Blogs are a simple, informal yet effective way to connect with your patients. They can not only help physicians garner potential patients from the crowd of online health information viewers but also create online visibility.
With the Internet, expression of thoughts and opinions has become a cake-walk. Social media has become so much ingrained in our day-to-day lives that it has become impossible for businesses to strive and thrive in the competitive marketplaces. The scenario is no different for healthcare providers.
Though there are many social media channels that can be leveraged to build a connection with patients in the virtual world, blogs are one of the most effective. Blogs are an excellent way to attract new patients and improve search engine ranking significantly. Blogging can be channeled as a low-cost and long-term strategy to develop a positive online reputation that works synergistically with your website and other social media tools. Hospitals, physicians, dentists and other healthcare providers can utilize this platform for online marketing, as well. Let’s have a look at the benefits of blogs for healthcare marketing:
Networking: Build a personal connection with blogs
Blogs are a great way of reaching out and connecting with new people worldwide. Blogging is one of the most effective platforms to form a connection with patients and potential prospects. If they like the content that is posted in blogs, they are likely to develop a feeling of trust and credibility and may consider booking an appointment next time they need your services. You can also get to know opinions and get acquainted with different viewpoints and use these as a foundation to improve services at your practice.
Additional exposure to your brand
“Brand building” actually means building a potential customer’s trust in your company or product. Regular blogging helps build your brand as your practice/hospital stands out from the crowd. It provides an opportunity to reach new people and get more exposure in the virtual world, which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible by just relying on traditional word-of-mouth marketing.
Connect with like-minded people
When you write a blog on a particular topic, you can get responses from many other like-minded people who can be your peers or others from the healthcare fraternity. It helps you connect and share ideas will many other people who can help you to take your thoughts forward, that couldn’t have been possible otherwise by sitting in your office.
Blogs get you organic SEO benefits
From the SEO point of view, blogs are a boon as they are natural search engine optimizers. They contain rich keywords, links and frequently updated content, which increase traffic on your web pages. Regular blogs build content that people can share. Sharing blog links will do wonders for your website ranking in search engines, which reward fresh and unique content. This implies that your website can be “crawled” or indexed more frequently, allowing your content to be found on the first pages of search engines.
Get noticed
Blogging is an excellent cost-effective way to market your practice. It helps you to set yourself apart from those physicians who are not active on the web, so you can attract more potential patients through blogs. People search online resources to find solutions regarding their general health problems, specific diseases, latest treatments and best physicians for treatment of their health issues. The online sources include blogs, social networking sites and physician rating websites. Therefore, adding blogs to your digital marketing plan will not only help tap into potential patients from the crowd of online health information viewers but will also help you create online visibility.
Online visibility, positive online reputation, a stronger digital footprint, direct interactions with patients and an opportunity to attract new patients to your practice – do you need more reasons to be convinced? Start your practice blog – now!