5 Effective Tips to Enhance Your Practice's Online Presence

The healthcare industry has seen a lot of changes in recent years, but one of the most significant is the rise in online presence. More and more patients are turning to the internet for information related to their conditions, treatments, and medical providers.

Having an online presence helps you reach your audience wherever they are. That is why many medical practices are now focusing on improving their online presence with digital marketing strategies like SEO and social media.

In this article, we provide you with five effective ways to boost your practice's online presence. But before we do that, let's take a look at why you need to shift online now more than ever.

Why Should You Claim Your Online Presence?

Data released by Statista shows that the internet has 4.66 billion active users globally. Among these, four in every five adults in the U.S. alone (80 percent) start their search for a doctor online. Here's why your online presence is important:

Improves Convenience

Close to 50 percent of patients consider scheduling their appointments electronically via websites, apps, or emails. This means that you are already losing half of your potential clients if you still rely on traditional ways of doing things.

A rich online presence makes it easy to interact with your patients. Visitors take advantage of top-ranking sites on search engines to look for helpful information, including reviews and the location of your practice.

Boosts Trust

Patients need someone they can trust with their well-being. Being online is a perfect way to display your social proof and allow people to connect with you. The good online reputation you earn through patient feedback and reviews is what will prevent patients from walking away from you.

Allows Patients Easy Access to Information

One in every twenty searches made on Google every day is healthcare-related. Many people need medical information to stay healthy. Through writing blog posts, newsletters or establishing an online health library, you can enable your patients to make better and informed decisions.

Ways to Improve Your Online Presence as a Practice

Here are some quick and easy ways to enhance your presence on the internet:

1. Get your website in shape

Whether you're a solo practitioner, or the owner of a large medical firm, your practice's website is one of the most important marketing tools you have. For many people, their first impression of your firm will come from your site.

With so much competition out there, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. Here are some tips on how to get your practice's website in shape:

Optimize your website for mobile devices

About 93 percent of internet users rely on mobile devices. Therefore, you must design a website that works well with the operating systems of smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

Design a fast website

According to Google, 53% of visitors will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. You should optimize your site to load faster on both mobile devices and computers.

Make your site easy to find

Websites that appear on the first page of search engines attract more traffic than those that come last. Together with your team, make your website visible by creating a speedy platform and creating highly optimized content.

2. Verify Information about Your Practice before Uploading

While online, you are likely to interact with people that don't know you. The best way to assure your site's visitors' trust is by providing the correct information about your practice. Whether it is on your social media platforms or your website, check and verify that every detail you upload matches what you offer.

Some of the common details you may have to confirm include your practice's name, address, and contact. Your details are what Google will use to show your profile in the search results.

Search engines will find it difficult to rank a practice that has inconsistent, incomplete, or outdated data. Therefore, correct any details of your practice concerning a change of location, new physicians, or even contacts.

3. Optimize Your Google My Business Profile

Providing accurate information about your practice is not enough. You need to make your profile easy to find on Google. Use the right keywords and provide as many details as possible on your profile to increase your chances of appearing on online searches.

Google My Business is an important determinant of your website's search rankings. In fact, compared to other factors like your site's content, and reviews, GMB tops the elements that drive site rankings.

Some quick ways to optimize your GMB include: providing plenty of backlinks to your website, adding a photo album to your profile, and using specific SEO terms that match your practice.

4. Be Active On Social Media

Social media seems to be all about numbers. But at its core, is CONTENT. The more content you share with your followers and interact with them, the more followers and likes you'll gain in return.

The benefits of social media for medical practice are endless: from amassing followers and attracting new patients, to providing customer service and promoting staff members.

For an impactful social media experience, amplify your presence by:

• Consistently posting relevant content.
• Participating in channels that relate to your practice.
• Creating short posts with links to your main website.
• Engaging with your following through responding to their comments and posts.
  

5. Establish Your Presence on Doctor Review Websites

Doctor review websites are an increasingly popular source for medical information and advice. According to a publication in the Journal of the American Association, 60 percent of people go to these rating sites to search for medical practitioners.

Doctor review sites provide a wealth of information about doctors, hospitals, and healthcare facilities to help their visitors find the best care for themselves or their loved ones. The more and better reviews you have on these websites, the higher your chances of standing out from other physicians in your area.

The Takeaway

If you are a medical practitioner, exhibit your prowess in cutting edge technology and your continual availability to your patients. One way of doing this is by having a robust online presence. The above tips will help you reach remarkable online milestones seamlessly.

As a practitioner, sometimes it might be difficult to manage your online presence alongside your practice. But with the help of our experienced experts, we can help you achieve this. Reach out to DearDoc for assistance in building and maintaining an online presence:

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