Content Mastery Guide

Editor and Ghostwriter

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

Blogging About Sensitive Topics

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© astrosystem - Fotolia.com
© astrosystem – Fotolia.com

“I have always thought blogging is perfect for people running ‘sensitive’ businesses [such as family law and divorce], where someone may not want to admit even to themselves that they have problems.

It is highly likely they will start trawling the internet for advice or to understand where they stand. A blog is a really good way to create empathy long before the reader is ready to pick up the phone.”

Victoria Tomlinson is the chief executive of UK’s Northern Lights PR, an expert on social media, business and education, and author of a number of e-books on social media.

The above quote is from PRiME, a career site for women in their second act, where Victoria’s guest post recommends 20 business blogs for women over 50.

I thought her point about sensitive businesses also applied perfectly to wellness clinics, whose prospective clients are grappling with health concerns, or trying to transform deeply ingrained day-to-day lifestyle habits.

I asked Victoria to share her thoughts on this, and she graciously agreed.

[This] most definitely [applies.] And there are two sides relevant to this as far as health bloggers go. Our client, Pat Chapman-Pincher, just wrote this blog post last week and she said:

“I learned an interesting lesson when my husband had a major, but rare, operation. The moment the diagnosis was made I started to research the operation. The results were not encouraging, the survivors (who were very vocal) seemed to have bad side effects and an impaired quality of life.

What I learned in the next few months as he made a full recovery was that the information was very selective. Doctors of course are required to tell you everything that might go wrong and those who had no side effects were too busy getting on with their lives to bother with complaining about them online. Happy people don’t post.”

So this is an opportunity for professionals to provide clear factual information, the good and the bad and put it in perspective. But also to provide commentary on what patients/carers/families might find if they were to search – recognising what is coming top of Google and then providing independent, impartial comments to balance the negative.

How do you see the relationship between empathy and trust?

Empathy is all about the reader going ‘that’s me’. I think trust comes when you see consistency and empathy over time. That the blog posts you write are always written with the best interests of the reader in mind. And never do you go ‘salesy’ and spoil that brand. It takes time to build trust, empathy can be achieved from one post.

What are some of the steps wellness bloggers can take to express empathy for their readers and prospective clients?

The best way to create empathy is to listen to the questions that their patients/clients are asking them. These are their gems and treasure them. They are what readers will be searching online.

The blogger then needs to talk to the reader as if they were in their clinic or at a meeting and answer their questions honestly, without jargon and giving lots of examples to bring the points to life (storytelling).

Referring (anonymously) to patients will help this, e.g., ‘I had a family in my clinic last year and the thing that worried them most was ….’ So you are making the blog a fantastic repository of discussions from the clinic. A brilliant resource for any patient and creating lots of empathy in this way.

What do you think has to happen for people to move from anonymously trawling the internet and reading blog posts to actually reaching out by phone or email?

Blogs need personality and ownership. There are still blogs where companies post anonymously – these do not engage. But if you put a name to it and people can find out more about you online (Twitter, LinkedIn, articles about you, etc.) and it is all consistent and really helpful, this builds a relationship. And it happens quite quickly online.

People don’t create relationships with faceless corporates; they do with a named and pictured individual.

How can wellness bloggers increase the odds of this happening?

Give plenty of options to contact directly. These would include a direct email (not a contact form which feels so faceless and impersonal), a mobile number, and ensuring people can leave comments on blog posts. Everyone is individual and some will prefer mobile, others email and so on.

The key is that whatever contact details you leave, someone is answering every day. People may have had to pluck up a lot of courage to make this contact step – and not replying for days or weeks could be really damaging.

For readers with sensitive health issues, blogging is a very effective way to show empathy and build trust. Be sure to nurture these building blocks of a long-term relationship with clients and prospective clients.

Thank you so much to Victoria Tomlinson of Northern Lights PR for sharing your expertise with us!

[Update: In a guest post for Victoria’s site, I wrote about the process I use to find and connect with new people like her on social media, and how that leads to new content for my blog. Click here to read the post.]

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Is There a Bottleneck in Your Wellness Blogging Process?

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© sveta - Fotolia.com
© sveta – Fotolia.com

Many wellness practitioners are eager to blog, at least in theory. After all, you’re passionate about helping people be healthier, and you have a seemingly endless stream of ideas and suggestions.

So what happens between idea and publication that trips up so many would-be wellness bloggers? Let’s look at five bottlenecks that can hinder a wellness clinic blog, so we can turn that frustration back into enthusiasm.

Developing a blog post

What’s the difference between words scribbled on a post-it note and a finished post on your clinic blog?

A polished, readable and effective blog post includes an appealing title, sub-headings and/or lists, a photo, an introduction, a conclusion, and an invitation to action (also known as a call-to-action or CTA).

Bottleneck #1: Not having the time or confidence to complete every step in the blog writing process.

Publishing the blog post

Are you at the mercy of the web developer who created your site, or can you easily go in and make your own updates?

Having access is one thing, having confidence and know-how is another. Headings and lists must be formatted correctly, as do photos and links, and you may need to fill in other details that will help search engines find your post.

Bottleneck #2: Not having access or technical knowledge to get your post to appear properly on your website’s blog.

Promoting your posts on social media

I don’t recommend mass-posting the same message across all your accounts, or automatically blasting out the blog post title and link as soon as you publish a new post.

Instead, write tantalizing teasers for each of your social media accounts that compel people to click to read your blog post.

You can pre-schedule these messages to save time, but if you completely automate your social media activity you will turn away the people who want to engage with you.

Someone must consistently monitor those accounts and reply to comments and people who’ve shared your content. Otherwise you risk ignoring valuable contacts and letting social media stack up until it becomes an overwhelming task.

Bottleneck #3: Not having a system in place for monitoring social media notifications on every platform.

Coming up with new blog post ideas

It happens to the best of us – you or your other contributors may lose steam for the blogging process, or get caught up with the busy-ness of clinic life.

Or short-term situations like travel or a family crisis may have to take precedent over writing new blog posts. This can halt your blogging progress and form a hump that can be very difficult to get over.

Bottleneck #4: Putting your blog on the back burner and then not knowing how to bring it back.

Approving post submissions

“A bottleneck in a process,” explains the career site MindTools, “occurs when input comes in faster than the next step can use it to create output.”

You want people to feel excited about being part of the clinic blog, and valued and appreciated for their contributions. If there is a long wait time between submission and publication, your contributors’ excitement will fade.

Bottleneck #5: Not leaving enough time for the clinic owner to review and approve all contributions, OR not delegating this responsibility to someone else.

The MindTools team suggests there are two ways to unclog a bottleneck: increase the efficiency of the bottleneck step, or decrease input to the bottleneck step.

As long as the posts are focused on the right topics, I’d never want to limit the number (“decrease input”) of blog posts someone writes. You can always pre-schedule posts for future weeks when you will inevitably run out of steam again.

Instead, let’s look at efficiency. MindTools recommends we “remove activities from the bottleneck process that could be done by other people or machinery.”

Much as we small business owners like to think we’re as invincible as machines, we do need to delegate, assigning “the most productive team members [sometimes that’s not you – it may even be me!] and technology to the bottleneck process.”

For example, Wunderlist is a productivity tool that syncs across all your devices. It is an ideal place to jot down blog post ideas on the fly, and you can even assign a date and reminder for when you will develop the idea into an outline.

Even though you have an abundance of useful and creative wellness solutions, ideas are not enough. The blogging process includes several specific steps that must flow freely for you to share that wisdom with your current contacts, or have it discovered by new fans and clients.

Do you need help identifying the bottlenecks in your blogging process? Contact me today to book a Blog Review or Blog Strategy session.

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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.

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Blogging to Tempt the Local Media

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© flucas - Fotolia.com
© flucas – Fotolia.com

There are many benefits to being featured in local media outlets like cable television shows, community newspapers, or larger print outlets like your city’s main paper or magazine. This kind of exposure can help your clinic to:

  • Attract local clients for your services and events
  • Connect with local partners, vendors and referral sources
  • Increase your credibility with both local and global audiences

Local media professionals are just like anyone else – they do business with people they know, like and trust. And in this case, their business is to write about the key topics in the health and wellness industry, and to feature knowledgeable and trustworthy people in their stories.

One of the first things a media professional will do to vet you as a source is check out your clinic online, including your blog. If they see that it’s consistently updated with new posts about your area of expertise, it shows them that you and your team are just who they’re looking for.

There are many other ways to build relationships with local media professionals. Here are five to get you started:

  1. Respond quickly to all media inquiries even when they’re not an exact fit. Do your best to connect them with someone else, and then record their contact information so you can keep in touch!
  2. Build on this list by adding the names of any journalists whose work you admire, or who have covered wellness or health stories. Tip: Create a private or public Twitter list for local media (see #7 on this list of ways to use Twitter lists).
  3. Contact these folks directly if you have an idea that might interest them. See PR and marketing specialist Janet Falk’s sample letter for a byline article.
  4. Monitor social media hashtags, your own Twitter lists, and email services like Help a Reporter Out for specific requests from journalists.
  5. Practice the four networking basics (be visible, be positive, help out, and educate). You never know when one of your colleagues will get a call from the media that isn’t right for them, but is perfect for you!

So you’ve been blogging regularly, you reached out to a reporter, and found yourself featured in an article or show – congratulations! Now make the most of that priceless exposure by telling the world.

You can distribute printed copies of a newsletter or magazine article, and share links to online posts and video clips. Add these to your email signature, social media profiles, and website. Looking for more ideas? Janet Falk has an abundance of creative ways to promote your celebrity status.

How could being a local celebrity attract new clients to your wellness clinic?

This is an updated version of a previous post: https://www.contentmasteryguide.com/2009/08/how-to-use-article-marketing-to-tempt-local-media.html.

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