Establishing an eye care blog that people want to keep up with depends on a few key practices.
Expertise
As an expert in your field, you have knowledge and experience that people want to know. The information you pass along to your patients as you inspect their eyes is only a snippet of the vast knowledge you have to share with them. Unsurprisingly, your patients (and thousands of other people) are curious about their eyes and all the neat facts they can find. Just as the eye is said to be the window into someone’s soul, your blog is the window into the eye care field.
Stories
Based on the experiences you’ve had over the years as an eye care provider, you have stories galore that patients want to hear. Without stating names or too much information about a particular patient, you could describe a rare disease and how you helped to tackle it or a situation you’ll never forget. You could target the Optometry student population with the ups and downs of your education and what helped you get through it. People love stories, so share everything you’ve got!
Images
A good story has to be accompanied by a good image or two. Similarly, an entire blog post can be dedicated to an interesting optical illusion or the inner workings of an eye that people haven’t seen before. Just recently, an article was posted displaying images of different colored eyes and the various patterns that one could find – it displayed that, like a fingerprint, each eye ball is unique. That post had over a million views in one day after being posted and shared across numerous social networks.
Be Genuine
There are variations in what your readers want to hear from you, but don’t be afraid to tell your patients what you think about particular eye care topics. Avoid the obvious topics you wouldn’t discuss at the dinner table with your kids or esteemed guests, but treat them like friends, who might need a little background information, but overall want to hear your genuine voice and tone.
In addition to connecting with your patients through updated posts, it is a great way to increase search engine optimization. With plug-ins to your Facebook, Google+ Local, Yelp, and other pages, your connections become so much greater. It is likened to a spider web that only you can weave to attract your patients and keep them coming back.