How to Craft Great Healthcare Content (People Actually Want to Read)

By Kathy, Senior Marketing Strategist

laptop and a stethoscope with animation of healthcare marketing strategy symbols You know a lot about the healthcare specialty (or specialties) you work in—but that doesn’t always translate to good healthcare content on your website.

Healthcare content includes the blogs, web pages, ebooks, infographics, and even videos on your website (or elsewhere on the web). People typically create healthcare content for several reasons:

To increase visitors to their website
To improve search engine visibility
To become thought leaders in the healthcare space
To help people find the answers they need

But all of this is difficult if you’re not crafting content people actually want to read. So how can you accomplish this while still providing accurate, valuable information to prospective patients?

Find Out What People Are Looking for

As a healthcare professional, you know a lot about your specific field. You may have spent years studying it, or else you’ve been immersed in your specialty for a very long time.

As such, you may be tempted to write about the intricate details of your profession. But often, this simply isn’t something your average patient wants to read.

Find out what people are actually searching for in your area, so you can help prospective patients get the answers they need. Here’s how:

Do some keyword research: Find out what people search on Google in your geographic area. Use a keyword planner (such as the Google Ads Keyword Planner) to get keyword suggestions around your topic based on data from local search.

Check out FAQs: What frequently asked questions do people have about your specialty? Use a program like AnswerThePublic to learn the “Who? What? Where? Why? How?” of your profession.

Ask: It doesn’t hurt to ask! Reach out to patients to learn their burning questions about your field—the doctors in your organization probably already have a good idea of this.

Leave Out the Gory Details

If you’re confused about this point, you may not have worked in healthcare for very long. (Or else you’ve worked in healthcare for a very long time.) Doctors and healthcare staff are not afraid to talk about the gory details of any health issue or procedure.

And that means they’re perfectly comfortable writing about it—or even posting pictures. A certain amount of description may be necessary to get a point across. But if you find yourself describing or showing the gory, bloody aspects of what you do, you may want to back off.

Organize Your Content

This step is twofold. First, there’s the actual layout of your website. People have to be able to find your blogs, ebooks, or videos if you want your healthcare content to succeed.

But then there’s the organization of the article, infographic, or video itself. Make sure content is always organized in a way that makes sense to any reader or viewer. Give plenty of context with every piece of content. Even if you’ve written about the subject 100 times, it’s likely your reader’s first interaction with your content.

When it comes to web content, you need clear headers, short sentences and paragraphs, and easy-to-read bullet points. These organizational aspects make your content easy for someone to skim through—and that’s how today’s readers process content online.

Share It to the Right Channels

You can create the best, most helpful piece of content in your field. But it’s no help to anyone if they can’t find it!

You may be able to get content to rank within the search engines. But a faster way to get your content seen by the right audience is to share it. While you might post on the usual channels—Facebook, Twitter, etc.—consider posting on forums and support sites.

While you’re at it, you can see what kinds of content other people are posting, and what people respond to the most. You have an opportunity to help more people get the answers they need, establishing yourself as a leader in your field.