Do You Need a Physical Therapy Blog?

Starting a Physical Therapy Blog

A website is a great way to increase visibility of your physical therapy practice, but some websites are far more effective than others. Every page should be easy to get to, attractive, organized, and provide valuable information to prospective patients. After all, if you don’t specifically direct patients back to your website, most will not go back on their own.

Websites that are updated frequently can reflect positively on your practice. A physical therapy blog is a wonderful one way to show your current and potential clients that you are the rehabilitation and information leader in your community.

[pullquote1 textcolor=”#004080″]”However, when we recently did a random search and examination of 50 different websites that rank at or near the top of Google for a geographic search (e.g. physical therapy Encinitas), only 1 of them had a blog.”[/pullquote1]

You may have read, from search marketing experts, that if you have a blog, the search engines will pick up on your website’s activity level. There is some truth to that. Google and others will take note of the specific words and phrases used in your blog. These details can contribute to your website’s ranking on search engines. A higher search engine ranking will result in more visitors to your website.

However, when we recently did a random search and examination of 50 different websites that rank at or near the top of Google for a geographic search (e.g. physical therapy Encinitas), only 1 of them had a blog.

Do You Have the Time for a Physical Therapy Blog?

Keeping a blog up-to-date requires repeated work. This is not an attractive option for many. A physical therapy blog does not have to be a complex addition to your website. Sometimes the simplest blogs are the best. An easy way to begin a blog is to use it to introduce patients to different aspects of your practice. People can feel nervous and even intimidated when approaching a new healthcare facility, especially if they have never visited a physical therapist before.
Here are some post ideas for you:

• Talk about your unique company culture,
• Treatments you offer,
• Success stories,
• People working there,
• The benefits of different treatments,
• The experience level of your staff,
• Other general details which will make people feel more comfortable visiting your office.

Attracting new patients is probably the reason you have a website to begin with, so do not be afraid to take a more direct marketing approach on your physical therapy blog. Posts should highlight your assets. Do not forget that a blog can be used to advertise special events and offers too (a free screening comes to mind).

Not every blog post has to relate directly to your physical therapy practice, though. Here are some more ideas for posts:

• News that has to do with the community,
• Physical therapy in general (see the APTA.org website),
• New clinical studies
• New treatment methods.

For Out-of-Network Practices

A number of practices are now “out-of-network” providers. This means you have to give patients a reason to pay more for your physical therapy services. A blog may just have the information that differentiates your practice enough to reinforce the patient’s choice to use you instead of an in-network provider.

At this point in time with respect to the search engines, many practices won’t need a physical therapy blog to rank well. Nevertheless, a physical therapy blog on your website is a great place to write about important information since websites can reach more people than local advertisements or phone calls can.

There are several benefits to having one though. Weigh them carefully and make sure you are willing to commit the time and have someone that can write in a manner that represents the quality care you provide. There’s nothing worse than a blog that was last updated in “November 2, 2009”. It won’t reflect well on the practice.

I should add, that E-rehab offers a fully integrated physical therapy blog for our customers. We also provide content for the blog and training so you can efficiently and effectively keep it up to date.