Where to start with an article?

Mindset is one of the most important aspects for the writer. This is not just about bearing in mind the demographic of the readership but also about putting aside one’s preconceived ideas, assumptions and bias about the reader. At the same time though, readers are not interested in reading content that is better suited for a medical journal. The next consideration is to clearly identify the beginning of the topic and that is usually by first explaining basic anatomy and physiology before continuing into the pathology. After all, medical students first learn these two medical sciences before progressing into pathology, diagnostics and clinical medicine.

Simply Written, Not Simple Content

The idea that simple content is the best content is not necessarily true. Simple content should not be shallow and lack the additional information beyond the basic facts. After all the internet is inundated with health blogs trying to pry its way to the top of search engines with the simplest of content. The internet reader of today is maturing and has higher expectations from online content than just a few years ago. Chances are that the reader already knows the basics about the topic under discussion, if not via the internet, then through other forms of media. Therefore the focus of the writer is to try to pack as much relevant technical information in as simple a manner as possible.

Start at the Beginning

Writing, like any skill, requires practice and until a writer is comfortable with their grasp of the reader’s needs and not just the content matter. Then a few simple guidelines should be used in constructing every article.

The easiest way to write an article is to answer questions that one would expect answered in the article. This is explained further in our two part article on medical content writing. If the article is on heart valve disease for example, then ensure that the content explains the following :

• What are the heart valves and how does it work? (Basic anatomy and physiology)
• What is heart valve disease? (Definition)
• How does heart valve disease affect heart function? (Pathophysiology)
• Why does heart valve disease arise? (Causes/Etiology)
• When is heart valve disease more likely to occur? (Risk factors)
• Who suffers with heart valve disease more frequently? (Epidemiology)
• How will heart valve disease present? (Signs and symptoms)

This can be taken further into diagnosis, complications and medical and surgical treatment.

Ultimately the aim is educate without confusing the reader with medical jargon. At the same time it is a matter of balancing the content by not assuming that the reader is incapable of understanding the subject, nor mistaking the value of providing background knowledge to better help the reader grasp more technical points of the subject matter. The skill of the writer is based on how well informed the reader is after reading through the article. This can only be achieved with medical content by steering clear of the medical jargon as far as possible and satisfying most of the questions that the reader had in mind prior to accessing your article.

BAD Medical Content Is Misleading

The danger with writing BAD medical content especially if it ranks in the top 30 for any keyword, whether popular or long tail, is that someone somewhere out there is reading it and even worse, possibly applying it. The furore over medical insurance, overpriced private health care and an inefficient public health system (where available) will never end anytime soon. Many have opted to research their condition online and self-medicating is a growing problem that is unlikely to abate anytime soon. BAD medical content can therefore be misleading and does not highlight the importance of seeking medical treatment or draw the reader’s attention  to the serious nature of the symptoms and possibly even life-threatening causes that should be considered in the differential diagnosis.

Medical Content by Non-Medical Writers

Patients seek medical care from medical professionals. Should prospective patients be seeking advice from non-medically trained writers who mass-produce content for sometimes as low as $2 for a 500 word article? Even worse, should these writers who often live in third world countries with poor health care standards and speak English as a second language (let alone writing in English) be “informing” internet users about health care?

It can be argued time and again that the responsibility lies with the reader to seek quality medical information but with some search engines “experimenting” with changes in their algorithm, internet readers are at even greater risk of sourcing incorrect information. Attempts by certain authorities to verify the reputability of online health media, like the well known HON code, goes only so far in diminishing the impact of BAD medical content. Ultimately, readers rely on search engines and these instruments are not infallible.

Get the Professional Blogging

However the issue about bad medical content extends beyond misinforming the reader, delaying medical attention, or even promoting self-medicating and ‘home remedies’ which compromise patient compliance. The issue has become about trust – where do internet users seek reputable medical information. We all know the big names in the health industry and specific in online health media but even the biggest of players do not offer all the information. Nor do they always rank high for popular keywords. The issue should focus around the role of the independent medical professional and his or her contribution to online health media – get the practitioners blogging and not the media networks churning out “medical” content.

Practitioners should play their part in starting up their own professional blog and informing patients about their online health presence. It can be as simple as starting up a free blog on Blogger or spending about $100 a year to get a professional blog hosted on their own domain. Until the professionals make an effort to squash the content farms, the internet will continue to be plagued with BAD medical content. A pandemic that will continue unabated as media networks capitalize on the lucrative online health industry.

Google rules the search engine market and is the access point for most internet users to find the content that they need.  In terms of medical content this recent algorithm evolution, or possibly fumble, means that may Google users can be sure of one thing – generalized and unhelpful health content or even inaccurate medical information often from sites that are owned and operated from countries with rather questionable health care systems.

The aim of the algorithm change was to weed out what is known as content farms. These are sites which continuously publish articles that may offer very little to the reader in relation to the article title and often plagiarized from more reputable websites including the big names in the industry. Many of these content farms also steal the content from up and coming players in the field who spend hundreds of man hours a month and thousands of dollars in creating quality content with a small but trained staff and tight budget. In terms of the medical niches, this means reputable content from qualified health care professionals.

This recent change has sparked such an outcry from reputable webmasters with legitimate websites staffed by professional specialist writers and it even caught the attention of CNN. Everybody is talking about traffic and loss of revenue but what does this change mean to the medical writer who is focused on publishing quality content and not the number of unique visitors or advertising dollars? Quite simply, in the past few days, your online work has not only been devalued but your ‘counterparts’ who  steal and may rewrite your content, and quite poorly at that, will be enjoying prime positions in the search engines.

At the moment, it is mainly the Google users in the United States that have suffered this ill fortune. Health care articles written by non-medical writers from non-English speaking and often third world countries, are what the average American may be getting served. True, some of the bigger websites remain unaffected but with the medium sized sites often filling the gap for more specialized and tighter keyword targeting, Americans for now are better off picking up the phone and asking their local corner store for health information. But this also raises the question – is it not the responsibility of the patient to verify the reputability of the doctor? Or reader …. and …. website.

Hopefully Monday morning will bring an end to the madness.

Saturday, 26 February 2011

The main issue around titles and subtitles is that writers try to create catchy and witty titles or subtitles. This is typical of print media but with online content writing, you are also writing for the search engines. As mentioned, your title should contain your primary keywords but does not have to make grammatical sense. Internet readers are used to this and as long as the title contains the keywords, phrases and concepts they are looking for, they will click on it.

Long tail keywords, containing 3 or 4 keywords or more, is becoming more popular as search engine users move towards longer search queries than was previously the norm. Your keyword orientation is therefore important and ordering your keywords to match popular searches as indicated by a keyword tool is crucial. For example if a popular search term is “bronchitis smoker’s cough” then you should ensure that your title wording follows this order and not “smoker’s bronchitis cough” or “smoker’s cough bronchitis”.

Another important point to bear in mind is that more search engine users now search for information by asking questions. Using a question as your title often performs well but it may not be practical for a title in some instances. You can still score on this search trend by using appropriate subtitles using this question style format. However, if you have a secondary title for your article title, it may also be a good idea to include it under the H1 tag at the beginning of your article.

For example, you are unsure whether your article title should be “Chronic Bronchitis Smoker’s Cough” or “What is Chronic Bronchitis, Smoker’s Cough?”. An option would be to title your article as “Chronic Bronchitis Smoker’s Cough” and then before you start the introduction paragraph, include a subtitle marked as H1 with “What is Chronic Bronchitis, Smoker’s Cough?”. Remember you can only use H1 once in your article so use it carefully, if at all.

You can be more liberal with your use of H2, H3 and so on and use it multiple times in an article. Most writers will not proceed beyond an H4 subtitle heading tag. Do not get carried away with your use of heading tags and only use it when and as necessary. Heading tags will not have the same SEO value as your title or URL although the latter is often not in the control of most content writers.

Apart from the SEO value of subtitles when designated with heading tags, another important aspect of subtitles is that it breaks up your article. Remember that most internet readers do not read but scan an article. If they find the points they are looking for then they are more likely to read the entire article carefully. Subtitles serves this function. It attracts the reader’s attention at a glimpse and tells the reader what aspects of the subject matter are contained within your article. Often a reader will form an opinion about your article just by scanning the subtitles so with medical content, it is important to give your subtitles a professional tone.

You may have noticed that we did not use a single subtitle in this article. The reason for this was to illustrate that it is not necessary to put a subtitle in every article. Don’t force the use of subtitles. Use it appropriately.

Your content is only as good as the site it appears on or the level of SEO. An article ona  strong site will rank well, even without optimization. But on a new or fairly ‘weak’ site the content needs to be fine tuned for maximum SEO capability. There is still much confusion about how SEO content writing differs from traditional content writing. It is not about stuffing your article full of keywords. It’s not just about optimized heading tags and internal linking among articles.

SEO content is so subtly optimized that it does not create for an awkward read for the human user yet achieves the maximum SEO effect.

Keyword Alternation

You may have heard of keyword prevalence and keyword density in SEO content writing but keyword alternation is still fairly unknown among content writers. If you are constructing content and want the maximum keyword density, your content will be of poor quality if you keep repeating the same keyword over and over again.

Let’s look at a simple example where the keywords are ‘dyspnea’ and ‘breathing’.

Dyspnea is any abnormal breathing where there is difficulty upon inhaling or exhaling or related changes in breathing. Dyspnea is also referred to as shortness of breath and a patient with dyspnea will either complain of labored breathing or it will be apparent by the manner in which they are breathing. Other symptoms that may indicate that a patient is suffering with dyspnea includes flaring of the nostrils, shallow or rapid breathing or slow and deep breathing.

As you will notice in this extract of 77 words, the keyword ‘dyspnea’ appears four times giving you a keyword density of 5.2%. The other keyword ‘breathing’ appears 6 times in the 77 word paragraph giving you a keyword density of 7.8%.

This may seem impressive in terms of keyword density for SEO but it does not make for the easiest read among human users. Also remember that when you exceed the 3% to 4% optimum keyword density of SEO purposes, you can get flagged for keyword spamming.

So how do you find a balance between the reader’s needs and those of the search engine while still making for a well written and informative article?

Simply learn to play with your keywords – a technique known as keyword alternation. Here you will look at your primary keywords. In this case it is ‘dyspnea’ and ‘breathing’. Then you will use a keyword tool, like Google Adwords Keyword Tool, to identify synonyms or related terms to your primary keywords. These words are known as your secondary keywords.

Without even using a keyword tool, you will know that ‘dyspnea’ will also refer to ‘shortness of breath’, ‘breathlessness’ and ‘short breath’. With regards to ‘breathing’, you know that terms like ‘respiration’, ‘inhaling’. ‘exhaling and ‘breathe’ are all related. Nevertheless confirm this with the keyword tool to ensure that Google recognizes these symptoms.

Let’s rewrite that paragraph.

Dyspnea is any abnormal breathing where there is difficulty upon inhaling or exhaling or related changes in respiration. A patient experiencing dyspnea, also known as shortness of breath will complain of labored breathing or there will be signs of breathlessness. Some of the other signs and symptoms of dyspnea includes flaring of the nostrils, shallow and rapid or slow and deep breathing.

In this reworked paragraph, the keyword density may have dropped but the SEO potential has increased. It also makes for a well constructed article without being repetitive.

In successive articles, we will discuss other aspects of SEO content writing including :

• Titles, Subtitles and Heading Tags
• Article Layout, Paragraphs and Word Count
• Primary and Secondary Keywords
• Internal and External Links for SEO

If you want your content to be considered as a respected resource on the subject matter, then you need to gain your reader’s trust. This means well constructed content, that is authoritative yet simple to understand. Medical jargon should be limited and if it has to be used, always include a simple definition of the technical term.

Always structure your content plan in point form. Divide it into sections with appropriate subheadings and ask yourself if you are telling the full story as indicated by the title. Before you start writing, ensure that the keyword research that a client provides is relevant or you may have to do the keyword research yourself.

Ensure that you have a firm grasp of all the aspects relating to the content even if you will not mention these points in your article.

Keywords

You can divide your keywords into two types :

• Primary keywords are the main keywords which will be prevalent in your content and your title.
• Secondary keywords are the synonyms and related keywords as understood by the search engines and contains the various terms that readers may use to find and identify the topic. These keywords may also be used in subheadings.

Good content will contain a healthy keyword density without being excessive and ‘spammy’. Your primary and secondary keywords should be alternated throughout the content so that it creates a natural word progression, without making for an awkward read by a human reader.

Your keyword list can be invaluable to the SEO consultant or link negotiator working on the project. It also opens up options for future articles in a series.

Subheadings

Subheadings have multiple benefits :

• It is easy for the reader to identify different and the most pertinent sections of your article. Remember that most online readers tend to scan content until they find a relevant section which they will then read carefully.
• It has SEO value as heading tags (H1, H2, H3 …) which play an important role when optimizing your content.
• It allows you to write your draft and final content according to your content plan.

It may be advisable to insert your subheadings before you even start writing your content on your word processor, blogging software or content management system. This will give your content direction and prevent repetition. It also maintains the appropriate structure of the article.

Grammar, Spelling and Layout

Grammar and spelling errors are the downfall of most writers, even the most experienced. You may be a native English speaker with excellent grammar and spelling but this can be easily lost when writing. Proof read your work multiple times and edit it appropriately. Ask yourself if it makes for an easy read. If not, this may be a grammar issue or a flaw with your article structure,  rather than the topic itself.

Keep a few points in mind for this aspect of your content creation :

• US or UK English.
• Paragraphs shorter than 90 words are ideal for online content. Print content should have shorter paragraphs.
• Never invert a sentence unless you have a point to make.
• Long sentences explain and short sentences make a statement.
• Every sentence should flow into the next, even if two consecutive sentences discuss different points of the same topic.

Quality Medical Content

Well structured medical content will answer at least four of the six possible questions that a reader may have with regards to the title. For example, if your article title is on hypothyroidism, then your article should answer the following :

• What is hypothyroidism?  (DEFINE)
• Where is the thyroid gland located (ANATOMY) and which parts of the body are affected by hypothyroidism (SIGNS & SYMPTOMS)?
• How does hypothyroidism develop (PATHOPHYSIOLOGY)?
• Why does hypothyroidism occur? (CAUSES)
• When does hypothyroidism occur? (RISK & CONTRIBUTING FACTORS)
• Who is prone to developing hypothyroidism? (PREVALENCE/INCIDENCE)

Comprehensive medical content will answer all six questions.

This is a basic approach to writing medical content and if your article follows the recommendations outlined in the two posts on medical content writing, then you can rest assured that you have created quality content.

Medical content does not have to be written by a medical doctor, although this helps. It does, however, require the skill of a writer who is familiar with the basic medical sciences. If a writer lacks a thorough understanding of these concepts, he or she is unlikely to deliver pertinent points to their readers in an easy-to-understand format.

Good medical content, especially that which is written by a practicing health care professional, is often informative yet succinct. The reason for this is that any professional working with patients on a daily basis has an understanding of what information is pertinent for the patient and will relay it in a manner that is simple to comprehend for the average reader who is not medically inclined.

An Approach to Medical Writing

What are you writing?

You can divide your average medical content into clinical writing and consumer writing.

The concept of consumer writing is simple. Here you are writing content for the consumer market – informing, educating and advising consumers on health related matters. This is not about marketing a product or service or writing press releases. A serious and ethical medical writer usually does not offer product review and press release writing services, which often falls into the arena of copy writing. Consumer writing nevertheless does make mention of products or services but in a manner that is educational, not promotional.

Clinical writing, not technical writing for medical professionals, is about creating content for readers in a manner that is educational and informative but also helpful. Internet readers are constantly searching for information on health care – whether it is on health products or medical information – to allow them to understand their condition or make a crude diagnosis.

While some readers are quite ‘clued up’ about their ailment or have a basic understanding about their disease, most readers still lack the knowledge to effectively comprehend medical information. This is where the skill of a clinical medical writer comes in.

Target Market

Who are you writing for?

Always understand your target market. If you are writing for medical students and doctors then medical jargon and technical information is necessary and appreciated. This is technical writing and not clinical, nor consumer writing.

But most writers are constructing content for lay people – the average Joe. Assess your topic carefully. Who will find this information pertinent? Who will be searching for this information? What does the reader want to know or gain from the article?

As a writer, you always have a goal or objective – inform, educate and/or advise. Understanding who it is that you are writing for will allow you to construct your content appropriately.

Medical Content Structure

Where do you start?

Start at the beginning with your 5W’s and 1H – what, where, why, when, who and how.

In most medical content, you will begin with the ‘what’ and then progress from there depending on which aspects are relevant. The ‘what’ defines the concept that is to be explained and outlines the theme of the article. It is always your starting point, unless you need to approach the content from a specific angle.

Simply, the 5W’s and 1H of writing can be deciphered in the following manner in medical writing.

• What = Definition. Introduction.
• Where  = Anatomy. Signs and symptoms.
• How =Pathophysiology.
• Why = Causes.
• When = Duration of condition. Risk or contributing factors.
• Who = Prevalence and/or incidence.

In part 2, you will learn how to layout your draft and construct your final content which is search engine optimized.