Posted on July 16, 2012

10 Best Blogging Practices for the Medical Practice

1. Make Your Content Yours

Duplicate content comes with potential legal implications. It can also have a seriously negative impact on SEO rankings. In some cases the search engines may even ban your site from ranking by keyword search at all if it is found that content was copied. This does not mean, that your content cannot be inspired by another website’s content or an article, it is very important to make that text your own and unique to represent your practice’s standing on the subject at hand. If you are using another’s work, it is recommended to always include your source.

2. Learn the Proper Way to Tag Your Blog.

For your blog articles to work even better in the search engines, it is important to know the proper tagging technique. It is important to consider your searchable keywords when writing your article and making sure those exact terms are in the content and in the tags. Use your doctor names and your practice name in the article even if it seems a bit forced. Make sure your descriptions are not copied and pasted from your article, but instead make them original. These extra meticulous steps will help for your article to rank higher.

3. Make Sure Your Blog is Part of Your Website

Is your blog a part of your website or does it bring the user to an external blog website? Make sure your website/practice benefits from each and every article you write by having your blog installed as part of your website. This makes it so that with every article you write, a page of fresh new content is added to your site! Not all blog software and websites offer this option, so before getting started it is important to speak to your internet marketing company to make sure you are getting the most bang for your buck.

4. Engage Your Reader to Learn More or Take Action.

Some articles may be related to an event, offer, or new service being provided. Provide the user with easy tools to learn more, request an appointment, register for an event, ask a question, etc. This can be done by linking to the appropriate pages on your site from your blog article. Make sure you have calls to action clear and towards the top of your article so it is not missed by the readers who scan your article.

5. Make Your Blog a Part of Your Social Media Strategy

A great way to attract attention to your blog and to your website is to make sure your blog is integrated with your social media profiles. You can decide to have your blog articles post to Facebook which can also post to Twitter. This drives readers to your website (where your blog should live) to learn more about you.

6. Excite Then Explain

Many of your readers are website page scanners. They read only the pieces that interest them and rarely make it to the bottom. This does not mean you should make your articles as short as you possibly can. Conversely, the longer your article the better it will rank! Google likes robust and relevant pages on your website, and these pages will rank higher than short articles. So to help the user not get bored, highlight the important items and all the call outs at the beginning of your article, then go into detail about the rest once you have given them the exciting, engaging information

7. Be Careful Linking to External Sites

External links (those that direct your perspective patient away from your website) increase bounce rates and reduce the SEO value of your website and your blog. The goal is to always work to get incoming links to lead people to your website and blog. This increases the credibility of your site. If another website houses information you want to share, generate content for your site with this information. Although it is easier to just send the user to that website, do you really want them leaving your website/blog?

8. Blog Often

Keep to a schedule and try to blog consistently about, news, events, eye conditions and diseases, specials, etc. Creating new blog articles often (3-4 per month) will have a long term positive effect on your SEO ranking results. Write articles that have to do with the key words you are looking to move up in. It does not have to be breaking news, it can just be educational, touting your surgeons expertise in these areas. Google will see your consistency and the relevancy of your articles and reward you accordingly.

9. Allow Interaction and Monitor

For the medical practice, I recommend practices allow the user to comment to articles, pose questions, etc. But make sure you have the opportunity to review posts before making them public. As a medical practice you have the responsibility to protect your doctors and patients by making sure the questions and comments are appropriate. And be sure to respond to the questions– leading them to take action in some way.

10. Have Fun!

Your writing style and excitement about your practice and the news and events you are presenting shows through your writing! Get excited, and your users will be more intrigued and want to learn more. Blogs are a great way to educate and excite the public about your practice and the advancements in healthcare.