As a consultant for WebMD I have published numerous articles on the web. When a colleague or family member remarks that they saw an article written by me I am reminded that the internet is a powerful communication and marketing platform. One such moment occurred the other day when I received an email from a television reporter via RxEconsult, my social network for businesses and professionals in health-related fields. This reporter asked me to comment on camera about the side effects of temazepam (Restoril) and whether temazepam may have played a role in Zimmerman shooting Trevon Martin. This reporter found me because when she searched the internet for information about temazepam, an article that I wrote for MedicineNet was at the top of Google search results. She followed the link in my bio to RxEconsult where she left me a message to contact her.

The Internet Provides Opportunity for Everyone

This story shows why the internet is a powerful promotion vehicle and how anyone can use the internet to promote their brand, increase visibility, and extend their reach. It does not matter whether you are selling a product, building your career, promoting your healthcare business, influencing change in your profession, or promoting your website. You do not have to be a big name or company to be found on the internet. Everyone has equal opportunity; the internet does not discriminate. If you provide useful content people will not only find your content they will share it with others, extending your reach and influence. Many people believe that the internet has so much information it is impossible to contribute anything new. This is actually not the case. How many times have you searched for information and you could not find it? This proves that there is a lot of information that has not been added to the internet. One important type of information that has not been added is your unique experience, which everyone can learn from and actually tends to rank quite high on Google because it is unique.

Content Marketing Tips for Healthcare Businesses and Professionals

Here are some tips for businesses and professionals in health-related fields to leverage their knowledge to promote themselves on the internet and succeed.

1. Keep it simple. Write for the lay person. When you write for the lay person you write for everyone. If your writing is too complex and full of technical jargon you only reach your peers who probably already know what you know.
    
2. Provide value for your readers. One good way to do this is to simplify complex topics or provide actionable solutions that make a difference.
    
3. Be authentic. Actually care about the topic you are writing about.
    
4. Stay within your realm of expertise. The easiest story to write is yours. We can all learn from your personal experience.
    
5. Keep it short. You can always break it into several parts if needed.
    
6. Post your articles on your website but to really market yourself you should also write for other sites and link back to your website or link to your profile on a social network where visitors can learn more about you.
    
7. Promote your article in multiple places to improve your visibility. Your audience visits many websites; you should too. Niche social networks or forums should be part of your strategy.
    
8. Your articles should be available to all web visitors. Articles posted on many social networks are only available to members of that network and are not indexed by search engines. According to FaceBook your post only reaches 16% of your followers on average. Therefore, in addition to posting on social networks you should post your articles where it will be picked up by search engines. RxEconsult articles are indexed by search engines and we even help you promote your article on other websites.
    
9. Write as often as you can. One article is not enough to establish your expertise and build your brand.
    
10. Leverage the traffic generated by established and reputable content sites.

When you consistently publish good content your reputation and influence will grow. One of these days a reporter will call you for your expert opinion and this will open doors for even more visibility. In my case I could not make it to New York for a live taping on short notice. Maybe next time.

Publish on RxEconsult and Get Discovered