Jonathan's Web Marketing Blog

You've probably heard of MySpace and perhaps Facebook. Both of these hugely popular websites owe their success in part to their blogging features. But those are only two of hundreds of blogging websites. Only yesterday, online media company, SUP purchased LiveJournal, a blogging website that enjoys the patronage of over 14 million users. Internet users by-and-large know what blogs are and take note when they come to a website that features a blog.

Most doctors and lawyers that I speak with have at least a basic understanding of what a blog is, but many don't fully comprehend the importance of having a blog in their websites. Blogs are at the forefront of the new-media trend, and are responsible for a large percentage of the newest websites coming online every day. Put simply, blogs are a way for you to post new information to your website on a regular basis without the assistance of a web designer. If you can send an email, you can post a blog entry.

Blogs are fairly new and require dedication to maintain, so when visitors come to a website, if they see that you have a blog, that in itself is impressive. They are likely to click into your blog just to see what you've recently posted about.

So, what would you post about if you had a blog? How about one of the many questions that you answered in the course of your week? If you're a cosmetic dentist with a blog, and someone asks you, "What are Lumineers?" That's a perfect premise for a blog entry. If you're a personal injury lawyer with a blog, and a you see a news story about a new drug recall, blog about it. Even if you don't offer Lumineers or handle drug recall cases, it's still good to blog about these topics. Talk about why you don't handle these types of requests. This will attract traffic and equate to more emails and phone calls.

The important part of having a blog is consistency. Launching a blog is the easy part and is obviously just the beginning. You owe it to your website visitors to publish a blog entry on a regular basis. Otherwise, when people click into your blog, they'll find a stale blog that hasn't been posted to for weeks, months, or even years. This sends the subliminal message that you're not detail-oriented and on top of your game.

Here are some examples of great blogs from my clients:

One of my star blogging pupils, and friend, Dr. Leon Goldstein. Deserves special mention for his plastic surgery blog.

Dr. Josh Bernstein offers a human side of himself and his practice by regularly posting pictures for his blog readers on his cosmetic dentistry blog.

Cincinnati attorney, Anthony Castelli has been blogging for years now and has a ton of great content on his personal injury law blog that is contributing to his website's overall success on the search engines.

The good people of Northwestern Vision Correction Association post testimonials to their lasik blog. Great idea! I would note that they didn't post at all in November. I better go get on their case.

If you don't have a blog yet and would like to talk more about using a blog as part of a comprehensive web marketing campaign, just shoot me an email or call me direct at 303-396-1210.