By JENNIFER CERNA
Everyone today knows what a blog is. But with so many out there, have you ever wondered, “why should I start a blog?” Well, there are a good number of reasons you may want to consider, but we will be focusing on 3 main questions to ask yourself to see if your practice or business should start a blog.
Question #1: Do I want my patients to find me online?
In other words, when your potential patients look up a service or product online, do you want them to find you among the top results? This can be accomplished using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) to help patients, that you’ve never been in contact with, find your practice as the solution to their problem. By creating blog posts, you add content to your site that Google can then use to help people find what they need based on their search.
The Goal
The ultimate goal is to be at the top of the search engine results page for a particular keyword you’ve strategically determined. This always reminds me of a marketing joke that I heard in college: “Where can you hide a dead body? The second page of a Google search.” Because let’s be honest, who goes past the first page of a search?
The Upside and The Downside
The upside of this is that SEO is completely free for everyone to use. The downside is that it is time-consuming, requires a fair amount of knowledge, and it’s not an overnight process. But if you are willing to learn SEO (or to hire someone with the knowledge), create consistently, and plan for the long run, starting a blog should be worth considering.
Question #2: Do I Want to Establish Myself as an Expert in My Field?
Have you ever wondered how to build rapport with your potential patients as well-knowledged and a proficient practice? If you have, you may need to start a blog. Blogs are a great way to share your knowledge and expertise in your field with your target audience. You are sharing what you know about particular topics that revolve around your practice.
The Goal
The goal here is to share as much knowledge and education as possible. Sometimes that can be through a “how-to” blog post that explains how to do something. Or through a review post which informs your readers about how good a product or service is for their needs.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The good is that it doesn’t take much to be considered an expert. If you have a fair amount of knowledge regarding something others don’t know much about it, you are an expert. Keep in mind that just because you know it, doesn’t mean your audience does. It’s why they are on your blog! To learn about it! The bad is that it can be time-consuming to be constantly coming up with new ideas, outlining them, writing them out (with keeping SEO in mind, of course), and uploading them to your blog. And lastly, the ugly is...well actually that’s it. This reason alone is worth starting a blog.
Question #3: Do I Have a Passion for What I Do and Want to Tell the World About It?
This is the big one. This is the driving force behind your blog. I love to write but only when I feel like it. But I have a burning passion for marketing. It helps me write blog posts even when I don’t want to. But then I remember that I can help someone with their business in one post. I may not want to when I start but halfway through, you can’t stop me. So, do you love what you do so much that you want to share your excitement and view with others who may find it interesting? If you do, then go start your blog!
The Goal
The goal here is to share your passion with an audience who may not find the subject exciting. But after reading your posts, they find a new interest that they may want to explore with the person who helped them find it. It will create a bond with your readers. When they feel your passion in between your words, they will remember you when they need a product or service to help them. If you made them feel delighted to read your post even on a seemingly mundane and boring topic, they will never forget you or your practice.
The Pros and Cons
The biggest pro is by sharing your passion, your target audience will get to know and trust you. This keeps you top of mind for when they need a solution your practice can help them with. The biggest con is, again, it can be time-consuming. If you don’t plan carefully, you can get distracted or steer away from your original goal. And it can also take out the fun of writing about your passions if you take it too seriously. When writing blog posts (especially for SEO purposes), we can focus too much on impressing Google (a computer) and forget about who is really important (the readers). But if you do stay focused, on track, and keep it authentic, you should definitely start a blog for your business.
As you can see, I highly recommend everyone to start a blog for their business. It’s a great way to connect with your target audience, build rapport, and stay top of mind. Starting a blog cannot be a bad thing for a business of any kind. But it does work better if you do it consistently and strategically. And if you are still worried about “competing” with the sea of blogs out on the internet. Don’t be. You have one thing they don’t. They are not you.
Jennifer Cerna is the founder and Creative Director at Jreamit Marketing, a marketing agency that specializes in branding and website design. We have worked with doctors and other medical professionals to get better marketing results with storytelling and branded experiences. Our clients have more time to focus on growing their business as we take care of their marketing functions and processes. To learn more about website design click here. Or contact Jennifer at jenn@jreamitmarketing.com with any questions.
