How Do Blogs Make You Money?

Having a Medical Blog Is One of the Best Creative Ways to Increase Patient Referrals

The internet is a sea of blogs. So how can yet another blog compete? And if a company’s blog can climb the Google ranks—what good does it do?

Hint—it’s not a game of taking up internet space. You can’t get noticed by simply pumping out content. The algorithms don’t work like that anymore.

Today, it’s all about strategically strengthening your internet presence. And that strategy...is being high-quality and helpful.

When people search healthcare-related topics, they search by asking a question. The detailed answer they’re looking for is often a blog post.

Patients can search by topic, but they won’t do so if they don’t know the name of their problem. People don’t search “venous insufficiency” until they’ve asked questions like “why are my legs always swollen.”

To establish a strong internet presence for yourself, two things need to happen:

You have to make people aware you exist. Your content can go to them (ads, campaigns, etc.), or they can come to you (a Google search, asking around). Blogs give you value and content for both modes.

And to sell an item (for more than a few bucks), you must establish trust with potential buyers. A helpful blog is a sneak-peek of your paid value. People who are helpful for free build the reputation it takes to get people to happily pay for more help.

In short: quality blogs bring traffic to you. Companies that have blogs see over 50% increased traffic.1 It’s the road potential clients will typically take to get you. It’s like an automated, around-the-clock door-to-door salesman that knows exactly which houses have paying clients.

Nice. But unless you’re into marketing, those are just some big claims. So how does it do that?

Let’s dig in.

Blogs Lead People to You

Here’s the big secret: people are looking for you. And the way most people look is through a search engine.

So if your website and content isn’t in people’s search results...they may never find you. If you don’t prioritize your internet presence, you’re throwing away your biggest marketing platform.

Not only that...people are much less trusting of ads as they used to be. Over 70% of search engine users go for organic results.2 Meaning they're intentionally avoiding the ads. With numbers like these, it doesn’t make sense to spend the majority of your budget on ads.

It might not feel like it, but you’re ahead of the game: people are already looking for you. They may not be searching for you by your practice or company’s name, but they’re looking for what you have to offer.

Large crowds aren’t googling “Dr. Liu’s Podiatry Clinic.” But there are crowds googling “toenails turning brown” and “numbness in bottom of feet.”

If Dr. Liu’s Podiatry Clinic treats toenail fungus and diabetic neuropathy, Dr. Liu can turn these questions into blogs. These blogs will be paths for patients to come straight to her practice.

Imagine this case study. A person googles “toenails turning brown.” One of the top results is Dr. Liu’s blog post “Why Are My Toenails Turning Brown? Treatments You Can Try This Week.” The person finds helpful information about toenail fungus, and how a podiatrist can help. The blog ends with a compelling recommendation to visit Dr. Liu’s Podiatry Clinic.

A day, a week, a month later, they google “Local podiatrist for toenail fungus.” One of the results is Dr. Liu’s Podiatry Clinic website. They recognize it, and positively because it was so helpful. They book an appointment.

Blogs Are the Compelling Argument to Choose You

There are tons of blogs and articles on the web. And many are by well-known, well-established companies. Is it possible to compete with huge corporations and experts?

YES. Many individuals and small practices competitively rank with and above healthcare giants. Usually, it’s because they know how to write a medical blog. Their blogs prove more helpful than the blogs produced by the healthcare giants.

Much of the blog content on the internet isn’t written strategically. Many companies treat blogs as a participation grade, tacking an unstructured blog onto the company website and expecting it to help. When they do write blogs, they’ll often write on broad subjects rather than specific issues.

Visitors who could use your services are looking for answers to their specific problems. They don’t want another general blog post on their health concerns. And they’re certainly not searching for topics by a technical name they don’t know.

The companies that are crushing the competition:

✘ DON’T put together blogs just by writing some thoughts on a subject. Visitors are used to quality structure. A thought dump (even from a qualified specialist) won’t hold their attention.

✘ DON’T expect a short piece to rank competitively. Google may never know if your 300-word “weekly updates” even exist.

✘ DON’T write with verbiage visitors won’t understand. People click out of blogs that are too difficult to read. Those kinds of blogs often have a reading level above 6th-grade comprehension and are full of medical jargon.

✘ DON’T post pieces with formatting that’s hard for visitors to read. Again, people quickly click away from content that’s a solid block of text with no images.

✘ DON’T post inconsistently. Neither your topics and your updates should be scattered.

✘ DON’T write for an audience that isn't the one you want to meet. If you want to increase patient flow in your clinic, don't write blogs aimed at other doctors.

Instead:

✔ DO post extremely helpful, well-researched content.3 This gives your visitor more value, so you have a more positive impression. It also helps your visitor stay on your page longer, which is excellent for SEO.

✔ DO write to the audience you want to reach.4 Are you writing to patients or doctors? Is your blog post aimed at older adults with chronic diseases, or young adults with sports injuries? Define your audience, and your blog will become more helpful.

✔ DO post pieces that are at least 1,000-1,500 words each.5 Google has to index your content for it to show up as a Google result. When a post is longer, and you’ve established some authority in your field, Google senses your piece is more useful. This helps climb search results.

✔ DO integrate quality visuals to engage the reader.6 Readers consistently leave pages when they see a brick of text, which is bad for SEO. Related visuals keep visitors on the page longer by giving them mental breaks. You can use stock or personal photos, infographics, vectors, and more.

✔ DO integrate relevant long-tail keywords into your piece’s sentences.7 Don’t put together your own keywords and hope for the best. Look for the actual keywords people are Googling ...and integrate those into your blog post!

✔ DO give visitors a helpful call-to-action.8 Don’t assume your visitors know what you offer once they read your blog post. Adding a like relevant button or embedded link, such as “Make an Appointment” or “Browse Our Compression Socks.”

✔ DO post a blog at least once per month.9 You don’t need to post multiple times a week, but consistency helps your impression with your visitors and Google.

✔ DO write content addressed at specific problems. People are often searching by asking a question. Meet people where they are by addressing their questions. Instead of writing the blog post “Do You Have Venous Insufficiency? 5 Signs to Know”, try “Why Are My Legs Turning Brown? ..And 5 Other Signs You May Have Venous Insufficiency.”

✔ DO cater to the skim-readers, the thorough readers, and Google’s algorithms. Your blog will have different kinds of visitors—but you can still cater to all of them. The above guidelines will help you engage all three.

When it comes to marketing anything more than cash register gum, successful businesses play the long game.

They know they need to invest in getting in front of potential clients, making a great first impression, and fostering their relationship.

Getting the Most Out Of Your Blogs

Blogs are an excellent way to build your business, particularly through your online presence. Don't be intimidated by the sheer volume of blogs already on the internet, or by your competition. When blogs are produced strategically, they can easily outrank blogs produced by your competitors.

Blogs aren’t just great content for your website—they’re vehicles for your company to offer value on a TON of different platforms.

Here’s how you can make your blog go the distance:

Include whole blogs or blog sections in email newsletters.
Post them as a whole or in sections on Facebook & LinkedIn.
Tweet key quotes from the blog, then link to them.
Post key points of the blog as Instagram posts & stories, and link in your bio.
Print or email appropriate blogs to clients as patient education.
Using the blog post as a guide, film yourself discussing the topic to create a Youtube video.
Use as a loose script for a podcast.
Take points from the blog and expand them into their own new blog posts.
Once blogs have aged, update and re-post!

Do you or a team member enjoy writing, and have the topical knowledge to write blogs? Turn that combo into blogs that will drive traffic to your company! Use the above guidelines—and see what happens.

On the other hand, if you're crunched for time, or simply hate writing, let me take it off your hands. I'll make the deal even better—let's start by talking about your goals and marketing strategy (for free).

I got some ideas, and I'm rooting for your business. Schedule a free, no-commitment call here.

References:

Laptop with stethoscope image by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Illustrations by Check Copywriting with Canva