Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Should You Call Your Blog a Blog?

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blog-letters-centrodigitale.com-400-322Titles and names are important. As we know, people skim when they read online and titles help them decide whether to keep reading.

So when people land on your main website and you want to lead them to your blog, what do you call it? “Blog” seems like an obvious choice, but it may not necessarily be the right fit for you.

If your particular readers don’t understand what a blog is, or what they’ll find there, they won’t click on it. So they’ll never see the high-quality content you’ve worked so hard to produce (unless, of course, you’re also sending email newsletters).

When you’re setting up your blog and choosing the names of your navigation buttons, consider one of these names for your blog: Free Tips, Health Tips, Career Tips, Articles, Resources, Musings, News, Journal or Updates.

I have one caution about using the title News: Be sure you’re delivering on your promise by posting current industry news or announcements about your business. Also, make sure to publish new posts frequently, or it will seem as though nothing is happening or that you’re not on top of things.

When a blog is a blog

As I was brainstorming about this post, I reflected on what I’m looking for when I click on the name Blog. Not as Linda Dessau the blogging consultant, but as Linda, a consumer looking at hiring a prospective service provider.

Here’s why I click on a blog named Blog:

  • To see how active the business or clinic is, and what’s going on with them
  • To observe how they communicate with their clients and prospective clients, before I take the next step of joining a mailing list or speaking to them directly
  • To get to know the voice and personality behind the business – who is the person (or people) I’d be receiving services from?
  • To learn tips I can use to improve my business and my life
  • To assess how knowledgable the service provider is

When you’re deciding whether to call your blog a blog, consider what your audience is looking for on your site, and what terminology they’ll be using.

[This post was updated on August 26, 2016.]

How the One to One Wellness Centre Uses a Team Blog To Attract New Clients

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Photo of team at 121

When physiotherapist Nick Matheson first raised the idea of using a blog to promote the services of the health care practitioners in his wellness clinic, marketing consultants warned him against it.

I see their point. Many businesses start a blog with the best intentions, only to abandon it later. This not only counteracts any of the benefits of blogging, it can actually detract from the credibility of the business because it looks like you don’t finish what you start.

That hasn’t been an issue for Nick and his team, because “apparently, we have a lot to say!” In fact as weekly bloggers, the One to One Wellness team embody some of the best practices for group blogging.

They launched their blog in January 2010, although Nick Matheson started blogging in 2004 when his daughter was sick (it was a way to process his thoughts and cope with the experience). As a marketing tool, it appealed to him as “a way for us to have a conversation with people when we’re not there.“

The blog has brought them some media attention, including a profile in Process Magazine (Volume 18 No. 2, 2011) and a quote in an upcoming article in Canadian Living Magazine.

Nick says that the other benefits are harder to quantify, but they get a fair amount of positive feedback, and “a number of people check out the blog before coming in for an appointment.”

With eight contributors, each person only needs to produce a blog post every two months – that’s the beauty of team blogging! They have a central blog schedule, so everyone knows what’s expected of them. Nick goes in to edit, approve and publish the posts once a team member has submitted a draft.

I especially like how each post is clearly labeled with the name and speciality of the team member (like one by Nutrition Consultant Liz Manwaring) – no anonymous posters here (although I do see another word I don’t like)! Descriptive category names further organize their content, and there’s also a handy search box to find a particular topic.

Congratulations to Nick and the team at One to One Wellness Centre. And thanks for providing such a positive example of a wellness clinic team blog.

[Update November 24, 2015: This site is no longer active so I have removed all links.]

If you would like to start or re-start a group blog for your wellness clinic or other healthcare practice, contact us today to see how we can help!

Two Words to Avoid on a Wellness Clinic Blog

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wellness blogger hiding face
© vectorfusionart – Fotolia.com

This post was lightly edited on November 30, 2017.

1) Posted by: Anonymous (also known as Anon. or Admin). Along the same lines, I also see Posted by: _______ (clinic name) or ______ (clinic owner name – even when it was written by another team member).

These words put a barrier between you and your audience, and keep your readers from seeing all of the real people behind the team blog.

Instead, create a profile for each of your team bloggers, complete with their title or specialty. You can even get fancy and have a bio page and photo for each person.

The benefit of taking this step is that it profiles each individual team member and shows your audience the diversity of skills and knowledge you have in your clinic. Plus, the person is likely to feel prouder of the post and share it more freely amongst family, friends and colleagues.

Note: If you have guest bloggers, you won’t necessarily want to create a profile for them – especially when you’re just starting out in your relationship.

Instead create one Guest Author user account and use that for all your occasional guest bloggers. Once they’ve contributed a few times, go back and add their name as a tag to each post, and for all new posts going forward.

2) Posted in: Uncategorized. This can make your blog seem disorganized. Instead, choose 5-10 meaningful categories and assign each blog post to one or more relevant categories.

The benefit of taking this step is that it will help your readers find the information they’re most interested in. Blog post categories also help you to plan and write your content.

For help making these changes to your blog, consult the person who set up your site in the first place. If you’re on WordPress, you can also contact my friend Sandra De Freitas. After all, she wrote the book on WordPress blogsites (I should know, I edited it!).

For more tips, check out these Team Blogging Success Tips for Wellness Clinics.

It’s Blog Action Day – But First, Let’s Eat!

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I'm proud to be a Blog Action Day bloggerI've written on this blog about how my ideal work day has me blogging first and taking care of clients second.

But there's something even more important, and that's my self-care, which includes both physical and spiritual practices.

To plan my day, I use a combination of a daily printout of my Google Calendar and the Freelancer Workweek planners from Charlie Gilkey of Productive Flourishing). But long before that, I've blocked out time for my self-care activities, including meals and snacks.

My current self-care regime has me dividing my meals throughout the day to separate the foods that don't seem to get along well when I eat them at the same time.

While it's been better for my digestion, it raises some challenges to add those other meal times into the day. And I do it. Because it's important.

Without the proper fuel, my body cannot do its daily work and I won't be able to help anyone.

Back when I was coaching creative artists and others on their own self-care journey, I wrote two articles about food:

Please enjoy these articles, as well as the multitude of other blog posts that have been published today as part of Blog Action Day. Start at blogactionday.org or follow the #BAD11 hashtag conversation on Twitter.

Website Traffic Should Not be the Goal of Your Blog

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Traffic-jam

We know that website traffic is one of the key benefits of blogging. A 2010 study by the inbound marketing experts at HubSpot showed that companies that blog have 55% more website visitors per month than companies that don't blog.

The study also revealed that business-to-business (B2B) companies that blog generate 67% more leads per month than companies that don't blog. Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies that blog generate a whopping 88% more leads per month than those who do not.

Website traffic should not be the goal of your blog

Warning: When getting more website traffic is the goal of your blog, it will show up in your writing – and it won't be a pretty sight. I explain further in this excerpt from my series about social media writing sins (this one was #3):

While it's important to use the same language your ideal client might type into a search engine, SEO (search engine optimization) should never come at the expense of quality writing. 

Trying to force particular keywords into a blog post or title can result in awkward (or just plain bad) writing – especially if you're trying to slip them in after the post is written.

Writing for the search engines, trying to get clicks or traffic at any cost, defeats the purpose of content marketing because you will repel your reader instead of attracting them. What is the gain of getting more clicks if people only leave again because you've failed to make a meaningful connection with your writing?

So how do you choose more meaningful and appropriate goals for your blog? Check out this post about planting the roots of your blogging tree.