social media Archives - David Schwab, Ph.D.

Wanted: killer content. In my last blog I talked about how to fill up your blog “bucket” on your website with content and send that content out to social media. (Click here to see that post.) Here are some tips for writing killer social media content.

Start with a compelling title. If you are writing about dental implants, for example, here’s a sample title: Dental implants Give Woman, 85, New Lease on Life Says Dallas Dentist Dr. John Smile. The opening provides a success story in just a few words. There is an 85-year-old woman who is now very happy with dental implants, so the reader is thinking that, yes, older adults can have dental implants.
Put key words in the title. “Dental implants” is a good choice. Notice also that the phrase “Dallas dentist” is included. Some people search for that exact term. The doctor’s name is also included in the headline. You want to be very visible on the web. The more times your name is mentioned in a professional context, the better.
Limit the title to no more than 70 characters, including spaces. There are different authorities who will give you a slightly lower or higher number, but 70 characters maximum for a blog title will work out fine. If the title is longer, it will likely be cut off by the search engine results page (SERP).
Make the blog interesting and informative. Here is an excerpt from the body of the blog: “When I first met her, the patient was unhappy. She could not eat the foods of her choice and she thought she was too old to have dental implant treatment. Now that her dental implant treatment has been completed, she never stops smiling! She eats all her favorite foods, she has a terrific smile, and she does not have to worry about traditional dentures that slip, click, or cause embarrassment. She says she feels young again thanks to dental implants, and she certainly acts that way.” Now that’s killer content!
Include a link to your website at the end of the blog. Some people will click and be taken right to your website. Your content is not only about your practice; it leads back to your practice.
Use different authors. When I write blogs and social media content for dental practices, I interview not only the doctor, but team members as well. The result is that there are blogs from the doctor and also some from the unique perspective of the team
Include an image to make the blog post memorable. An image helps give the blog credibility and may induce someone to spend extra time looking at your blog post and reading it. A great site for finding free images is pexels.com.

In Part 3, I will discuss how to find a never-ending source of killer content for your blogs and social media accounts right in own practice.

www.davidschwab.com

Social media and blogs significantly help SEO. A website that looks great but ranks on page two is akin to being exiled to Siberia; anything lower than page two and you might as well advertise your practice on Neptune. So how to you get to and stay on page one of Google?

To keep up your rankings, you need to post a regular blog and then push that same content out to your social media accounts.

What is a blog?

The term “blog” is an amalgamation of two words: web and log. Blog is an unfortunate term because it sounds like a Soviet housing project. Linguistic prejudice aside, I can define a blog as an article written to inform. Think of a regular newspaper column on sports or politics. On the Internet, the columnist would be called a “blogger.” Use your blog to as your personal column in your own publication (your website) to tell people what you do and invite them to come to your office so you can solve their dental problems.

How long is a blog?

Unlike newspaper columns that have rigid length requirements due to space considerations, a blog can be almost any length. However, Google wants blogs to be at least 300 words in length, because Google does not want to reward frequently blogging with higher search engine rankings if a blog is only one sentence long. Some “long form” blogs are thousands of words in length and they can greatly help SEO, but those types of blogs will be discussed at another time. For now, think 300 words.

What does the blog live?

The blog should be visible or at least accessible on your website. It’s a simple matter for your webmaster to install a button that people can click to access your blog. Blog hosting can be handled in many different ways. Many blogs are hosted by WordPress, a service that makes posting very easy. In fact, if you can copy and paste text in Microsoft Word, then you can figure out how to copy your article into WordPress to create a blog.

How does a blog help SEO?

Two ways. First, by posting regularly (once a week or at least several times per month), you continually add new content to your website and that helps SEO. Second, you can push the blog out to your social media accounts, such as Facebook and Twitter. When someone clicks on the headline content on Facebook, for example, the entire blog opens. If everything has been set up properly, the reader is actually now on your website, which of course means one more click. Google gives you credit for lots of clicks because Google thinks your website must be important if it is drawing many visitors.

How do I find the time to write a blog?

Writing a blog can be time consuming. Web developers are continually asking doctors for content, and doctors always say that they do not have time. I have developed a blog and social media creation service. I write all the content for an entire year based on a phone interview with the doctor and staff. When this customized content is “in the bank,” so to speak, it is easy to grab a new ready-to-go blog each week and post it. Problem solved.

If you prefer to write blogs yourself, I will discuss the elements of a good blog and give you tips in my next posting, Part 2.