4 Tips for Physicians to Grow Their Internet Presence
Posted: October 7, 2021 - By Health DevAs a physician or health care provider, a strong internet presence can help you retain existing patients, draw new ones to your practice or office, and boost your reputation.
As many patients are engaging and interacting with their health care online, medical providers need to keep up. This article offers four digital marketing strategies you can use to grow your internet presence as a physician.
1. Make Sure Your Practice is Listed Online
There are plenty of websites that can make it easier for prospective patients to find you online. If you are not on one of these websites, it is a bit more difficult to attract a new pool of patients through your doors because they’ll be finding your competition instead. Be sure you are correctly set up on listing websites included in the list below:
- Google My Business
- WebMD
- Vitals
- Yelp
- Healthgrades
- RateMDs
- BestDoctors
To truly enhance your online presence, encourage your patients to leave online reviews on one of the sites you are listed on. 60 percent of patients would choose a physician based solely on their online reviews. Positive reviews are an important factor to be considered when patients are choosing a practice to book an appointment with.
2. Include Relevant Content on Your Website
Your website will usually be the first point of contact with new patients. New patients know what they are looking for when they visit your medical website. Be sure that information is included. Different options for contacting the office, insurance information, location information, and even helpful information into their condition would be greatly appreciated by them.
Each page you create on your site should have a purpose of serving your patients. Ultimately most cases will require a visit to the practice, so be sure to make contacting your staff easy to figure out.
If you are an avid writer or can hire one, maintaining a blog on your site can do wonders for your google search ranking. For example, if you notice many of your patients are coming in for the same thing, it may be a good idea to write an article about that. “Do you have dry eye in San Diego? Here’s why” would be an excellent article for an optometry clinic could publish during the hot transition months between summer and autumn because people will be more likely to do a google search for those symptoms around that time.
3. Invest in Administrative Software and Online Booking tools.
Doctors have many options for third-party software to streamline patient onboarding and appointment booking. These tools can help avoid no-shows and appointment cancellations, saving you potentially thousands of dollars and valuable staff time. You can embed many of these software tools into your website or link to them on your social media accounts.
The best type of software for you depends on your practice’s specific needs. Some tools are specifically for appointment booking and reminders, while others encompass many administrative tasks, such as email, text, and push notifications. Automating appointment reminders and other messages can save time for doctors and administrative staff. Online booking tools allow you to send reminders leading up to an appointment. Also, if your practice offers a downloadable app, patients can elect to receive push notifications. If you prefer that staff send personalized phone calls or messages to patients, some tools can also send reminders to staff.
4. Maintain an Active Social Media Presence.
Some generations will appreciate more traditional means of communication like postcards or phone calls. Whereas other generations will be more likely to read their emails than answer an unknown number calling them. There are also plenty of people that check their social media feeds more often than they check their email. Keeping regular communication with patients that are not in immediate need of an appointment is crucial for patient retention.
Don’t be that friend that only calls when they need something. Be that friend that is always around, and that people like having around.
Maintaining an active social media presence is very important, because you won’t always need to call, mail, or email your database of patients on a regular basis. The reason many patients use the same doctor for 30+ years is because they have established a relationship with that doctor. In a different way, you can utilize social media to establish a relationship with the community you serve. Post fun facts about your practice, helpful health tips, or even local information that is hyper-relevant to the community you serve.
The key to success for anything is consistency. By regularly following each of these 4 tips, you can ensure that your practice has its special place on the internet landscape.
