Harnessing the Power of the Web
e-Marketing for Physicians
This is the first article in a six-part series for M.D. News.
M.D. News
Greater Akron/Canton Edition
November/December 2007
What if you could use a website to attract and keep more patients? Or provide online forms to help free up your staff's time? Or post answers to frequently asked questions to help reduce the number of daily inbound calls?
You can, and with an estimated 113 million Americans regularly searching for healthcare information (including physician practice information), a professional, custom-designed website is quickly becoming a "must" for physicians. Even better, a thoughtfully designed site can save you and your staff time and money.
This is the first installment in a six-part series on eMarketing for physicians. Over the next few issues, we'll look at the different ways you can harness the power of the Web to grow your practice while increasing efficiency and patient satisfaction.
Generally speaking, the medical community has been slow to embrace the Web as it relates to doctor-patient interaction. Patients, on the other hand, desire more access to online services and communication with their physicians (source: Harris Interactive):
- 77% would like email reminders when they are due for a visit
- 75% would like to schedule appointments using the a website
- 74% would like to use email to communicate directly with their doctor
- 62% said use of email would influence their decision when choosing a physician
While these numbers appear daunting, there is good news: plenty of web technology is available to satisfy your patients, give you a competitive advantage, and save you time and money.
Let's take a look at the two components you'll need for a successful website: Web Design/Development and Web Marketing.
Web Design and Development
Your website is a visitor's first impression of your practice, so it needs to be a memorable one. You wouldn't want your brick-and-mortar office to have broken equipment or your yellow pages ad to have typos, so why should your website be any different?
An effective website should distinguish you and engage potential and existing patients. Consider adding these items to your site:
- Physician biographies
- Services, highlighting any specialties
- FAQs
- Policies, insurance and HIPAA information
- Online forms
- Hours/map/directions
- Treatment information
- Online patient portal (such as integration of MyChart® software)
- Contact form
Take Atrium OBGYN's website (www.atriumobgyn.com), for example. Atrium, a large Canton-based practice and client of The Karcher Group, recently launched a custom-designed easy-to-use, informative site that provides basic information and downloadable patient forms. While the site itself is fairly basic, it contains necessary information to help inform patients on routine questions.
Web Marketing
While it's important to have a professional Web presence, it won't benefit you much if potential patients can't find your site. Web marketing, or more specifically Search Engine Optimization (SEO), ensures your site gains visibility in the search engines. It also helps drive and convert qualified online traffic into patients.
SEO is effective in several areas:
- Branding/establishment as an authority
- Pre-qualified lead generation
- Cost savings compared to other mediums such as glossy brochures and yellow pages ads (average cost per lead is $0.29!)
- ROI that is easy to track
In conclusion, the expectations for you to have a website are only going to grow as more Americans go online. Fortunately, a properly designed and marketed website can be a win-win for you and your patients.
