Do You Really Need A Physio Blog?

5 Minute Read

Physiotherapists as a group have been slow to jump online. Most of us chose this career pathway to avoid spending hours at a time chained to a desk and the idea of finding time during a working day to write a

blog can sometimes seem impossible.

Recently someone asked me if I thought writing a blog was really worthwhile, as they thought patients likely wouldn't read them unless they had a specific problem and if they did, it was unlikely someone would read a blog and then directly make an appointment.

After some consideration, I came to the conclusion that there is so much more to a blog than just a tool to get patients to book in with you. Here are four reasons why you should seriously consider having a blog on your website.

1. A blog can increase search engine rankings.

While patients may not book an appointment just because they read your blog, the fact that they read it will increase your ranking the next time someone searches for a physiotherapist in your area. This is because it increases the volume of traffic to your webpage and also increases the number of relevant keywords that search engines will be looking for.

The other important thing to note here is that you can share your blog on your social media accounts. Search engines like it when there is a strong interaction between a webpage and social media. Search engines also prioritise websites that have new and updated content over those that don't change.

2. The Internet has provided physiotherapists with an amazing opportunity to educate the public.

Physiotherapy has so much to offer the public and yet people still ask questions such as "Physios do massage, right?". Thanks to the Internet and social media, each and every one of us now has the opportunity to educate the public. Think about what you want people to know about physiotherapy and write it down. You'll be doing the public a great service at the same time as helping to grow your business. Education is the most ethical form of marketing and a blog is a simple and inexpensive way to share your knowledge with the public.

Try to write with the intention of providing real value and interest to your readers, rather than simply having a blog for the sake of it and you'll be surprised at what you have to offer.

3. A blog helps to create discussion among your readers.

This gives you the opportunity to see what patients think, answer their questions and perhaps even get some feedback from your community of followers.

As mentioned before, if you create really meaningful content then you will have better engagement. The public is increasingly becoming educated about their own health and as a result are more prepared to listen to what health professionals have to say.

4. You don't actually have to write your own blog.

You can use a paid service, like this one, which comes with a blog-friendly version for easy copy and paste. PhysioNews provides well-researched articles that you can update to make your own, or just post as they are. This takes so much of the work out of thinking of a new topic and researching content while allowing you to retain creative control over what you post.

Having a blog is important, however, so is your time. If you can get some help from a source that you trust, spending a little bit to save some time can be a worthwhile investment.