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7 Reasons Why Your Healthcare Blog Is Boring Posted by Tyson Downs on 9/11/14 4:33 AM Find me on: Doctors and dentists alike are discovering that blogging offers all kinds of opportunities when it comes to dental SEO, added value for customers, and online marketing for healthcare professionals. An on-site blog is more than just an extension of your dental website. But creating a successful blog is no easy undertaking. While programs like WordPress make the technical side of the process a snap, the more difficult task is penning posts that are going to speak to a targeted audience and result in conversions (i.e. new customers). And unfortunately, an inexperienced blogger could end up with some truly boring content. Although you are likely an expert in your healthcare field, be it medical or dental, chances are that most of your previous writing experience is in the technical vein.
So how do you get past this technical writing style in order to inform and entertain readers? Here are a few reasons why your blog may be putting patrons to sleep, as well as how you can go about fixing the problem.
1. Copycat posts Original content is an absolute must for a couple of reasons. First of all, medical and dental SEO strategies rely on search bots to find and index content. And Google has created algorithms adept at spotting copies. This isn't to say that you would engage in plagiarism, but borrowing topics from competitive blogs and regurgitating the same information is not likely to get you far with the search engines. And of course, your readers probably aren't very interested in topics that have already been hashed out ad nauseum online. You wouldn't copy the content on other dental websites and you shouldn't copy blog posts either, even if only in concept. Coming up with original, timely, and relevant content is the best way to keep readers riveted and coming back for more.
2. Technical jargon There are times when it's okay for doctor websites to bandy about technical lingo, such as when detailing equipment or procedures. But since blogs are designed for public consumption, it's best if you write with the everyman in mind. When you engage in online marketing for doctors, you likely plan campaigns that focus on engaging particular demographics with language and/or imagery that members of the group are most likely to find appealing and engaging. Try the same tactic with your blog.
If your language is too technical, readers may not only be confused, but they might resent the fact that you're basically speaking down to them. And even if they aren't offended, unintelligible insider lingo is likely to strike readers as pretty boring.
3. Lack of personality As a doctor or dentist, you've probably developed a professional persona. After all, you need to keep your emotional state in check when performing exams and delivering bad news to patients. But the calm and professional demeanor that is suitable for the office environment is going to come across as bland and boring in blog posts. While a doctor or dentist website should definitely be more informative than entertaining, a different strategy is required for blogging. Your main goal is to connect with an audience. And to do this, you need to be relatable. Unfortunately, healthcare professionals, with their in-depth knowledge and years of training, are not exactly in the same peer group as most of their patients. So think about ways to work your passion for your subject matter into your blog posts, imbuing your writing voice with the humor, compassion, and other personality traits that make you unique. And think about having your staffers develop their voices and points of view with regular blog posts as well, helping to increase variety and appeal to a larger audience.
4. Relentless sales pitch Nobody likes a hard sell, and it won't take long for savvy readers to realize what you're doing if you treat your business blog as nothing more than an extended opportunity to advertise. Of course, you can soft sell a bit, and this is expected for blogs linked to websites for dentists, doctors, and other healthcare professionals. But try to keep self-promotion to a minimum and slip it into your posts in a natural way. Your main goal should be to create quality content for your readers that relates to your profession and offers insight, advice, or other value. Relentlessly pitching your services via your blog is not only a bore - it's annoying.
5. Overly wordy content Just because you can speak volumes about the use of 3D printing in the field of dentistry doesn't mean you should. This is a great way to make an interesting topic extremely dull. So save the in-depth explanations for your dental website. The trick here is to learn to edit your work. You might have to write it all down and then shave off the unnecessary bits to make your content more concise. Or you might be able to self-edit as you go, saving time and effort. But you definitely shouldn't post massive blocks of text that readers will find intimidating. If you're having trouble, consider creating an infographic or a short video instead.
6. Dull topics
While websites for doctors may include data that qualifies as "boring," visitors to your website are probably seeking pertinent information about your business rather than entertainment value. But visitors to your blog may or may not be patients, and you have the opportunity to both inform and entertain them, potentially securing new clients and retaining current patients in the process. This is, of course, providing that you can keep them engaged. Over time, you'll find that it becomes more and more difficult to come up with interesting subject matter for your blog. But you can find ways to make even the dullest topics more interesting by weaving together a narrative, adding your own experiences, or tying them in with more eye-catching fare.
7. Failure to understand what readers want Whether you're working on SEO for doctors or engaging in online marketing for dentists, chances are you will think long and hard about what your target demographic will respond to. And believe it or not, figuring out what your readers want is even easier - all you have to do is ask. Many readers, if prompted, will offer up all kinds of medical or dental queries. And this can give you the impetus to select topics that are sure to please your audience. Topics: Blogging inShare2