There are many great benefits of having a blog on your website including:
- Directing increased traffic to your website
- Adding fresh content to your site which boosts search engine ranking
- Providing an opportunity to communicate with your audience, engaging and informing them of new messages
- Helping build a lasting relationship with your audience
The big challenge of creating blogs is how to get viewers to it. How do you drive traffic to your blog posts?
7 Tips to Get Blog Post Viewers
1. Tell Everyone
Think of your new blog as “your baby”. In a way, it is. You lovingly and painstakingly created it. You’ve given birth to it, just as though it were a baby. Now wouldn’t it be unusual to have one and not send out announcements?
Tell everyone from your contact list, all your referrals and all your current patients. Post a sign by the front desk, letting your patients know about the blog and how to access it.
Encourage feedback which engages your readers and also helps you to know what is liked and what topics are not considered relevant so that you can shape your future posts.
2. Headlines and Subject Lines Count
It is crucial that your headlines be captivating and luring your readers in to read your blog posts. Studies show that 85% of readers will either click on to a site or delete it based solely on the headline.
3. Spice it Up with Videos and Pictures
They say that a picture tells one thousand words and videos tell more than ten thousand. The health field lends itself well to creating videos and pictures.
Produce videos of the procedures that you perform including who would be good candidates for these procedures. Images can reflect various medical or dental conditions or before and after photos.
You don’t need expensive equipment or professional videographers. Some smartphones have wonderful video capabilities with filters and edit buttons. The thing is, the video does need to look professional and not amateurish.
4. Add social media icons
Add social media icons which hyperlink to the various sites that your patients spend time on (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Snapchat).
A great way to get new viewers is to have your readers share your posts to their friends and family, increasing your audience sphere which attracts prospective patients.
Have content that is relevant to your viewers, in sync with your services and specialty, engaging and entertaining. Make it easy to read without technical jargon. Format videos and images in the format that is in keeping with the social media sites.
5. Share Yourself
Besides hoping that your readers will share your posts, share them in social media yourself. Each time you create a new blog post, add it to your facebook page and social sites where your prospective patients are likely to be.
6. Keywords are Key
Sit down and figure out how your prospective patients are finding you. What words are they typing into google and other search engines to find you and your practice? Long-tail keywords are those that contain 3-4 words together like Palm Beach Spinal Chiropractor or St. Louis Pediatric Orthodontist. The phrase leaves no doubt in the mind of the net surfer what services you provide and if this is what they are in need of, they will come to you.
Once you have identified the keywords, write several blog posts with topics including the keywords. Remember though, you must add information that is new and helpful to your reader.
Besides patients being attracted to posts with your keywords which they find relevant, the search engines will identify you with these keywords when you write engaging posts. This in turn will boost your page rankings!
7. Add your “2 cents”
Give your opinions. Attend Forums and Chatrooms. Provide solutions to problems that people are struggling with that is in sync with your services. They will be appreciative and take notice.
Comment Luv is a WordPress plugin which not only allows you to comment on other people’s blogs, but also enables you to link to your latest blog post, garnering more exposure.
Growing an audience for a blog takes time, a lot of content and consistency. Create an editorial calendar, listing the keywords and topics that you want to write about each month and when they will appear.
Need help with your blogs? No worries…outsource it! This is what “I live for” and would be happy to write for you. Contact Barbara@TheMedicalStrategist.com and we can discuss your needs.
