Whether you’re a small clinic building a new site or a large healthcare organization trying to improve your existing SEO, there are so many reasons to build a blog!

Blogs can:

• Boost your practice’s credibility.
• Add a human touch to your website.
• Give you content to share on social media.

Blog are also a great thing to share on social media to build your community and get your clinic noticed. So how do you get started?

Find Your Lane

There’s no reason for an optometrist to write blogs about dental care, so it’s important to identify the topics that are relevant to your practice. 

Focus on topics that will help your potential clients with their questions and further your business’s brand. For example, if you’re a veterinarian, you could start by blogging about the best dog food options for puppies.

Posts like “How to Get Rid of Athlete’s Foot at Home” or “Do I Really Need to Floss Daily?” answer commonly Googled questions and establish your practice as a helpful, reliable resource for its users.

If you’re not sure about what topics your readers might be interested in, check your Google Business Profile or Google Search Console! Review the search queries (a.k.a. keywords) that users search the internet for to find your site.

Pick a Website Platform — Any Platform?

Your blog posts are going to need a place to live, and there are so many options!

We’ve used Hubspot, Squarespace and WordPress for ourselves and our clients, but there’s no right answer when it comes to choosing your blog space. These will work whether you’re just building an extra page onto your existing site or choosing a platform to host it on.

Each platform comes with its own pros and cons, so test a few options out and choose the one that works best for you.

15 Blog Formatting Tips to Increase Your Readers’ Time on Page

Put Pen to Paper (or Fingers to Keyboard)

You’ve got your topics. You’ve got a place to put them. Now it’s time to write! 

The main things to remember when writing your blog articles are:

• Make medical information understandable.
• Use keywords your users are searching for. 
• Add visuals to break up the text.
• Establish a consistent publishing schedule.

Make Medical Information Understandable. 

Users need to understand what you’re trying to say, no matter how complicated the topic might be. 

If you want to use the jargon that’s relevant to your medical field, that’s okay! Just make sure to take the time to explain what that jargon means.

Use Keywords that Your Users are Searching.

Remember to write with your users in mind. What question is your blog post answering for a potential new patient? 

This goes hand-in-hand with explaining your jargon. Your blog’s search engine ranking will be impacted by the words you use, so write for the everyday user and not the doctor across the hall.

Don’t Keyword Stuff for Google — Optimize for Users Instead

Add Visuals to Break Up the Text.

Whether you’re using still images or video, or maybe a graphic that explains the topic, adding media into your article is a great way to capture your audience’s attention and keep them engaged while they’re reading. And users can tell if an image is real or a stock photo, so when you can, use your own images.

Note: Using a resource like tinypng.com to keep your image files condensed is a great way to make sure your page speeds aren’t slowed down by too-large images.

Establish a Consistent Publishing Schedule.

If you’re starting a blog from scratch, posting articles on a consistent basis helps you build up your article library.

It’s okay if you’re not posting on the exact same day every week, but providing a structure (whether it’s once a week or once a month) helps you build the reliability that your users need to see your brand as a hub for medical information.

Share Your Blog While You Wait

A successful blog (or good SEO) isn’t built overnight. You need to build up your content library and boost your brand’s notoriety as a primary source for medical information.

While you’re doing so, don’t forget to share your blog posts on social media, in your email newsletter, and wherever you think users will find them useful.

Having blogs and other resources for clients on your website gives search engines like Google more content to review and proves that your practice is a legitimate source for facts and information, which boosts your website ranking online.

Stay consistent, keep writing, and watch your blog bloom.

Marketing ROI Packages: Don’t waste your budget.

Let’s Get Writing!

Do you want some help getting started? Not sure what to write about? Want someone to write blogs for you? We can help! We have more than a decade of experience writing for websites like yours.

You can request a free digital marketing assessment for your medical practice, and we’ll offer some recommendations to get your blog and website in tip-top shape.

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