It’s affectionately called “Dr. Google” because more and more patients are seeking answers to their health care questions on the ubiquitous search engine. And while it’s good that Americans are taking an active interest in their health, the fact is that unreliable sources found on Google can lead them to questionable, often inaccurate information.

That’s where your medical blog comes in. By taking advantage of the current blogging culture, your practice has the opportunity to establish itself as a thought leader in the industry; maintaining an active, engaging blog will also help your website gain visibility in the search engine results pages.

But where do you start? Many medical practice blog writers struggle with topic ideas. To that end, we’ve crafted a few interesting and effective category ideas that will help guide potential new patients to your site.

Trending health topics

Pay careful attention to the latest news stories and how they can be effective topics. For example, when there was an outbreak of the norovirus in Seattle, it was the perfect opportunity to write articles about the nature of norovirus is, its symptoms, and how to avoid it. Of course, you can only take advantage of this if your blogs are posted in a timely fashion.

Check out Twitter streams and your local news to see what’s trending.

National health months

Every month has a national health awareness designation, such as October (Breast Cancer Awareness Month) or May (Skin Cancer Awareness Month). Use this to your benefit by writing corresponding blog post topics. You can easily find a list of national health care observances online.

A focus on your specialty

What’s an ENT? What does an internal medicine physician do? You may be surprised by the number of people who are not familiar with the finer details of these terms. Write a simple, informative blog post in layman’s terms. Be sure to avoid self-promotion, as this can be considered “spammy.”

Practical advice

Readers want practical advice they can implement immediately. Some topics include how to read nutritional labels, how to encourage kids to be more physically active, and how to determine if you need a hearing aid.

Lists, lists, lists

Studies show that lists, particularly the “Top Ten” or “Best of” type of lists, have a higher rate of engagement. What makes a good list? Useful, practical information. For example, you may have a list of “Top Five Health Threats to Americans” which details disorders such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other prevalent health care problems.  Other ideas include:

• Five ways to prevent heart disease
• Four medical tests you should have every year
• Could you be diabetic and not know it? Three signs you can’t ignore
• Three things new moms always worry about

Insurance

If you think there’s a lot of confusion and detail involved in filing insurance, what do your patients think? Often, the same questions arise over and over: “Why won’t my insurance pay for that? Does that count toward my deductible? What’s my copay?”

While you can’t give specifics because every policy is different, you can address some of the most common questions and general information. Topics such as “Five things you need to know about your deductible” and “Three ways to get the most out of your health care insurance” will increase interest.

There is a wealth of health care topics that will benefit your medical blog. Creating an effective post means concentrating on topics that are of interest to your readers — ideally, they’ll keep coming back to your website for more information!

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