Why would someone want to use “The Blogging Dentist” to promote their product or idea? I’m not exactly sure. I’m quite certain that my readers are overwhelmingly dental types, so maybe they think that by reaching the people who read this blog they’d be getting their message out a well selected audience. Maybe they figure that it’s a super cheap and low risk way to connect with said “dental types.” They’re probably right on both counts. My promise to my readers is this: I won’t allow cheesy and hollow sales pitches on The Blogging Dentist.

Since I’m the king of this castle, I’m going to lay out my rules.

1. Ideally, you’re a dentist or dental business that has an idea or product that you think should be shared and talked about. Hopefully you aren’t selling insurance or Amway.
2. As mentioned, I will allow no “sales pitches.” Blogs are about spreading ideas. That’s what I try to do here. I spread ideas that I’ve had and that I’ve heard about. I can’t stand the bald sales pitch. I understand that it is sometimes necessary, but I rarely react well to it. I need to be romanced. Give me some clever copy. Explain what the problem is and how you fix it. Link to your website if you like, but keep it classy. I don’t endorse products, but I might let you discuss a novel way of doing things that involve a product. It’s about the ideas, not products.
3. You may not bad mouth your competition on the Blogging Dentist. I’m going to buy a Ford because I think the Ford is a great fit. Not because the Ford sales guy thinks that Dodges suck.
4. I reserve the right to edit your copy. I won’t put words in your mouth, but I might change your syntax. Sorry…it’s a curse.
5. Amuse me. This is the most important rule. If I think it’s funny, I’m more likely to share it.
6. If you have a blog about your ideas or products I’m MUCH more likely to allow you a guest spot. I would enjoy having other bloggers come on board. As long as you’re O.K. with following the above rules.

What won’t fly:

1. If you’re the web guy for some dentist’s website and you send me a generic blog post about the top 10 most cavity causing foods that you didn’t write and you put your client’s name in the byline even though they didn’t write it either…I’m not going to put it up. No chance. If I even think that the copy is written by someone other than who claims to have written it I won’t put it up.
2. If you have a product you’d like dentists to know about but you’re only willing to share canned content I’m not going to let you guest blog.
3. Buying ad space. At this point you can’t buy space at the Blogging Dentist. But if you have an interesting idea that you want to share in an amusing and engaging way…I’m happy to help!

If you’re interested on guest blogging about your product, service or idea feel free to email me at: alan@meadfamilydental.com. I’m happy to discuss it with you…as long as you’re willing to follow my rules!

I started writing my blog at meadfamilydental.com in 2008. Just about 5 years ago. I’ve got a couple hundred blog posts. I’m very proud of a lot of them. Some of them are just O.K. A few kind of suck. I’ve found something kind of cool about blogs, though. They can be recycled. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are uniquely designed to feature links.

I wrote a post on Mead Family Dental on October 12, 2012 called “Objections.” I was pretty proud of it. I think it was one of my better posts. It did not get a lot of traffic at the time. There were a total of 96 pageviews from October 12 to October 31. That’s O.K., but not great. I remember being disappointed that it didn’t get a little more notice, but hey…that’s how it goes.

I posted the same link on Facebook yesterday, June 6th, 2013. I’ve already had 105 pageviews in the last two days and a few Facebook friends “shared” the link on their pages. Why didn’t it get the attention the first time? I’m not sure. I do know that my posts only show up on a fraction of my Facebook friends’ pages when I post them. So it actually makes sense to link your blog posts on social media sites more than once. How many times? I’m not sure. I want them to seem fresh, so I don’t share the same link more than once every few months or so.

The point is this…if you’re not sure what you should post on an office’s Facebook page, why not use older posts from your blog?

Oh, that’s right. You don’t have an office blog. Or your office blog doesn’t have a lot of posts. Or your office blog posts aren’t original and authentic.

The best time to start writing an original and authentic office blog was 5 years ago. The second best time is right now!

been there

If you want to know the rules of blogging for dentists, you could do a lot worse than reading Dr. Jason Lipscomb’s post.

Probably the most important part of the entire article: “If you know you aren’t going to do anything with it, leave it out of your social media plan.”

“But my social media consultant tells me I have to have a blog!”

Here’s the simplest rule about whether you should have a blog. If you aren’t going to write it (or most of it), then don’t have one. Generic blog articles copied and pasted by your web guy just plain suck. Even if you’ve got great search engine results, if you have lame content on the blog a savvy potential customer is going to be able to tell that it’s canned copy. And you need to assume that everyone that gets to your site is a savvy potential customer.

Note: web comic taken from www.toothpastefordinner.com