If you own or operate a medical office looking to get new patients in for appointments, then SEO is the way to go. SEO stands for search engine optimization, and it’s the process of drawing more traffic to your website and then converting that traffic into actual patients.
1- Crucial Keywords
Search Engine Journal says that appropriate medical keywords are crucial to the success of your website and practice. Think of the kind of patients that your office sees. What do they Google? If you’re not sure, then use Google’s Keyword Planner to list out the terms that would connect a patient to your office. Pick a small handful of them that you want to target.
You don’t have to do this in your medical office, however. There is a whole industry of digital marketing specialists waiting to help you. One great thing industry professionals can do for you is find local keywords appropriate to your medical office so you’re only competing for patients looking in your area. The Internet is the new word of mouth.
2- Content That Has Value
Once you’ve identified the keywords you want to target, put up content about those topics. Whether it’s text articles, a FAQ, or an infographic, put together content answers the questions of readers but also earns their trust. Search engines build their whole business model on providing accurate, useful, and relevant information to their users. Websites that provide such content are rewarded with high rankings and traffic from search engines. The more people respect your content, the more they will trust your office, making them more likely to come in for an appointment. Whenever possible, have the content actually done by a doctor or nurse on your staff. At the very least, make sure it was medically reviewed by someone authoritative, and then highlight that review status. Earn the trust of everyone who visits your website.
3- Conversion at the End
Getting people to your website is great, and having them stick around to learn things is even better. However, at some point you want them turning from visitors into actual patients. Converting them from visitors to patients can follow several routes. You might have different funnels set up on your website based on various topics. You can also include specific calls to action at particular points. If you just want to hook them without necessarily reeling them in immediately, you can just offer freebies in exchange for their contact information. A regular newsletter with free medical information and advice is usually welcome in most inboxes.
It’s the digital age. People look up everything online. Whether they look for a doctor’s office through their favorite search engine or a list of approved providers their insurance gives them, they’re going to visit the website of your medical office at some point. Make sure it’s in a good position to capture their interest and convert them. Also, do the SEO work necessary to draw traffic to it from search engines.
