Every industry is unique and challenging in its own way. However, as most medical professionals can attest, healthcare and wellness operations face particular difficulties in boosting their digital presence and online advertising efforts. After all, most people don’t like to think about seeing their doctor, undergoing blood work, or visiting a testing clinic –– no matter how badly they need to. Medical facilities have a tough sell in this regard. The good news is, a well-maintained blog can cure many of the ills healthcare locations experience when optimizing their site for search engine visibility. With that in mind, here are three tips for crafting the perfect medical/healthcare blog:
Go In Depth
It’s understandable why professional writers would be concerned about writing an inaccessible blog post for a company that provides medical services. Indeed, medical jargon can be some of the most difficult languages to unpack, and if you’re not careful, you could wind up alienating or confusing your readers. However, it’s critical that your blog provides insightful, rich information on its pages. Writing short and uninformative pieces won’t do your readers –– or your online presence –– any good. That’s right, search engines are now beginning to reward websites that produce content-heavy pages. Remember: your readers are coming to you because your site can offer the expertise and advice they can’t get anywhere else. So don’t coddle them –– tell it like it is.
Handling Image Dilemmas
Ask any SEO expert and they’ll tell you videos and images are great for a blog post’s engagement. And they’d be right to say that. Medical professionals, though, don’t deal with “normal” content. Sometimes the topic you’re tackling is graphic or disturbing in nature. In that case, few people will want to see a visual representation of a triple bypass surgery. It’s a difficult balance to strike, but it’s imperative that your images are professional and informative, but don’t gross your readership out.
Link and Backlink
No subject is an island unto itself. Chances are if you’ve been blogging for a while you’ve written about related topics before. As such, you should take that opportunity to connect your related blog posts with links between the two. Additionally, adding a high-quality link or two from another trusted website is always a solid idea. In an ideal world, your patients would view your website as a comprehensive source of information. Give them the ability to navigate through your site with ease and you’ll likely see greater engagement with your blog as a result.
Final Thoughts
Naturally, every blogger should look to adhere to certain blog-writing “basics.” E.G. keeping a set schedule, promoting your work on social media, producing error-free copy, etc. Though as noted above, marketers working within the medical field need to have an appreciation for the delicate nature of their efforts. Being heavy-handed is one thing with an advertisement for a party-bus company, for example; mess up a piece of healthcare content though, and the consequences could be far worse. In this instance, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.
