With more and more potential customers turning to the Internet for health advice, doctor recommendations and even medical knowledge, any physician looking to raise their profile needs to boost their online presence. With a well-designed and resourceful physician website, physicians can reach out to current and prospective patients in a whole host of ways. Not only a place to list a doctor’s biography and practice address and contact information, physician’s websites can educate patients, build relationships with their communities and raise their profile as a medical authority.
Bringing A Practice To Life Online
Overall, medical website design should focus on intuitiveness, ease of use and attracting new customers. A modern-day doctor’s website should offer much more than a few glamour photographs of the doctor. To be sure, the physician’s biography is important, but so too are things like the services the practice offers, the office hours, insurance policies accepted and any specializations the doctor may be proficient in. The website can also offer prospective patients the opportunity to pay medical bills, fill out insurance forms ahead of a visit and even to make appointments. Of course, the website should also feature plenty of photographs of the doctor, facility and staff.
Cultivating An Online Community
Physicians’ websites also present a fantastic opportunity to cultivate a patient-centered online community. For example, many doctors maintain a blog where they disseminate health information, research, advice and practice information in a personable way. By inviting patients to subscribe to their blog, physicians can create a friendly, family practice atmosphere and cultivate a trust and dialogue amongst patients.
A 21st Century Marketing Tool
Ideally, a physician’s website launch should be rolled into an overall marketing strategy, which can include everything from print ads and article marketing to search engine optimization (SEO). It’s advisable, therefore, to hire a full-service medical marketing company capable of managing the website writing and design, SEO optimization, advertising buys, logo and collateral redesign, website management and any other marketing strategies you decide to employ. This medical marketing firm should be able to effectively counsel you on the best strategies to put to use in your particular area and niche. They should also be able to provide case studies and success stories of other medical clients for whom they’ve devised Internet marketing campaigns. What’s more, they should have physicians on staff who can provide quality control over any content being created on their medical clients’ behalf.
