10 Reasons a Blog is Better than a Newsletter
1. A blog is kinda like a newsletter, but cheaper and more effective. No printing, no mailing.
2. Blogs are delivered to folks however they prefer: by email, RSS feed, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other forms of social media.
3. Blogs can be edited any time. You don’t have to worry about mistakes sticking around forever. Unlike with print, with blogs, you can edit to your heart’s desire even after publication.
4. Blogs are automatically archived forever on the Internet, whereas print newsletters usually make it to the recycle bin within a few days (sometimes minutes). If someone looses your direct mail piece, your phone number is lost, as well. With blogs, your contact info is online all the time, and once they visit your blog site, the domain is in their history — totally easy to find you more than once.
5. Blogs are indexed by search engines and actually have a higher priority than regular web pages. A search engine can’t see your print newsletter unless you type live text into your website to archive your issues. Blogs, however are indexed immediately, and this helps with your online presence.
6. Blogs can link to other resources — whether they’re pages on your website or other sites. Newsletters can’t link to jack.
7. The best blogs are delivered on a slow drip… once or twice a week. People can quickly digest the info and move on, but you keep showing up in their inbox. This repetition will enforce your name and brand in their memory.
8. Blogs are great for on-the-go folks. WordPress blogs come with a free application that renders properly on smart phones, like the iPhone. Anyone can pull up your blog at the mall, in line at the doctor’s office, or over lunch to share with friends.
9. Your blog can show up on other websites through an RSS feed. Look over in the lower righthand column of this page. See those other blogs? Those are the RSS feeds of blogs I like. Pretty cool, huh?
10. Blogs are hassle-free with MDPM. We create the blog site, market it, write and post the blogs, and call your practice for news once a month. You don’t have to write, compile, remember to call, or schedule publication. It’s pretty much an automated service from your vantage point.
BONUS: Blogs are seen by potential patients looking for specific info found in your blog. With print newsletters, distribution is limited to the number of items mailed. You will never really know how many people got your mail, opened it, read it, and will act on it. With blogs, we can see how many people visited and what they looked at. We also make contact simple by including an instant email us option. These days, people like fast communication.
Have a newsletter? Want a blog? Call MDPM today. We’re in the business to make dentists smile!
