Creating a dental blog for your practice is one of the most cost-effective ways to bring traffic to your website, get return visitors, establish yourself as an expert, and be shown in Google search results more often. The goal is to gain more exposure while educating your visitors and turning those individuals into new patients. If you have recently decided to create a blog and are unsure of where to start, then read ahead for some tips that will help you produce world-class content.
Research the Legal Aspects of a Blog
Before writing a single word, you and your marketing team must have a firm grasp on the legal aspects of writing a blog that contains specific medically related information. Even casual blogs are being scrutinized more than ever for issues such as false information and failing to divulge affiliate relationships. Those who are starting a dental blog need to carefully consider any claims they are making, what they are writing about, and how they could be liable for that information. Do your research and give credit to anyone or any sites you have used for references and resources for your content. You can also place a short disclaimer at the bottom of your posts or a link to a full disclaimer to avoid potential liability.
Writing for the Reader
Creating a dental blog is an important part of marketing your practice and improving your search engine rankings, but focusing on the reader should be your priority. Instead of cramming keywords into the content or writing for the search engine algorithms, you should try to think about what your traffic wants to know about. Most readers want lighthearted stories that hold their interest while still providing them with useful information. Writing posts like they are dictionary entries is a surefire way to drive off traffic and potential clients. Step-by-steps, lists of benefits, number to do checklists are all fun and easy to read and share with others when they feel the content is helpful and relevant.
Make It Personal
While some of your content will most likely be technical in nature, your blog should focus on telling stories and providing helpful tips. Topics relating to your patients frequently asked questions also make it relevant and personal. Even if you plan on integrating information about complex procedures or new dental technology, you still want to drive that information home with personal touches. Many medical practices do this by intertwining stories of their past or current patients. Before including any of that information, however, you must be sure that you have the full consent of anyone you are talking about or make sure that the identities of those patients are not shared. If you are sharing pictures or personal information you must be sure you have their consent. Without a patient’s consent can result in an expensive legal battle.
Stay Consistent
Just as with any other skill you might acquire over the years, writing takes practice. Those who are running a blog should realize that every post isn’t going to become an amazing piece with a huge following. By continuing to practice your skills, you will quickly notice that your writing improves as you figure out exactly what your readers want. While there is no set time frame for creating a successful blog, you should attempt to release multiple posts every month in order to maintain any momentum you have built up. In order for the posts to be indexed by the search engines, as well as be digestible for the reader, keep your posts a minimum of 350 words and a max of 700 words. Include images whenever possible to make posts look more intriguing. This also gives you the ability to share the blog on social media with a stand-out feature image!
Consider Current Events
Interjecting information on current events is an easy way to draw in traffic that might not have visited your blog otherwise. If you are in the habit of creating your blog posts well before they are published, then you should try to leave room for new information that the reader will be interested in. For a dental blog, this might include a celebrity who has recently gotten a smile makeover or a popular over-the-counter product that has recently hit the shelves.
Creating a dental blog is about much more than writing a few paragraphs on your practice. You must think about who you are writing for, what they want to hear, and how you can turn that traffic into lifelong patients. If you are just now considering the option of starting a blog, visit this article for reasons why creating a dental blog can help you grow!