Article Marketing: Promoting Your Practice Online
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A very effective and inexpensive method of promoting your office on the internet is with article marketing, also known as article promotion. This is a great way to get organic (natural) visitors to your office website.
The first item on your article agenda for you to decide if you are going to write your articles yourself, or have one of your staff write the articles. Your other option is to hire a copywriter to write your articles.
Your goal should be to have a minimum of 30 well written articles.
Whether you chose to write the articles yourself or hire a copywriter, you will need to create a general outline for your articles. If you decide to hire a copywriter he or she will need to know the subject matter, as well as keywords and other essential components of your articles.
1. Subject Matter: What will the content of your article be about? If you have a specialty such as OB-GYN you will want relevant content. You may want to have articles on such subjects as treatment of yeast infections, breast self examination, or infertility, just to give a few examples.
2. Keywords: What will your prospective visitor enter in the search engine (google) to find you? You will want a keyword phrase that is frequently used, but does not have high competition. Let’s look at yeast infections; that phrase has 2,860,000 search results on google. If you use yeast infection facts, it has 400,000 search results and "yeast infection facts" with quotation marks has 160,000 search results. It is a lot easier to compete against the 160,000 than it is to compete against 2,800,000.
3. Headlines: You need to have an attention grabbing headline that also includes your keyword phrase. Again using yeast infection as an example, your headline could look something like this: Yeast Infection Facts: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You.
If you learn nothing else about article marketing, remember that the headline is the most important feature of your article.
Most readers just glance at the headline before deciding to read the article or not. If the headline doesn’t grab their attention they will move on to the next article and never read yours.
4. Article Content: Once you have your reader’s attention you need to keep it. Your article should be interesting, informative and not too technical. Use your keyword phrase several times, especially in the first and last paragraphs. A good general rule to follow is to use your keyword once per 100 words.
5. Authors Resource Box: You will want to use the resource box as more than a practice biography. You will want your reader to take some kind of action. The reader can either take action by requesting more information; opt-in an e-newsletter, or by contacting your office for an appointment.
Article marketing is an excellent technique for promoting your office and getting your practice online. Articles with good content and keyword placement will make you the expert in your field in the public’s eye. Whether you have a large practice or are just beginning, you could find article promotion to be one of the finest online marketing solutions for your office.
After 35 years in practice Dr. Enders closed his Chiropractic Clinic to pursue a career in Network Marketing. He soon realized that if your business is not on the Internet, you're not in business. In his search to learn Internet Marketing Dr. Enders discovered Renegade Professional and the principle of attraction marketing.
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Comments: 12 
About the Author: Dr. David Enders
Member Since: 10/10/2007
Company: Mannatech, Inc.
Industry: Coach
Primary Web Site: http://www.renegadecoach.net
Wrtitng with Pull
David
Your message is clear. There is no use to writing an article if we don't take in all the factors you covered. The Renegade webinar on writing with pull and copy writing are so helpful also.
Organic Visitors
Quite interesting, Dr. Enders to realize that a traditional business like a Professional Health practice can use the educational power of article marketing to enhance their businesses.
This would certainly broaden the loyalty of the Practice's client base, but also draw new clients.
Article Writing
Hi Dr. David,
Thank for setting this up in a convenient step by step format. I've started the "writing with pull" class that Rallie mentioned, twice and have yet to complete it. This is a great reminder to me to get back to it. Sometimes I just jump into something without researching thoroughly, no time for that. But with articles, researching the "how to write" is the best use of time, if a successful article is your goal.
Clear, concise article. Thank you.
Michelle Moseley
Headlines Make a Huge Difference!
Dr. Enders brings up a very valid point regarding your headline! You really need to use this as your springboard to convince your reader that they want to read your article.
A good example I can offer is one I had done a while back for a friend and sending out their weekend specials for their restaurant. We decided to test the Headline theory. One email blast went out that simply read, "Via Roma Weekend Specials." The other went out but we changed the headline to read "Via Roma Is Calling It Quits". (They were discontinuing a certain wine they had always carried!) Believe it or not, 80% of the group opened the 2nd email vs. 20% for the first email.
So it does pay to not only write an article that provides value but to grab your reader's attention so they WANT to read that article.
Resource Box.
Hi David,
Excellent article. Article marketing is a great way to market your business. But you must follow the steps you outlined in order to be successful.
I liked what you said about the resource box. It must include a call to action. I feel that it should serve as a continuation of the body of your article. It should flow from the content of the article to the action you want the prospect to take. I need to work on that.
Thanks, David.
Scott Hubbard
Article Marketing goes along with Newsletters
I always tell my customers that! If they are going to spend the time creating a Newsletter, why not use the articles to drive traffic to the website? This makes the effort of creating a newsletter to stay in front of your existing customers really worth it. It just makes great business sense.
Article Marketing For Promoting A Practice
David,
Great article on well...articles. Using article marketing as part of your business plan for attracting customers by default sets you up as an expert in your field. Who is it we, as the general public, consider knowledgeable in what they do, especially those in the medical community? The doctor who writes the book or publishes articles about their specialty, that's who.
You've given us all the critical elements for writing a winning article. Thanks for sharing this.
Article Marketing Facts
Article Marketing sounds like such a technical subject. It's really just a great way to promote yourself and your business. But with any type of marketing, there are always guidelines to have your marketing be effective.
Since you've provided guidelines for us,with examples taken from your medical field, mystery solved!
Take Article Marketing to the Next Level
Great tips and pointers David. Thank you! I especially love the one about the call to action in the resource box.
One other tip to help take article marketing to the next level: Visit the sites where you post your articles to determine your open and conversion rate. If your open rate is not very impressive, you have to improve your article titles. If people are reading your articles but not clicking on your author, then there could be several issues at work. You might need to improve the content of your articles, shorten the length of your articles, or make your articles more focused on the needs of your target market. You might also need to improve your author box to make it more enticing.
Take Article Marketing to the Next Level
Cindy: You are so right! THANKS for adding these great tips to article markeitng.
Article Writing Exposed
Great content and I'll find it very helpful with future articles.
Thanks to Cindy for her tips as well.
Enticing Headline...
David,
Article marketing is essential to your online office. Your definitely right when you speak upon this... And also, you make some very valid points when you speak about article marketing. Especially, when you spoke about "Headline". If you don't have an enticing headline, you may loose your reader forever. But, if the headline is right on target, you will have that reader for years to come.
Thanks for a great article, David
Donna Wells