
Your website needs to be the foundation of your online marketing efforts, but before it can do that, you need to make it into an asset that’s powerful in its own right. The best way to do that is to apply the tactics and principles of website marketing.
In this short guide, you’re going to learn what website marketing is, and why it’s particularly important to medical websites. Then you’re going to learn about the elements of your website that play a significant role in its growth.
What is Medical Website Marketing?
Website marketing refers to the process of promoting your website and drawing more traffic toward it. Website marketing campaigns typically involve meeting three specific goals:
- To drive people toward your website from outside sources
- To keep them there once they’ve arrived
- To optimize the mechanisms that make them take the next action (such as signup for an appointment)
You can get really creative with these goals. Anything that helps your website develop more traffic and more prominence without harming your reputation can meet the goals of website marketing.
Before we get into the possibilities, let’s take a minute to explore why it matters.
Why do You need Website Marketing?
Medical companies, in particular, need website marketing because patients make their first contact with clinics online.
Many searches for medical services begin with the search query “(services) near me”. From there, potential patients will check the map to find out which locations are closest, browse the reviews for each location, and then visit the website.
Alternatively, potential patients may choose their services by seeing compelling content on social media. Great before-and-after images of health services or informative blogs about problems the patient is facing may compel them to click on a link to the website.
Whether your website shows up for searches or has a presence on social media are both products of website marketing. Let’s examine some of the elements that make it successful.
Elements of Website Marketing You Can’t Ignore
Local SEO
Local SEO is one of the most important elements of website marketing if you are focused on customers in your local area. Working on your local SEO will allow you to appear in local map results.
You need this because it:
- Places your results at the top of the page (even before the first result).
- Allows you to share your business details at a glance.
- Gives you the chance to have a “contact now” or “visit website” added to your result.
Implementing Local SEO properly can take a professional team, but there are a few steps you can take right now to improve your performance in local searches:
- Sign up with Google My Business
- Fill out all the information on your GMB profile
- Start using local references in your site content
Social Media
Social Media can be a major driver of website traffic if you know how to use it. All it takes to use social media for marketing is some compelling content that will drive people back toward your website.
Image and video content performs very well on social media. In the past, medical offices have managed to attract a lot of attention by using the following types of content:
- Before and after photos of procedures: These are particularly effective for clinics focused on cosmetic procedures, dental procedures, and weight loss.
- Video office tours: This type of content helps people develop a sense of your office, and whether or not they want to visit you for services. If they’re a new patient, it can reassure them.
- Photos and videos to introduce new medical devices: This type of content can help introduce people to new services that are available, and the kind of equipment that makes it possible.
Email Marketing
Email marketing refers to using your mailing list to drive people toward your website. This can be a superior form of marketing because it targets people who have already expressed enough interest in your services to share their emails with you.
The best way to get responses to your emails is to provide helpful information that the targets of your messages will be able to use. The following types of content can be effective when used in email messages:
- Newsletters about upcoming specials or new services
- Introduce new employees on staff
If you haven’t built up an email list yet, there are some easy ways you can do so:
- Ask for emails on new patient forms
- Collect emails when patients contact you with questions on your site
Blogging
Blogging is an on-site way to develop your website’s appeal. If you’re able to build up your blog enough, you can draw in a significant amount of new traffic that’s attracted by the expertise that you offer.
When blogging, stick to topics that can help people learn more about the medical services that you offer. Focus on ways that you can reassure them about the safety, or effectiveness of treatments.
Over time, people can start to discover your website on the power of your blogging instead of your other content.
Make Medical Website Marketing Work for You
Now you know what medical website marketing is, why you need it, and some of the elements that make the biggest difference when implementing it on your sites. You can use this knowledge to draw in more visitors and keep them there to perform the next action.
This work can help you land more leads, more customers, and a brighter future for your medical office.