Blogging serves a number of important purposes. First, it can help your web site appear higher in search rankings, making it easier for potential patients to find you. Second, it positions your practice as a thought leader within your specialty and community which is important to both attracting and retaining patients. And third, you can share it through your social media channels and drive additional traffic to your web site, which further enhances your search engine performance.
But we don’t have the time or resources.
This is perhaps the most common excuse for not blogging, but it should not be an obstacle for your practice.
- Start by making a plan.
- Set a goal for how often you will blog and then identify a leader who will make sure your plan is implemented. This person can write content and/or secure content and ideas from others within your organization.
- Consider dividing up the workload and assigning a blog to each physician/provider in your practice.
- If you don’t have an internal person to take this on, outsource it. External companies like Medical Marketing Inc. can help.
We don’t have enough “news” to share.
This is another common reason given for not starting or maintaining a blog. However, there are always great stories to share. It just requires some planning and creativity. Here are a few blog post ideas:
- Develop “Getting to Know You” profiles of each of your physicians and staff. Dig deeper beyond their CV — interests and hobbies, reasons for going into medicine and their specific specialty, community involvement, etc. Make them human.
- If you have multiple locations, you can also write a “Meet Our Team” profile for each of your offices. Again, the key is to highlight interesting information about the teams within each of these offices — how long they have been there, languages they speak, interesting hobbies, community involvement, etc.
- Look for ways to tie into “hot” medical topics or highlight the latest information on specific conditions and treatments relevant to your practice.
- Share anything new about your practice — new hours, new services, new physicians or staff members, service improvements, office openings/closures, etc.
- Identify and share compelling patient stories — with their permission of course. People love to read about other people.
- Address frequently asked questions about your practice or individual conditions you treat.
- Highlight any community involvement or medical mission work.
Blogging is communication. And communication strengthens connections and relationships. And relationships are at the heart of building and sustaining a successful medical practice.