Chiropractic should be “first choice” for chronic back pain treatment

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Doctor Dorausch runs Planet C1, blogs at MichaelDorausch.com (recommended), and regularly rubs elbows with the world’s most brilliant marketing experts — so I’m thrilled to be able to share this interview! Do yourself a favor and follow him on Twitter.

I was sleuthing around the internet preparing questions and found you listed as one of the featured speakers at BlueGlass LA this year. That’s one of the most prominent internet marketing conferences in the country and you’re listed right up there with Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, and some other marketing titans. Can you tell us a little about BlueGlass and what you’ll be talking about at the conference?

I was really honored to be invited to speak at BlueGlass LA as I have been a fan of the people behind the event for several years. Their slogan for the event is “2 days that will change your Internet marketing life forever…” and if Los Angeles is like any of their previous events, I’d say their slogan is perfectly stated.

They have me slated to speak on a link building supersession but I’ll likely be focused on local search, the psychology behind local marketing, and some specifics on photography for local search.

Did your marketing expertise stem from being a chiropractor?

My marketing expertise did not stem from being a chiropractor, but it was most certainly the arena for me to improve on, and sharpen my marketing skills. Few people know I was in the rock ‘n roll business right out of high school (toured much of the United States), and that’s where much of my marketing interest started. When you don’t have much money you have to get creative with your marketing, the Internet has made that much easier today.

It seems like many doctors now understand the importance of search engine optimization and having a website, but what other marketing tools do you think are worthwhile for chiropractors?

You may be a bit overoptimistic in thinking doctors now understand the importance of SEO and having a website, there’s still lots of education to be done, to get the field chiropractic caught up with other industries. In my opinion, there’s no greater marketing tool in chiropractic than results. That was the case 100+ years ago, and it remains to be so today. Getting sick people well and keeping the well from getting sick was what grew chiropractic. What is great today is that our patients (the profession’s number one marketing tool) can go online and tell their stories. Chiropractors only need to seek ways to enable that.

There seems to be a big divide between people who use automated marketing strategies and people who use a more sincere and organic (Chris Brogan-esque?) approach. What’s your take on automated marketing services – especially with regard to social media platforms?

Great question. I very much admire the Chris Brogan sincere and organic style marketing approach, but there are quite a few marketing minds that suggest a similar approach. Gary Vaynerchuk, Lisa Barone, Scott Stratton are a few that come to mind.

Personally, I think automated marketing platforms (especially in regard to social media) can work well, but not necessarily for situations like a chiropractic practice. I’ll use twitter as an example. I’ve lost count of how many times a non-chiropractor marketing friend has told me they’ve been twitter spammed by a chiropractic account after messaging me @chiropractic. I’m told those accounts typically get blocked and reported as spam. Sadly, someone somewhere is teaching chiropractors that this is the right way to do social media. Now, if you want to automate the tweeting and/or posting to Facebook of the office’s latest blog post (or even archives), that can be done effectively without annoying friends and followers.

I think most are getting their information from the wrong source, that’s problem number one. If you’re learning social media marketing at a chiropractic conference, you’re likely off to a bad start. The information is often watered down, miscommunicated, and laden with hidden agendas by those disseminating it. To me it’s like learning about chiropractic from your local spine surgeon, the source must be questioned.

Why do so few chiropractors use social media platforms successfully?

I think far too few chiropractors take the time to venture outside of the industry to learn about social media, SEO, and even traditional marketing. The doctors that are leading the way have been doing that (and not always admitting so) for some time now.

It’s important also to know that there are chiropractors who are completely happy with the way things are going in their practices, regardless of the online world. I touched on that last year in a post titled: What Social Media Gurus Do Not Want You To Know

These are chiropractors that have typically been in practice 10 years or more, and are enjoying life just the way it is, oddly enough I in some way fall into that category.

Do you have any neat ideas in the pipeline for your clinic this coming year?

For the clinic, I don’t have big Internet plans for 2012, but we intend to have loads of fun. The years past have shown me that parties and gatherings can be quite successful, and we’re continuing that tradition this year. My office will likely sponsor a dinner for BlueGlass LA attendees (that’s a no-brainer since everyone’s involved in social media) and we’ll throw a minimum of two parties for members of our practice. On the schedule right now is one for the summer and one before the holidays. Parties can be a far greater expense than most new chiropractors may want to invest in, but I’ve always found the return to outweigh the investment.

Roderick Campbell is the Marketing Director at ChiroHosting, the owner a startup marketing agency in Olympia, Washington called Brevity Works, and a world travel fanatic. He has over 80 articles published on this blog and you can follow him on Twitter @HonestlyClever.

ChiroHosting provides effective, affordable websites to over 800 chiropractors in 4 countries.

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1. Real content is more than just announcements or advertisements. That means taking time to create well-written or interesting pieces that include information people genuinely have a desire to know. People searching the web for “Sciatica relief+your city” are hoping to understand more about their condition and find ways to relieve their pain. You can explain how chiropractic and natural health can help them achieve that, all while creating a personal connection, demonstrating your expertise, and boosting your SEO. If you produce quality posts, people will naturally want to share the information with their friends and family. (This will create some back links to your site and further help your SEO).
2. Include options for people to share posts via email or social media site. The other half of tip #1 is making it easy for readers to share articles or videos with their friends by including share and “Like” buttons for Facebook, Twitter, and Google +1. Try searching the plug-in options on the Word Press admin page or ask the ChiroHosting team for more help.
3. Stay focused and brief.  Blog posts don’t have to be full-length articles. When people are surfing the web, there’s a million things pulling their minds in different directions. Getting to the point quickly and making your post easy to scan can help you capture their attention. Longer posts aren’t necessarily bad, but there’s more of a chance that people won’t make it to the end of your piece unless it’s particularly well-written, fills a specific need they have, or is captivatingly unique. If you have a long post, try breaking it up into smaller parts. You can also keep your post brief by focusing on one topic per a post, instead of trying to cover multiple topics.
4. Include key words like city and condition names. To ensure your blog posts are visible in local Google searches, sprinkle your city name and key words like condition names or “chiropractic” throughout your posts. Don’t over do it though as that will come off as fake or pushy.
5. Make use of categories.Word Press allows you to create categories for your posts. Every time you make a post, make sure to check off applicable categories. That way someone can quickly find all your posts about “Auto Injuries” within seconds of visiting your blog instead of scrolling through months of old posts to find a specific topic, which they’re unlikely to do. To create a category, just go to the “Categories” section on your Word Press admin page. To place these categories on your menu bar of your blog, go to “Appearance” and “Menus” section to click, drag, and rearrange categories into your blog menu.
6. Avoid duplicate content. If you see an article you love somewhere in the Internet universe, don’t just copy and paste it onto your blog. Copying the exact words of another web article will have dire consequences for your SEO because Google sees that as plagiarism and will penalize your website’s SEO. A better way to go about sharing the ideas of another author is to paraphrase what the author said, cite your source, and/or provide a link to the article.  If you’ve written an article or blog post that is already published somewhere else on the Internet, Google still won’t be able to tell you’re the original author and will penalize your site just the same. Instead, you could write a short paragraph describing what you wrote about in the other article, and then link to the original article.
7. Use your email newsletter to link to your blog. If you happen to send out monthly newsletters, considering linking to a specific blog post about a relevant idea.
8.  Link back to an article or video on your site. If you find an article or video you like on the ChiroHosting data base, you can always write a post about the topic and link back to the article on your site. (Even if you’re not a ChiroHosting customer, the basic idea of linking to other articles still stands). Once you’ve found the article or video you like, just insert the link into your post using the menu options on Word Press. Just ask us if you have any questions on how to do this.
9. Consider following other similar blogs on chiropractic or wellness. Comment on these posts when you honestly have something to add to the conversation, and this may gradually draw more public attention to your blog’s web presence. Don’t link to your blog on other people’s blog just for the purpose of getting back links though; there’s bloggers detest more than spam comments.

Most of all, have fun and write about what interests you! You can always check out our blogs on Chiropractic Wellness and Back Pain Natural for more ideas. Also, check out our accompanying article on 10 Chiropractic Blog Post Ideas.

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1. Weekly Wellness Tips/ Weekly Health Tips: Every week, choose a simple step patients can take to prevent pain or improve their overall health, and explain why it helps.
2. “How to __ .”People are always searching for how to do things on the Internet. Try these ideas: “How to kick your reliance on pain medication”, “How to relieve headaches naturally”, “How to explain chiropractic in an elevator.”
3. Patients Frequently Asked Questions: Highlight ONE question or topic per a post. Is there something that patients always seem to ask? How do you respond?
4. Your commentary on health news: Regularly follow health news and write your commentary from a chiropractic perspective. Check the health section of in your local newspaper and national/international news sites. Or try visiting health news sites like Dynamic Chiropractic, Medscape, Medpage Today, Health News, and Medical News Today. Don’t copy and paste sentences or paragraphs though because Google will see that as duplicate content and penalize your site’s search-ranking.
5. Summarize findings from a recent scientific study. Highlight the findings first, then include a little about the researchers’ methodology followed by your commentary. Remember to not be overly technical; this writing is for your patients who might not be aware of all the terminology. To find a scientific article, search Google Scholar or Pubmed, or make alerts for a specific topics like “back pain” on Google Scholar and Google News. Sometimes websites like Medpage Today or WebMd will include links to their original sources as well.
6. “Take home” message of the week. Describe a positive interaction or experience you had with a patient this week. Did one of your patients have a big break through moment? Or perhaps they asked you a question or said something that made you think. Why is it important for other people to know this? What can people learn from this question or experience?
7. Weekly stretch or exercise. Describe a strength-training exercise or stretch, include pictures or a video if possible. Talk about why it’s beneficial.
8. “Ask the Doctor” Emails: Include your response to a question a patient emailed you. Or you can tell readers that if they send you a question in an email, you’ll post the answer to your blog (without including their name or identifying characteristics of course).
9. Demystifying chiropractic. Choose a common or foundational chiropractic term or concept, and explain it an approachable way. Explain why patients should care.
10. Major events and holidays: Write posts inspired by major events and holidays that relate to wellness or chiropractic. When it’s around Veterans’ Day you can write about an experience you’ve had treating a veteran, and link to ChiroHosting’s video on chiropractic for veterans. Or when it’s the start of football season, talk about how athletes can prevent sports injuries and concussions. Around the holidays, write a holiday office update or make a holiday letter video.

You can always visit our blogs on Natural Back Pain Care and Chiropractic Wellness for more ideas. For more blogging tips, read our post on 9 Ways to Maximize Your Chiropractic Blog Potential.

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