By Jessica Bell, communications professional and qualified nutritionist who has written for publications such as M2Woman, GQ and Good Health.

Search #wellness on Google and you’ll be met with 893,000,000 results. #nutrition will give you 1,360,000,000 more. So, if you’re a health and wellness writer, how do you get cut through in such a sea of content?

These simple tips can help:
Be credible – Instagram is awash with wellness influencers, but while many have an impressive list of followers, they often have dubious (if any) nutrition or health qualifications. Content written by an expert in their field will always carry more weight, so list your qualifications in your bio and gain accreditation from a recognised industry body.

Follow trends – It really shouldn’t be, but wellness is very much trend driven. If you want to get published (or even have your content read) you need to stay ahead of the curve. 2019 is about #self-care, veganism and gut health. Pitch a story about the merits of the Atkins diet and it’s likely to get a swift ‘no thanks’ from an editor. Read often and stay up to date.

A bit of science (but not too much) – Adding references to clinical studies adds weight to your writing and gives readers confidence that your recommendations are sound. But be careful not to turn your reader off with too many technical terms or complicated concepts. Use simple, approachable language and keep sentences short. If you can’t explain a concept simply, you probably don’t understand it well enough.

Research and repurpose – Audiences are now consuming health information in many different ways – through video, podcasts and social, as well as print and online. If you research and write a piece for a print or digital publication, think about ways you can repackage that content to connect with audiences on other platforms. Write once, sell and resell.

Put people at the heart of your story – Although science plays a part, health is fundamentally about people. So, when writing any health-related article, make sure you really understand your audience. What are they interested in? What are they concerned about? Where and how do they live, shop and work? Tailor the content and style of your writing to reflect that. Balance technical with personal and write with warmth and kindness.

Get the basics right – Be good to deal with, meet (or beat) your deadlines and proofread your writing. And then proofread it again.