I recently shared with you 7 reasons that healthcare professionals should blog, followed by a beginner’s guide to starting a blog. If you followed my advice and have set up a blog, you are now ready to start publishing content. Today’s article offers 25 content ideas suitable for any healthcare blog. Fixthephoto blog offers you some photo ideas, tools ideas and many other tips on how to make your blog looks great and interesting. These suggestions are designed for those of you who are just starting to blog and also for those who may already be blogging but find you are running out of ideas.
Before you begin, take a few moments to read the following tips which will help you create and maintain a consistently good blog.
- Keep an ideas file someplace you can easily access whenever inspiration strikes. Google Docs, Dropbox and Evernote work across a range of platforms. Whenever you have an idea for a future post, add it to the file.
- Don’t use cheesy stock photos on your blog. Build up a photo library by using your own photographs and by finding suitable creative commons images.
- Always have a goal in mind when you write a blog post. Do you want to inspire, inform, or entertain your reader? Then write content accordingly.
- Know exactly who you are writing for. Figure out your ideal reader and write content that is relevant and valuable for them.
- Add a call to action to each blog post.
- Keep your blog varied and interesting by using multi-media such as eye-catching graphics, videos, podcasts, and slideshow presentations.
- Write blog posts in bulk and use your blog’s scheduler to post.
So now you’re ready to begin writing blog posts. Here are 25 ideas to get you started.
#1 Share Facts About A Medical Condition
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What kind of questions do your patients or clients most frequently ask about a specific medical condition? Compile a list of these frequently asked questions and answer them on your blog.
#2 Curate Content
Creating original content is time and resource intensive. Curation helps you provide your audience with relevant, high quality information on a regular basis without sacrificing your time and resources. Don’t rely on curation alone; curated content is designed to complement your content creation plan—not replace it.
#3 Announce A New Product or Service
Are you rolling out a new program, product or service? Write a blog post to introduce it and highlight its features and benefits for patients, clients, and other users.
#4 Update Readers On Industry Trends
Healthcare is constantly changing and evolving. Can you predict or comment on the latest healthcare trend? Readers will enjoy learning about it through your blog, particularly if you share your own unique perspective. Set up Google Alerts to keep updated on emerging trends in your industry to provide the latest information for your readers.
#5 Create A Readers’ Poll
There are several online tools you can use to create a readers’ poll. If you have a WordPress.com site, then you’ve got Polldaddy polls already built in. You can create, manage, and see results for all of your polls directly in your WordPress.com dashboard. If you use a WordPress.org install on your self-hosted site, install the Polldaddy WordPress.org plugin. Use it to get a snapshot of readers’ attitudes to health topics like vaccination, screening, complementary therapy, mental health – the list is endless. Publish a follow-on post with your findings.
#6 Write About A Day In The Life
Write about a typical day in your working life as a healthcare professional. Be careful not to write about specific patients or to commit any breaches of privacy or confidentiality.
#7 Plan Posts Around Events And Seasons
Use an editorial calendar to track seasonal, cultural and industry events and write a blog post which fits the theme, for example, “How To Eat Healthily During The Holiday Season”. Check out Twitter’s #ownthemoment tool for inspiration.
#8 Share The Latest Medical Research
Have you been to a conference recently where you learned about new medical research? Or read about the latest research in your favorite medical journal? Let your readers know about it through your blog. Make sure you provide full references and link to online publications.
#9 Add A Screencast
A screencast is a video screen capture with audio narration. Create a screencast to demonstrate a health how-to tutorial for your patients.
#10 Promote Health Events
Whether you are running an event, speaking, or exhibiting at it, use your blog to build pre-event interest. Can you offer readers a special code for purchasing tickets at a reduced rate via your blog?
#11 Embed A Slidedeck
After the event, embed a slidedeck of your presentation on your blog using SlideShare.
#12 Provide An Event Summary
Put together a blog summary of conference or event highlights. You can use a tool like Storify to capture tweets.
#13 Have A Reader Share A Personal Story
Ask your readers to submit a story of their healthcare experience.
#14 Create A Healthcare Infographic
Infographics can help your audience absorb healthcare information at a glance and they are ideal for sharing across multiple social media platforms.
#15 Invite A Guest Blogger
Ask a colleague to write a guest blog on an area of their expertise.
#16 Interview A Healthcare Professional
Choose a respected healthcare professional and interview them for your blog. Alternatively, contact several experts in your field and have them answer a question: Take all the answers and turn them into one big blog post.
#17 Write About A Trending Topic
Provide your unique perspective on a trending topic. There are lots of ways to find out what’s “hot right now” online including Google Trends, Twitter.com/Search and Reddit.com.
#18 Update Old Posts
Check your blog’s analytics to see the most popular blog posts you’ve written. Can you expand on these to include new research or thinking? Perhaps the content can be turned into an infographic or a poll. Alternatively highlight the most popular in a best-of post.
#19 Write A Review
Review a book, product or service relevant to your readers.
#20 Record A Podcast Or Video
Mix things up by recording a podcast or video relevant to your blog’s theme and topic.
#21 Provide A Weekly Round-Up Of Healthcare News
Gather the week’s healthcare news into a round-up post. Provide links, attribute sources and add your own commentary.
#22 Compile Lists
Numbered style lists posts are always popular and highly shareable. You could write a top 10 symptoms list, provide a glossary of medical terms. Make it simple, interesting and easy to share. Use a tool like Listly to create your lists and embed them on your blog.
#23 Create A Healthcare ‘Hack’ Post
A hack is a list of workarounds for a common problem or issues. Is there a healthcare hack you can share with readers? Or why not ask your readers to share theirs? People love to share their tips and often patients have the best hacks to learn from.
#24 Find Inspiration In Readers’ Comments
Readers’ comments can be rich ground for new blog posts. Don’t restrict yourself to just your own blog. Check the comments on other popular blogs in your industry and discussion threads on health-related LinkedIn or Facebook groups. What are people talking about? What questions do they have? What could they use more information on?
#25 Start/Join A Health Blog Carnival
A blog carnival is a themed collection of links to other blog posts. It is a great way to connect with other bloggers and also to drive traffic to your own blog. Either start your own or participate in one that’s running.
Over To You!
Have you any other suggestions you can add to this list?