Why should healthcare practitioners have a blog?
About a month ago, I had a very interesting conversation with a manager of the local branch of a popular bank while setting up a checking account. He was a nice guy and very chatty. At some point, he asked me what I do for a living. I talked about being in school and my partner mentioned that I do make money blogging online. He smirked and chuckled and said, “Wow, I’ve just never felt self-absorbed enough to do that!” I think he realized that this was a somewhat insulting thing to say, but I laughed and we went on with our transaction.
I think this highlights an important misconception that people have about blogging. Many folks have the erroneous belief that a blog is, essentially, an online journal. Nothing could be further from the truth. While some people do use their blogs to talk about their lives, their political opinions, their cats, their religious beliefs or their love for particular sports teams - this usage is just skimming the surface of the deep power of this method of communication.
Sometimes, when I realize how easy it is for me to write something like this post and get it out to thousands of people, I’m blown away. In the history of the world, it has never been so simple to communicate a message to so many. It’s a great power. I believe that it brings with it a great responsibility. That responsibility is to get accurate, timely and powerful information out to people who need it. Many of us have something important to share with others, though we might not know it. Even people who feel like relative failures in life may have something very important to teach to others - maybe simply how to avoid the mistakes they’ve made in life.
For health care providers, the power of blogging can help fulfill one of the most important duties of a physician. This duty is enshrined in the stated principles of naturopathic medicine:
The physician as teacher: Docere
“A cooperative doctor-patient relationship has inherent therapeutic value. The physician’s major role is to educate and encourage the patient to take responsibility for their own health. The physician is a catalyst for healthful change, empowering and motivating the patient to assume responsibility. It is the patient, not the doctor, who ultimately creates/accomplishes healing. Teaching with hope, knowledge, and understanding, the physician acts to enable patients to heal.
This quote borrowed from the fine authors at naturodoc.com
Education is a crucial tool in any physician’s kit. This education comes at every level of treatment. We tell the patient what we are doing when examining them, what the results mean in language they can understand, we tell them what sorts of treatments we are considering and what the outcomes are likely to be. We explain to our patients how different features of their lifestyle may be affecting their condition and what they can do about this. We help them to understand how to take in their medications appropriately and so on. Blogging is, perhaps, not so helpful for the majority of this type of information. However, I believe we have an even more important educational role.
Particularly as natural medicine practitioners, there is a lot we learn about how the body works and how the human being might best interact with his/her environment for maximal health. We come to an understanding of nature and how human beings can operate most in harmony with her principles. We have an “outsiders” perspective on the way healthcare is practiced in this country, and have important things to communicate about that. We also have our personal perspectives to share, many stories to tell and so much more. In this contemporary era, we have cheap and easy ways to communicate all of this information. Blogging is chief among them.
When we educate the public using blogging, we make our own jobs easier. Gradually, the average level of understanding about our medicine will increase. This helps us from a business perspective but also in the way of having more shared understanding about health and healing with our patients. We can also use a database of articles as information to refer our patients to in the future. For instance, if a patient with cancer comes in for treatment and you recently wrote a 10 article series about treating cancer with food and lifestyle changes, you can easily point them to your blog or print out the articles for them to read. What a benefit for our patients!
We also begin to network with other health care practitioners. In particularly small fields, this may be an incredible resource. If you are the only practitioner of whatever-it-is in your state, you may feel quite isolated. By writing to a blog frequently, other practitioners may find you through a quick Google search or some other medium - great friendships can be born! I have already met several people through blogging. I’m glad to call them my friends and colleagues!
Blogging can also be a secondary (or even primary) source of income. While I don’t make a ton of money from my blog, I also don’t try very hard to do so! I am looking into ways to expand my web properties and thus be able to bring in a little more money. Why think about income generation? I believe that the more streams of income I have flowing toward my family, the less pressure there will be on generating income from patient visits. Thus, I can keep my prices low and make Chinese medical care more accessible for more people. It’s not difficult to make money blogging, it just takes some patience, persistence and the willingness to bravely put your thoughts into the public realm.
If you are interested in starting a blog, I encourage you to do so. In the future, I would like to begin an online course for natural medicine professionals interested in entering into the world of blogging. But, for now, I have an excellent suggestion for anyone who would like to start making money using this incredible communication method. I’ve already rambled on enough here, so I’ll put it in a separate post. Look for it this evening - it will include a great video and links to other resources. I encourage you to read it through and watch the videos, then come back and tell me what you think.
Eric
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Tags: Blogging, Business, business strategy, finances
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22 Responses to “Why should healthcare practitioners have a blog?”
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[...] I discussed in my earlier post, I believe that healthcare providers should start blogging in bigger numbers. But, really, I [...]
Hey–my most profitable blog is about my CAT!!!!
The Acupuncture Marketing Blog makes me virtually nothing!!!
Beyond what you said, in terms of educating people, blogging will keep you in contact with your clients.
I’m thinking of low cost e-newsletters or having your regular newsletter articles published on your blog.
Are you going to give a talk some place (and I expect that of you and several of your readers some day), people might want to know about it and go listen to you. Did a new practitioner join your clinic? Welcome them on your blog. Do you have a special that month? Discuss it on the blog. Did you introduce a new product line? Changing your herbal line? Change the way you are practicing? All of these are food for you blog and are less about educating potential new clients but keeping in contact and informing your current client base.
Oh and why do people make fun of people who blog about their cats but not people who blog about their dogs or their rabbits or their rats?
And I am not sure which is scarier, the fact that there are as many of these as their are or the fact that I know this…
I couldn’t agree more Eric.
To anyone providing health care out there start educating people! It can be fun (if you don’t like writing you can just talk to a camera) and build relationships too!
Excellent sir.
I would like to see a future article on how to do a PROFESSIONAL blog, much like yours. Tips, requirements, standards, etc. I’ve been considering getting a bit more formal with mine but don’t know where to begin.
Hi M. Reynolds,
I’ve had a quick look at your site. It looks fine. People like me, and I think those you are looking to as readers, aren’t terribly worried about looks. They want the information. I read Eric’s blog for the excellent content - as you probably do too.
As to where to being: if you have a largish readership you can ask them. If not try to think of the biggest pain point for who you imagine your readers are and do stuff about that. Try different stuff and see what gets the best response (it’s almost impossible to predict what will work).
Hope this is useful.
Evan
I agree with Evan’s assessment. The only thing that might make it more professional is if you had your own domain name.
If you are asking questions about buying domain names and setting up your own site, there are some excellent sources–Burton Kent’s site is one such place and I’ve written about using Wordpress on your own domain on my blog as well.
I will also add that the own the domain name thing is minor. You do have to have a certain level of web savvy readership to even notice that–but a few will. I personally feel that if this is a professional blog you want to own the domain and host it someplace.
Well, I understand all the mechanics of the website part of it (I did web design a looooong time ago). I’m thinking about pulling a little more journalism into the operation though, essays instead of journal entries, maybe even recorded audio. More Edward R. Murrow and less kid on Youtube.
But thats a lot of work and I have to think about it.
I think your design is fine, Mike. There are many, many things you could do on the backend to help make things smoother, help attract more traffic, etc… but it goes beyond what I feel like I can offer at Deepest Health, which is primarily supposed to be focused on Chinese medicine. When I start up my other site, I might discuss blogging a little more extensively. If you can pony up the cash, I do think that Yaro Starak’s Blog Mastermind program is a fantastic way to go from sometimes blogger to something more.
In the end, it’s all about content - Evan and Bonnie are right. Everything stems from that - but it can be video, audio, text or a combination. It can be journalism, op-ed, educational articles, etc… It’s true that it’s hard to predict what will do well, but there are formulas to follow to help ensure a certain amount of succes - imho.
I think the first thing, overall, is just to get on a program of greater content creation. Set a goal, say to produce 2 articles a week, and then go for it. See what you’re capable of…
I, for one, would be stoke to read more from you. :)
Eric
Haha, Bonnie - no hard feelings about the cat. I’m just reporting what I’ve heard other people talk about. I can’t imagine having enough information to put out there about my cat or dog… they’re pretty laid back characters. :D Anyway, thanks for putting those ideas for how healthcare practitioners can leverage blogs… all great ideas.
Eric
Mike,
StokeD, I meant. Not stoke. :D
e
I don’t believe in blogging for most complementary medicine practitioners. If you like to write, great. But otherwise it doesn’t do much for the effort expended. I’m working with a guy in Florida who is doing a ton of blogging, even videos. Problem is, it’s not converting to patients at all.
Also, most people don’t like to write. I can’t tell you how many people have contacted me about starting a blog, but don’t want to do it themselves.
If you do blog, three things to do:
1. Have the cities/towns you serve listed somewhere on EVERY page. This is so people who are searching for help in their area will find you. Otherwise you’ll be doing a nice job of educating people on the other side of the country.
2. Have an email newsletter of some kind, if only to notify people of new blog posts. This is not optional. Most people don’t use RSS, so they won’t track your blog updates. In other words, they visit only once.
3. Do it REGULARLY. I recently took a two week break from blogging, and my book sales dropped by more than half. After two weeks it hasn’t recovered. (I blog about acupuncture marketing every Tuesday)
Hey Burton,
I think blogging, when done well, can definitely convert to patients. However, this isn’t the primary point so isn’t really the deciding factor - in my opinion - in whether or not blogging is a good idea for healthcare practitioners. I believe Bonnie in her comment, as well as myself in various parts in this and other articles, describes well the many benefits available to the enterprising healthcare practitioner who is also a blogger.
It’s true that it’s hard to create a great blog if you don’t write… however, there are many great blogs who are run by someone who doesn’t write much (if at all) to that blog. Yaro (the Blog Mastermind guy I keep referring to) talks quite a bit in his training course about outsourcing content creation for a blog. This is a model I have seen several people use to their benefit. I plan to use it to some extent on my next blog.
I agree regarding your point about email lists - it’s something I am actually implementing either today or tomorrow. It’s something most people never get the hang of.
Thanks for your comment!
Eric
I think Burton is absolutely right. Blogging doesn’t do much for existing patients or attracting patients.
I think you do it for other reasons. And it is a separate businees if you want to make money from it. So more work.
All,
I just want to point out that I do know of at least one natural medicine practitioner who DOES attract a fair number of patients with his blogging/podcasting here in the Portland area. Also, it depends on what you do with it. If you just write articles and expect that to reel in the patients, of course it’s not going to work. If you leverage that content, market it and repurpose it (using your local media, lecture circuit, educational institutions, etc) I think things are quite different.
But, surely, the many other benefits should be enough to convince practitioners that it’s an endeavor worth looking into.
Thanks for all the great comments!
Eric
I think you’re right Eric - the content can be re-purposed and the blog will probably add credibility. It’s a matter of leveraging the content for other things I think.
The content-driven secret to increased readership and patients is simple:
LOLcats.
How true Burton’s comment is depends upon your target market and how creative you are about blogging.
If my office were located in east Bellevue instead of North Bend, you better believe blogging could help me. Why? My target patient probably works at Microsoft. S/he probably knows computers and having a blog along with a good looking website WILL make them more comfortable. That offers the two of something in common.
Additionally, if they are looking for information about their condition and I write about it on my blog (and they find it doing a search) I will probably convert them.
Bellevue and Microsoft (Google, Intel et al) can only support so many acupuncturists so what about everyone else?
So I practice elsewhere. Perhaps I specialize in doing cancer support. It’s a population I like. Okay, I write a blog about treating cancer. I may talk about Cancer from the perspective of TCM–maybe I write generally or specifically. Maybe I review new articles and studies. I might add in new information on cancer that has a broad appeal to my clients. Additionally, I make sure my patients are aware of cancer related events in the local area. I’m speaking at this support group. This great guru is speaking at this support group. This support group is starting up. Relay for Life is this weekend. Have you signed up? Have you donated? etc etc.
At this point I’ve become a great community resource for my patients about an area of health that they are very interested in. I’m offering an added value to the services you provide in your office. They start learning how to subscribe to a newsletter or an RSS feed (offer both–I HATE giving out my email for newsletters but I love RSS).
My website grows not just from search engine traffic for people looking for a topic (although with a blog that specific it will), my main readership growth will be through word of mouth–from others who are reading. This type of organic traffic is infinitely more valuable in the long run because these are the people most likely to be most interested not only in what I write but the services I can provide (in their community).
New people may get referred to the website but as they learn that I have a professional and ethical site that is useful to them, they start considering me as their acupuncturist. Or they consider that I might be the acupuncturist they should take their Mom or their Dad too for support.
At this point, I don’t really need to worry about page rank etc. My content is providing a service to the people who need it. They’ll find me because people will talk about it.
Oh and M. Reynolds–My cat doesn’t understand LOLcats. She speaks better English than the current president. Which is why she is running for president…
[...] They’re not self absorbed : As I discussed in a recent article, many people have the perception that you have to be very into yourself in order to project your [...]
You mentioned:
“I just want to point out that I do know of at least one natural medicine practitioner who DOES attract a fair number of patients with his blogging/podcasting here in the Portland area.”
Can you give us the link or the name so we can check out what he’s doing? Thanks.
Also, I’d like to point out I just wrote a report on using Wordpress as a website management system. You can get it at http://www.AcupunctureClinicWebsites.com/report if you’re interested.
Wordpress is amazing, it’s not only great for blogs, but for general websites too!
Hey Burton,
Here’s the site : http://www.naturecuresclinic.com/content/view/21/36/ Greg Eckel is the guy I’ve talked to - he indicated that he’s had folks come to his clinic from afar after hearing his podcast. Interesting, no?
I’ll definitely check out your article. I agree, Wordpress is just… awesome.
Eric
[...] a follow-up to my previous popular post about Why all natural health care practitioners should have a blog, I thought I would put forward a list of the benefits I have noticed so far in having my blog about [...]