Ten years ago, on 15 August 2011, we posted a blog on our website entitled “To screen or not to screen? That is the question!” Little did I realise I was embarking on an odyssey that would take me all over the world, exploring topics on breast imaging. Today marks ten years during which we have published a blog every Friday without skipping a single week! That comes to a grand total of 521 stories, the extra one because in 2016 there were 53 Fridays.
In mid-2011, we contacted Philip van Zyl, who was running a company called Get Social Media, to provide us with guidance on CapeRay’s online marketing strategy, and he recommended a regular blog to draw traffic to our site. The word “blog” is a portmanteau, made up from “web” and “log” and has been in use for 25 years. We decided to employ one of three different themes – thought leadership, a summary of industry news, or company news – for each week’s story.
Our blog has the identical look and feel as our website, thus maintaining the continuity of our brand. The format is deliberately consistent – 400 words, 5 paragraphs plus two or three accompanying images, and can be read in less than five minutes. There are embedded hyperlinks to other sites that open in a separate tab, enabling the reader to explore a topic in greater depth. Over the past decade we have celebrated key successes, including the award of a United States patent, the publication of a breakthrough paper about our dual-modality Aceso system, and securing ISO 13485 certification.
The blogs always appear on a Friday, wherever I am in the world, so there have been a few interesting challenges. On 6 July 2018, my wife Joan and I were on vacation on Fair Isle – a remote island off the east coast of Scotland (seen above left) – and I had to wait for the electricity to be switched on at 7:00 am before my blog on reducing breast density could be posted!
A year later, on 19 July 2019, we were on a cruise with our daughter and her family and had to wait for our boat to dock in Miami before I could connect to the internet and send out my blog about hand-held ultrasound. So, after a decade of blogs, you might well ask: Has it been worth the effort? I would answer “yes,” that I’ve learned a great deal about a range of topics, and I have enjoyed sharing these stories with people around the world.
I’ve really enjoyed following these blogs for the last 10 years.
Congratulations, Kit and CapeRay! Your blogs are always interesting. Thank you!
Having a company email address, I spend a good few moments deleting clutter every Monday morning. I have never found it within myself to delete a “Kit” blog out of hand. They wait for tea time and usually get a bit of attention, often forwarded to colleagues where the subject may be of interest. I believe that the advice you took on Blogging has served the company well and I look forward to another decade of blogs.
George Christian
Southern Africa Representative
Hamamatsu Photonics UK Limited.
Hi Ben, Jo and George
Many thanks to the three of you for the positive feedback! I have enjoyed writing all these blogs, mostly because I am obliged to read up — and understand! — topics that are new to me.
All the best
Kit