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Why healthcare providers aren’t blogging — and why they should be

Blogging can promote clinical services, improve search rankings, and attract new patients. It’s a must for marketing your practice, yet providers are ignoring the value of blogging. We found out why.

A decade ago, blogging was an activity usually undertaken by pop culture crazies, political pundits, and online diary writers. Today, it’s mandatory for any business. Put simply, creating blog posts gives your healthcare website more pages, more content, and more chance of being found by inquisitive patients. Marketing your practice? Data proves that blogging adds strength.

According to HubSpot, companies that blog experience 55 percent more traffic on their website, and businesses that make blogging a priority are 13 times more likely to see ROI gains year over year.

Look: The easy guide to blogging for healthcare providers

With growth potential like that, everyone in healthcare must be blogging, right? Not quite.

Although just about every practice in the U.S. has their own website, too few feature blogs on those sites. During a live PatientPop webinar on the benefits and challenges of blogging, nearly half of attendees said they were not currently blogging. More than a quarter said they have a blog, but want it to play a greater role in their online presence.

What’s preventing these practices from maintaining a blog and regularly sharing their expertise online to attract new patients? We asked, and got these responses:

These results bring to light the overarching problem with blogging: It’s time-consuming. It’s especially taxing for healthcare providers who, despite their desire to deliver a superior online patient experience, need to focus on care, not publishing.

“I initially thought, ‘Well, I could probably blog a little,’” says podiatrist and practice owner Patrick Roberto, DPM. “But I don’t have the time to put into it, and I’d rather not have the time to put into it. I’d rather be busy seeing patients.”

To remedy the situation, Dr. Roberto chose to hand off his blog strategy and execution to content experts at PatientPop, who create blog posts that are most relevant for his specialty and areas of focus.

Although Dr. Roberto simply reviews and approves each blog post created for him, other physicians might elect a more hands-on approach and set aside the necessary time. For those providers, we offer the following blogging best practices.

Best practices for healthcare blogging

Write about specific services you offer, not general healthcare content.

This will attract more qualified visitors to your website, patients more likely to be interested in the services and care your practice delivers.

Respond to local demand.

If the patient population in your geographic area tends to need or favor a particular healthcare service that you offer, write about it. You’ll be marketing your practice more effectively just by talking to a larger pool of potential patients.

Think about the questions patients ask you most often.

Then, answer those questions in blog posts (maybe create an FAQ), knowing that if your current patients want the answers, so do your prospective patients.

Check out: 5 article formats perfect for healthcare blogging

Post regularly and consistently.

This keeps Google and other search engines coming back to your site to index new pages, and keeps patients interested in your expertise.

For more details on marketing your practice with blogging and to get a helpful how-to lesson, check out the webinar Why (and how) to blog: Tips and insights for healthcare providers.

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PatientPop
PatientPop is the leader in practice growth with the only all-in-one solution that empowers healthcare providers to improve every digital touchpoint of the patient journey. As experts in the healthcare technology space, PatientPop makes it easy for providers to thrive in the consumerization of healthcare and promote their practice online, attract patients, and retain them for life.

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As leaders in clinical, financial, and practice growth technology, Kareo and PatientPop have joined forces as Tebra to support the connected practice of the future and modernize every step of the patient journey.

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