Blogging to Boost Your Dental Practice

With over 14 million blogs and some 80,000 more being added daily, it’s not surprising that nearly 15 million of today’s Internet users read blogs. While, admittedly not all are reading dental blogs or even medical blogs, it’s still a huge untapped audience for your dental practice. In fact, many dentists who are educators, authors, specialists, and even those who have advanced training in areas like implants and cosmetics have started highly successful blogs. If they can set up blogs, so can you.

Blogs Defined

A “blog” (short for web log) is basically an oft-updated web-based journal. Dental blogs can be a powerful marketing tool, letting you target your patients very cost effectively. Blogs are often used by dentists to share information, much like a newsletter. Posts can include links to other websites, photos, podcasts (audio files), videos, and other engaging media. Your dental patients and prospects can subscribe to a blog through email and receive notifications when new posts are placed.

Blogs also support viral communications, which means you can quickly spread the word about your dental practice, new services or product at incredible speed. Blog readers will email what they’ve read on your blog and pass it on to others who will also pass it along. Soon, your marketing message will have reached thousands of people with exponential speed.

You don’t need a website to have a blog. Still, a blog works best when it complements a good dental practice website. You’ll also need to be familiar with your state dental board’s advertising guidelines so that you don’t compromise your license by blogging things that are against the rules.

Open “Focus Group” Communications

What’s great about blogs is that dental patients and referring healthcare practitioners can read about your practice and any new services you offer. They can post comments, engage in discussions, and after you comment, they can respond–almost like a round table meeting. This type of dialog builds the kind of trust that will make patients more aware and eager to try your service. Equally valuable is the feedback blogs offer. You’ll know right away what potential patients think of you, your practice and your services. Blogs create a focus group atmosphere that will give you keen insights into what people really think of your practice and services.

Key Blog Advantages

A blog can be a valuable conduit for sharing your thoughts and ideas with your patients and prospects. As an oral healthcare professional, you are an expert in your field. You have insights and valuable information that you can share. By creating a blog you can share your knowledge and experience with those who have questions and concerns about their oral health.

A blog can also boost your website rankings. Search engines are always on the lookout for new, useful information that’s regularly updated. This is why search engines index blogs more often than full websites. In fact, your blog post could show up in Google searches in just days while your website pages could take six to twelve months to move up the rankings. What’s more, links and keywords that complement your website’s search engine optimization strategy in your blog will also improve your overall website results.

If you don’t have a marketing budget, you can create your own blog online. Services like WordPress, Blogger, and Bravenet offer free blog systems. When you’re ready to create a blog that matches your website, call your website designer for assistance.

Creating a Blog that’s Right for You

Before you start blogging, conduct an honest review of your principle practice building objectives and see if blogging will help achieve one or more of your goals. If so, educate yourself on blogging. Here are some sites that can help you:

• ProBlogger
• The Blog Herald

Start several test blogs to see what you like best and what works for you. Try Blogger. It’s free, but has limited functions. Another service to look at is TypePad, it has good features and service. Be aware of blog design to create an attractive, inviting blog. Most blog services come with pre-designed templates.

Some Blog Styles to Consider

• Newsletter Style – News that affects patients, practice news, new procedures, etc.
• Q &A Style – Patients email questions and your blog provides answers.
• Journal Style – Explain issues that come up during your daily routine. Include topics such as dental insurance problems, why digital x-rays are great, electric toothbrushes, toothpastes, and oral hygiene.
• Case Presentation Style – Blog about the cases of actual patients. Include testimonials, case descriptions, and patient education alongside case photos.

Do a Beta Test

Begin with a test of two dozen or so blog posts before you market your blog. This will help you work out the kinks, fine tune the design, and establish a brief history for your blog. After you’ve honed your blog and gotten some of the bugs out, start marketing your blog. Next, measure the results. The yardstick you use can be how much traffic you get on your main website, customer satisfaction, or just an awareness of your services. This pre-blogging benchmark can help you evaluate your blog and make course corrections as needed. In this beta test phase, introduce different topics, try various marketing approaches, and update your design slightly and note the reaction to see what works best.
Some important points to remember:

• Stay on topic or readers will abandon your blog.
• Try topics with broad appeal but stick to topics related to oral health.
• Set an update schedule and follow it so your audience will know what to expect. A Monday-Wednesday-Thursday schedule works best. Fridays and weekends have slower traffic.
• Set realistic easy-to-meet objectives. If you want customer feedback, ask for it and make it accessible.
• Use e-mail to jump-start your traffic. If you have an e-mail list of patient and referring healthcare practitioner, e-mail everyone on it and introduce your new blog. Ask all your employees to include a signature on their out-going e-mails that lists your blog’s URL and a short description of what it’s about.