With virtually endless amounts of medical information on the web, it can be hard for regional health networks and small practices to get noticed. But it’s not impossible, especially when you invest in optimizing your company’s healthcare blog.
According to the Spark Report, research shows that one out of every two adults who own a smartphone use it to find health information. As they search the Internet for their pressing medical concerns, will your brand be on their radar?
When trying to improve your healthcare blog, the most effective route is to always cater to your patients—and your prospective patients. You can post rich content every day, but if it doesn’t appeal to your audience, you probably won’t get the views you’re looking for. Here are some content development tips you can use to work your audience into your online content marketing strategy.
1. Identify your audience.
Once you understand the demographics of your audience, you can target your content for their unique interests. Ask yourself: What type of people might be interested in reading your medical blog? Who are you trying to attract? Are they existing clients or new patients? Think about their age, race, education level, heritage, health status and more, and then adjust your content accordingly.
If your practice sees a broad scope of patients, it’s okay to write separate blog posts for each. For example, a podiatry clinic might create a blog post about how older diabetics can care for their feet one day, and a post about young athletes’ foot health the next day.
2. Write about specific topics.
When generating blog post ideas, fine tune your topics. Instead of writing an umbrella healthcare post, narrow it down to a specific health condition, news event or trend. Search engines will favor your content if it matches up closely with what web users are searching for. Anticipate what types of health questions people are typing into Google, and then answer them in a specific blog post. So when they press ENTER on their keypad, your healthcare business blog will be one of the first results to appear.
3. Make it digestible.
When you’re crafting or proofreading a blog post for the average patient, edit out medical jargon and unnecessary data. You want readers to be able to digest your content easily, not become bored or confused. Use this opportunity to demonstrate your office’s personality and culture and write as if you are talking to them face to face.
4. Add keywords.
Insert several targeted SEO keywords and key phrases. If you’re writing about dental braces, try to incorporate other relevant terms, like orthodontics or perhaps how to get straighter teeth.
5. Use geo-targeting tactics.
Your business probably serves a specific geographic region—or multiple regions—and you can use this to your advantage. Be sure to include your location and any nearby points of interest throughout some of the business blogs. Consider creating a designated location page to live on your website or blog with directions and more detailed community information. This makes it easier for search engines to match your site with the right set of eyes.
6. Post frequently.
In such a fast-paced industry, your medical blog has to stay relevant. Content writers should always be capitalizing on the current health trends and health news by constantly publishing fresh content. And while the majority of your posts need to be new and unique, it is okay to recycle content topics when appropriate. For example, blog posts about seasonal-specific conditions and services.
7. Triple check the facts.
As a medical professional, it’s absolutely vital that you appear credible online. Sure, you can claim that your team is highly knowledgeable and experienced in the “About Us” section of your site, but it’s much more effective to prove your expertise with blog posts.
Remember: show, don’t tell. Use great content to educate people on relevant health topics, answer their most-asked questions and position yourself as a leader in your healthcare field. By fact-checking yourself and cleaning up your grammar, you’ll come across as trustworthy in the eyes of prospective patients.
8. Include a call-to-action.
After each post, encourage readers to either schedule an appointment, contact you for more information, stop by your office or add any other relevant calls-to-action to keep them returning to you again and again. Place links to past posts on your medical blog that they might be interested in, too. And finally, make both in-office patients and online readers aware that they can subscribe to your blog to receive a notification every time a new post is published – so they can easily stay up-to-date with their healthcare provider.
The awareness and growth that physicians can gain from having an active healthcare blog is indispensable. Demi & Cooper Advertising Agency in conjunction with the DC Interactive Group reports that 41% of people said that social media impacts their choice of a specific doctor, hospital or other medical facility. As more and more people rely on the Internet for health advice and information on local doctors, having optimized, informative and personable blog content can help grab—and keep—their attention.
Get a glimpse of what an optimized medical blog post could look like today. Just submit your content to Virtucom Group, and our experienced in-house blog writers and editors will enhance your post for free.
About Virtucom Group
Consistent business blogging yields results – more clicks, more subscribers and – ultimately – more conversions. Whether you’re writing an automotive blog, an accounting blog, a healthcare blog or a home renovation blog, blogging for business and content development are useful for any industry. Follow the content writers at the Virtucom Group blog as they share digital marketing tips and discuss website content writing services that can optimize your business blog.
