From infographics on social media to that podcast you listen to on your daily commute, content in all its forms is what makes the World Wide Web go round. The more high-quality content you produce, the higher the return on investment your marketing efforts will deliver – and statistically speaking, blogging is one of the highest earners in the content category (talk about blogs’ 13x ROI-boosting potential). But is having a blog worth it for your practice? That depends on your goals, resources, and marketing strategy. Here’s what you should know when making your decision.
Consider the Following
The truth is, a high-quality blog will never hurt your online presence – in fact, the benefits outweigh the challenges far more often than not, so deciding whether to add a blog to your strategy often comes down to a cost-benefit analysis.
Blogs Can Boost Your SEO
Google considers three things when ranking your website: topic relevance, site authority, and user experience. A high-quality blog can contribute to all three of these at once, which can add a major ace up your SEO sleeve.
- Relevance: At the end of the day, Google’s job is to provide users with the most relevant answers to their questions. Because of this goal, it rewards websites that answer these questions with the highest quality information and user experience available. Having a blog with relevant keywords, optimized on-page SEO, and consistent content updates makes your SEO strategy work for you 24/7, building upon its success month after month.
- Authority: Google rewards websites that prove their content is trustworthy and valuable. By providing high-quality, accurate information that addresses questions your audience is actively searching for, you’ll increase your chances of ranking higher. Blogs give you the space to share your knowledge while also allowing you to create a network of links within your website and to other websites that prove your authority on the internet.
- Experience: As the most technical of the three SEO pillars, user experience can also be amplified through a blog. If done well, your blog will engage your audience across multiple formats – computer screens, tablets, smartphones, etc. – with multiple user-friendly structures. It will also load quickly, respond to mobile use, and provide clear calls to action to encourage users to move forward.
Blogs Build Trust with Your Patients
Beyond SEO, a blog gives you a platform for communicating with your audience. Sharing your expertise, knowledge, and opinions gives value to your readers, which in turn grows trust in your brand. When your website consistently answers all their questions with clarity, they’ll begin to respect your practice, which makes them more likely to turn to you when they need your services.
Blogs Establish Your Brand & Supplement Your Marketing Strategy
Your blog is your voice. By using a consistent style and tone, you can amplify your brand’s personality, giving your readers a better sense of who you are as a practice. This personified effect gives them more reason to ally themselves with your brand overall.
Blogs also allow you to highlight topics that are important to your practice. Awards announcements, employee spotlights, community service – all of these topics and more can be helpful to the overall image of your brand, leading more patients to choose you over your neighbor.
Blogs Require Time, Resources, & Consistency
In order to address each of the three pillars of SEO, you’ll need a writer with a background in SEO who understands your field enough to produce accurate, relevant content. Remember, Google downgrades websites with poor-quality content, so stuffing 1000 words of fluff without an SEO strategy can actually hurt your website in the long run. That’s why finding someone who can devote the time and energy necessary to produce a well-written blog will be essential to your marketing strategy, but it can also be a challenge for a full-time practitioner.
Additionally, you’ll need to post consistently for your blog to be most effective. Not only does this clue your audience into your posting patterns and get them excited to come back for more, but it also makes Google pay more attention to your website. Google prefers sites that post fresh content, as this shows them that you’re active and relevant. However, posting on a consistent basis can take extra planning time and energy, which can sometimes be difficult to find when you’re operating a practice.
Content Experts, At Your Service
At the end of the day, having a blog is one of the best ways to increase your website’s performance overall, but it can be a lot of work, especially for a busy practitioner. Fortunately, Neon Canvas’s content team has the SEO skills and knowledge base to make your blog a reality without adding to your to-do list. If you’re interested in learning more, ask our team how we can help you generate more content and get more patients.