Starting a blog as a Physiotherapist: What you need to know

Back in 2021, on one particularly cold winter morning in January,  I thought to myself “huh! What if I start a blog!” As exciting as that thought was, in the next moment I was ready to give up on it because I had no idea how to start a blog, and also I was far from being tech-savvy! So, here is the story of how I went from technophobic to tech-savvy enough to build and manage my own website completely by myself. Hint: It isn’t as difficult as it sounds. 

Coming from a medical background we have very little technical knowledge. Before I started PT Career Paths, all I knew was how to use my phone and make a sloppy PPT for class presentation! No wonder why starting a blog felt like an impossible mountain to climb. But here is the thing, willingness to learn, changes everything! Today let’s address some common questions about starting a blog as a physiotherapist.  

What are some of the Pros and Cons of starting a blog?

Pros

You develop your online presence: If you want to establish yourself as an expert, building an online presence around a particular niche is essential. As you set out to help people, you learn a lot over the period of time about your niche. By becoming an authority in your niche, you become a go-to source for your readers. 

You get to meet new people: Starting a blog as a physiotherapist is one of the greatest ways to meet like-minded physiotherapists. You will meet PTs who are creators just like you besides your readers who will reach out to you for more support. 

Down the road, you can monetize your blog: Although not right away, blogs become a good secondary source of income. There are several ways you can monetize your blog: Creating a product or service, affiliate partnerships, paid ads, and speaking opportunities are just some ways to monetize your blog. 

Cons

You are in it for the long haul: Blogging is a marathon, not a sprint! When it comes to posting online and creating a community, consistency is key! You need to show up every week for your audience, no matter rain or shine! And there is no other way around it.

When going solo, you may feel like spinning multiple plates at a time: I can tell you this from first-hand experience. When it comes to a blog there are several moving parts. From writing a blog post, editing, and publishing it to managing social media and answering your reader’s questions. This can be a lot of work and you will need to be disciplined about how you use your time. 

It is not a solution to make fast money: Yes, I talked about monetizing your blog earlier, but I want to be clear and say it won’t happen overnight. For me, it took more than a year to monetize my blog. And for over a year, I kept showing up although I wasn’t making any money! It takes time, planning, and consistent work to even begin to consider making income from your blog.

Can I outsource setting up and designing my website? 

It is totally up to you. Here is my take on it. I set up my own website from scratch without outsourcing it to anybody. However, I am not sure if that is the only way to go. If you have a budget, you can get your website made and designed by an outside contractor. That will save you some time and energy. 

Although, plus side of doing everything from scratch is that I know my website inside out. Many times if I notice something not working well, I can work on the backend of the website and fix that without running around and asking for help! 

How long it takes to start a blog as a physiotherapist?

I am going to state the timeline for myself. These timelines can vary vastly for each individual based on how they do things. 

It took me a week to learn about the basics of starting a website, another week to set up my newsletter, and one more week to design my website. Note that I was just working an average of 4 hours per day. 

But as I said earlier, blogging is a marathon, not a sprint. You are in it for the long haul. Hence, just setting up and designing a website is not enough. It is everyday work. Here are some of my weekly tasks around my blog: 

• Publishing an article and everything that goes behind it such as writing and editing. 
• Writing and scheduling weekly email newsletter.
• Managing social media, promotions
• Understanding more about different career paths for physiotherapists and how to go about it  (after all this is what I teach). 
• Learning new things that can include technical stuff, marketing, social media, and business principles to name a few. 
• Backend work for the blog. For example Updating the website, designing a sales page, tracking metrics, etc. 

In addition to that, I am also working on designing and developing some more offers for my readers. 

What are the helpful resources when it comes to starting a blog as a physiotherapist? 

Starting and running a blog as a physiotherapist involves a lot of learning. But when you learn bit by bit every day, it is not overwhelming. Here are some of the resources I found useful in my journey: 

Therapyblogging 101 (Save 15%)

This is an online course created by 2 therapists, Meredith and Chanda, who also run successful blogs. In the course, you will learn step-by-step processes and strategies to start and monetize your own blog. I took this course back in April 202. And I found it to be immensely helpful and totally worth my money. 

The course is divided into 3 modules:

• Module 1: Creating your strategy and plan

• Module 2: Setting up and growing your blog

• Module 3: Monetizing your website

If you are like me, you will absolutely love these bonuses!

• Bonus 1: Let’s talk legalities

• Bonus 2: Creating online courses

• Bonus 3: Dealing with the ever-changing technology

When you enroll using my link, you get 15% off!

Apart from this youtube has been the biggest teacher. Recently I really started enjoying podcasts. Some of my favorite business/productivity podcasts are: 

• Goal digger by Jenna Kutcher 
• Being boss by Emily Thompson
• Deep dive by Ali Abdal 
• Online marketing made easy by Amy Porterfield

Additionally, I finished an SEO certification course by Hubspot. Currently, I am enrolled in some online courses to learn new things

Please know that I have been doing this for over 18 months now. You don’t have to learn and do everything at once. Start slow and go as you can. perseverence is the key to success!