Marketing Your Website

Marketing Your Website

by Kara Hirsch

 

Having a website and making sure it is laid out cor-rectly is an extremely important part of online marketing, but the big question is, who’s going to see it?  Make sure you follow these tips to ensure your patients and potential new patients know you’re on the Web.

 

Avoid trying to sell with your postings; use this as a way to connect with your patients and provide useful information.

 

Promote Your Domain Name
Print your domain name on receipts, billing statements, business cards and in any ads you place.  This will let all your current patients know that you have a website and will make it easier for them to refer a friend.
Say your domain name on your answering machine.  “Our office is now closed and we invite you to visit our website at www.my-practice-name.com.  If it’s an existing patient, they will go to your site and perhaps send an e-mail.  If it’s a new patient, you will spark their interest.
Put your domain name on the outside of your business door or window.  This will display your website for everyone who passes by or enters your business.

Optimize Your Website in the Search Engines
Have you ever done a search for a chiropractor in your area and found about 10 other chiropractors come up on the top of the search in “Local Business Results”?  How did these chiropractors get up there?  It’s part of a solid search engine strategy put in place by companies marketing them.  
Search Engine Optimization or the process of being ranked on a higher page in the search engines is broken down into 3 main categories. These categories are Pay per click (PCC) or Google Adwords, Google Maps, and Organic or Left hand side Placement.  The majority of clicks by users fall on Google Maps and Organic Listings with PPC picking up the remaining few clicks. Make sure you’re coming up in the “Local Business Results” too.

Using Social Media as a Marketing Tool
So many internet users are using social media sites to obtain information or just reconnect with friends and family on the Web.  So, it can help your Web site a great deal to publish information and participate in conversations on social media sites.  Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Blogger, to name a few, are great avenues to create links to your Web site.  The more links you have connecting to your Web site, the higher your organic rankings will be.  Avoid trying to sell with your postings; use this as a way to connect with your patients and provide useful information.  This is a great way to get your name out there in a positive and informative way.

Using E-mail Marketing
E-Mail Marketing is a powerful marketing tool.  Communicating with your patients electronically will increase loyalty, help them refer your site to friends and family and create great word of mouth!  Staying in touch with your patients is the key.  With a well planned out e-mail marketing campaign, you can educate your patients, establish long lasting relationships and find new patients.  When engaging in e-mail marketing, it is imperative that you follow all of the protocols and government regulations, but if done properly, you will discover hidden sales opportunities that you may be overlooking.

Get Listed in Local & National Directories
Registering your company on local and national directories is a great way to create links to your website.  Not only will this increase traffic to your website from those directories, but these links will help your SEO Rankings.  You can find directories that are specific to your area by searching for “Your Area”, “Chiropractor” and the word “directory” in any of the search engines.  In addition, you can register on the larger national directories or on general directories such as Yahoo! Directory Listings, which charges a fee for your listing.  

Referrals
Patient referrals are hands down the best potential new patients you can receive.  Think about it, if you were looking for a chiropractor, typically the first thing you will do is ask a friend or family member if they know a good one.  And, even better, referrals do not cost you anything unless you implement a patient referral reward system, which we highly recommend.  
Now, if one of your satisfied patients does share your information with their friend or family member, the next thing that potential new patient will do is search for you on the web.  So in essence, your satisfied patients are marketing your website for you!  Not only is this a great form of marketing, but this will probably yield the highest return on investment you will see of all your marketing efforts.  
So what is the moral of the story?  Don’t forget to ask your satisfied patients to remember to refer you to their friends and family.  They will be happy to send business your way specially if they know you are looking for new patients.

 

Kara Hirsch is Marketing Manager at Online Chiro. OnlineChiro.com offers customizable Web sites, an e-communications suite and full search engine strategies to get you found in the only place that matters … your local Web!  You can reach her at 1-888-932-5560  Ext. 111 or by email  at [email protected].

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