The medical industry has become highly competitive. Patients now have a choice in where they go for their healthcare. They expect their providers to treat them well, to offer state-of-the-art medical equipment, a friendly staff, and a powerful web presence. When someone is looking for a provider online, how do they know to select you over the competition? What are you doing to stand apart from them? How are you attracting patients to your site rather than theirs? These are key questions you should know the answer to if you want to get an edge on the competition.
One of the first things you should look at is your web presence. It is wise to compare your presence with that of your competition. Figure out what areas of your website need work. Perhaps there are some things that the competition is doing well that you could implement too? What can you do that they have not yet started? It is always nice to be the first to offer something in a community, so if you have an opportunity to do this, jump on it. If you are unsure how to start, MindStream Creative offers a complimentary website analysis that will give you some valuable feedback into your website.
The next thing you should measure is how you rank online. The website analysis mentioned above should have provided some areas to get better traction online. Next you want to look at how your website is optimized for search engines. If you have not had this done before, it is well worth the investment. Search engine optimization involves re-writing your website content both on page and off, so that it contains specific keywords that are used in patient searches. For example, if you offer breast augmentation, you will not only want to list this keyword phrase, but also breast implants. There are many companies that provide search engine optimization services. Often times, website development companies offer this service as an extra. Be sure to check around to ensure the company you are considering can prove their results.
Blogs are one of the best ways to get found online. Search engines prefer sites that are updated frequently and blogs allow you to do just that. Blogs are articles that are written on topics that are relevant to your practice and specialty. They should be written at least twice a month to be effective. If you can manage to write once a week, that is even better! Just like your website content, your blog content should also be optimized for search engines. One of the biggest reasons blogs fail is because of the time commitment. If you do not have the time and cannot get the rest of your team involved in the process, consider hiring someone to manage it for you.
Taking a look at how you can get better found online and stand apart from the competition is an important part of any marketing strategy. Consumers are using the Internet more and more frequently to make health care related decisions. Just as it is important to have a tidy office, so to is it important to have a professional web presence.