Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

Three Ways to Turn a New Blog Post Into a New Local Client – Without Google!

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woman-reading-interesting-blog-post-text

When you deliver a personal service such as a wellness treatment, it can be challenging to explain what you do in a 60-second introduction or a three-minute conversation in the buffet line.

Prospective clients need more time to learn about you and decide whether to trust you with their wellness care. A frequently updated website is a key marketing tool, but how do you get people there?

Would you be relieved to hear that you don’t need to be on the first page of Google in order to attract new local clients? If so, you’ll want to keep reading.

Here are three ways that your blog can help you reach, teach and draw in prospective local clients who would be ideal for your wellness practice:

Scenario #1: From one friend to another

Your current clients will always be your best source of referrals, so be sure to make it easy for them to tell their friends and family about you. For example, if you’re looking to attract more clients with sleep problems, write a blog post with some sleep hygiene tips.

Follow that up with a case study about how you helped another client to sleep better (here are some more tips about how to write a client story). Be sure to link the two posts so your readers can get from one to the other.

You may be concerned that blog posts about very specific conditions and treatments may not appeal or relate to everyone. That’s absolutely true! That’s why those posts will do such a great job of reaching the exact people who need your help – and those who care about them.

Your current clients want to refer you, they may just be unsure of how to describe what you do. Your blog post will help them do it!

To be sure your clients see them, insert blog post links (use the permalink for each specific post) into your email signature line (WiseStamp does this automatically) or even into your client invoices. If you’re on social media, share links there as well.

Scenario #2: From one expert to another

If you stay active in your professional community, you’ll build a rapport with other practitioners. You’re bound to have different approaches, specialties and personalities, so some clients will be a better fit for them and some will be better for you.

Watch for opportunities to keep in touch (e.g., congratulate someone for moving into a new space or launching a new service), and/or schedule it in your calendar every three months or so. As part of this email, share links to your best blog posts.

Just as in the first scenario, your blog posts will help these other practitioners identify who might be a good client for you AND it will give them an effective and low-pressure way of introducing you.

Scenario #3: Getting checked out

Whether you’ve met at a networking event, through a personal connection or in the checkout line at the grocery store, it’s common to pass along your contact details – including your website address – to prospective clients. And if they’re like most of us these days, they’re going to check out your website before they consider doing business with you. What will they find?

If you’re blogging, they’ll find evidence and examples of your specific expertise. Whether that’s a fit for them or not, you’ve just gained trust and esteem in their eyes. They’ll also see how generous you are with your information, and how conscientious you are about keeping your site and blog up to date with the latest relevant information.

If they’re not ready at the moment, but they want to stay in touch with you, they can subscribe to your mailing list or the RSS feed of your blog. When they are ready, you’ll be in their Inbox and on their minds.

Just be sure to blog consistently so you can build on the good impression you’ve made.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

Is Your Wellness Blog a Joy to Use?

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Why would you want your blog to be joyful to use? So people will stay awhile and come back, of course! They’ll also be more likely to invite other people to share this positive experience with them.

The opposite is also true, according to one study that found 88% of consumers were less likely to return to a business’s website after a bad experience.

What turns people away from your blog with an unpleasant memory of their visit? For some, it’s an annoying pop-up, while others are turned off by text that is difficult to read because it’s against a dark background or crowded into long paragraphs with few breaks for the eyes.

In a guest post for Mark Schaefer’s {grow} blog, I explored the concept of user experience (UX) and how it relates to your blog. You’ll learn:

  • Nine things that may be annoying your blog visitors
  • Five user experience tips from America’s #1 most-visited hospital blog, a continuation of my interview with Cleveland Clinic’s content marketing director Amanda Todorovich
  • The importance of creating an emotional connection with your blog readers

Read the post at {grow}: http://www.businessesgrow.com/2016/04/26/user-experience-2/

wellness-blog-joy-text

Why Wellness Clinic Blogs Need Bylines and Bios

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Home office from the Brilliance range - the perfect place to work in tranquility via photopin (license).
Home office from the Brilliance range – the perfect place to work in tranquility via photopin (license).

In order to pass my five-point wellness clinic blog assessment, each post must include a byline and bio. Let’s look at why bylines and bios are so important, and how to make yours more effective.

What is a blog byline?

Depending on the design (theme) and settings of your blog, there are several details that may appear below the title of every post, usually in smaller print.

Most common are the date and the author’s name. The post’s category and tag(s) may also appear here and/or in the footer at the bottom of the post.

If you or your admin person log in to your site via a generic admin account (and if so, here’s why you should change your WordPress login username immediately), your blog post will appear to have been written by someone named “admin.”

Consider how much better it looks to have an actual name here, as you can see on the Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog:

Laura Jeffers post at Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog
Laura Jeffers post at Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog

On many sites including Content Mastery Guide, clicking on the author page opens an archive of all posts assigned to that author’s name, but look at the Laura Jeffers author page to see what’s possible with a little more customization:

Laura Jeffers author page at Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog
Laura Jeffers author page at Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog

The benefits of having an author byline

For your readers: Seeing a name helps them make a personal connection and see who is actually behind that blog post. One blogger noticed a 50% increase in reader responses after moving his byline to a more prominent spot at the top of each post.

For your team: Who doesn’t like to see their name in print? When team members’ names appear in their post bylines, they’ll feel prouder of their work and more likely to share their posts with their network.

We already have an About Us page, why does each post need a author bio?

Quite simply, this blog post may be the only page the reader ever sees – at least on this visit. If they like what they see, they may stick around to read something else or learn more about your clinic, but chances are you only have their attention for a short time.

As well, the bio helps establish or reinforce the author’s credibility and expertise. It gives the reader more trust and confidence to follow any advice suggested in the article.

Here is the bio at the bottom of one of Laura’s posts at the Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog:

Cleveland Clinic Laura Jeffers bottom bio at Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog
Cleveland Clinic Laura Jeffers bottom bio at Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials blog

5 tips for better blog bylines and bios

Work with your website developer or admin person to implement these changes on your site. If you need help, I recommend WPBlogsites.

1. Review your blog’s settings

Work with your website developer and/or theme settings to determine how bylines and bios will be displayed at the top and bottom of each post.

There are numerous WordPress plugins that can help, just be cautious because some plugins may conflict with ones you already have on your site. Look for plugins that have reviews and recommendations from trusted sources, and that provide support if needed.

2. Create templates for byline and bio text

If there are no byline or bio sections on your blog, you can add these details manually to each post.

Use a template that spells out your preferences for font size, formatting, capitalization, length and punctuation of this text. This way every post will have a professional look that’s consistent with your clinic branding.

3. Add each user

In your website’s dashboard (administrative settings), create a unique user profile for every team member who will be contributing regularly to the blog. Again, use your templates to give these a consistent look and feel.

That way, even if your blog manager is doing the actual posting, he or she can easily assign each post to a specific author.

Tip: In WordPress, if you don’t see a place to set the author of each post, look for the Screen Options menu at the top right-hand corner of the post editing screen. This will open your screen options and you can check the box next to “Author.” You can also assign authors with the Quick Edit link on the All Posts page.

4. Plan for guests

For external or occasional contributors, create a profile with a name such as “Guest Author.” Add a template for these bios as well, including a guideline for how many links you will include back to the guest author’s own website.

5. Connect with your reader

Add a call-to-action (CTA) to each author bio. This might be to read that practitioner’s full About page, book a treatment session via an online contact form or appointment calendar, or read a page about the services she or he provides.

Bylines and bios are one of five key elements of an effective wellness clinic blog. To see the other four things on my list, and apply for a free assessment of your clinic’s blog, click here.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

5 Ways to Energize Your Wellness Clinic Blogging Team

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© Jacob Lund - Fotolia.com
© Jacob Lund – Fotolia.com

Wellness clinic owners and managers often tell me they know they should be blogging more often, but they’re just not getting any contributions from their team.

Before you can expect your team to support your blogging efforts, they – and you – need clarity about what they’re signing up for, specifically:

  1. Purpose – Who will the articles on your clinic’s blog help, and how?
  2. Topics – In which key subject areas do your practitioners excel? What sets your clinic apart from others?
  3. Goals – What do you want your blog to achieve and how will you measure those results?
  4. Schedule – How often will the team post new content to the blog? To achieve that, when does each individual contributor need to submit their work?
  5. Ownership – Who is ultimately responsible for maintaining the blog? This may be you as the clinic owner, your office manager, someone else on your team, or you may hire an experienced blog manager.

Solidifying these details will help everyone start with a mutual understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish with your wellness clinic blog, and how. From there, employ these five elements to continually activate your team of wellness bloggers:

1. Awareness

Keep reinforcing the blog’s purpose. Remind the team that their efforts could inspire and motivate your clients and potential clients to live healthier lives.

Recognize and celebrate any and all results, from a “Like” on Facebook to a comment from a client to increased views of the website. You may not get much feedback to start, but this will grow over time if you stick with it, so celebrate the small victories right away!

2. Recognition

Give your blog contributors rock star treatment with praise and special accolades. Recognize them in internal communications, and promote their posts via all company social media pages.

Tag their personal profile on Twitter and LinkedIn, as well as any pages they have on Facebook, LinkedIn, or other social sites.

3. Persistence

If there is anyone who seems even the least bit willing or interested, keep asking, even if they don’t produce anything right away. It’s easy for people to get distracted or lose confidence after the initial commitment.

Create an online calendar so everyone can access the updated schedule of topics and timelines. This will make it easier for the writers to plan their time, and for you to follow up with contributors as needed.

Keep track of what people say they will do and when, and mark down in your own calendar to check back.

4. Coaching

It may be really scary for some of your practitioners to put themselves out there on the clinic blog. After all, blog posts live online forever. Support and encourage them by validating their expertise and your confidence in them.

Find other wellness clinic blogs to model your own after, and discuss as a team what you like (or dislike) about what they’re doing.

Most importantly, lead by example with your own consistent blogging habit. Include yourself on the schedule and do your best to get your own posts done on time.

5. Tools

There are many tools you can offer to make blog writing easier for your team of wellness practitioners, such as:

  • Lists – When you’re staring at a blank screen, writing list of 10 best, 10 steps, 10 ways, 10 signs, etc. can propel you forward.
  • Talking it out – If someone is more comfortable talking than writing, interview them (or hire a ghostwriter) and write up the post for them.
  • Other types of posts – If someone feels stumped by writing a how-to post, ask them to review a book or describe a piece of equipment you use in your clinic.They could also tell a client success story, or write a curated post about a useful article or video they found online.
  • Resources – Pass along blogging tips, like the posts on this site about finding time to blog. See also: Help, My Boss Started a Blog!

With awareness, recognition, persistence, coaching and tools, you can mobilize your wellness clinic team to produce a thriving blog that attracts new clients and showcases your unique expertise.

P.S. If you liked this post, you might enjoy the Blogging Tips newsletter, delivered weekly to your inbox! Sign up here.

How to Expand Your Food Blogging Vocabulary With Tips From Dianne Jacob and Julia Child

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© Innovated Captures - Fotolia.com
© Innovated Captures – Fotolia.com

A recent episode of the Canadian sitcom Schitt’s Creek featured a hilarious exchange between actors Catherine O’Hara and Dan Levy. Watch at 1:14 in this video as they try to make sense out of a recipe direction to fold cheese into an enchilada filling.

(Canadians can watch the whole episode at CBC for free, or anyone can purchase via iTunes.)

In a recipe or any blog post, it’s important to choose words your readers can relate to and understand. Using big words or technical jargon may make you feel smart, but it’s not a smart move for connecting with your audience.

Recently I had the opportunity to chat with Dianne Jacob, a popular food writer, speaker and author. Her book Will Write for Food is a complete guide to writing cookbooks, blogs, memoir, recipes, and more, and the chapter on food blogging is full of practical tips for any blog.

I asked her how food bloggers can keep their recipes accessible to everyone, even when describing techniques that usually come with more cooking experience.

“You have to know your audience,” she explained. “If they understand the term ‘fold,’ then use it. It’s not about dumbing down the language. It’s about successfully communicating with your readers.”

Yet in trying to keep language simple and straightforward, do we risk bland, boring writing that always sounds the same? This is a particular challenge for recipe writers, says Jacob. “I got frustrated by starting so many sentences with ‘Add’ in the method. I figured there had to be a better way.”

Her solution? She pored over her copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking to create a list of 100 powerful verbs for recipes. “It was a pleasure to thumb through Julia Child’s cookbook and see her mastery of language, how she was so specific in her instructions.”

When I notice I’ve repeated the same word in a post, I use the synonym finder in Microsoft Word or the research tools in Google Docs for other ideas. I’ll also type my word plus “synonym” into Google, or go right to an online thesaurus.

(For a fun way to expand your vocabulary while helping people in need, check out Free Rice. Caution – this site can be very addictive!)

Whether you’ve been blogging for years like Dianne and I, or you’re just starting out, challenge yourself to use new and different words in your blog posts. Just keep it simple so your readers stay with you.

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