Healthcare Blogging 101: How A Blog Can Help You Engage And Be Found Online

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Few things are as captivating as a good story

A blog is a vehicle to share stories. Sharing a relevant story is the 21st century way of engaging desired consumers, patients and stakeholders. Individuals in a practice or healthcare organization can build trust online through stories that share their knowledge and personal experience.

Sharing your story also makes you “real.” Think of your blog as a hub for your online engagement.

69% of businesses attribute their lead generation success to blogging.

Making sure your ideas can be found. Through blogging, you also increase your visibility online. A blog is the best way to provide the fresh content required by today’s search engines and valued by consumers. In 2012, understanding how search plus social works is critical to your online success. In reality, physicians and hospitals not updating content consistently risk that smart competitors will rank higher or may even obscure them in search results. By blogging regularly, you stay relevant, and people can find and engage with you online.

If you decide to commit to a blog, you should be prepared to post at least weekly. Some popular physicians and healthcare bloggers post several times per week. However, what is important is that you stick to a plan that will work for you.

While it is highly recommended that you feature your own voice and point of view on your blog, you may need a little help to keep postings regular and to get fresh ideas.

How can you supplement your healthcare blog content?

Supplementing your own blog content with experts is a great way to keep your blog on track. It takes time to curate and create content. For example, you may commit to creating three posts per month, and would like expertise for a fourth post. There are two ways to supplement your content that also grow your digital footprint organically.

One strategy is to invite colleagues and other experts in your field to guest post

Guest posting benefits you and your guest blogger. Natural links are created to each other’s websites and social sites around shared medical topics and interests. You should consider returning the favor by guest posting on other healthcare blogs as well. Both strategies will expand your digital reach and thought leadership beyond your own site. Plus, you develop relationships and grow your network!

Another strategy is to outsource a monthly or bi-monthly post to a professional blogger

My expertise on Symplur is to help you stay consistent with healthcare blogging and to provide ideas around your medical specialty. I have proven results for idea generation and blogging on current healthcare trends, and have written for the leading healthcare market research organizations. My posts are interesting, engaging and have naturally ranked high in the search engines. My established social network can also help you get started and maximize reach.

Authenticity is a crucial component of the social web. My posts would add to the posts you would already be creating.

Healthcare blog coaching

In addition to writing, I can help you find your own blogging voice and develop an editorial calendar with ideas for posting. I can also simplify the process, so you can easily curate news (Google Alerts, Scoop.it) and learn how to create short video (YouTube) and downloadable audio (SoundCloud) posts that save time.

With coaching, you and your team will learn what makes content interesting for your community. One of the biggest mistakes is posting the same content to all social sites. Just because tools allow you to automate posting does not mean you should. Creating content for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ requires an understanding of each platform. But that is another post!

Please post comments below with any questions you may have related to healthcare blogging and content strategy, and I will happily address them in future posts.

Symplur - @symplur

Symplur creates products purpose-built for healthcare to make the move from insight to action as simple as possible.