200k Patient Referrals and Counting
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Patients made their 200,000th referral to a doctor on DoctorBase this week. Thanks to all who’ve used DoctorBase to recommend a doctor to their friends on Facebook!
A quick update…
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Many of you have contacted us over the past month wondering what happened to the weekly updates that have kept your practice up-to-date with all things online. It’s true, the past few blog posts have been a bit sparse. The reason is because we’ve been working diligently on the next phase of DoctorBase – making more of the services you want even more affordable.
Our weekly blogposts on what’s happening online & how to make it work for your practice will start again this week. And, there will be even more free education to come in the months ahead.
Stay tuned as we begin giving doctors more for their money, making services more affordable for every practice, and providing authentic healthcare information for patients everywhere.
To Blog, or not to Blog? It really isn’t a question…
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Last week, the blog publishing & hosting platform WordPress was attacked, resulting in difficulties for the over 18 million blogs that run on WordPress. Yes, you read that right – over 18 million blogs. So, what’s the big deal about blogging?
Instead of having to get your web designer to update content (which can often take months to implement), a blog allows you to login and post articles without the need of an IT department. By having a blog that you can post articles & information to on a regular basis, you can provide the fresh unique content that search engines like Google love. And, love from Google often equates in a higher rank in their search results, which is a very important aspect to your marketing when patients are searching for your services online.
Unfortunately, blogging on a platform like WordPress can still both daunting & time-consuming. WordPress’s self-professed “5 Minute Installation” still requires you to have FTP access to the server where you’re hosting your blog. (And, if you don’t know FTP from SSL, it’s likely going to take you longer than 5 minutes!) Then, you still need to learn how to navigate their online interface…
Still, even though it’s a bit of extra work, blogging is well worth it for your practice. We’ve seen our doctors’ blogs outrank their own websites on Google, and we know that a blog with updated content that engages patients creates 5x times as many patient inquiries as the average medical or dental website.
Want to put a blog to work for your practice, but don’t want to deal with logging into to FTP servers? Do we have a solution for you! Check out how the Panda Cub lets our doctors blog by simply sending an email. No software installations. No login screens. Learn more at:
http://doctor.doctorbase.com/cub_doctorbase:
Three Simple Steps to Grow Your Online Reputation
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Here are 3 simple actions you can take to grow your online reputation and claim your name on search engines like Google…
Claim Your Google Local Listing
Google Local (which, as of this morning, has renamed itself “Google Places”) has pretty much replaced both the Yellow Pages and that map you’ve been keeping in your glovebox since 1982. When people want to find you, they type your name into Google. By claiming your Google local listing, your contact info, address, and a map of your practice’s location will come up in the search results.
Plus, if a patient simply wants to find a dentist in their hometown, they’ll type in something like “Dentist San Francisco.” By claiming your Google Local listing, your contact info will also be included on the map that Google includes at the top of their search results whenever the search term includes the name of a city.
Get a Blog
Most doctors have a website. Unfortunately, most of those websites haven’t been updated in a couple years – making your practice itself look outdated. And, they often come across as a bit salesy – which can be the kiss of death for a healthcare provider.
A blog is a dynamic page that gives your online presence a personal touch. By posting the occasional tidbit to your blog, you can connect with your patients by educating them – not selling them services. This establishes you as an expert in your field and builds loyalty before they even set foot in your practice. Plus, it provides the fresh, unique content that will improve your ranking on Google.
Setup Your Social Media Profiles
Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, & Twitter all carry a decent amount of weight with Google. Even if you’re not into sharing every little detail of daily life at your practice, simply setting up a profile under your name and updating them from time-to-time will help you claim more of the Google search results page.
This, in turn, pushes those third-party review sites containing unverified reviews & advertising for your competitors down the results page into near irrelevance.
And the best part about this and the previous 2 actions – they’re all completely free!
If you have any questions about how to get started with suggestions above, or you simply want to learn more about claiming your name on Google, join us for a free educational webinar and Q&A session on how to grow your online reputation. No Ads. No Sales Pitch.
Join us this Thursday, April 22 at 12pm PDT by RSVPing here:
http://wwwDoctorBase.com/webinar
Blog vs. Website: Which is Better for Your Practice?
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We sometimes get quizzical looks when we tell doctors a blog will be more beneficial to their practice than a website, usually because not many people know the difference between the two. While they do essentially the same thing – give you a presence on the web – they go about it in two very different ways. Here’s what your online presence needs, and how a blog & a website go about accomplishing this:
Fresh & Relevant Content
The major difference between a blog and a website is the ability to quickly & effortlessly update the site. With a static website, you need to contact your administrator to upload new text about your remodeled office or learn how to code in HTML in order to do it yourself.
With a dynamic blog, you can post updated content whenever you’d like through a simple interface – no webmaster required. The ease of which this can be accomplished also allows you to add more relevant content about a new piece of equipment you recently purchased, or a special offer from your practice.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
The reason you have a web presence is because you ultimately want to be found by new & existing patients online. Your patients are going to look for you on a search engine like Google. Thus, you want to be sure your online presence comes up on the top of Google’s results by employing good SEO.
Websites are optimized for search primarily through a very simple addition of something called ‘metadata.’ This is generally just a couple paragraphs of information about the website that’s embedded in the site’s code and not displayed on the website itself. (If anybody tries to sell you a ‘search optimized website’ based solely on metadata, politely say “no thank you” and back away slowly!)
While blogs do include metadata as well, they also allow for you to constantly add more viewable content to the site. The ability to consistently add your own content allows you to, over time, claim keywords specific to your industry & practice (i.e. – “one days crowns anyville,” “invisible braces anytown,” etc.). This combination of current & detailed content is what search engines like Google absolutely love!
Social Media Integration
We know most doctors don’t have the time to spend all day updating your status via social media. But let’s face it, at least a few of your patients are a part of the 300 million people that are using Facebook. The reason they do is because social media sites like Facebook create an interactive experience for the user.
Websites allow for a patient, at most, to contact you via email. This is a bit underwhelming for an industry that prides itself in word-of-mouth success and the human touch. (Are you one of the many doctors still using an answering service?)
A blog allows for communication to happen right there on your site via a dialog with your patients. And, this interaction shows prospective patients just how involved you are in taking care of them. Plus, any of the new content you post to your blog can also be easily distributed via a multitude of social networks (i.e. – Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) giving you word-of-mouth success on the Internet.
Up-to-Date Appearance
There’s also an aesthetic advantage that blogs have over websites – the ability to update their appearance with as little as a click of a mouse. You’ve probably seen a website that obviously hasn’t been updated since 1992, and it likely makes you question how up-to-date the rest of the practice is. The reason it hasn’t been updated is because a total redesign of a website often takes a developer months and costs $5,000 – $10,000+.
Since blogs are set up on a standardized framework, you can revise the appearance of a blog with little to no effort, and often for free by simply implementing a new theme. This will ensure your practice is always looking stylish and up-to-date on the web without it costing you several thousand dollars.
Naturally, we here at DoctorBase are a bit biased towards blogs because we see them outperform our doctors’ own websites on a daily basis. But, don’t take our word for it – check out who else is using a blog to improve their online presence…
Academy of General Dentistry
Chicago Dental Society
American Medical Association
The White House
NASA
Mercedes-Benz translated from German
General Electric
The New York Times
The Wall Street Journal
Harvard University
Stanford University
Five Resolutions for Growing Your Practice in 2010
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With 2009 fading into the past and 2010 upon us, it’s time to make sure you have a plan of attack in place to grow your practice in an effective and cost-efficient manner in the New Year. Here are a few simple things you can do to ensure you’re bringing in new patients without wasting any of your hard-earned dollars…
Make Sure Patients Can Find You
The Yellow Pages are dead – they’ve been replaced by the Internet Make sure you own your name online, and that search results lead to accurate information about you & your practice. Ensure that pages that you control are at the top of the search results for your name, and that your contact information is up-to-date so that you never miss out on any calls or e-mail requests to set up an appointment.
Update Your Online Presence
That stagnant, old website you had built a couple years ago is making you look outdated & ‘salesy’ to prospective new patients. Get a blog that will stay fresh over time (unlike a static website) and fill it with educational info about your specialties & the technology you use. This will not only make you look current & professional, but also establish you as a trusted voice in your field – which is exactly what patients are looking for from a healthcare provider.
Post Verified Patient Reviews Online
Those word-of-mouth referrals that you’ve built your practice on are moving online. And, your patients are posting reviews about you not he web whether you’re aware of it or not. Make sure prospective patients are getting an honest, credible view of your practice. Post those thank-you-notes and patient testimonials you have laying around your office online so that your existing patients can tell the world just how great you are!
Track Your Marketing Spend
Still sending out mailers? Make sure you’re getting your money’s worth by tracking exactly how many new patients you get from your marketing campaigns. It’s as easy & inexpensive as setting up a forwarding phone number for each campaign; and it will help you ensure you’re not wasting your money on marketing that doesn’t work.
Automate Office Operations
Automate as much of your office staff’s daily patient management duties as you can. By automating tasks like appointment reminders & follow-up contacts, you can free up your people to focus on dealing with income-generating tasks like billing & filing insurance claims.
Have any questions about how to employ these strategies at your practice? Post them below, or contact us here…
