The topic of blogging for dental and medical websites is a large one, and it surely cannot be covered in a single blog posts (it’s actually an entire lecture). But there are certain key concepts that are important to highlight and should be considered by all website owners.
1. Having a blog is growing more and more critical for Internet success, as many other dentists and physicians have already started blogging. If your competitors are actively publishing blog posts, you are at a disadvantage by not doing the same.
2. Having a blog can be an enormous free way to drive extra traffic to your website, and hopefully convert these new visitors into new patients. Google’s preaches that “content is king”, so invariably the more content you have, and the better search engine rankings you will likely achieve.
3. Having a blog demonstrates that you are technologically “up-to-date” and that you are current on the latest developments in dentistry or medicine. We all know that patients like to see that their health care providers are in touch with the "latest-and-greatest" technology. What better way to show them that you are "on the ball" than by blogging? Further, when new studies and research comes out, you can educate your patients about the newly researched benefits of the news. Very impressive, indeed!
4. Once implemented, a blog is very easy to maintain, and adding a blog post is as easy as typing an email or using a word processor. Setting up a blog often requires a professional, but adding blog posts is free. You don't pay per article, and the only limitation on the size of your blog, is the limitation of your dedication.
Remember, blogs are instrumental in driving traffic to your website (and hopefully away from your competitor's websites). So it follows that if blogs drive traffic, and traffic generates patients, then a blog makes 100% sense.
Oh, and for those of you who were thinking about hiring a company to write blog posts for you, I'll tell you now it's a bad idea...but more about that another time.
So what are you waiting for? Start writing a list of potential blog topics, and call your web developer and tell them you want to start blogging. Here's three articles ideas for a head start: benefits of whitening, types of whitening, maintaining your newly whitened smile. Good luck!
