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Using the Internet in your practice. Part 1: Why social media are important and how to get started
A few free or low-cost strategies can help you add new patients every day
3. In-bound links: Who’s linking to you?
As the search engine crawlers scan Web pages for indexing, they also look for links from other Web sites. The greater number of quality in-bound links a Web site has, the stronger influence or authority it accrues.
In-bound links are weighted differently: a link from a highly authoritative Web site like NYTimes.com will give a Web site a bigger boost than a link from a small blog site. Links from high-ranking sites, such as city directories, hospitals, and online medical directories, improve your Web-site ranking. You should be submitting your Web site address and keyword description to these appropriate directories for in-bound links on a weekly or monthly basis.
4. Develop new content by blogging
Search engines place a high value on new content, and the easiest way to add new keyword-related content is to blog. Writing a 400-word keyword–relevant blog on a regular basis will provide the search engine crawlers with new content to graze.
As an added bonus, there are many medical ezines—small magazines and newsletters distributed by any electronic method—that regularly need content. Publication of your blog article will provide additional back-links to your Web site and improve your SEO rankings. This is your opportunity to go “viral,” have your material read by thousands, and increase visits to your Web site. When your name appears on multiple sites, you create the perception of demonstrating your expertise in various topics, techniques, and therapeutic options.
5. Search engines love social media
Newer technologies are given greater weight in determining Web page ranking. Start with blogging and then add Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Always remember to link from these sites with relevant keywords to the exact page on your site that contains the best information for those keywords.
Advertise your practice using PPC (Google AdWords)
Google, Yahoo, and other Internet portals make their money by selling advertisements on search-results pages. Both paid and organic listings appear on the search results pages, but they are displayed in different locations. On Google, PPC listings are found on the top and right side of each page under the header “Ads” (FIGURE 1). The organic or natural search (no payment required) is on the left below the ads.
Figure 1 PPC placement on Google
On Google, the PPC function is called “AdWords” (http://www.google.com/adwords). On the AdWords page, a listing is found that offers how many times people type in certain words or phrases—keywords. Google AdWords allows the marketplace to bid on keywords; the higher the bid, the closer to the top position on the first page of the Google search results. Depending on monthly search volume, popularity, and competition, you can pay anywhere from pennies to $25 each time a Web surfer clicks on your ad. In FIGURE 2, you can see that a suggested bid for “Gynecologist Miami” is $2.96.
Figure 2: Google AdWords account page
You must constantly monitor and manage your AdWords account. Test different landing pages, adjust your copy, and change offerings to make sure you are converting your paid traffic to patients. Otherwise, you can spend hundreds of dollars each month without achieving the desired outcome.
By doing your own research with Google AdWords’ keyword planner, you will see the variations of keywords that you can use in the copy of your Web site and related content for organic SE
Patient conversion: Your ultimate goal
Google is only one piece of the Internet marketing puzzle. Once you have invested in mastering the SEO rankings (by doing it yourself or by paying for professional help), it’s up to your Web site to convert the visitor to a paying patient. To maximize your return on investment (ROI), implement marketing strategies and a patient conversion system on your Web site. When a prospective patient lands there, you have less than 10 seconds to engage her. In Part 1of this series, we discuss features that will keep your visitor involved while she navigates the site and make it easy for her to make an appointment. Don’t lose her because she can’t find your contact information hidden at the bottom of the page.2
If you don’t want to spend the time and effort to do it yourself, outsourcing is a cost-effective solution, and a trackable and measurable way for you to calculate your ROI.
Bottom line: Be seen on the Internet. We are all connected to the Internet every waking moment. This is where we go for information; this is how we communicate with each other; and this is where we create relationships. If you want to build your practice, you have to be where your patient can find you—on the top of an Internet search results page.
