15 tips on how you as a doctor can use online marketing to attract even more new patients. Discover new ideas for your practice marketing now!
Many doctors have lovely practice rooms that are decorated with bright colours and modern furniture. Everything appears to be very valuable, and you immediately feel at ease.
But when was the last time you examined your website and social media sites on the Internet through the eyes of a patient? Do your prospective patients easily find what they’re looking for? Do you make an effort to connect with these visitors, or do you simply provide them with information?
Your website is more than a business card. It is your digital flagship, and it’s also an effective tool for attracting new patients to your practice.Â
First impressions count, as the well-known saying goes, – this also applies to your practice’s website. It usually only takes a few seconds to form a first opinion about the website. The visual impression of your website is particularly decisive for this. Does the design appear appealing, professional, and trustworthy? Or rather amateurish and trying?
Please keep in mind: The impression of your website directly reflects on you as a medical professional. This is where the so-called halo effect comes into play (“halo” comes from the Greek and originally referred to a halo of light; what is meant here is the radiating effect of a dominant feature). People tend to conclude from known features (the layout of your website) to unknown features (your competence as a medical professional).Â
The reason for this effect: cognitive relief. It enables people to make a decision quickly, even without an objective basis.
An appealing layout is therefore already half the battle. But by no means everything. In addition, there is, in particular, the clarity: Does someone recognize, at first glance, during the first visit to your website:
- who you are?
- what medical services you offer (dermatology, surgery, etc.)?
- What does he or she get out of it as a potential patient?
Test it for yourself:
Print out your home page and show the printout to few people who didn’t know about your practice before. After 5 seconds, turn the page around and ask them what your website is about.
2. logo in the visible areaÂ
Some doctors place their practice logo below the fold, and thus in the initially invisible area.Â
Invisible because the usual reading order is from top left to bottom right.Â
What can I do?
Always place your company logo on the top left corner of your website (desktop) or top centre (mobile devices) and your visitors will immediately see which page they are on.
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3. Stock photo on your home page
It is common to see a stock photo on the main page that does not represent the actual service provider. The viewer immediately recognizes that the people depicted are not the doctors practicing there. Authenticity is different.
What can I do?
Choose an image that is exactly right for your practice and your services. Not an easy undertaking, to be sure. Admittedly, there are some portals with an enormous selection of inexpensive stock photos. The images are rather cheap and usually cost between €3 and €20.
But to find a really suitable image here is not trivial, it is often like looking for a needle in a haystack. If you give the image research into the hands of an experienced agency for web design, this is of course much faster.
Alternatively, you can hire a professional photographer, which will, of course, make the picture much more expensive. Provided that there is good lighting in the practice, you can capture an acceptable quality image with a tripod-mounted phone or medium quality digital camera. The important thing is that the image needs to show real people and places—preferably in a positive mood.
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4. Image changers (sliders) are turnover killers
Oh no, not another slide night! “-Do you know this feeling? We do too. The only thing is, what is boring in real life, at worst, can cost you potential patients on your website, thus really cost you turnover.
Slide shows have numerous disadvantages:
A slide show delays the loading time of your homepage. Internet users appreciate fast websites therefore every second of loading time costs you visitors.Â
Images that scroll too fast irritate the viewer’s eye. They cause restlessness.Â
The average user spends only 5 seconds on the homepage. He would not even get to see all the slider images.
Assume the slider has 4 images. Each slider image appears for 3 seconds, and the image transition takes another 2 seconds. All in all, it would take at least 15 seconds to see all the slider images.
What can I do?
Sliders are irrelevant at best and revenue-killers at worst. We recommend that you not use them on your home page.Â
5 Mobile-Friendliness: Make your website mobile-friendly
By 2021, it’s natural for all new websites to be designed to fit the screen size, but if you have an older website, make sure you check that it can do this.
Google specifically favours sites that have the right mobile view and mobile loading speed, and penalises sites that do not meet this requirement (with lower rankings).
There are a number of free tools available for checking website speed, the best known are gtmetrix and Google’s PageSpeed Insights.
6th. cognitive relaxation
A golden rule in user friendliness is “Don’t make me think!”.Â
The reason: thinking costs energy. On average, our brain consumes up to 20% of the available energy in thinking mode; in resting mode or in autopilot, on the other hand, only about 5%. This is exactly why people tend to be comfortable—or to put it positively, to save energy.
What can I do?
Make it easy for your website visitors and simplify, if necessary, the navigation and information architecture of your website. Form meaningful thematic clusters in the main navigation (About us, Services, etc.).
Give your texts sufficient white space or “breathing room”. This makes them easier to read and makes them look more valuable.Â
And last but not least, the so-called “call-to-action”: tell your visitors on every page what they should do and who they can contact if they have any questions.Â
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Trust 7: Why is trust so important for doctors?
There is no shortage of medical specialists in large cities, especially in the wealthy districts. On the contrary: especially in the competition for the highly sought-after private patients, it is not easy to hold your own.Â
To make sure that patients choose your practice, trust is one of the most powerful levers.Â
What can I do?
Do you have a first-class reputation as a medical practitioner? Show potential new patients that you are trustworthy:
Describe your medical career and explain what qualifications you have already acquired.
Have you been active in research? Are you a member of a renowned association? Do you give continuing education lectures to medical professionals? Or are there any scientific publications by you? Tell them about it. It underlines your authority and credibility.
Let satisfied patients have their say – as so-called testimonials.
Authenticity is essential. Be creative. For example, with a photographed letter from a satisfied patient (with the patient’s consent, of course).Â
User reviews on websites that are not your own are more likely to be genuine, so make sure that you have appropriate reviews on sites that consolidate important medical services.
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8. Personal Touch:
Many practice pages are very factual. And basically, one can rightly state, “That’s good!” After all, we are talking about medical services here. And these are highly rational.Â
All true, but this makes your practice seem arbitrary and interchangeable. It is not a good omen to score points with potential new patients. Because why should he entrust his health to you and not to a colleague?Â
What can I do?
Give your practice website a personal touch—not only by highlighting your medical expertise, but also by describing on a portrait page what is particularly important to you in your private life and what you do in your free time.
Alternatively, you can also publish an interview with you, the format can be video, audio or text as well.
9 No Story, no Glory
People love stories because they touch us emotionally and entertain us. Ideally, they make a real film run in our heads. A film in which we often recognise ourselves.
An excellent omen to add a pinch of stardust to your medical practice. History can be taken literally here. Tell when you founded your practice – preferably with a picture from the early years. Describe important milestones (e.g. enlargement of the practice and expansion of the team) and also any hurdles you have overcome.
10. approach
Is someone interested in your medical services? Show them the best way to get to your practice. With a map (free of charge from Google or Bing Maps) and directions for cars and public transport, Ideally, you can also print it out as a PDF. Please do not forget that parking information can also be useful for those who approach your clinic by car.
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11. Appointment scheduling (online)
Make it easy for your patients to make an appointment at your practice. Show your contact details on every service page.
And-especially interesting for private practices-by showing your patients on a calendar on which days and at which times appointments are still available-of course with the option to book one right away online.Â
Your advantages with online appointment booking include:
You save time and relieve your assistants, whose tasks include making appointments by telephone.
You improve your capacity utilisation and minimise turnover losses. Thanks to automatic synchronisation with your electronic calendar, visitors to your website will also find appointments that have become free at short notice due to a cancellation. Moreover, potential new patients can easily find a suitable appointment in the evening and at the weekend.
This extra service sets you apart from your competitors in the competition for private patients and self-pay patients.
You have fewer no-shows or cancellation rates. Because with some solution providers, your patients will receive an automatic reminder of the appointment (usually 24 hours or 1 hour before).
12. SEO: get found more easily on Google.
Would you like to be found even higher in Google’s organic (= unpaid) search results for relevant search queries such as “Dermatological Private Practice Liverpool”?
Your key: search engine optimisation (also called SEO, for “Search Engine Optimisation”) of your website.
What can I optimise?
Our longer article on medical SEO helps you understand what critical elements you need to address to achieve better organic rankings.
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13. Attract new private patients online with Google Ads
What is it all about?
Google AdWords are text or display ads on Google. They are similar to classified ads. Companies (as well as doctors) can use them to promote their services in search engines.
If you search Google for “dermatology New York”, for example, you will receive paid AdWords ads from companies even before the “natural”, i.e., unpaid, search results. What this means for you is that, even if your website were already in first place in the “natural” search results, competitors would steal potential customers from you with Google Ads.
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Ad placement follows an auction procedure. To put it simply, whoever places the highest bid for a keyword and has the most relevant ad ready will be displayed first.Â
For whom are these ads worthwhile?
Primarily, of course, for doctors who run a private practice. But they are also worthwhile for doctors who are registered with the health insurance system if they offer services to self-pay patients.
You can reach potential (private) patients with Google Ads whenever they are looking for your services. You decide whether your ads appear only in your city or also in the surrounding area.Â
And you can also adjust the budget as you wish: Order low? Step on the gas! Order books in full? Pause your campaign.
And the best thing about it: the display of your ads is free of charge. You only pay when someone clicks on your ad.Â
But be careful: not every click is profitable. Therefore, make sure that your ad only appears for relevant search queries. To do this, you can add exclusionary keywords to your ads.Â
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14 Google Analytics – know what counts
Do you know how many potential patients visit your website each month? Whether they come from your city or another? How long do your visitors stay on your website? And at which point do a particularly large number of visitors drop out again?
You can get answers to all these questions with Google Analytics. And the best thing about it: it’s free.
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15 Have false reviews removed from Google
Are there negative reviews for your practice that are not true? Or a 1-star rating without comment? Perhaps even from a user with a cryptic name? Then you should consider having these reviews deleted by Google. The decisive factor here is always that the rating violates Google’s guidelines.
There it says: “Reviews must be based on actual experiences and information.” Fake content, copied or stolen photos, off-topic reviews, slurs, insults, personal attacks, and unnecessary or false information violate our guidelines. Please report such posts to us. “
