Your website is your marketing foundation and while I cannot possibly go into all of the details of website design in this article, I do want to make some important recommendations to help you to avoid wasting time and money on a website that won’t bring you new patients.
Do NOT build your own website or hire a “friend” to do it! Do-it-yourself sites like Wix, Weebly, and SquareSpace might make it look easy to build a nice looking website. However, the truth is that these sites do not rank well on Google and rarely have sufficient search engine optimization. As a professional marketer, I wouldn’t watch a Youtube video to learn how to inject Botox. And you, as a physician should not be trying to build your own website. The truth is that your website should position YOU as the expert in your field and it should reflect the quality of services that patients can expect to receive. If your website is not optimized you will have a hard time attracting new high-quality patients to your practice.
Hire a professional to build a Wordpress or Hubspot website and be sure the developer includes on-page search engine optimization. This means they do research for what keywords people are searching for in your area, and they include those keywords in the header tags on the back end of your website. Without SEO, your website won’t get found on Google search. It would be the equivalent of you building a beautiful new office and ever putting a sign on the door. It wouldn’t matter how nice the office looked, no one would find it. Please invest in a professionally designed website with on-page search engine optimization!
Your website should differentiate your office from the competition and position YOU as “the expert.” What makes YOU different and why should patients choose your office? The following are the MUST HAVE components of the website.
- Must be mobile friendly
- Awards & Certifications on the homepage
- Social Proof - Testimonials and Link to leave you a Google Review
- Blog (add new regular blog content)
- Opt-Ins to build your email list (free guide or download, newsletter subscribe)
- Include photos of YOUR providers, staff & (and) office - do not use all stock photos.
- Social Media Links prominent on the homepage near the top
- Open Late / On Weekends?
- Online Appointment Scheduling?
- Financing Options such as Care Credit, Greensky, etc.
You can expect to pay around $200 per page for a professional website with SEO. Well worth the investment because it will pay off with new patients finding you through Google search!
Be sure to plan ahead. Websites typically take a minimum of 4-6 weeks for design and development. Once the site is launched, you will not show up #1 on Google, so you’ll need to be patient. Google’s search algorithm can sometimes take a few months to index your content, so it's important to have realistic expectations as to how long it may take to rank on page one of Google.
You can get immediate traffic to your website by running Google Ad Words. While this doesn’t have to be a long term strategy, it may be worth doing to get some traffic to your new site right away while you wait for your organic search engine optimization to kick in.
Need help with a website? Ask Medical Marketing Whiz about our Smart Websites engineered to make the phone ring and the door swing!
