A few decades ago, the word “competition” wasn’t used among healthcare professionals. But there’s now no denying that running a practice is a competitive venture.

You now need to have a marketing plan and online presence in order to remain competitive in your community and maintain your success. Your website, content, business listings, and online reputation are among the most valuable assets to your growth.

Here are the basic elements you need to have in place to help your practice thrive online.

PAGE ONE OF GOOGLE SEARCH RESULTS

If you’re not showing up in Google search results, your practice might as well be invisible. Even if you have the best website out there, it won’t do you much good if visitors can’t find it. But how do you climb the search result ladder?

There are many hundreds of search ranking factors, but a few are especially important and do most of the heavy lifting. They include:

  • Fast Loading Times
  • Relevant Content
  • Modern Website Design
  • Mobile Responsive Design
  • Clear Next Step

It’s also vital that you optimize your practice for local search. Many visitors often contact a practice within a couple hours of finding it in a local search result. The best way to do this is to claim your Google My Business profile and complete as much information as possible on your profile page.

ENGAGING ONLINE CONTENT

Many visitors look up healthcare information on their smartphones. And tech-savvy practices know to take advantage of this — it gives visitors a reason to keep coming back to your website and share it with others. Some of the most helpful content is online patient education.

Online patient education makes your website engaging, improves your search rankings, caters to visual learners, and is easier to update than print materials. It may also help your patients to be more likely to stick with your recommended treatments and procedures and reduce any anxiety related to treatment.

ACCURATE PRACTICE LISTINGS

Besides your website, visitors use online directories and reviews to find a practice and schedule an appointment. These are among the top channels in the decision-making process. There are some positive and negative aspects to consider in relation to your online directories.

Inaccurate Information: There’s a good chance your practice appears in many online directories, even if you didn’t create them. This is because much of the data in those listings are filled in by automated “bots.”

Quality Means Better Search Results: Accurate information signals to search engines that your practice has a higher level of credibility than one that has not maintained its data.

Accuracy Affects Online Reviews: Many online directory listings let patients leave an online review, but inaccurate online listings may result in duplicate practice listings being created. Patients may leave reviews in scattered locations, instead of your genuine practice listing.

A POSITIVE ONLINE REPUTATION

When a patient writes a great review of your practice online, it says volumes about your standard of care.  Praises and compliments about your staff, cleanliness of office or treatment outcome will provide your existing patients even more reason to continue coming to your office.

One of the greatest ways to retain existing patients and secure new referrals is to proactively monitor your online reputation and encourage existing patients to review you on popular review sites and online directories.

Online reviews from real, genuine patients are just as influential as an in-person referral from a friend or family member. They can become one of your most powerful marketing assets and a valuable tool for driving new leads to your website where they can learn more about your practice and schedule an appointment.

There’s a lot that goes into making sure your practice thrives online. Consider partnering with a website and digital marketing provider to help with your online presence. To learn more, visit henryscheinone.com/officite or call 833.568.7792 today.