A Guide To Blogging for Physiotherapists

Are you a physiotherapist looking to start or grow a blog? Wondering if physio clinics can even have blogs? What should you write about? Will anyone even read it?

Well, let us make one thing crystal clear: physiotherapists and physio clinics should ABSOLUTELY have blogs! Blog posts are no longer for frivolous, “here’s what I had for lunch today” types of content. Today, they’re hard-hitting, value-adding, client-serving powerhouses. They can help you translate your knowledge and expertise online, they can answer client questions, and they can even help new patients find you by improving your website’s SEO.

Below, we’ve outlined all the reasons why blogging for physiotherapists is a no-brainer. We’ve also explained exactly how you can get started, and featured examples of other physio blogs you can turn to for inspiration!

Fair warning: If you read this post to the end, you won’t be able to stop yourself from starting a physio blog!

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Reasons to blog as a Physiotherapist

Starting a business blog is a fantastic idea. Done right, your blog has the power to position you as an expert, benefit your patients, and get your business in front of new potential patients. If you do it yourself, it’s also free. And — we promise! — it doesn’t have to be that much work.

Here are the three main reasons why you should make starting a physio blog your next priority:

You can position yourself as an expert

Wouldn’t it be great if, anytime your audience had an issue, they turned to you for help? If, instead of randomly searching Google, they typed your website URL into the search bar and either booked an appointment or read a post? 

By adding a blog to your website, you can make this a reality. By providing bite-sized pieces of physio-related value on your blog for free, you’ll set yourself apart from other clinics and practitioners and build trust with your audience. You’ll also position yourself as a go-to source, making your audience much more likely to book with you. Win-win.

Blog-friendly physio tips you could share online might be:

• How to prepare for your physio appointment
• When to see a physiotherapist
• 5 easy exercises you can do at your desk

You can have quick answers to FAQs

We’re willing to bet that there are a handful of questions that your clients ask you all. the. time.

We’re also willing to bet that as much as you love helping them (it’s why you got into the field!), you’re a little tired of repeating yourself.

So, instead of typing that same email reply for the 400th time, next time you get asked an FAQ, write up the answer as a blog post, and then link your readers to it in the email. This way, you can serve your clients really well, save yourself time in typing out the same emails over and over, demonstrate your knowledge, show others with the same question that they’re not alone, and make your business look super professional in the process. 

You can reach new potential clients

The first thing people tend to do nowadays when they have a question is turn to Google. If you’re blogging about the topics that people are searching for, you can show up in their Google searches, and therefore reach potential clients.

Now, this requires effective keyword research and SEO optimization which might seem overwhelming. To land the top spots on popular searches you’ll likely need help from an SEO expert, but you can very easily get a solid start and rank for less competitive terms with a few tips– which we outline below!

Related: Is SEO a priority for your blog? Wondering if you can DIY it or if you should consider hiring an expert? Read our blog post on When to DIY and When You Should Hire an SEO Specialist.

How to start a physio blog

Start your physio blog with this simple, 4-step process. And, to make getting started even easier for you, we went ahead and created this Content Planning Template.

Download your copy of the Content Planning Template and keep it handy as we move through these steps! 

Step one: identify your content pillars

Content pillars are the most general topics that you’ll create content around. Think of them as buckets of content ideas, or categories that can be broken down further into many subtopics. Before you start blogging, brainstorm 4-6 different pillars for your blog.

Examples of physiotherapy-related content pillars

• Rehabilitation
• Performance
• Neuro
• Respiratory physio
• Chronic pain
• Pelvic health
• Sports injuries
• Running or specific sports
• Exercises
• Mobility

Replace the values in square brackets on the Content Pillars sheet of your Content Planning Worksheet with your content pillars. You can also add sub-pillars if it makes sense for your business.

Pro Tip: Check out your competitors and see how they’re organizing their content for inspiration! Most blogs have categories or tags to organize their posts which can give you an indication.

Step two: brainstorm your blog topics

Now, on the Content Planning sheet of your Content Planning Template, list a few topics in the ‘keyword’ columns for each pillar.

For example, if your content pillar is running, some blog topic ideas might be:

• Common running injuries
• Stretches for runners
• Cross-training for runners
• Mobility for runners
• When to see a physio if running hurts
• Physio-specific marathon training tips
• Services and modalities for runners
• The benefits of a running/gait assessment

Step three: do keyword research

Now that you have some blog post topic ideas, it’s time to do a little keyword research and fill out the rest of the pink columns on your Content Planning sheet.

Keyword research will let you figure out what questions people are searching in Google (or which ones they’re searching most often). By creating blog posts around specific keywords, you’re increasing your chance of ranking in Google and of being found by new potential patients.

By creating blog posts around specific keywords, you’re increasing your chance of ranking in Google and of being found by new potential patients.

First, you’ll want to learn how to do keyword research. You don’t need to be an SEO expert to pull the basic information. For each topic idea (or keyword) find the Search Volume and the SERP Competition and add it to your Content Planning sheet.

Once you have all that information pulled, decide which topics are best to start writing about. Pick posts that are not competitive, but still have search traffic. Next, you’ll need to identify which keywords are the right ones for your blog. Pick ones that you’ll actually have a shot at ranking for in Google!

There are likely going to be many keywords on your list with a LOT of searches each month. But, they also have a ton of people creating content around them. Maybe it’s a keyword like are things like ‘reduce back pain.’

Pro tip: to find less competitive keywords, get more specific

Instead of using the keyword “exercises for low back pain,” which is more general and has super steep competition, write a post that answers the question, “is swimming good exercise for lower back pain?” or “what is the best stretching exercise for lower back pain?” 

These more specific keywords won’t be searched as much, but are easier to rank for. And it’s better to rank on the first page for a keyword with 10 monthly searches, than it is to try to rank for a popular keyword but be on page 10 and not get any traffic anyway.

Step four: decide on a content creation workflow

A content creation workflow helps you systematize your blog post writing. To create a workflow, you’ll first need to decide how much content you want to create. (For best SEO results, we recommend at least 2 posts per month, with each post being at least 700-1200 words.)

Next, you’ll want to decide on how often you want to write. There are a couple different ways to go about it:

• Quarterly: Block off a few days and bang out 3 months’ worth of posts at once.
• Monthly: Block off one day per month to create blog content for the next month.
• Weekly: Write one blog post every week (or two).

Block out the time in your calendar in recurring appointments specific for blog writing & publishing. On that day, pour yourself some coffee, and get ready to write!

Physiotherapists Who Do Blogging Right

Ready, Set, Blog!

Now that you know all of our tips and tricks, we’re passing the torch to you! But, before you go, we want to leave you with a parting gift:

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P.S. Still have questions? Want more help with blogging or your content strategy? Book a Consultation and we’ll walk you through how we can help.