The Power of Weekly Blogging
When Dr. Clint Newman first turned to Einstein Medical, he was looking for a way to bring more new patients into his dental practice from the Internet. Specifically, he wanted to bring in new porcelain veneer and porcelain crown cases.
He knew that in order to accomplish this, he would need an Internet strategy that would allow him to stand out amongst his competitors. We proposed that he add new posts to his blog on a weekly basis and use social media to share this content with an even broader range of prospective patients. Since implementing this strategy, Dr. Newman has seen traffic to his website increase by more than half over a 12-month period, with dozens of those website visitors converting to new patients each month.
The Challenge:
How can you grow your patient base through your Internet strategy?
Dr. Newman has a thriving dental practice in Nashville, Tennessee, located on the prestigious Hillsboro Pike in Green Hills. He offers a full range of dental procedures, from the most basic dental cleanings and exams to state-of-the-art cosmetic treatments such as porcelain veneers.
Patients of Dr. Newman’s practice enjoy an upscale experience; when Dr. Newman brings in new patients, he keeps them. His challenge therefore was to find ways to use the Internet to bring in more of these new patients so that he could continue to grow his practice.
The Solution:
Blog posts as a strategic advantage
Dr. Newman asked us what he could do to be more competitive in his Internet strategy, in addition to having a beautiful, content-rich website. We explained that he could publish new posts to his blog every week, something that most of his competitors would not be willing or able to commit to. Further, we explained that adding content simply for content’s sake was not a good strategy. In order to be effective, this new content should be more relevant, comprehensive, and timely than that of his competitors.
In developing an editorial calendar, we asked ourselves several questions:
- Which procedures would the doctor like to be found for?
- How are prospective patients searching for these procedures?
- How can we be more relevant in regard to this procedure?
- How can we be more comprehensive in regard to this procedure?
- How can we be more timely and up to date in regard to this procedure?
- How can we provide true value to the reader?
Having developed an editorial calendar that met these criteria, we proceeded to “ghost write” weekly blog posts for Dr. Newman.
Blog posts to bolster social media
Since we were developing this great content for the blog, we thought it would be wise to bolster Dr. Newman’s Internet strategy by sharing the content through his social media accounts.
Most doctors tend to post shallow content to their social media accounts, and even then only sporadically. While it’s true that something is better than nothing, such posts fail to provide true value to the users who subscribe to these accounts.
In Dr. Newman’s case, we felt that his subscribers deserved to see the great content that was being produced by his practice. When users encounter a blog post that has been shared on a social media site, they will often visit the website in order to read the full article. This increases the marketing reach of the practice and presents a strong opportunity to convert those readers into patients.
The Result:
Increased visibility leads to new patient enrollment
Once Dr. Newman began blogging weekly, we saw his search engine ranking improve for many competitive keyword searches, including “Nashville Porcelain Veneers,” “Cosmetic Dentistry Nashville,” and “Nashville Porcelain Crowns.” Through Google Analytics, we were able to confirm that his expanded strategy was delivering some pretty remarkable results.
More importantly, the increase in visitors to his website corresponded to an increase in new patients to his practice.
Of course, weekly blogging is just one component of a robust Internet strategy. In the case of Dr. Newman, however, it turned out to be a highly important component, one that helped to distinguish him from his competitors and ultimately bring more patients into his practice. His success story is a testament to the powerful effect that relevant, comprehensive, timely content can have on the growth of a practice.
If you are interested in learning more about how Einstein Medical can develop a blogging strategy for your practice, please contact us today.
1,2 "12 Revealing Charts to Help You Benchmark Your Business Blogging Performance." HubSpot.com. 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2013-06-04.
