“Blogging” is one of the new-fangled words born out of the 21st century’s tech revolution. Most people have heard the term and some may read a few blogs dedicated to their favorite topics. But even the regular blog reader may be surprised to learn the valuable role blogs play in promoting everything from fashion brands to dental practices.
Businesses with blogs on their websites get 55% more web traffic than those that don’t.1 Blogging is a component of any sound marketing strategy, and 82% of marketers say blogging is vital to their business.2
It’s easy to see why blogging is an important component of content marketing. A recent study found that 73% of consumers have made a purchase as a result of reading a business’s content.3 In the dental world, this means patients are that much more likely to schedule an appointment after reading one of your posts.
So, should dental practices blog? The short answer is yes, they should. But that’s not helpful, is it? Writing blog articles is one thing, but understanding why you should publish practical, interesting content is another.
Comfortable Patients are Better Patients
Many people are afraid of the dentist. According to DentaVox, 61% of people say they experience some form of dental fear.4 Part of overcoming the fear of dentistry is education. Teaching patients about what you do, how your standards and practices keep them safe, and the positive correlation between dental and physical health are topics a good dentists’ blog should cover.
Your blog should provide an approachable, informative platform to teach patients about what you do and why. This form of short, relevant content is how most people prefer to learn about businesses, including dental practices. Eighty percent of people say they appreciate learning about a company by reading articles rather than by consuming advertisements.5
Blogs are a great educational tool for many businesses and can be a key method to overcoming dental fear. Studies show customers respond positively to information presented online. After reading curated content like a blog, 90% of people say the information was valuable.5 And just reading articles (not even experiencing the product!) leaves 82% of people with good feelings about the company they read about. That’s exactly the kind of response you want!
Boosting Your SEO
The average website is limited in the number of pages that can reasonably be hosted. Right now, you probably have an About page, a Services page, and a Contact page. But these only provide so many opportunities to enhance your website’s SEO. Blogging offers unlimited chances to incorporate keywords, internal links, external links, photos, videos, and meta tags into as many pages as you’d like.
Why is this beneficial? Content is a known ranking factor that directly impacts your pages’ position on the search engine results page (SERP). Websites with blogs have 434% more indexed pages than those that don’t.5 And businesses with blogs enjoy 97% more inbound links.6
What does all this mean? Blogging elevates your SEO, so you have many more pages for potential patients to visit. And all those pages can rank higher than the other pages on your website and, hopefully, your competition’s website. The result is that patients are more likely to click and convert.
Increased Web Traffic
Blogging cultivates better SEO. Better SEO boosts site visits. And more site visits lead to more patients.
Websites with 20 blog posts or more see, on average, 55% more site traffic.1 And that traffic converts to genuine leads. Businesses with blogs get about 67% more monthly leads5 than businesses that don’t have blogs on their website.
Successful content marketing takes time and effort. Posting a few articles just for the sake of having a blog section on your website won’t generate results. According to HubSpot, a leading marketing software, 75% of their blog views are from old posts.7 The pageviews on older posts account for 90% of their total leads. This means that to be effective you’ll need to build up your content library over time through consistently posting new articles to your blog.
Excellent ROI
One of the interesting side-effects of the tech revolution is the abundance of low-cost marketing solutions. Blogging is a highly affordable marketing tool and one that works for you long after your initial investment (as you can see above).
Writing a dental blog costs about 62% less than traditional marketing strategies like TV and print.5 And the returns on your initial investment are exponential. Content marketing, like blogging, generates about three times more leads per dollar spent than traditional marketing efforts.
Traditional Marketing Tactics Aren’t Enough
To make the most of your marketing budget, you need to meet your potential patients where they are. And these days, where your patients are is online. Traditional marketing tactics like TV and print, while still effective when used selectively, are no longer the best go-to-strategy for putting your message in front of your market. Eighty-six percent of people say they skip TV ads whenever possible.5 Another 44% reports completely ignoring direct mail.
Instead of TV and print, your target audience has turned to curated digital content for the information they need. About 80% of U.S. consumers say they regularly interact with social media and blogs.5 Again, most people say they’d rather learn about a company by reading articles online instead of consuming advertisements.
If you haven’t started your blog yet, now’s the time. Don’t know how to get started? Dreamscape Marketing can help. Contact us today at 888.307.7304 to discuss how we can curate an interesting, informative blog to grow your practice.
For a list of references, please contact us.