Should you blog? Should you add pages to your website? Yes and yes.

A blog post, or post for short, is simply an article published to the blog section of a website. 

A webpage is any page on a site – and the most SEO benefits come from webpages with content and images. 

Blogs and webpages are an extremely wise investment of your time and money – because your website can deliver the highest return on investment of any marketing strategy. The only more lucrative effort is word of mouth, which you cannot buy.

What a Page or Post Needs

First and foremost, any blog or page on your website needs to:

  • Be 98-100% original content, per Copyscape or a similar online plagiarism tool. This means that you cannot use an article from another source, even with permission, and expect it to rank well in search. Google wants new, uniquely worded information, so preference is given to blogs and pages with original text.
  • Incorporate links to internal web pages, on hyperlinks strategically placed on long-tail keyword phrases. Links to other webpages on the same site should not open in a new window. It’s also good to know that linking to external sites does little or nothing for your site’s SEO. Incoming links from other dental or health-related sites, however, will benefit your site’s overall SEO credit.
  • Never link to the same page twice, on one page. For instance, if you mention teeth whitening twice in a blog post, link the first instance to your teeth whitening webpage. Do not link the second instance of the word. On a similar vein, do not link other phrases, like teeth bleaching, to the whitening page if you’ve already linked to the whitening page once.
  • Include optimal keyword integration in headings and text, without going overboard. We no longer rely on a percentage analysis for keyword use, and meta keywords are not important. However, use of keywords is still extremely important. Inserting primary, secondary, and even tertiary keywords and keyword phrases into your blog posts and webpages will tell Google what your page is about.
  • Be 500-750+ words long, for Google to consider it valuable. Google considers anything shorter than 500 words just about useless these days, so longer is better. Note that wordiness is not good. Concise, solid information should be presented with every sentence. Just make sure there’s enough info on a page for Google to take it seriously.
  • Feature an image, whether a photo or graphic, and appropriate alt tag for search. Original images are best, but stock photos work well. Make sure that you have permission to use photos and illustrations that you did not create. I’ve seen dentists get fined thousands of dollars for using images without legal authorization to do so.

Which Is Best, Blog or Webpage?

Webpages and blog posts both hold the power to help your site rank higher in search, if you follow the content guidelines outlined above. The difference is,

  • Pages have staying power – once they make it to top rankings, like page one of Google, they can remain there for a long time, as long as you continue to do SEO for overall website credit.
  • Posts have speed – a blog may hit page one position one fast, but it probably won’t remain there long term. Posts also help blogs rank higher, so imbedding links to internal website pages is key to maximizing SEO with your blog.

The best strategy is to use both. I suggest a weekly content management plan with two blog posts and two webpages. Once a month, or at least once a quarter, you need to review your SEO keyword rankings and make sure your pages are showing up on page one, for the keywords you selected. Those keywords that have poor rank should become the next month’s topics for your pages and posts. For instance, let’s say you just added sleep apnea treatment to your dental practice. You want to start ranking high on Google, in your area, for that keyword phrase. Here is a one-month schedule for content management:

  • Week One: Add a website page on sleep apnea treatment to your site. Use the most popular keyword phrases for this service, like snoring treatment, stop snoring, sleep disorder, and sleep better. Share to social networks.
  • Week Two: Write a second web page about sleep, but on a related topic, like treatment options. This page could cover CPAP – and for CPAP intolerant patients, it should present your preferred oral appliance. For keywords, sleep apnea treatment, CPAP, and CPAP intolerant might be wise. Share to social networks.
  • Week Three: Publish a blog post about how snoring hurts both the snorer and his or her bedmate. Share to social networks.
  • Week Four: Publish a blog post about how sleep apnea can impact a person’s career. Mention military, truck driving, and other professions specifically impacted by sleep apnea studies and guidelines. Share to social networks.

Keep the Momentum Up for Best Results

Writing a page or two, then a post or two, is a great start – not a prescription for success in and of itself. You must keep going. Every week, and every month, without fail, keep publishing content. Continue looking at keyword ranking reports. Be steadfast in your content marketing strategy.

If you are, you WILL see results. Traffic WILL increase. New patient calls WILL increase.

It’s Too Hard, Too Time Consuming, Too Much to Commit To!

I know. You’re a dentist, after all. Not only do you have to treat patients and manage your office, you must accumulate CEs and expand your skillset to stay on top of the technology and materials in dentistry today. I get it.

That’s why Identiwrite Creative exists. Everything I’ve described in this post, from writing original content, to publishing it on a website and blog, to making social posts, to doing monthly ranking reports, to creating a calendar of topics that make the most of SEO opportunities. We do it all, and we do it only for dentists.

Quit saying you don’t have time, and call Identiwrite Creative today to learn more about how webpages and blogs can improve your site visibility and new patient calls. I’m the owner of Identiwrite Creative, Shauna Duty, and I’m available to chat any time at 940-395-5115, or you can email me at shauna@identiwrite.com. Your website has a job to do. Let me make sure it’s working!

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