It may sound simple, but if you want to rank well in local Google searches, and connect well with your potential new patients, you have to begin creating quality content.
Still today, this the key to success in building a personal brand online.
Why?
You Own Your Website
First off, your website/blog will be the only thing you own. It’s your home base.
For example, if you build your brand on Facebook, and they decide for whatever reason to close you down, you have nothing left.
You Need A Website For SEO
You’re likely familiar with the term Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Simply put, you want to show up in the top Google results in Google when a patient puts in a specific search.
If you don’t have a website, you won’t rank. It’s as simple as that.
Here are 4 steps you can take to start a blog as a doctor.
1). Select A Domain Name
Preferably, you will want your domain name to be your personal name and speciality.
For example, Dr. Kevin Weary is an ObGyn in Colorado Springs. He is also a private client of mine.
When we created his blog/website, we registered it as: kevinwearyobgyn.com
This structure of name + speciality accomplishes two strategic purposes:
- It helps tell Google who you are, what you do, so they can better index your site. This benefits you from an SEO standpoint.
- It helps potential readers/patients quickly determine who you are and what you specialize in when looking through Google search results. This will help drive more qualified visitors to you. Remember, the goal isn’t to get the most people visiting your site, it’s to get the right people who can become your patients.
How To Register A Domain
To make things easier, I recommend registering your domain where you will have your blog hosted.
Take my word for it, you don’t want the hassle of having domains in one place and hosting in another.
Personally, I recommend Bluehost
More on this in the next section.
Follow the prompts to “Get Started.”
When you get to the domain registration, input the domain name you wish and check it’s availability.
If at all possible, get a .com domain.
The others are just more difficult for people to remember, and often don’t work as well when it comes to SEO.
How To Set Up Hosting
If you follow my Bluehost link, you’ll see when you get started that you have a couple of different hosting packages to choose form.
You can select the one you want, but the Basic plan will work fine.
I have worked out a special deal for my readers with Bluehost. If you register using
2). Select A Blogging Platform
The only platform I recommend is WordPress.
There are others you can use like Wix and Weebly, but you’re going to want a platform that can scale over time. WordPress is that platform.
WordPress is easy to use, scalable, and has the most developers providing plugins (tools you will utilize). In fact, 33% of all websites in the world use WordPress.
Plus, you can purchase a number of high-quality themes (pre-made website designs) that make it super simple to design your blog.
Also, it can easily be installed by Bluehost, so you don’t need to have any technical knowledge to set it up.
3). Write Your First Blog Post
Once you have your site set up, it’s time to start producing content. Again, writing consistent content is going to be the key to success over the long term.
What Should a Doctor Blog About?
Since one of the primary goals of having a doctor blog is to attract new patients, and build a connection with patients, you should write about the questions that patients have.
What are the most common questions you are asked in patient consults?
Chances are, they’re asking Google these things. If you have a high-quality post that shows up in Google when a patient is asking a question – instant relationship.
And, if they’ve connected with you in that way, who do you think they’re going to call to schedule an appointment with?
4). Establish a Blogging Frequency
If you are sporadic in your writing, you are not going to have the success that you’re looking for.
Ideally, you want 1-2 blog posts to be published a week (different days of course).
Loyal readers will come to expect a new post to be available on a certain day, which is where you want to get to.
Also, consistent weekly posting is an indicator to Google that you are a serious site, and not a fly-by night.
For no particular reason, I like a blog post to be published every Tuesday.
To avoid getting stuck not having a blog post, I like to create a backlog of at least 4 weeks. That way, I can just load them in and schedule them to be published, and not worry about it.