Online Marketing
Three Ways to Increase Your Practice’s Online Visibility
Sep 7th
Making sure your practice stands apart from other practices in your area goes beyond delivering great customer service and having an attractive website. When patients are searching for information about treatments and procedures that you offer, you need to make sure that your practice gets noticed and prompts a phone call or the completion of an online form. An eye-catching website is an important part of your online marketing strategy, but it?s not the only element to focus on.
Here are just three ways to increase your practice’s online visibility:
1. Promote special offers for new patients. Don’t be afraid to extend a discount or special offer to new patients. Many prospective patients are very price-conscientious, so a special deal on something they are interested in will help to pique their interest and increase the chances of booking a consultation. Promote these offers on your online profile pages and on your website.
2. List your practice on major directories. Generate more interest in your services, procedures and treatments by making sure you have a highly-visible placement on a major physician or surgeon directory. These directories attract highly-targeted traffic every day, and can help you get noticed by patients who are looking for exactly what you have to offer.
3. Stay active on Twitter and Facebook. Social networking tools are only effective when you engage with your community and followers regularly. If you want your social networking efforts to pay off, you have to stay active and provide insights, news and quality updates. If you decide to use Twitter and Facebook, make sure you have the resources to stay active for the long-term.
3 Ways to Increase Patient Conversions Online
Jul 21st
Attracting more traffic to your website doesn’t always translate into booking more appointments for consultations.
Many plastic surgeons, dentists, chiropractors and medical professionals with beautiful websites and profile pages find that they are generating lots of traffic, but can’t seem to get their visitors to submit contact information for an appointment.
First impressions are essential for converting traffic into patients, and there are several things you can do to make the patient feel confident that you are the doctor of medical professional they should seek treatment from.
Here are just three things you can do to increase patient conversions online:
1. Make sure your contact information is visible on every page. Put your phone number, e-mail address or a contact form within easy reach so that patients who are ready to make that consultation appointment can do so within seconds. Patients who need to “dig” for this information may simply get fed up and leave the site. Make it as easy as possible for the patient to get in touch with you.
2. Provide educational content for patients who are doing research. Establish yourself as an authority in your niche and build confidence in the patient by providing articles or blog posts that describe various treatments you offer. This type of content can help develop trust and make you stand apart from your competitors.
3. Offer discounts and special offers regularly. Prospective patients who are still deciding whether or not to pursue treatment because of the price may be more interested in your services when there is a discount or special offer available. Take the time to come up with several different offers that you rotate throughout the year so that patients will choose you over a competitor when making their final decision.
Best Practices for Promoting Your Services on Twitter
Jul 14th
If you’re one of the hundreds of physicians, dentists or medical professionals with a Twitter account, you may already have found effective ways to reach out to your patients and prospective clients. Twitter is a popular micro-blogging tool that allows you to post short updates called “tweets” and attract “Followers” who are interested in keeping up with your latest posts.
Businesses across all industries are now able to market to their target market in a fresh new way, but it’s important that you understand how Twitter works, and what your patients are expecting, before you post. Here are just some best practices when promoting your services on Twitter:
1. Make sure your profile description is thorough and complete. Be sure to fill in all the fields available with your website URL, and a brief description of your practice or services. If your Twitter account is public, many people will be able to find you simply based on the words you use in your profile description.
2. Stay active to attract more followers. In order to attract followers that could become patients, you need to understand the dynamics of the Twitter relationship. People who follow your updates on Twitter will pay attention to you when you are posting timely, relevant and unique posts and links. Avoid “spamming” your followers with specials on services. Focus on providing important information, links about different treatments available, and a special offer here and there for balance.
3. Promote your Twitter account on your own marketing materials. Encourage current and future patients to follow you on Twitter by attaching your Twitter handle to your e-mail signature, posting a link on your website, and dropping your Twitter handle in any blog posts or online discussion groups you participate in. This will make it much easier for people to track you down on Twitter and follow you automatically.
Free Tools for Monitoring Your Practice’s Brand Reputation Online
Jun 16th
Years ago, the only way you would know if one of your patients or clients was satisfied with a treatment, or had a complaint about a recent visit was if they contacted you directly via a letter, phone call or email.
Today, many patients turn to the Internet to share their opinions and comments with friends, family members and the world at large. Review sites and blogs have made it incredibly easy for anyone to publicly post their experience with you and your office within minutes.
Last week, we discussed ways to handle negative comments about your practice, and outlined some specific strategies that can help you continue to attract and retain clients. Since many online conversations happen without your consent, you also need a brand reputation monitoring strategy so that you can respond as quickly as possible.
One of the easiest ways to monitor reviews or posts about your practice is to set up a Google Alert on your company name, physicians and other medical practitioners. Google Alerts provide you with email updates on the latest Google search results based on the keywords you request. You can set up alerts that are delivered to you as they appear, once a day, or once a week. The alert goes straight to your inbox, and can make it easier for you and your office to keep tabs on what is being posted online at any given time.
Patients who maintain a blog, or individuals that post on other people’s blogs regularly may be leaving comments about their experience at your practice, or sharing information about a particular procedure. Backtype is a free service for monitoring blog comments. You can track where and how people are linking to your website, and follow those links to post a response when needed.
Services like BoardTrackers.com also allow you set up alerts on certain words and phrases, except this search is a little more comprehensive and keeps track of mentions across forums and discussion groups.
Again, keeping up with these posts puts you in a more powerful position because it gives you the chance to provide a professional response.
Next week, we’ll discuss some other tools and services that can help you monitor your brand reputation online…
Five Minute Marketing Checklist for Promoting Your Practice Online
Jun 2nd
Have you set goals for marketing your practice online? Do you have a marketing strategy, or are you trying different advertising and marketing campaigns to attract more patients this season? Knowing how to market your practice online and achieving the results you want often requires putting together a plan that will connect you to the right patients.
Having a website, running banner ads or sending out direct marketing materials is no longer enough. Your prospective patients are using several online tools and search engines to track you down, so you need to take steps to ensure you?re front and center, wherever they go. Here’s a five-minute marketing checklist to help you get started:
Does your online marketing strategy enable you to:
1. Establish you as an authority in your specialty? Are you providing website visitor with fresh content, blogging about your industry or sending out press releases that position you as an authority? If not, consider ways that you can become more active online.
2. Provide you with a high return on investment? Are you investing your marketing dollars in the right areas? What type of return on investment (ROI) are you getting? Make sure you’re investing in tools and strategies that provide you with trackable results.
3. Build a database of current and prospective patients? From email newsletters to Twitter followers, an effective marketing strategy will put hundreds, even thousands of current and prospective patients at your fingertips. If you’re not actively building this list, you may be missing out on the chance to book dozens of appointments and consultations each month.
Consider all of the ways you are connecting with patients with your online marketing strategy.
If you can’t answer ‘yes’ to the three questions above, it may be time to revamp your practice marketing strategy and focus on efforts that will maximize your ROI and keep your appointment books full.
Ways to Help New Patients Schedule a Consultation
May 5th
Attracting high-quality traffic to your website and Profile page increase the chances of booking more consultations, but what does it take for a lead to turn into an actual patient?
More often than not, the prospective patient has found your website or page after doing a basic search on the major search engines. They may be looking for a very specific procedure, your practice in particular, or conducting a general search to compare different doctors in their area.
Whatever the case may be, there are certain things you can do to prompt the prospect to book a consultation. Here are some effective ways to help new patients schedule a consultation:
1. Keep your website content well-organized. Prospective patients should be able to learn about your practice and available procedures within a few minutes. Make sure that all of the content is easy to read and understand — ideally, it should be readable “at a glance”. Update your site or page regularly with fresh content so that existing patients always have a reason to keep up with you. This can prompt a referral, or even encourage another appointment. More >
PracticeDock Rebranded Solutions Make Practice Marketing Simple
Apr 29th
We’re excited to announce that PracticeDock has rebranded its suite of products.
All of our online marketing tools and solutions now have a new look, and you can get started with any and all of our tools within a few clicks.
If you want to give your existing website a makeover, or want a fresh new custom website, take a look at what WebSiteDOCK (formerly FlexMD) can do for you. Our simple solution turns your website into a powerful marketing tool, giving you the freedom to edit pages 24/7 using a simple interface, optimizing all of your pages for search engines using our exclusive SEO Tuner, and providing you with comprehensive reports.
Many of our physicians, dentists and medical practitioners are also taking advantage of CallTrackDOCK (formerly FlexPhonePlus). This call-tracking product helps you train office staff and also tracks which advertising and marketing methods are actually working for you.
When you’re to attract more high quality traffic to your website, we’ve found that many of our clients benefit from a targeted pay-per-click advertising campaign. PPCDock (formerly FlexPPC) will put your practice exactly where prospective clients are searching. This tool allows you to determine which online traffic is converting to leads. It’s one of the most effective online marketing tools available, and will help patients find you within seconds on the major search engines.
EducationDock (formerly FlexContent) is your solution for keeping your site full of high-quality information, and educating patients prior to their consultation or appointment. We have animation libraries for plastic surgeons, dermatologists, orthopedic surgeons, spine surgeons and hair restoration doctors. And, we can customize the videos with your practice logos and colors so it looks professional.
Need more information? Let us help you find the best solution for your practice!
Tips for Maintaining a Professional Blog for Your Practice
Apr 21st
Posting regularly to your practice blog can help keep patients informed about the latest procedures, allow you to share insights about the industry, and help you develop a professional online presence.
If you want to attract high-quality traffic, there are some specific things you can do when creating your blog posts. Here are some essential tips for maintaining a professional blog for your practice:
Start by looking at the traffic logs of your website. You?ll soon discover dozens of keywords or key phrases that people have used to get there. This data can help you create more content based on what people are already searching for. The more content you have in these areas, the better your chances of achieving a higher ranking on the major search engines. Narrow down your list of keywords to about 15 to 20 when you begin blogging, and start writing blog posts around these topics or phrases.
Make sure you narrow down your focus to practice-specific procedures, treatments and services. Write a blog post about just a single procedure or treatment, rather than a general post that features more than a handful of treatments. Narrowing down your focus to a single topic offers SEO benefits, and also makes it easier for the patient to learn something new. More >
Easy Ways to Stay in Touch with Current Patients Online
Apr 14th
Patients undergoing a series of treatments at your practice, or those that have expressed interest in additional procedures, need to be a part of your ongoing marketing campaign.
You’ve worked hard to attract these qualified prospects, and your online marketing strategy can work to retain these patients for months, even years after their first procedure. Staying in touch with your patients is one of the easiest ways to increase your chance of getting a referral — and even booking another treatment.
Since many clients in your patient base are already using online social networking tools, including Facebook and Twitter, establish a presence on these sites to stay connected. When you make it easy for current patients to engage in online conversations with you (or your practice), it becomes that much easier to market new services and promote your practice. Today’s social networking tools allow you to execute pressure-free marketing campaigns — the types of campaigns that can increase your online visibility, educate your patients, and make you an authority in your niche. More >
Six Reasons to Use Twitter to Market Your Practice Online
Apr 7th
Twitter is a micro-blogging tool, one of several social media applications that makes it easier than ever to communicate with prospective patients, other doctors and industry professionals.
The growth of Twitter in the past few years has enabled thousands of businesses to tap into a whole new pool of prospects. When you start using Twitter to market your practice online, you can start attracting a steady stream of new clients and prospects – without paying a penny.
Here are just six reasons to use Twitter to market your practice online:
1. Increase visibility. You may have an attractive practice website, and are posting to a blog on a regular basis, but you can generate even more interest from tech-savvy patients and potential clients with a Twitter presence and profile. Increase your online visibility by setting up a professional Twitter profile, and post updates about your practice’s treatments, industry news, or links to your blog posts so that more patients can find you.
2. Announce special offers and discounts. If you need to generate more business during a slow period, you can send out a Twitter-only special to attract more patients. You can post a special link to an offer page on your website, or introduce a discount code that patients must use when they contact your practice for a consultation. More >
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