The medical industry isn’t known for having the best tech skills, especially when it comes to creating a beautiful, responsive and user-friendly site. However, if you’re blogging for a medical audience, whether it’s patients or practitioners, that doesn’t mean you can fall into the same trap. Blogs are designed to be engaging, quick to digest and informative. There are some rules to follow, especially when some of your audience might be in the medical field.
First, don’t discount responsive design and mobile readiness. It doesn’t matter how flawless your blog is if someone on the latest smartphone or an old tablet can’t access it. This should be the crux of your blog foundation, monitored regularly and tested in our mobile ready world. When you’re blogging about the latest oxygen concentrators, busy professionals on a commute or in between serving patients can’t be bothered by slow load pages.
Check your jargon
You can use medical jargon and med-speak if (and only if) your sole demographic will understand it. Perhaps you’re a physician blogging for other physicians and never intend (or want) patients, technicians or anyone else to check out what you have to say. In this case, feel free to speak on “your” level to your peers. However, if there’s a chance your demographics will diversify, remember the purpose of a blog: Communication and engagement.
Blogs should serve at least one of two purposes: To inform or to entertain (bonus points if you can pull off both). Keep blogs no longer than 600 words and embrace white space and small paragraphs. Not only is that more appealing to read, it’s also easier to read on smaller mobile devices. Particularly when you’re digging deep into complex issues, do your best to keep it brief (otherwise, your readers would seek out an article or study).
Prioritize conversations
In the medical field, there’s a lot of confusion between demographics and plenty of controversy. If you’re getting into this blogosphere, make sure your comment section is well managed. If you welcome comments, remember to reply quickly, professionally and that it’s your job to take care of spam, baiters and trolls. A messy comment section screams unprofessional or an abandoned blog and it can drive away traffic.
Finally, make sure to stay on top of your target niche and set up Google Alerts. Maybe your specialty is diabetes lifestyle management or reviewing oxygen tanks. No matter what the niche, don’t be the last to report on it.
