blog.titanwebagency.com
http://blog.titanwebagency.com/more-visitors-doctor-blog
9 Ways a Doctor Can Get More Visitors to Their Blog Posted by Tyson Downs on 4/2/15 8:32 AM Having a popular blog is one of the most effective and affordable ways to promote your healthcare practice. By providing readers with helpful, interesting information they can use in their everyday lives, you can strengthen the loyalty bonds between you and your patients and build your professional reputation.
Listen to this blog post:
But the time and energy you spend producing your blog is wasted if nobody is actually reading it. Creating great content is only half the battle. The other half is driving traffic to your blog so that people actually read it. So how do expand your blog’s readership and attract more followers? Here’s a list of some of the top techniques successful bloggers use to connect with more readers:
1. Be Proactive If you are waiting around for people to somehow find your blog on their own, you probably are going to be waiting a long time. If you want your blog to become popular, you have to promote it. An easy way to do this is to simply send it out as an email blast to everybody on your list. This is especially effective if you have an e mail newsletter, one of the most powerful marketing tools dental practice owners can use. Along with a link to your blog posts, invite the people on your list to follow your blog. If they already are on your list, they probably already will be open to becoming regular readers.
2. Don’t Be Shy About Sharing Send your blog posts to anybody you think might be interested in reading it and sharing it with their networks. This includes other dental professionals, organizations, other bloggers, and even competitors within your market. Plus, anytime you mention or quote somebody in your blog, fire off a note to that person as well, even if you don’t actually know them personally. They might be so flattered that you referenced them in your blog that they may share your link with their contacts as well.
3. Link Your Blog to Your Social Media Accounts If you are using WordPress to produce your blog, you can add software that automatically posts your blog on your other social media accounts every time you publish something new. That way, with each new blog you also get a new Facebook update, a Tweet on Twitter, an entry on Google+, Pinterest, Vine, Storify Digg, Quora, StumbleUpon, and any other social network you are connected to.
Another way to do this is to use IFTTT and have it auto publish to specific networks based on your actions. Very cool. Here's a 'recipe' that I set up recently that is publishing my podcast to my tumblr blog.
4. Make it Easy for People to Share Your Blog Include buttons on your blog that allow readers to “Like� your blog on their Facebook page and share it on their other social media accounts, such as Twitter, Reddit, Yelp, Google+, Pinterest and so on. Make a point within your content to encourage readers to share your blog if they liked it and reference the buttons on your page. Each reader who shares your blog potentially can get your content in front of dozens or even hundreds of new readers. You can use a WordPress plugin to easily do this. Here's an example of one that a healthcare blog that I regularly post on:
5. Add a Link to Your Blog to Your Email Signature How many emails does your practice send out every day? Appointment reminders, follow-up messages, billing notices and even personal emails all offer yet another opportunity to lead people to your blog. Creating a link beneath your email signature is simple, yet it’s an easy way to get your blog exposure to people who might not otherwise be aware of your blog’s existence. You can see how I do it in my email signature. I use an app called Wisestamp to do this.
6. Tweet Each Blog Post Multiple Times with Different Teasers Each single blog you produce can be put up on Twitter as many times as you want. Draw out a half dozen or a dozen key passages from within your content then use these as teaser quotes you can use to lure new readers to your blog. Make sure you include the link back to your blog with each Tweet. Twitter makes it super easy for people to share content, so if you publish something particularly interesting, it’s easy for your blog to get exposure relatively easily. It may be worth it to also tag local businesses if you mention them, or use a local hashtag.
7. Improve Your Blog’s Rankings on Google Entire books have been written about SEO techniques you can incorporate into our content to make it more appealing to Google’s search engine. Basic tips include putting keywords into your headline, subheads and content that people are likely to search for on Google, such as “How to Improve Your Oral Health” or “How to Avoid Getting Cavities”. Repeat keywords naturally, but generously within your content. Use a meta description for each blog entry that compels the reader to click on it. Link your blog to authoritative outside sources such as About.com or industry authoritative websites. Link to other related blog posts you have written, and so on.
8. Offer More than Just Textual Content Not every blog you publish has to be an essay you’ve written. Readers will be more engaged with your blog and will come back more frequently if you mix it up a little. Include other types of media, such as photos, videos or even audio recordings. Look for user-friendly infographics that make it easier for people to grasp complicated ideas. Try new things all the time. Not all of them will work, but at least your readers will visit your blog just to see what you come up with next.
"What If I Don’t Have Time for All This?" If it seems like all of this is going to take up a lot of your time – and take you away from other important matters such as running your dental practice – you’re right. You went to dental school to help people, not to be an Internet sensation. But you can have both if you outsource some of your blog management. There are online marketing companies that specialize in helping healthcare professionals build their brand online. They'll help you blog, optimize your website, and help you build your online reputation . If you have room in your marketing budget, this can be one of the smartest investments because it can give you a competitive advantage within your marketplace. A less expensive option is to outsource the management of your blog to a company who can create content and drive more readers to your blog.
What are you doing to drive more traffic to your blog?
Topics: Blogging