If you’re serious about online marketing as a doctor, I highly recommend creating a self-hosted WordPress site and blogging there.
I’ve seen many doctors as they get started use blogging platforms like wordpress.com or Blogspot. But if you really want to maximize your online marketing opportunities, you will want to upgrade to a self-hosted WordPress site.
With a self-hosted WordPress site (wordpress.org), you will download the software, which is free, and install it on the web hosting server that you lease. Many hosting options such as WP Engine (which is what I use and enthusiastically recommend) will actually set this up for you with just a couple of clicks.
There are many reasons why you would want to use a self-hosted WordPress site, including:
1. Ownership and Control
I often write and talk to doctors about the importance of having ownership and control of your primary online marketing property – your website. The bottom line being, you don’t want to build your house on a rented lot.
A self-hosted WordPress site will serve you well in the way of having ownership and control over your primary online marketing property.
Other platforms such as Blogspot are fine for hobby bloggers, but it’s not great for running a professional site as a doctor. At the end of the day, you just do not have the control that you need.
2. Custom Domain Name
Which one of these domain names looks more professional?
- JohnDoeMD.com
- JohnDoeMD.blogspot.com
I believe this answer is obvious, and I can tell you that it’s evident to the patients that you want to attract as well.
Having a self-hosted WordPress site lets you create and use whatever professional domain name you like without another company’s branding attached to it.
3. SEO Benefits
Services such as Blogspot or wordpress.com are free and easy to use, however you will struggle to get any SEO benefit. Yes, there are some workarounds that you can try, but they’re fairly manually intensive and involved.
Plus, Google will rarely rank a post on a free third-party blogging platform over one found on a self-hosted WordPress site.
Having a self-hosted WordPress site will help you, as a doctor, put yourself in the best position to succeed with your online marketing efforts.