A pediatrician blog can offer insightful advice to parents, establish relationships with families and serve as an opportunity to attract new patients. After all, why shouldn’t parents turn to your practice to help figure out the best ways to lower a fever or get accurate information on the latest news (like COVID-19)?

Fortunately, creating and maintaining a blog can be a simple process. It’s just a matter of putting the right steps in place. At WriterGirl, we’ve worked with many pediatricians and pediatric specialists to create and share honest, helpful and informative content with their audiences. Here are five best practices we’ve found when developing blogs for pediatricians.

1. Show your practice’s personality

It may seem odd to start a list of best practices for pediatrician blogs focused on personality instead of content. But people, especially families, want to connect with a provider not a blog. Make sure your team’s personality and care approach shine through on your blogs (and all content):

Attach a pediatrician’s name to the article

Include a provider’s byline at the top of each post and a bio at the end of the article. This is a great way to introduce your team and allow them to connect with patients. At WriterGirl, we often ghostwrite articles for providers. SME interviews and online resources are a great way to find information for articles. And pediatricians always have the opportunity to review and approve content.

Find and use your brand voice

Let your team’s care approach shine in writing. A friendly, approachable voice is best for a pediatrician, but how else can you connect distinctly to readers? Find your organization’s unique voice.

Include posts about your practice’s culture

Highlight any volunteer work in the community or fun milestones at the office. Invite staff members from all positions to contribute to the blog. Showcasing your culture helps families get to know all the providers and staff members at your practice.

2. Get inspired

Blogs are a great way to connect with families. Many pediatricians already have successful blogs up and running. Spend a few minutes researching other blogs to get inspired and see what may work for your practice.

We’re honored to work with many pediatricians and pediatric specialists to share informative, engaging and empowering children’s health topics with readers. A few of our favorites include:

  • Pediatric Associates – This pediatric practice in Florida offers parents a wealth of resources for expectant parents, new parents and experienced parents, along with a robust blog.
  • Advice I Give My Friends –Kelly Fradin, MD, is a pediatrician based in New York. Her personal blog offers helpful, everyday tips for parents.
  • KC Kids Doc – Natasha Burgert, MD, (known as Dr. Natasha to her patients and families) answers common questions and provides helpful advice to parents around Kansas City – and beyond.
  • Children’s Health Dallas – The health and wellness library shares relevant information on a wide-range of pediatric health topics – from COVID-19 to sports injuries and everything in between.
  • Cincinnati Children’s – A hometown favorite (WriterGirl is based in Cincinnati), Cincinnati Children’s is known to provide expert, trustworthy and reliable advice to parents and families.

3. Create a content calendar

A content calendar helps keep you and your entire team on track with a steady drumbeat of blog posts. Your content calendar should include:

Month-by-month topic ideas

Include topics for at least three months (but six to 12 months is best). This keeps you from scrambling for last-minute ideas. It can also help fill in the calendar with seasonal topics (flu shots in October; water safety in June, etc.).

How often you’ll post new blogs

There’s no real right or wrong answer to how frequently you should post. Ideally, you should post at least once a week, but if you only have the resources to do two blog posts a month, then that’s better than nothing. Be realistic about what your team (and budget) can accommodate. You may find that you can post more frequently than you realized, especially after you see the return on your time and resources!

4. Share information and resources in real time

A content calendar is a great tool to keep your team focused, but sometimes you need to throw that plan out the window. When news happens, your families and patients will want to turn to you to for information they can trust.

The most notable example is the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatricians and health care organizations across our country are working hard to get accurate information out to their patients and families. That includes information on the virus, testing, treatment and even basic information like office hours.

This example may be biased, but my children’s pediatrician is doing an excellent job of keeping families informed. They share real-time information on their social media channels and website. They also send weekly email updates. It’s clear, concise information about where they are seeing sick and well patients, and what parents need to know about rescheduling well visits during the pandemic.

Pediatrician blogs are great resources to keep families up to date. While (hopefully) our most recent pandemic is a once in a lifetime experience, sharing news about a local flu outbreak or new guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) helps position your pediatric blog as a trustworthy and reputable news source.

5. Create a marketing strategy to drive traffic

A blog is only good if it has readers. A marketing strategy can help make sure the content you’ve carefully planned, written and reviewed is seen by families. Your strategy can be as simple as posting blog articles on social media or a paid strategy to boost posts and SEM. Once again, it’s most important to choose the strategies that are a good fit for your team. Those may include:

  • Post blogs on social media
  • Boost posts with paid advertising
  • Choose the right keywords for organic search (use a free tool)
  • Create and implement a paid search strategy
  • Highlight articles in your email newsletter (and start a newsletter if you don’t already have one.)

Once your blog is up and running, you’ll be surprised at the opportunity it brings. You can even use your team’s experience to gain local news coverage as you reach out into the community.

These are just a few of the recommendations and skills we share when working with pediatricians on developing, writing and sharing blogs. Learn more about WriterGirl’s custom content approach and our services.