Last week, I focused on the importance of blogging,
specifically blogging with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in mind. Why? Because the first thing a potential reader needs to do is find your blog (and your practice!). This week, I will focus on the second thing you need to do: Get more patients to read and even follow your blog. Here are three starting tips from our pros at CCDM: Use your blog for Social Media: One of the most efficient ways to get more people reading (or at least glancing at!) your blog is to post it to a social media network, or, even better, to several social media networks. If you post and get traction, your current followers will start checking out your blog and perhaps even share your content on their pages, creating a ripple effect. Another small but important social media tactic is this: Don’t just repeat the title of your blog post in social media. Take the extra step: Share an idea or even a witty sentence from the blog that will encourage your followers to want MORE. One way to do this is to pose a question that will encourage clicks. For a blog on tooth veneers, for example, you might ask “What can you do about that cracked or discolored tooth?” Enquiring patients – the right patients for you practice – will want to know the answer! Write great headers for your blogs in the first place. Ask any newsman from any era: Headlines matter. The same rules that work for The New York Post or Glamourare also going to work for your blog. Here are some techniques you can try:
- Offer tips. For a cosmetic dentist, this might mean a “5 Things you can do to brighten your smile” or “3 tips to healthier gums and teeth.”
- Highlight data. Patients like catchy stats. For example, “Did you know? More men are getting cosmetic dental procedures.” (Men made up 40 percent of cosmetic dental patients in 2014. In 2007 they only made up to 33 percent of patients).
- Call attention to breaking news in the profession. Share research from one of the journals you read. Announce news from dental conferences you attend. Highlight new tools and techniques you’ve brought to your practice. Eg: “CERECallows Dr. Smith to restore your tooth in just one visit!”
- Make your title catchy or quirky. Everyone wants more humor in their lives. If you can make it cute or funny, just do it.
Help your patients share your content. Make it easy for patients to share your blog content through their social network. You can do so by using social sharing buttons or even prewritten emails that your readers can send to their network. The buttons especially allow readers to share your blog with a simple click. That’s how content travels across social media. Adding buttons can help you inspire your patients to increase traffic to your blog – and even back to your website. Those are just a few tricks we use at CCDM, but there are more. If you want to learn about the latest in blogging, and how we can help you with a total digital platform, just call us or fill out our form. We’ll be in touch to make it all . . . Crystal Clear.
