This is the second blog in our marketing series that we’re sharing with you – the first was on how to utilize Google to grow your business – and we hope our latest tips will help to enhance and simplify your digital marketing strategies.
While Universal Office puts ease into maintaining patient files and managing documentation, it’s important for your practice management efforts to include marketing as a way to gain new patients. The abundance of advertising choices can be overwhelming. But believe it or not, one of your most valuable marketing assets is right at your fingertips: your website. Your online presence is more than a place to showcase information about your practice and services. It’s the face of your business, and when done well, can leave a positive first impression.
A website for your practice may already exist, but are you maximizing its potential? Here are five ways you can start making your site work for you.
1. Integrate SEO.
Most consumers looking to the internet to find businesses trust search engines to provide the sources they need. That’s why search engine optimization, known as SEO, has the power to put your practice on the digital map. And while it’s still important to incorporate keywords throughout the content of your website, SEO is so much more than what your readers can actually see.
Beyond quality content, technical SEO is just as important when it comes to maximizing your ranking ability. Site crawlers like SEMrush will provide an SEO audit, alerting you on issues like missing title tags, slow page load speed, or missing meta descriptions.
Giving attention to both the front end and back end of your website will boost your online presence – increasing your traffic and patients.
2. Invest in higher-quality content.
Does your home page provide a clear call to action? Potential patients should not have to click or scroll to understand exactly what services you offer, and why they should choose your practice. Beyond your home page, use your website as a platform for authority. A blog is a great way to create a voice around your industry expertise, a place where you can share the latest news and updates with your current customers and future patients.
The content of your site should be clear, easy to digest and error-free – solidifying your practice as a trusted facility.
3. Prioritize the user experience.
You want potential patients to stay on your website for as long as possible. To do this, it needs to be easy to navigate – on both desktop and mobile screens.
Simplify the layout, incorporate photos and graphics to draw the eye, provide a page for frequently asked questions, and most important, make it easy to become a patient.
4. Simplify the next step.
You did it – you have successfully given a potential patient the information they needed to choose your practice. Now what? The next steps need to be as simple as opening the door to your facility.
Every possible way of communicating with your practice should never be more than a click away. Provide multiple forms of contact including a phone number, email, location address with a map, easy directions, and links to your social media platforms.
Create a page dedicated to appointment requests. And even better, lead capture efforts provide potential patients with incentives to submit a contact-us form, send an email, or call. Offers like free consultation, free medical tests or complimentary health guides are great ways to gather patient email addresses and provide a great excuse for your practice to follow up.
5. Showcase patient reviews.
When it comes to health and wellness, consumers take their decisions seriously – as they should. So instead of making them search for reviews of your facility, provide them on your website. A testimonial section is a great way to showcase your practice as a trusted healthcare source.
Going above and beyond the basic website is like going above and beyond with customer service. Put your visitors first by making it easy to find, easy to navigate, and easy to take the next steps in becoming a patient.
