A typical business cliche states that in the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity. In other words, these unprecedented times can indeed be considered a crisis of sorts. But, with huge changes to our daily lives, what are great opportunities for your practice?
The virus has forced many people online, including your potential customers. That’s why developing a strong web presence is more crucial than ever. And, one of the best ways for your healthcare practice to do so is with a regularly updated blog.
What’s So Great about a Blog?
If the word ‘blog’ reminds you of your teenage musings on livejournal.com, think again! Blogging has grown up, and it is now one of the most effective ways to build brand awareness while delivering relevant and useful content to your target audience. It is an inexpensive way for small businesses to drive traffic to their site, enhance inbound marketing efforts, and attract more prospective dental patients.
According to a recent inbound marketing survey, nearly 80 percent of companies that use blogging as part of their marketing strategy said they were able to secure customers through their blogging activities. Furthermore, 82 percent of corporations agree that blogging is critical to their business.
Here are some reasons why you should have a blog in your dental practice.
A Blog Shows That You are a Local Dental Expert
Blogging is an excellent way for dental practices to deep dive into topics related to dentistry. This demonstrates you as an expert on the subject.
In doing so, it helps customers develop faith and trust in your brand. When someone becomes to see you as an authority on the subject, they will naturally trust you more.
This is based on the idea that you need to build trust with customers before you can successfully sell them.
A Blog Increases Your Brand Awareness
When your blog generates value for readers, then search engines will pick it up. This means that people are more likely to visit your website, making it easier for them to learn about your dental services.
Plus, blog content gives you something to share on social media. When you post on social media, your company gets more visibility, and potentially, more new dental patients.
A Blog Improves Your Search Engine Optimization
Expert, authoritative, trustworthy content is still the key to beating your competitors on the search engine results page.
Your website’s keywords and themes are a significant way for Google (and other search engines) to locate your site for these searched words. You can link to other pages for your company from popular blog posts, including your Services or Contact pages. This helps guide visitors to your conversion pages and helps search engines rank you.
A Blog Improves Your Sales
Have you ever heard the phrase, “If you’re hanging around the barbershop long enough, you’re going to have your hair cut”? It means that if people spend enough time on your website, they will eventually become customers.
You have to produce and share the content and make it worthwhile to read, and you have to provide information and advice that will help solve the issues your potential dental patients are having. When you do, you’ll start seeing readers becoming customers.
Why Many Dental Practices Don’t Blog
With such growth potential, why isn’t every dental practice owner blogging?
While almost every dental practice in the U.S. has a website, very few feature blogs. About half of the business owners aren’t blogging, according to a recent study by PatientPop.
What is preventing those practices from running a blog to draw in new patients? Understandably, a lot of dental practice owners don’t have the time to devote to it. This is especially challenging for healthcare providers who are already aware of the need to increase their web presence but are hamstrung by the day to day demands of running a practice.
That’s where our team at Dr. Websites comes in! If you need help creating regular quality blog content that answers the questions and solves the problems of your potential customers, we can help. Contact us today for more information.