These days good visibility, as a business, means having a strong, attractive online presence that potential patients can explore, analyse and compare with competing businesses. Here’s why it’s really important to create a quality online presence that potential patients will appreciate, and promote it to the right audience.
Reason number one – Your competitors are already doing it
The first reason to embrace digital marketing to build your online presence is that the majority of your competitors are already doing it. Patients are more likely to choose a clinic with a strong, visible online presence over one that doesn’t. When looking to make a booking, patients want to find a clinic with a strong, visible online record of patient feedback in order to make a decision that’s right for them.
Why you need a hard-working website
In order to reach patients, it’s important to have a website. It’s important to make sure that your website has the key information necessary to help patients make a decision. Make sure that your website…
- Displays patient feedback to reassures patients that you’re an expert, and that they’ll have a positive experience coming to you
- Helps to build trust with patients by introducing your staff, revealing your clinic mission
- Reveals your Unique Selling Points (USPs), the things that set you apart from competitors
- Provides clear business, location and contact details
Every good website is mobile friendly, displaying perfectly on screens of every size. It’s important to frequently update your website with fresh content and reviews to show you’re a thriving business. And, of course, people need to know practical things like your opening and closing times, weekend hours, all the services you provide. If a patient or prospective patient could possibly want to know it, you should include it on your website.
Why you need to get involved with social media
Once you have your website established, it’s important to work on building your social media presence to help give further visibility to the great work your team is doing and better engage with patients. It’s probable that your competitors are doing exactly that, placing their brand in front of potential patients and clients on a regular basis, engaging with a growing audience, interacting with people to answer their questions and being proactive in promoting their best bits to the wider world.
It’s also important to consider what platform your patients are most likely to be. Older generations tend to be on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn while younger generations tend to be on Instagram and Facebook. Consider the type of messaging on these platforms, and make sure you’re continuing to highlight your USPs, like great patient feedback, in the content you share.
Why SEO matters to every medical practice
Imagine a person needs a dentist, doctor or expert private help from another kind of medical practitioner. Their first step is probably to search online. They might be interested in medical tourism or want to find a quality medical professional close to home. Either way, unless your website has been created with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind, people will probably struggle to find you. If they don’t find you, they’ll find a competitor and go there instead.
In order to give your clinic visibility, it’s important to make sure your website content is optimised for organic search. An easy way to do this is to consider what your patients would be searching for to find your clinic. If they’re searching for “dentist near me” make sure you have your location clearly labelled on your website. If they’re searching for “dermatology procedures in London”, make sure you have London clearly listed in your content along with all of the procedures you offer. SEO really comes down to clearly answering the questions people are asking and making sure your site is optimised for this. Optimising your website and content can help make sure Google is showing your website as one of the top results, putting you out in front of your competitors.
Why the Google My Business panel matters
Because Google is the browser of choice for so many millions of people, it makes a lot of sense to harness the search engine to make your business as visible as it can be. Part of that involves creating a Google My Business panel. First, you set up a Google My Business account and verify it, then you complete every section of information it asks for, including full contact details, opening hours, images of the business and the rest.
While you can’t control whether Google decides to showcase your panel in the search results, to the right of the usual list you get when you search, you can maximise your chances. It’s all about relevance, location and the prominence of your business. The better quality and more popular your website is, the more likely Google will be to surface a Google My Business panel when people search for businesses like yours.
Why blogging is the best way to keep your website fresh
Google and other search engines love fresh, new content. If you leave your website to languish without refreshing it, you will inevitably slip down in the search results as your competitors overtake you. Luckily, a blog is the simplest and best way to keep your website fresh, interesting and current. And, being in the medical profession, there’s so much to talk about. You can cover things like the patient experience, the details of various illnesses, diseases and conditions, new treatments, disproved treatments, the science behind what you do, feedback from patients, posts about the people you work with, the history behind your specialism, case studies, the list goes on. The more new content you add and the more frequently you do it, the better.
How Doctify helps you meet many of these needs
It can be overwhelming to find the time to run your practice while also worrying about the digital side of the business as well. Doctify currently helps thousands of clinics and specialists take the guesswork out of creating a strong, visible online presence. We do this through a strong SEO website with optimised profiles that help to clearly answer patient’s search queries, helping to take the pressure off and make sure you can get back to delivering great patient-centred care.
