As small business owners, chiropractors are inundated with advertisements, marketing offers, and other forms of services that claim to increase their practices. The good news is that some of these offers are legitimate and prove successful in the real-world of business. However, as to be expected, some are blatant lies and can be classified as get-rich-quick schemes.
One of the ones I’ve seen lately is services providing autogenerated blog content. The sales pitch typically claims things like the following:
- Create targeted blog posts on any topic without writing anything!
- Start hundreds of blogs on any topic and never have to lift a finger to keep them pumping out as much content as you like!
- Generate traffic, money and blog posts while you sleep!
- Achieve higher search engine rankings and massive affiliate revenue with self-updating blogs
In other words, sign up for their program, allow them to automate your blog content and social media marketing campaigns, and watch the patients come flooding into your practice. This is not only hyped up sales claims but can actually hurt your web presence both intermittenly as well as longterm.
That’s why today I’d like to highlight 3 Reasons Why Chiropractors Should Avoid Automated Blog Content Generators.
1. Their content is not unique.
Typically, services that generate content for you do so in a very generic fashion. In other words, the content is the same for all chiropractors no matter where they’re located.
For example, I’ve seen chiropractic blogs representing two different chiropractors and practices within the same town publishing identical chiropractic content via the same automated services.
They may claim that your content is customized but when you look closer this usually means that all they’ve inserted is your professional name, business address, et cetera.
Google not only looks down on this but will bury your content further within their SERPs to the point of not being found. So, in other words, it will eventually destroy any search engine optimization (SEO) efforts you’ve put into the site.
So, my question is why do it?
Unless you just want to line the pockets of these salesmen, DON’T!
2. Their content is useless and duplicated.
To further elaborate on my last point in regards to SEO, since the content is not unique, it becomes useless to not only Google but also your chiropractic prospects.
Remember, your chiropractic blog should be an accurate reflection of who you are as a chiropractor, a professional, and caring healthcare provider. If your content only regurgitates generic information that has nothing to do with your practice or professional services, then you’ll kill the chance to truly meet the wants, needs, and desires of both your chiropractic prospects as well as your patients.
If you set out down that path, then you’ll further destroy your credibility and authority with both them and major search engines that crawl your site.
3. They Produce blogs void of personality.
Blogs are designed to stimulate dialogue. They’re part of the Web 2.0 model. With that being the case, a blog’s pulse needs to be monitored on a consistent basis.
If chiropractors put their chiropractic content on autopilot, I assure you the attention to detail that this extremely powerful marketing medium offers is not being capitalized upon.
Instead, they throw money at it and forget it. After several months of no action, they then throw their hands up in the air and proclaim that blogs and social media networking simply don’t work.
Nothing can be further from the truth! If they would look at their chiropractic blog the same way they look at their chiropractic business, attention to detail should be of utmost importance.
It’s the same problem we chiropractors face when someone proclaims that chiropractic doesn’t work. In relation to blogs, if one doesn’t understand how to harness its power, then he or she walks away jaded, frustrated, and ready to move on.
What’s the solution?
Put your whole heart, mind, and soul into the content you produce. If you want to be seen as an authority within your community and online, then you absolutely must put your personality into it.
By doing so, you’ll more easily connect with readers, stimulate dialogue on the subject matter, and maintain the level of professionalism your business must maintain for success both on and offline.
Question: What other reasons can you think of that should be added to the list? How did you come to this conclusion? What experiences, if any, have you had with the aforementioned?
Let’s us know in the {comments} section below.
About Dr. Patrick MacNamara
I agree with you Dr. MacNamara! Automated Blog Content Generators are a total joke. One good tip to creating content, of which I create a lot of is to look at everything in a way that can be tied into a chiropractic blog post. It could be the book you are currently reading, an experience with your child, something odd you noticed at a store, or anything else you can think of! If chiropractic deals with life, look around… it is all around you. There should be no shortage of material to write about when it comes to educating your patients!
Dr. Harshe :: Exactly! What to write about is the biggest thing that trips chiropractors up. But, like you said, if they’d simply pay attention to their surroundings, they’d never run out of material to write about that is both timely and relevant to their prospects and patients. Thanks for bringing out that point!
I completely agree with your post today. The automated blog content provides no value and is just a quick way for chiropractic marketing “experts” to sell you a done for you chiropractic blog. This done for you blog gives the chiropractor the impression that they are marketing using Web 2.0 and that they are up to date with the current marketing trends. Your posts have shown how easy it is setup a blog and how to provide valuable content for readers. I wish more chiropractors would read what you have to say and take the time to implement your strategies and develop their own blog. Thanks again,
Too much content on line is “craptent” more “intent” on selling something (usually “crap”) to some unsuspecting “sap”. LOL
Seriously though, original content can be the achilles heal to a chiropractors blog site. The only thing worse than putting up a blog site and not updating the content is leaving it up so potential patients see your last post was made in March of 2008. Bad, way bad!
Perhaps a good suggestion is for docs to streamline their blog posting and delegate the nonessential, such as error/spell checking, certain research on the topic, etc. Whatever helps get the job done but keeps to the essence of that doctor. If staff can’t do it there are outsourcing services online such as Freelancer, oDesk(props to them, they’ve done well for me) and even finding some part time help on Craigslist isn’t out of the question.
I’d say its all in the plan, but more in the execution of the plan.
Stock blogs can be seen a mile away. I suggest anyone starting out to make about 6 posts so you have something canned and ready to go when you can’t think of anything to write about. Then plan a certain day to always post a blog. This keeps you on task.
I also suggest to look back at your blogs and see if there are keywords that you feel you can expand upon. This helps for future blogs. In addition if you are doing any marketing events or you are trying out new supplements or whatever post about it. Keep people in touch with what you are doing health wise
Dr. Notley :: First of all, thanks for dropping by the site. I greatly appreciate your visit and trust the information you find is of value to your online experience.
You make several excellent points:
1. Have at least 6 blog posts written, published, and indexed with Google and other major search engines before announcing the blog’s URL to the world.
2. Schedule writing time for future blog posts.
3. Going back through past blog posts for additional relevant content and repurposing.
Considering the above, an editorial calendar works wonders in organizing, planning, and staying consistent with content publication. This will keep new bloggers focused, on track, and consistent in their readers’ eye which will only aid in growing the site.
So, thanks again for adding to the conversation with those valuable points!
On another note, I’d HIGHLY recommend you move away from Blogger as your blogging platform. Matter of fact, I never encourage anyone to start a blog on free services like Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress.com (not to be confused with WordPress.org), Posterous, et cetera.
Why?
Because you don’t own the site, the companies managing them do. Therefore, any content you post is technically not yours and can be gone in an instant based off of their decision.
My suggestion is to self-host your blog using WordPress which can be downloaded for free from WordPress.org.
If you need additional insight into this, please let me know.
Doc,
Thanks for a great post and sharing your insight. While most of these content aggregators were built for affiliate marketers to quickly and easily create ‘splogs’ to sell products or adsense BUT – there is still value IMO.
It’s all in how you implement them. Any tool in the wrong hands can be misused, however, blogging regularly can be time consuming and most docs won’t follow through long term. If they are used responsibly and interwoven with your personal content they can ad value. Adding value is the benchmark.
Regarding SEO and duplicate content, though, I have to respectfully disagree with you. See here:
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2008/09/demystifying-duplicate-content-penalty.html
There really is no such thing as duplicate content and if you think about it logically it makes good sense. Google mimics the real world or attempts to as naturally as possible. So, let me ask you this; if you came across a great article in the paper how would you share it in the real world?
Noam,
First of all, thanks for joining in on the conversation.
My point in relation to SEO and duplicate content is that Google ranks the original source higher than sites that just duplicate the content. This is what’s called authority. The more unique your content, the more valuable it is in the eyes of Google. If you need more on this topic, research PageRank, which, by the way, is exclusive to Google.
Plus, where’s the value in duplication?
The purpose of blogging for business owners/entrepreneurs is to uniquely position themselves as the authority within their niche, discipline, et cetera. It’s quite difficult to differentiate yourself when all you’re doing is regurgitating someone else’s content.
To answer your last question, since I’m focused on Internet content not print, in the “real world” I’d reference the article via a hyperlink back to the original source, not duplicate it.