Physician marketers know that a great way to add value to a website is by maintaining a blog. Blogs are a great source of information for patients and can be a successful strategy for attracting website traffic, keeping patients engaged, and creating conversions.
While creating a physician blog may seem simple at first, there are several techniques marketers can use to create optimal content that will help you meet your goals. Answering a few questions will get you on the right track to creating a physician blog that is practical and engaging.
Who will write it?
Physicians are busy people. While many might be enthusiastic at first about maintaining their own blog, you may find that the well runs dry pretty quickly. Avoid making the mistake of starting a blog if you are not able to continually produce the content.
Hiring a professional ghostwriter or blogger is often a better option and has several advantages:
1) Quality
A professional writer will create high-quality copy that is grammatically accurate and accessible to the layman. Many physicians have trouble creating copy that is not overly technical.
2) SEO Knowledge
Most professional writers these days have at least a basic knowledge of SEO practices and how to seamlessly weave keywords into your physician’s blog. This will drive more traffic to the website.
3) Reliability
Blogging is usually more time consuming than most people think. Hiring a professional will ensure that your blog has fresh, new content on a regular basis.
If your physician insists on writing his or her own blog, provide him or her with as much guidance as possible regarding what kind of content adds value to the website.
What to write about?
Once you’ve established who will write the blog, focus on creating content that will help you achieve your marketing goals.
Content should always be client-focused. Clients visiting the physician’s website are usually looking for more information about the practice or for information relating to their condition.
Some examples of patient-centric content include:
- New treatment techniques
- In-depth information about common conditions the physician treats
- Testimonial videos
- Patient interviews
- News about facility upgrades
- Events for patients
- In-depth answers to frequently asked questions
Physician blogs sometimes tackle highly technical material; therefore, it is important to write in a simple, accessible style that is digestible to the average web visitor.
Creating posts that interest patients will encourage patients to visit the physician’s website, keeping them engaged in between visits. A successful blog also creates a valuable information resource for future and current patients and reinforces trust in the physician’s practice.
How do I promote our physician blog?
Once you’ve established a physician blog, make sure patients know about it.
Ensure the blog is easily identifiable and accessible from the physician’s homepage—patients shouldn’t have to hunt for it.
Utilize the physician’s email list to occasionally update patients when the blog is updated. Alternatively, you may give patients the opportunity to sign up for updates.
Finally, utilizing SEO techniques will allow patients to find the physician’s blog through keyword searches, generating additional traffic flow to the website.
If you are looking to start a blog for your medical practice, these tips should help. Just remember, a blog should not be used to provide a medical diagnosis (comments especially) and patients should always either call the practice and schedule an appointment or call 911.
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