client or editor breathing down your neck. The more you write, the easier it will become—before you know it, churning out a high-quality content will be a breeze!

Writing on a blog will also give you quality samples to share for other potential freelance job opportunities.

Plus, if you’re hoping to get a book deal someday, having a blog with a solid readership is a major bonus, as it shows that you have an audience who is interested in what you have to say.

4. Help People

One of the main reasons you probably became a dietitian is because you want to help people. There’s no better feeling than knowing you’ve made a positive impact on somebody’s health and wellness.

When you blog, you have the opportunity to reach thousands (or even millions!) of people and help them in their journey to good nutrition habits. Just think about all of the topics you could write about that would be helpful to your readers: 

• Healthy recipes for various conditions
• Budget-friendly nutrition tips
• Sports nutrition information for different types of athletes
• Answers to common food, cooking, and nutrition questions
• Sample meal plans
• Common nutrition myths for a certain niche

If you’re not sure where to start, think about the questions you get asked most often by clients or friends, and write a blog post about it!

5. Boost your SEO 

If you have a website for another purpose, like a private practice, than a blog can be super useful to include. First, it helps establish that “know-like-trust” factor, which we know is so important to getting clients.

But did you know that it also can help you boost your site’s visibility? It’s true! When you write blog posts for relevant nutrition topics that people are searching for online, you increase your chances of showing up in search engine results pages (SERPs). And as we all know, the higher up in the search results, the more likely people are to click on your website. 

The key to good SEO in blog posts is doing keyword research to find the types of topics people are searching for, but that aren’t yet dominated by answers from big name websites.

6. Network with New People

If you’ve been in the nutrition field for a while, it’s likely that you already have a good network of colleagues. But if you’re just starting out, are looking to branch into new areas, or simply want to expand your network – blogging can help you meet new people in your field as well as outside of it.

For example, when I first started my food & fitness blog, I connected with other running and fitness bloggers, many of whom I still stay in touch with today. Some of these people are super supportive in interacting with content on social media and sometimes even sharing out my content.

Bloggers are a very friendly crowd, and you can network with people in all sorts of niches. You never know when or how these relationships might come in handy!

The Bottom Line

Hopefully, this has convinced you of the many benefits of blogging for dietitians! It can be an excellent platform to share your ideas, help people, and build your personal brand as an expert.

Got questions? Drop ’em below!

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