Revamp Your Blog for 2018

Posted on by ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT

Your blog is one of the best ways to increase traffic to your website – which translates to patients in your office. Not only does maintaining an active blog help your organic rankings on search engines, it can help you showcase your practice’s expertise to patients or prospective patients. Whether you are looking to revamp an existing blog or start a new one, follow the tips below.

  • Target your audience. Know who your patient pool is and target them with topics that appeal to them. According to recent studies, over 60 percent of patients made an appointment because of a blog they read.1 Therefore, you should think of your blog as a marketing tool that helps you generate revenue.
  • Give it a personal touch. A patient is more likely to respond to a blog article written by a person than by an institution. If possible, have a physician write a blog post, or have a ghostwriter draft one on their behalf. Including a photo of the author can help create a personal touch. (Note: do not post a blog full of medical jargon. Keep language simple for the layman.)
  • Generate content relevant to your patients. What questions do patients most commonly ask? What are patients visiting your website to find out? Think carefully about what your patients most want to know and create content based on your patients’ needs. FAQ blog posts about specific procedures or visits tend to be successful.
  • Utilize images that add to your message. The most engaging online posts are the ones that include photos. One study showed that Facebook posts with images constitute 93 percent of the most engaging posts on the site.2 That being said, make sure your images are relevant and A photo of a flower, no matter how beautiful, is not going to add anything to your blog post about hearing evaluations.
  • Engage with your audience. In other words, ask your reader to be involved in the conversation. Create CTAs for readers to comment on posts, then respond to those posts so your potential patients feel heard. (Keeping in mind responses must be HIPAA compliant).