Your chiropractic blog can be used for several purposes, and you don’t have to choose just one. You can use your blog to interact with your current patients, to educate potential new patients, to help build links back to your website, to have another piece of virtual real estate in the rankings, or even to make some extra income.

Since we do need to remain professional and we have the liability of recommending health products to our patients (and just web searchers in general), a disclaimer and choosing your products carefully are a must. You likely also will need to disclose that you will make money if they buy the product.

I’m not suggesting that you get into the habit of just pushing any possible product that comes your way, but you can profit from recommending products that you already strongly believe in. Recommending the product versus stocking the product in your office has some advantages.

I’ve never liked my front desk area looking like a general store. I have a few items up there that we sell regularly, but it’s more to make it convenient for the patient rather than to generate a ton of income. I don’t like my patients feeling like I’m selling to them.

For that reason alone, you won’t see my push or sell any multi-level marketing product, even though I use some of those products myself. I want to maintain the trust I have with my patients – and that means recommending things I strongly believe in and not trying to squeeze out every last penny out of every patient that walks through the door.

So if you find a product that you really like, do an online search with the product name plus the word “affiliate.” You may also try the product name with the word “partner” or “associate” to see if any programs exist. Many sellers offer programs that allow you to simply place a link on your site recommending the product.

Then, if the searcher clicks on your link and buys the product, you get a commission for that sale. No product to stock, no customer service, no dealing with returns or shipping. If all else fails, you can simply sign up at Amazon.com for an associate account. Every single product on Amazon’s site can be promoted and can earn you commissions.

Everything from exercise equipment to books that you wish your patients would read. Since promoting products may not be the main purpose of your blog, you can just do the promotions on occasion or just set up a page of “recommended resources” that has a list of stuff you like.

Just one more thing to consider. It may not be enough income to retire on, but it can be enough extra income to pay for more marketing, more office help, or just lunch.