Why your dental practice needs to start blogging
Dental blog ideas for your dental practice
In today’s online world of dental marketing, we now recommend that all of my dental clients seriously think about blogging. But many practices need to have some dental blog ideas to get them started.
When it comes to dental blogging, the more you commit to it, the greater the reward will be:
- 57% of marketers who blog monthly have acquired a patient through their blog.
- This number jumps up to 82% when they blog every day.
- 43% of people surveyed have acquired a patient through their blog this year alone.
- Over 60% of companies now publish a blog.
What you need to know about blogging
Blogging is the act of creating short-form content. A blog is the part of your website where you can add dynamic and ever-changing content and house all of your posts.
It is important to note that when you are business blogging, your blog posts are about a particular subject matter related to your business.
Why does my practice need a blog?
A dental blog can become one of the most valuable tools in your online marketing toolbox – if you do it correctly!
If a website is the hub of your online presence, a blog located on your website is its heart. A blog allows you to tell stories about your business and provide important information, showing your patients (and potential patients) that you know what you’re talking about.
A blog provides much of the search engine optimisation needed to get better placement in search engine results.
Remember that thoughtful blogging strengthens patient relationships.
The benefits of blogging
The benefits of blogging for dentists include the following:
- Blogging showings patients and prospective patients that you care.
- Blogging makes you more approachable to patients.
- Blogging attracts new patients and increases case acceptance.
- Blogging educates patients about the services that you provide.
- Blogging increases career satisfaction.
- Blogging reinforces to your team that what you provide is important.
What should you blog about?
Make your blog content interesting, engaging, thoughtful, relevant, and useful. It should have great value to your readers. Do not write content specifically for search engines at the expense of your audience and do not focus on the clinical aspects of dentistry, which are boring to most people. Talk about dentistry (and non-dental topics) in very human ways. Blog about topics that people care about.
Blogging tips
- Try and blog at least once a month.
- Make your blog content rich with a minimum of three hundred words per post.
- Think about answering patients’ frequently asked questions.
- Always include an image.
Using keywords
Using the keyword or phrase at the start of the page and somewhere in the main content two or three times should be enough.
Images for your blogs
Always include images in your blog posts. Successful blog posts that receive the most social shares usually also have a common characteristic. These blogs include some well-placed pictures to break up content and emphasise certain points.
Repurposing your blog content
Time is a precious Internet resource; one huge benefit of repurposing content (aka finding new ways to recycle or up-cycle your existing content) is the time it can save you in the content creation process. Cycling back through your content breathes new life into valuable information. It takes what was old and makes it new again, offering it up to a whole new audience in an updated format. Not only is it budget friendly, but it also saves time while prolonging the shelf life of your online assets.
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This article is an extract from ‘Fully Booked – Dental marketing secrets for a full appointment book’. Find out more or buy the book here.