Whether your medical practice is new or you have been in your local community for decades, you can certainly benefit from a great Website. Your Website is a great way for individuals to find out about you and have their basic questions answered no matter what time of day or night it is. They will be able to learn about what services you provide, who your staff members are, what insurance you offer and what you require on patient intake forms. However, if you are struggling to get the word out about your Website, you are not alone. Until your Website catches on, you may struggle with only a few hits per day, and your patients may be missing out on many of the great services that you can offer them online from the comfort of their own homes. Here are a few great ways that you can promote your practice Website, no matter what budget you have.
Use Branding
Your Website should be easy to recognize and should be distinctly set apart from your competitors’ sites. Using your signature emblem, colors and tag phrases will help customers recognize your Website when they come across it. Branding can also be used in email and text messages to get patients to click to your site.
Improve Search Engine Results
If you want your Website to show up on Google, Bing or other popular search engines, you will need to submit your site to the directory for indexing. This is typically a free service and is particularly important to do if your Website is being constantly updated with new content. You will also need to focus on search engine optimization tactics to get your practice to show up high in search results.
Promote on Google Local Business
However, you should be most interested in attracting local traffic because these are the people who will be most likely to use your practice. Google Local Business lets you submit your Website information as well as advertisements, pictures and other marketing tools to their directory where it will be shown at the top of search engine listings for your local audience.
Budget for Pay-per-Click
Pay-per-click advertisements can be used throughout the Internet to attract new patients to your practice. Your advertisement will show up as a header or a sidebar on desired Websites. Every time your advertisement leads to a click, you will be charged. You can choose specific keyword phrases for when your advertisement will show up to limit your audience to those most apt to use your practice.
Use Social Media
If you do not already have your medical practice on top social media sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, now is the time to start. Millennials are particularly tuned in to these sites and may be the most apt to notice your practice if they see sponsored advertisements from your site on their feeds. Load your social media pages with helpful information that will lead individuals to click over to your Website.
Increase Email Marketing
Email marketing is helpful for getting your practice in front of people’s eyes multiple times. The more that people hear about a certain site, the greater their likelihood to click over to it is. You may want to try this with new and prior patients alike. Be sure to fill your emails with helpful or fun tools that will make your practice memorable and get them to click. For example, you may want to try contests, blog posts and discounts.
Publish Content Frequently
You may find more interested Website visitors if you regularly publish and update blog posts. However, make sure that your posts are offering quality information that is different from the rest of the options currently available and that target your desired demographic. Keep content fresh and applicable, and link to your blog from your social media platforms.
Offer Handy Patient Tools
Finally, your Website should host helpful tools for your patients’ use. You should be sure to include links to patient forms, insurance information and treatment tips. You may also want to provide fun options, such as quizzes, symptom checkers and online appointment scheduling through your interface. These options will help you to attract a wide range of age groups.
If you are a small medical practice working within a tiny budget, you may only want to try one or two of these options at a time. If you are unsure which ones generate the best ROI, consult a medical marketing company such as Solution21. As you begin to build up your business, attract new patients and find a larger budget, you will find that you can go all out on promoting your website and recruiting new and returning patients this way. Always be sure to keep up-to-date information online, and regularly manage and update your site for the most professional appearance.