What is a Blog?
Blogs are a type of website often defined as an online journal or diary. Although there are many blogs where the blog author keeps a log of their own thoughts, experiences and ideas, bloggers also frequently share and discuss information from other sources.
Blogs typically focus on a certain topic and have frequent (sometimes daily) posts (or entries). Posts often link to other blogs or websites that discuss a similar topic. Many blogs are set up so that readers can add comments below each post.
Blogs have been around for about almost a decade now, although have only become popular in the last few years. Business blogs have become increasingly popular in the last couple of years and more are cropping up al the time.
Why Use Blogging To Market Your Therapy or Healing Practice?
Counselors, therapists and other healing professionals often shy away from using technology when marketing their practices. While there are many effective ways to market your practice that don’t involve technology and the web, the Internet has become an essential method to utilize when starting or marketing a practice.
Furthermore, if you promote your practice on the Internet in addition to using offline techniques, you are creating a lot more exposure for your services. Blogs are just one more method of marketing your practice.
Fortunately, much of the technology involved in setting up and managing a blog is very simple. This makes it easy for you to manage and update content on a blog yourself. You can get a blog up and running in a few minutes without having any technical skills whatsoever.
Blogs are also a way to connect with your target market more personally. Because blogs are updated frequently, they allow ‘your voice’ to come through more easily than a static website. They also allow your target market to dialogue with you, which helps build a stronger connection with them as well as providing you with the opportunity to hear what they are looking for in terms of services.
Finally, search engines love blogs because of their numerous and frequent posts, as well as the common linking that occurs amongst those in the blogosphere (the blogging community).
How to Use Blogs To Market Your Therapy or Healing Practice
There are numerous ways you can utilize a blog to market your practice. You can start by posting interesting information on your blog that is valuable to your clients and potential clients. There is nothing like fresh content to keep your visitors coming back to your site. Building relationships with your target audience is key to having a successful private practice.
You can also market your practice through your blog by linking to other websites or blogs that provide information that your target market wants or needs. You can be the filter for your clients and potential clients, posting up-to-date information on your area of specialization so they can keep up with the latest information.
Posting comments on other blogs related to your topic can increase back-links to your website which is important for your ranking in the search engines.
If you have a newsletter, you can have a sign-up box on your blog and/or you can have a form so visitors can subscribe to receive notification when your blog has been updated.
Just like a website, you can also sell your services or any products you have through your blog.
Blogging can be an effective method for gaining credibility, building your reputation, attracting more clients, and acquiring more exposure.
A blog can be a great compliment to a traditional website, or if you don’t yet have a website, you could consider setting up a blog as a first step towards having one.
Whether you choose to blog as a method of marketing your practice or not, you might want to peruse the blogosphere so you can get a better feel for what blogs are all about and how they can help you promote your private practice.
