Blog about knee pain confirms blogging remains relevant

Are blogs still relevant? It’s a question that comes up a lot given the popularity of other social media these days. Blogging is alive and well, though, as demonstrated by “Knee Pain News”—which has won first place in the “Blog” category of Ragan’s 2017 PR Daily Awards.

Created by Merryman Communications for Active Implants, which develops orthopedic implant solutions, the blog was designed to drive traffic to the clinical trial portion of the Active Implants website, as well as to improve organic search results and spark engagement on social media. 

The blog was developed to identify candidates for two clinical trials for a medical first—an artificial meniscus that will reduce knee pain and help sufferers avoid knee replacement surgery. After identifying the search keywords that would drive traffic to an online resource, a blog was chosen as the best solution, given that it would be updated regularly, a key to high search rankings. 

Launched in June 2016, “Knee Pain News” targeted knee pain sufferers aged 35-75 who live in cities near where clinical trials were being conducted. The blog adheres to modern web design standards with large, clickable images. The posts are also optimized for search. The blog led to an increase in site visits of nearly 300 percent, and visits to clinical trial sites rose just under 100 percent. Posts to the blog were promoted heavily via social media, which proved particularly effective. 

Kudos to Adam Klyce, Betsy Merryman, Joni Ramirez, Stephanie Holbrook, Krista Coriaty, Alex Embry and German Martinez.