Many physicians tell me they just can't think of what to write for their fertility clinic's blog. They know they need to blog, but they're often unsure about which topics to write. This is often an indicator that we need to review why blogging is important in the first place . Bing, Yahoo, and principally, Google, have all tremendously improved their algorithms to help people find the exact information they want. In short, the search engines will help patients find you if you are the source of the answers for which they're looking.
While search optimization is necessary, the single greatest priority is making sure that your fertility center's website is a source of as many answers to patient questions as you can author. So how do you know what content to create?
1. Start with your experts. Ask each of your nurses and physicians to write down the five most common questions they receive from new patients. This information should comprise the pages of your website.
2. Remember the phrasing used by the patient. 15-20% of Google searches have never been searched before. So every time a patient asks a question in a new way, or inquiries about something that you haven’t heard before, that is an idea for a new blog post .
3. Say it simply. Did you attend Ira Flatow's plenary lecture at the ASRM meeting, titled, "smart is the new sexy"? The most consumed content in health and science education is that which entertains and/or simplifies. If you can answer them in a more fun or direct way, every frequently asked question on the ASRM patient site, is the topic of a new blog post.
4. Add your take to the news. Whether it's ASRM's headlines in reproductive health or the latest celebrity couple to announce their struggle with infertility, there is usually room for commentary. Physicians can use their blog to provide context for these broader issues.
If you're an RE, do you get writer's block or does blogging come naturally to you?