Since their humble beginnings as personal diaries or forums for hot topics, blogs have come a long way. Today, they can help to educate your patients, increase your visibility in Google search results and help keep your practice’s website fresh and up to date.

Blog basics

However, in order for your blog to be successful, there are a few rules of thumb you should follow. Our marketing specialists at Virginia Creative Group are sharing our tips for writing a killer medical practice blog post.

Why Blogs?

Medical practice blog posts serve three major purposes for your practice:

  1. Increase your practice’s website in the search results, otherwise known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
  2. Educate your patients and help potential patients to better understand what your practice does
  3. Keep your website up to date with fresh content

While blogs can certainly elevate your practice’s brand and help you reach new patients, it is not enough to put words on (electronic) paper and call it a day. Medical practice blog posts must contain quality content, relevant keywords and a personalized tone in order to stand out.

What Should Be Included In My Medical Practice’s Blog Posts?

  • Relevant, quality content: Start with something relevant to your practice that aligns with current trends. Are you a medical provider that often receives the same types of questions from your patients in the summertime? Are you an orthodontist hoping to promote the benefits of Invisalign? Keep your finger on the pulse of the latest topics within your field.
  • Relevant and long-tail keywords: As Moz, Inc. describes them, keywords are “ideas and topics that define what your content is about” and are the “words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines.” Keywords are the key to new patients finding your medical practice. Be sure to sprinkle your selected keywords frequently throughout your medical practice’s blog post so that it appears higher in Google search results. To really maximize your SEO, use long-tail keywords. 50% of user search entries are 4 words or longer, according to Casie Gillette, the Director of Online Marketing at Ko Marketing.
  • Calls to action: Blogs should not only be educational but also provide your readers with next steps. How can readers learn more about the blog topic? Is there a way for them to schedule an appointment? Is there a way for readers to share this blog to their own social media profiles? The more convenient it is for your reader to follow up with your practice, the better.
  • Proper citations: Including data, statistics and verifiable facts in your blog post can help it to leave a lasting impression on your readers. However, it is important to attribute proper credit to these sources. Provide readers with a link to the original article or study, and use quotation marks when using another author’s exact words.
  • Headings and readability: Once you have crafted engaging, relevant content, you want to ensure patients and potential patients stick around to read it! Breaking your content into sections or lists can make it easier to digest. Furthermore, having eye-catching headings that utilize your selected keywords can improve the overall SEO quality of the blog.

How Do I Make My Medical Practice’s Blog Posts Even Better?

  • Know your practice’s audience: The one question that you should ask yourself before sharing any content on behalf of your practice is “so what?” Content not only needs to be relevant to your field and current trends, but must help your patient or potential patients solve a problem in their lives. After writing your blog draft, read over it from the perspective of a patient.
  • Have a conversation: Websites, social media and other digital platforms are wonderful tools to promote your practice. But unlike your parents’ media, your digital marketing efforts should be a conversation between you and your readers, not a one-sided broadcast. Be sure that your blog feels personal and conversational. As HubSpot outlines in their blog, “20 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid in 2022,” the “more approachable your writing is, the more people will enjoy reading it.” Ditch the jargon; embrace a conversational tone.
  • Edit, edit, edit: Before you share your medical practice blog post with the world, be sure to edit! While you do want to use a more personal and conversational tone, your blog post should be free of grammatical errors. Your blog post may be a potential patient’s introduction to your practice’s brand— be sure to make a good first impression.
  • Don’t forget to share: So, you’ve followed all of Virginia Creative Group’s blog tips and have successfully shared your medical practice blog post to your website. Your work is not done! Be sure to share your blog post across different platforms to really grow your audience and make the most out of the content that you have worked so hard on. Sharing the blog on social media or including it in your medical practice’s newsletter are both good places to start.

VCG Proudly Writes and Optimizes Medical Practice Blog Posts

Are you ready to take your medical practice blogging to the next level? Let’s talk. Our experienced team of marketing professionals can craft and optimize stellar blog posts for your medical practice, so you can spend less time struggling with writer’s block, and more time doing what you do best— providing excellent care to patients in need.