Online nutrition coaching is a growing industry revolutionizing the food industry by positively affecting people’s relationships with food and themselves. Nutrition coaches use an online platform to guide their clients to achieve their goals. As a nutrition coach using an online platform, you can give your clients resources like videos and articles that you’ve put together to help them out.
Becoming an online nutritionist coach is highly convenient because you get to choose your clients and become your own boss. You can also select the specialty you prefer to coach. By becoming an online nutritionist coach, you get to design your career path.
An online nutrition coach has the advantage of choosing working hours, you’ll have the freedom of choosing where to work from, and above all, you’ll be changing lives. As you keeping helping others transform their lives, you’ll also be learning more along the way. Getting clients from all walks of life gives you the advantage of learning something new every day.
Article Contents
What is an Online Nutrition Coach?
A nutrition coach helps you adopt a healthier lifestyle by helping you create a positive and healthy relationship with food. When you hire a nutrition coach, they will look at your eating habits and behaviors and then guide you on improving them to achieve a healthier lifestyle.
Sometimes it can get a bit confusing differentiating between a dietitian, nutritionist, and nutrition coach. Here we will explain the difference between these terms and the roles involved.
A dietician is commonly known as an RD (registered dietician) and an expert on food-related things. Since they are experts, they can diagnose and treat nutrition-related illnesses. They can also prescribe supplements and diets to patients. A dietitian studies the science of food and nutrition and its impact on human health.
A nutritionist is a title granted to anyone whose educational background resembles that of a dietitian. In some states, the term is under no regulations, and it can be used even by food bloggers who feel like they have enough experience to offer nutritional advice. The term hasn’t been regulated yet, and when in need of a nutritionist, you need to see their credentials to be sure they have the necessary experience and qualifications.
A nutrition coach has the skillset and knowledge required to provide a client with personalized and in-depth information and support. You’ll also provide your clients with nutritional advice. As a health coach, you will also advise clients according to their dietary requirements, such as endurance sports. However, you can’t recommend which supplements or medication to take for an illness.
What does an Online Nutrition Coach do?
As a nutrition coach, the results your clients desire are heavily dependent on what they eat. Giving them the best dietary advice will make your clients achieve their goals way faster.
The work of a nutrition coach merges with that of a personal trainer. Both roles include helping a client achieve a healthier version of themselves. Exercising alone cant help one lose weight. For your weight to budge, you need to take care of what they do outside the gym.
A nutrition coach has many roles, and these include;
- Heping, a client, lose or gain weight safely
- Helping clients develop positive shopping behaviors and healthy cooking methods
- Personalizing a diet to compliment specific fitness or exercise regimen
- A coach will identify and help you change negative nutrition-based outlooks and behaviors.
- Help your clients develop a positive and healthy body image
- Educate your clients on how to create a better relationship with food.
- Teach clients how to develop healthy behaviors, including physical activity and healthy eating.
- Ensure that you educate your clients well to learn to make healthy decisions on their own.
5 Steps To Becoming an Online Nutritional Coach
Get your credentials
Get your credentialsMany online courses will help you get the necessary skills required. As a certified nutrition coach, you will have the authority and expertise to work confidently with your clients. Getting credentials might sound intimidating, but it only requires you to do coursework and pass an exam.
Having certifications will give you authenticity and make people take you seriously and trust your opinion.
You can get a certificate, or if you want to be the biggest in the game, you can go to college and be a registered dietitian. Being an RD is the most qualified credential you can get as a nutrition coach. Having an RD credential will give you the power to stand above all in your field, and you can even offer clients more services from a nutrition perspective. It isn’t necessary, but it would help.
Market your skills
As a nutrition coach, you need to market yourself out there and what you offer. You can do this by creating an online presence through social media and backlink to your website too. Having these online profiles will bring you, clients.
Make sure your social media reflects your work and shows clients what they will get from you. You can constantly offer informative content on your website’s blog and social media posts. Make sure the information is accurate and might help someone.
Make sure you’re active in online groups in your niche and offer help. When participating in groups, make sure your answer isn’t set and stone; doing that makes your answer easy prey for other experts. When answering others and helping them out in groups, show empathy and humility. These qualities will win you more clients and fewer enemies.
To have a social media presence, figure out which social media application could best find clients, i.e., Facebook or Instagram. Don’t hawk your services unnecessarily or give unsolicited advice on these platforms. Everyone wants a friendly and nice coach.
Identify your client base.
Success in any career requires you to have a specified niche. As an online nutrition coach, you should identify which group of people you want to help. You could stick with diets, i.e., plant-based, vegan, keto, paleo, etc. Choosing a diet to help people follow means that you’ll be working with all types of people.
If you want to narrow down your niche, you could work with pregnant women, postpartum, weight loss, weight gain, among others. Whichever niche you choose, make sure it’s that of people you enjoy being around.
When you think about approaches you plan to help your clients, choose which types of clients you’d love to work with. Some clients require a more hands-on approach, while others don’t need it as much.
Market your skills
You can help increase traffic to your business by making sure your website uses the right SEO tools. Using keywords helps clients find you when they’re looking for a nutrition coach. You can also use email marketing on your website to capture potential clients.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to place ads with them to reach your potential clients. Pay for these ads, and you will be sure to see some results. You can also create an online following by participating on your social media platforms, where you can get feedback in real-time as you establish yourself as an expert.
To further grow your following, you can create a group and add all your clients. Creating such an online community will help them support each other on their individual journeys and invite other people into the group who might become your future clients. There is no better advertising than word of mouth.
Create an online course
Online courses are rampant since most people pursue them. Selling such an online product will make people know about you, and word will spread about your course and how it changed someone’s life. You will get clients through the course, and more people will know about your expertise.
You can start with basic courses introducing your clients to nutrition, and then with time, you can create more specialized courses to help people with different needs. You can also make these courses available to your clients to help educate them more as you guide them through their progress.
These courses could unlock chapters after the client has learned a new concept and quiz them on what they’ve learned. This way, they will achieve more by being your client. To further market your courses, you could offer special deals on certain occasions. There are many things you can do when you create an online nutrition course!
How Much Do online Nutrition coaches make?
The number of online nutrition coaches keeps rising as more people are choosing healthier lifestyles. When it comes to their salaries, the number varies immensely. The worst mistake you can make is under charge as you begin your career. Undercharging will make it difficult for your to raise your prices later on.
The amount of money you charge your clients should depend on the services you’re offering, your educational background, and your location. For example, when you have two years or less of experience, you can charge $62 per hour, with 3-5 years of experience earns you $70 per hour, and after you’ve had more than six years of experience, you can charge $75 or more per hour.
The more you have education, the more you also get to charge your clients. For example, if you’re working with clients and have no education background in nutrition, you can charge $63 per hour, but the more education you pursue in the industry, you can charge up to $75 per hour.
Different sites report different figures in terms of how much health coaches earn. Ziprecruiter.com reports an average of $46,352, while Payscale.com reports an average of $24.57 per hour. Just like most freelance jobs, what you charge your clients is totally up to you. Plus, there are many different online nutrition jobs you can pursue.
When deciding on how much to charge, consider how much other coaches are charging and whether you’ll provide the client with full-time services or part-time. Check your area of expertise and what other experts in your area are charging. Considering all these options will help you develop a reasonable pay rate that won’t burden your clients or you.
Final Words
Being an online nutritionist coach is an excellent career to pursue now that many people want to adopt a healthy lifestyle. To earn well in this career, make sure your background matches by pursuing a course and earning a certification. This job requires a lot more than just passion.
After you have all your needs, research and do it deeply, the only way you can know what to charge and how best to work with clients is by doing your research.
