The first three words of "Do your own research" have been true since the inception of the internet, and they may be the sole element of digital marketing that has stayed constant in that time.

Did you know that blogging can significantly increase the amount of people who visit your veterinary website? It's true - if done correctly. We'll show you how it works in this article by detailing the approach as well as providing real-world examples.

The First Thing Every Veterinary Practice Owner Needs to Understand

Veterinary marketing has evolved considerably in recent decades. For a long time, most veterinarians viewed "marketing" as a tainted business practice that they wanted nothing to do with outside of a modest ad in the YellowPages, according to most accounts. With the significant technological changes of the previous 15 years and the widespread impact of the internet and constant media exposure, consumer behaviors and our culture as a whole have altered dramatically. “Marketing” no longer means “pushy advertising,” and it now focuses on how to find your ideal audience and establish a connection with them by providing useful information that is in keeping with your company's goals, values, and culture.

The conventional thinking among veterinarians has been that clients will come to their clinics as long as they provide high-quality and ethical veterinary care. And, in previous years, it may have been the case. Even yet, today, every veterinarian understands that 90% of their patients have Googled "Dr. Google" prior to coming into the clinic and have preconceptions about what the internet said about whatever ailments their pet is displaying. Doesn't this sound familiar?

That is how the world works now, and every time a local pet owner ventures online to acquire information from another source, it's a chance that your practice has missed. Pet owners in your area need a reliable resource to assist them with their pets, and if you truly want to be that authority, you must start delivering value right away. You'll need an outstanding digital marketing plan.

What Does an Effective Digital Marketing Strategy for Veterinarians Entail?

It all starts with a good website. A fantastic veterinary website should serve as an in-depth knowledge source that covers all of your services, including material relevant to the sorts of things that your clients would search Google for. They begin their investigation based on the symptoms, signs, and conditions they observe in their pet. Consider your website as the main information resource from which all of your marketing will arise. The next layer is blogging after you've established a solid foundation on your website!

So, Exactly How Does Blogging Fit into All of This?

Once you've created a number of service pages with a lot of information about each service you provide to your website, consider them the foundation for that topic. Then, start adding blogs to your website that expand on these topics, including frequently asked questions, unique circumstances, or broader pet health and care recommendations. You should make sure that your blog articles relate to at least one of your clinic's services. Also, be sure to include links from those articles to the relevant service pages on your website.

What are the Benefits of Doing This?

To begin with, GOOGLE LOVES BLOGGING! Keep in mind that about 70% of all traffic to veterinary websites in the United States comes from Google search results. This means that when consumers are looking for information regarding the services you offer, you have a significant chance of reaching them.

What is the secret to achieving the top in Google search results for your veterinary practice? Many elements influence Google's algorithm and determine which sites should appear in search results for certain queries. It just so happens that the approach we've been discussing, of establishing service pages and then continuing to add blog articles that expand on the subject, is an effective SEO technique. This method satisfies many parts of Google's criteria in order to generate its search results.

Ensuring that your Content is Well-Aligned with the “Keywords” People are Typing into Google

It's not enough to be number one for your brand name. If you want to get new visitors to your veterinary website, they've never heard of your practice before. As a result, they'll type "keywords" into Google that are relevant to their interests rather than "brand names." A keyword is anything someone types into Google, whether it's a complete phrase or a question or a few words that loosely identify a subject... Whatever someone types into Google is referred to as a "keyword."

In content marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of aligning your content with the keywords people type into search engines. You should also consider how your prospect would search Google for information on the subject you want to discuss. Then, make sure to include some of those terms on your website.

Veterinarians must have websites that provide detailed, keyword-rich information about veterinary issues. After all, if you don't have a page on your website dedicated to cat microchipping, how can you expect to appear in search results for the term "local veterinarians that perform cat microchipping"?

Still not convinced Your Veterinary Website Needs a Blog?

“But that's only one case, Jake. I'll need to see more before believing.” That's fine! Let's have a look at another important aspect of blog success for veterinarians: the total number of organic landing pages on your website.

You know that a Landing Page is a page on the internet visited by a customer of your website. The term "ORGANIC landing pages" refers to the pages on which people coming from search engines (organic traffic) are entering your site. Consider it this way: when you write blog posts, you're creating keyword-rich material. keyword rich-content ranks well in Google; thus, if yours ranks higher than competitors' content, there's a good chance customers will stay longer and convert more of them into clients. As a result, increasing the number of top-performing pages on your site for specific veterinary keywords (Organic Landing Pages) improves your chances of converting web queries into customers. Isn't it simple?

Here are some samples from our clients demonstrating how frequent blog postings may significantly boost the number of organic landing pages on your website.

Some of these examples are more dramatic than others. However, all of them illustrate one thing: frequent blogging results in an increased number of organic landing pages, allowing potential clients to interact with your business more frequently.

Flex those Creative Writing Muscles!

If you have time and/or inspiration, the GeniusVets platform allows you to show off your writing abilities. Once you've signed in, go to our Content Submission Network page to share with us a blog that you've created and published on your GeniusSite. Your Client Success Manager can assist you in connecting with the Network and publishing your own blog; don't hesitate to contact them!

This Network is not only about you showcasing your excellent blogs to us. Once you've submitted an article, it may be posted on other GeniusVets clients' practice pages. And of course, your clinic will be credited for the piece. Certainly, this is beneficial to your professional reputation: enough of your insights and ideas are valuable enough to be published on veterinary websites all around the country!

Beyond that, other websites will credit you for your work. This is known as backlinking, and search engines adore it! When trustworthy sites choose your site as a source of information, your credibility and subsequently your search rankings improve. The better your site performs in search, the more high-quality sites link to it.

In exam rooms and on phone calls, you're probably asked a lot of the same questions. That implies that you already have a well-thought-out response to many pet care issues. Turn those into blog articles, submit them to the GeniusVets Content Network, and help your GeniusSite shine even more brightly!

“I’m a Veterinarian. I don’t have time to write blogs every week!”

Now that you know how critical regular blog publishing is to your bottom line, we hope you agree that it's difficult to find the time. Blog writing takes a lot of time and energy, and as a veterinarian, you're already pretty busy running your practice as it is. How can we ask you to produce a couple of weekly blog entries when there's so much else going on in your life? It would be nearly impossible! You marketing efforts would quickly dwindle, and before long, your blog would become a thing of the past.

The great news is that you don't have to... as long as you have someone to do it for you! Whether it's a part-time marketing employee who works for your practice two days per week, or a full-service veterinary marketing company like Amplispot, blogging is an extremely effective digital marketing technique for veterinarians seeking to boost their bottom line.