5 Reasons Your Practice Needs a Blog
Start a blog.
You probably hear that daily.
A blog can be a powerful tool for your practice — one that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Why Does My Practice Need a Blog?
Whether you’re a veteran in the health and wellness industry, or you’re just starting out in your practice, there’s always room to grow.
And now more than ever, people need to hear your voice.
They need to know:
Who you are
What you do
How you can help them
One of the best ways you can communicate this is by building your online presence. We’re at a unique time in history where telehealth has become the norm. This means that more people are booking online appointments than ever before.
While Zoom consultations with your patient aren’t ideal, there’s a silver lining to this. People now have more access to providers they trust and respect. They’re able to choose a provider who aligns with their values.
And you benefit as a provider because you can expand your reach by offering online services — even to patients in other countries!
Even if your focus is still primarily in your geographical area, adding a blog to your business website can be a massive asset for your practice.
Blogs can help you:
Boost your reputation as a provider
Attract the right clients to your practice
Connect with your patients in a meaningful way
So whether you’re offering appointments online or in your office, a blog is an invaluable way to make your name known — both locally and worldwide.
Encourage Your Readers to Live a Wellness Lifestyle
By adding a blog to your website, you’re enriching the lives of your patients.
On your blog, you can post content that helps your patients learn wellness habits they can add to their daily routines. So they don’t come see you for a simple headache or cold.
If you’re offering tips and home remedies on your blog, you’re:
Reducing the likelihood of unnecessary appointments
Empowering your patients to live a healthy lifestyle
Building a relationship with your readers
And your readers are coming away from your blog posts feeling confident about managing the minor things. Not to mention increased respect and trust in you and your practice.
Offering your readers something of value keeps them connected to you. Even when they’re not in your office. This creates loyalty and makes them more likely to stay with you in the future.
2. Attract the Right Patients to Your Practice
95% of people’s purchase decision-making takes place in their subconscious mind.1
What this means for you is that your patients aren’t making a split-second decision when they choose you as a provider. They’re evaluating you — often online — over time before they decide to enter your office.
Having a blog on your website means you can write to your ideal client: the type of patient you love serving. And when you write your blog posts, your personality comes through. So when they’re browsing your blog, your readers will learn what they expect when booking an appointment with you.
They’ll know:
who you serve
what you value
what you offer them
So if your values align with theirs, and you’ve succeeded in building trust with your readers, they’re more likely to make that first appointment.
The law of attraction holds true even in health and wellness. When you’re showing up online for your ideal clients and speaking your voice and your values, you’re allowing them to seek you out.
And by blogging, you’re increasing your chances of having your ideal patients find you. Because you’re writing on topics that you care about and services you provide. So like-minded people can do a quick Google search and find you at the top of the list.
And because you’ve given your readers a source of valuable, reliable information, you’ve already done much of the hard work of convincing those people to work with you — just through the power of blogging.
3. Advertise Your Expertise
When you start a blog, you have the opportunity to showcase your skills as a practitioner. You get to show your readers what makes you stand out in the healthcare industry.
In your blog posts, you can highlight the services you provide.
For example, if you run a functional medicine clinic, you could write on topics like:
How to manage Hashimoto’s without surgery
What really causes inflammation
Recovering from mold toxicity
Healing your gut naturally with probiotics
If you’re a naturopath specializing in women’s hormonal health, you could blog about:
Which foods to avoid for clearer skin
Homeopathic remedies for menstrual cramps
How acupuncture can reduce stress levels
The best keto diet for women
These are just a few examples of blogging as a way to demonstrate your expertise. Be sure to write on topics that you know your patients are interested in — keep the content relevant for them.
Use your blog to show your readers the benefits of choosing you.
4. Connect With Your Readers
In the traditional healthcare setting, you see your patient for 15 minutes before rushing off to the next one.
And while this is totally understandable given the typical practitioner’s workload, what if there were a way to communicate regularly with your patients outside of the annual physical?
When you invest in a blog, that dream becomes a reality. You get to keep in touch with your patients by providing them with high-quality content that they care about.2 You get to have a lasting impact on them.
And beyond providing value to your online audience, your blog also serves as a regular form of communication between you and your patients.
Your patients are benefiting from getting their questions answered, and you benefit by being part of their health journey beyond their yearly appointments.
This fosters a healthy relationship with your patient that not only helps them recognize your skills and expertise — it helps them connect with you as a practitioner.
5. Improve Your Website’s Ranking
Showing up on Google matters — whether we like it or not. It makes it easier for your patients to find you, and it establishes you as an authority in your field.
A well-crafted blog contains many of the elements needed to help you climb the ranks of Google. Some features of a high-performing blog include:
Answers to commonly asked questions
Accurate information
Consistent content
So if you see your website in Google’s top 10, congratulations! This means Google recognizes you as a trustworthy source of information by being the best at answering people’s questions.3
And if you’re not showing up at all, well, now’s the best time to get started blogging to improve your ranking.
But let’s be honest, it’s not an easy task to make it to the first page of a search engine.
If you want your website to rank high online, this means that in your blog posts you’re:
Incorporating keyword research
Using search engine optimization
Addressing pain points
Giving helpful answers
Providing thoughtful, engaging content
If you’re using those strategies in your blog posts, you’re already ahead of the rest when it comes to online marketing.
And if you don’t have time — or interest — to dedicate to your practice’s online marketing, you can absolutely hire it out. Look for a professional copywriter who knows your patient population and nerds out with blog research and writing.
So to boost your ranking in Google, I recommend digging into the strategies I’ve mentioned, or pass the task off to someone else.
Start Your Blog
When it comes to marketing, a blog might just be your new best friend.
Blogging is an effective way to help you grow your practice — both online and in-person:
Having a blog helps establish you as an authority in your field. A blog can show readers your values and your areas of expertise, making it more likely for your readers to book that appointment with you.
A well-written blog connects you to your patients beyond their office visits, by providing them with the answers they need to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
When done right, a blog can help you rank higher in Google — making it easier for your patients to find you online. This helps you grow not just your local presence, but your online presence, too.
A blog is constantly working and doing the heavy lifting for you.
So whether you’re taking the time to write them yourself, or hiring a copywriter to write your blog for you, know that your efforts will pay off in the long run — for both you and your patients.
References:
1https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/the-subconscious-mind-of-the-consumer-and-how-to-reach-it