Medical SEO vs Medical PPC: A Search Engine Marketing Overview

When discussing online marketing strategies with healthcare professionals (physicians, practice/office managers and healthcare marketing professionals) we are often tasked with explaining what online marketing entails and the differences between some of these strategies. Online marketing categories include search engine marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, display advertising and mobile advertising. Understanding where to spend your marketing budget and which strategy provides the best return on investment (ROI) is crucial to your overall healthcare marketing success. Search engine marketing historically has proven to have a strong ROI, but can be difficult to understand and manage for less experienced marketers.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is a form of internet marketing that involves the promotion of websites by increasing visibility in search engine results pages (SERPs). It provides the opportunity for potential new patients to find your medical organization online when conducting search queries using search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc). It is a very popular and profitable marketing strategy for healthcare organizations, but you must comprehend the difference between its two components: Search Engine Optimization and Pay-Per-Click advertising, Below, I discuss the two strategies and offer some of the benefits and limitations to each.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in a search engine’s “natural” or un-paid (“organic”) search results. The higher you rank, the higher you appear on the search results pages, the more exposure your brand gets and the more visitors/traffic your web pages will receive. There are a variety of ways to improve a ranking for a search result, but most involve the content that exists on the website. Including keywords in a web page’s meta-tags and page descriptions is important because of what the search engine’s algorithms are programmed to identify.  The biggest influence to a ranking is going to be how well a website’s content matches the search query. Adding keywords you want to rank for in your content, as well as continually providing new and unique content, will improve your ranking when search engines “crawl” the website (“crawling a site” refers to an Internet bot that systematically browses the world wide web and existing web pages, typically for the sole purpose of  indexing search results). Updating content requires the search engines to frequently and continually crawl the site.

Benefits: One benefit to implementing an SEO strategy for generating referrals is that it provides a level playing field for all competitors in the market. Your ranking cannot be influenced by out-bidding a competitor and is based on the content that exists on your website and your website’s domain authority. Domain authority is a measure of the power of a domain name and is one of many search engine ranking factors. Creating or optimizing content for maximum search results can be a very cost-effective marketing strategy that can have long-term results. Another benefit to SEO is that you can target specific keywords that potential patients may be using in search queries. Adding these keywords or phrases to your website’s content will boost rankings and visibility. You are also able to target new potential patients at the local level; using local modifiers with phrases such as “Florida Hand Centers” or “New York City Vein Care”.

Limitations: SEO does have some drawbacks. First, SEO is a long-term strategy that takes time to implement and even more time to see ranking improvements. A website will not jump to the top of the rankings a day after adding keywords to your content. It takes time for the search engines to continually crawl a website and determine there is a fit between your content and the search query. It also takes time to build your domain authority so that you can outrank your competitors on similar search terms. SEO requires a continued dedication to providing new and unique content (such as blogs), which take time to write and a level of commitment that many may not be able to provide. For targeting purposes, SEO realistically (unless you have a very large SEO budget) only targets ‘local’ keywords like ‘Miami knee replacement’ (as ‘national’ keywords like ‘knee replacement’ are simply too competitive to achieve page 1 rankings).  A good SEO strategy should only involve targeting 6-10 keywords/phrases, leaving many other searched terms or keywords unaccounted for in your online marketing strategy.   Lastly, when evaluating SEO success, it is important to peel away (e.g., not include) any visitors that come from ‘branded’ searches (searches done on your physician or practice names), as these visitors generally found you (initially) via other means (e.g. are existing patients, found via offline advertising, etc.).  Branded searches often make up 70-80% of organic visitors, but add little incremental value.

Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising: PPC advertising is an internet advertising model used to drive more traffic to websites. Advertisers typically pay the publishers (Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc…) when their ad has been clicked by a web user (Cost-Per-Click or CPC). Typically, advertisers will bid on specific keywords or phrases that are relevant to their target market, with a combination of the highest bidders and the most relevant advertisers garnering the top spots in paid search results. Paid advertisements are typically seen as the first three spots of a search result (usually having a beige/gold background) as well as along the right hand column of a search result page. PPC campaigns will have a strong enough ROI as long as you have a high enough procedural value on the specialty you are promoting.

Benefits: There are a few major advantages to PPC programs. First, with PPC, you are able to see an instant impact. Once you determine which keywords/phrases to target, your program is visible on search results. If you are looking to drive referrals and have immediate results, PPC is a great fit as a marketing strategy because you don’t have to wait three to six months to begin seeing the results. Another benefit to PPC is that you can target both local and national keywords, exposing your brand to more web users. Lastly, with PPC, you can target anywhere from 300-1000 keywords/phrases for your campaign, leaving no stone unturned when it comes to uncovering new patient opportunities.

Limitations: Some of the drawbacks to running successful PPC campaigns, like SEO, is it requires a significant time commitment with constant ad optimization, results tracking and analytics. There are over 20 different targeting methods that can be used when running a PPC campaign and if you don’t have the experience managing these types of campaigns, things get overlooked. Professional advertisers typically create numerous ads (often over 100), carefully select keywords (100s or even 1000s), geo-target/geo-optimize, target non-English languages, optimize for different devices (tablets, mobile and desktops), manage quality scores, schedule ads to optimal times, and monitor click-through-rates (CTR) and conversions in order to have a successful campaign. For a PPC campaign to be successful, it often requires someone managing it that has a certain level of expertise, experience and attention to detail. Unattended, PPC campaign costs can spiral out of control without showing any improvement in results.

When determining what form of online marketing strategy to implement for your healthcare organization, few strategies can compete with the ROI and exposure generated from search engine marketing. Both PPC and SEO need to be a part of your online medical marketing strategy if you want to maximize your organizations exposure to new patients. The problem is the time commitment and the experience level it involves to run these types of programs successfully. Those organizations who embrace both strategies are going to be extremely visible online (showing in organic as well as paid search results) and be top of mind when patients begin looking for treatment of their specific condition.

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Medical Marketer's Guide: Website Design

Medical Marketer's Guide: Website Conversion Optimization

Website Traffic Needs To Convert

Increasing website conversion rates by 1% can have a dramatic impact on new appointments scheduled.

At MD Connect, we’ve worked with thousands of physicians and healthcare professonals in more than 30 different specialities. In that time, we’ve identified several components of a website that have a major impact on how well your traffic converts into new patient contact.  In this guide, we’ll discuss key items to consider when designing or optimizing your website and provide you with a printable 60 point checklist to use as a resource along your way. Topics include:
  • Photo Usage
  • Contact Forms
  • Mobile Optimization
  • Testimonials & Reviews
  • Video
  • Content
If you are looking for ways to increase the amount of leads you’re generating through your website, it may only require a few minor changes. 

Mid-West Dental Practice

A leading mid-west dental practice with over 10 locations had been using a local digital marketing agency, with limited healthcare experience, to manage their digital advertising programs.Unhappy with the results the local agency was producing, the dental practice chose to trial MD Connect as their digital agency after an exhaustive search for a new digital partner.

Cost-Competitive MRI Center

A local MRI center was looking to leverage their advantages versus a number of larger, local competitors through targeted advertising. They wanted to be sure that whatever money was invested in marketing and advertising had a clear return on investment by driving additional MRI scans.

'Active' Online Campaign Management

This case study profiles the business impact ‘active’ online campaign management and optimization can have versus a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ program. The study was conducted within three specialties across 60+ different practices.

US News Top 10 Hospital

This case study profiles a multi-year series of campaigns with a top-ranked US hospital. MD Connect worked cooperatively with various hospital constituents (marketing, IT, clinical, administration) to produce immediate results with positive ROI and has since expanded into multiple clinical specialties.

Leading National Body Sculpting Chain

One of the largest body contouring (liposuction) centers in the nation (with ten locations in seven states) had MD Connect go head-to-head with another nationally-known online marketing agency in a ‘bake-off’ for 6 months. See how MD Connect significantly improved referral volume while decreasing costs.

Large Physician Practice

This case study profiles a large physician practice that is aggressively marketing (spending >$40,000 per month). Detailed data is presented for 17 different marketing expenditures (via TV, radio, print, online and billboard) over an 8 month period in 2011. Client data includes tracking out to revenue dollars for each media investment (and thus clear ROI per media investment).

8 Steps to Converting a Phone Lead Into a Consultation

MD Connect has audited thousands of phone calls for medical practices, and has seen firsthand the qualities of phone reception that help to drive conversion. Conversion on phone ‘referrals’ varies from 15% to 70% and the difference is largely due to technique.

This best practices guide contains 8 critical requirements to insuring maximum conversion with interested, calling patients, including:

  • Your front line sales person
  • Knowing the objections
  • Phone Etiquette
  • Asking for the appointment

As your first, live interaction with a prospective patient, it creates that valuable first impression, and (more often than most realize) helps the calling patient decide whether they will visit your practice. Download your copy today to optimize how your front desk converts phone calls into appointments.

US Physician Practice Marketing Audit

This 4-page marketing research study (conducted cooperatively with and published by a leading medical society) contains the results of a detailed online survey of marketing investment and return for 219 physician practices across the United States. Data was assimilated to construct a picture of:

  • Media utilized most by physician practices
  • What relative return each exhibited (measured by cost-per-referral)
  • How these investments correlated with practice revenue.

Other data on metro population effects, program tracking techniques and phone coverage benchmarking are included as well. Marketing spending during the recession has not diminished significantly, and, given increasing competition, may be more necessary than ever. Download your copy today to see where Physicians are spending their marketing budgets and the effects it has on their practice.

SEO vs. PPC: Empirical Analysis for Online Medical Marketing

Empirical Analysis for Online Medical Marketing

Many healthcare advertisers are aware of search engine marketing and the need to ‘optimize’ their rankings, but fewer are clear on the distinction between its two predominant marketing strategies; search engine optimization (SEO) and paid search (PPC) marketing. Fewer still understand which is more cost effective, generating the appointments or procedures that truly power your business.

This empirical analysis explores SEO versus PPC for medical online marketers and presents a valid case to why overly focused SEO efforts yield less actual patient inquiries than a blended campaign.

Med Device: Patient Portals vs. Local Microsites

Destination of Paid Media Traffic Impacts Lead Conversions

Medical device marketers pursuing digital direct-to-patient (DTP) or patient advertising must determine both where to send the digital traffic they generate, as well as their desired program outcome (e.g. targeted patient lead generation or general brand awareness). In this newly released study, MD Connect analyzed and provided:

  • 15-month Evaluation Period
  • 9800+ leads tracked
  • 3800+ appointments
  • Cost-Per-Lead Comparison
  • Cost-Per-Appointment Comparison

If you are considering your next DTP digital strategy for your medical device, check out this new research study first. 

Medical Marketer's Guide: Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Online Visibility Creates New Patient Opportunities 

When it comes to medical marketing, there’s no question that search reigns supreme. According to Pew Research, 80% of American internet users have conducted health-related searches online – up nearly 20% since 2001. Approximately 77% of patients conduct an online search before scheduling an appointment with a healthcare provider. Since healthcare searches make up 5% of nearly two trillion queries a year, the size of this audience – and the opportunity it presents – is huge.

Download our guide to search engine optimization to learn about:

  • Landing on the first page of organic search results
  • Targeting patients actively seeking treatment with high-value keywords
  • Building SEO clout on- and off-site 

The right search strategy can help you reach potential patients at every stage of the conversion funnel, generating valuable leads without breaking the bank.

Medical Marketer's Guide: Converting Calls Into Consults

Optimizing Your Phone Experience to Boost New Patient Appointments 

Competition in local healthcare markets has reached an all-time high — with no shortage of options, patients who experience undue friction during their path to treatment typically don’t stick around long. As the first live interaction with your medical brand, a patient’s experience when they call can often be the deciding factor between you and another provider. 

Download our guide to phone optimization and learn how to:

  • Properly structure your interactive voice response (IVR) system
  • Train your reception staff to keep patients on the line and generate more new appointments
  • Optimize your digital presence to maximize your rate of conversion and ultimately, your ROI

Without a well-thought out phone strategy, your advertising dollars may be going to waste. The simple, actionable steps laid out in this guide will help ensure you maximize your marketing ROI.

Laservue

LaserVue Eye Center is one of the many practices MD Connect worked with in collaboration with Lensar, a medical device company focusing on cataract surgery. LaserVue is also part of a co-marketing program designed to increase the volume of new patients looking to have cataract surgery performed. During this collaboration, MD Connect developed a custom template for Lensar that is easily scalable, thus shortening the time to market with new clients to less than one month. MD Connect also managed all digital patient outreach efforts and provided tracking and analytic services to share insight on leads generated by the program and appointments.

Northeastern Reproductive Medicine

For many years, MD Connect worked with NRMVT, a small infertility practice, to drive new patient volume through paid advertising and search engine optimization services. MD Connect also created a content plan to help convert patients into appointments.

Lowsitol

MD Connect’s relationship with Advanced Fertility of Texas recently expanded to create and execute marketing campaigns for one of the company’s infertility supplements. MD Connect developed a robust program that includes Google Search, Bing Search, Google Marketplace, and Amazon. MD Connect created a product page on Google to support some of these initiatives. 

New Hope Fertility

MD Connect partnered with New Hope Fertility Center for many years, providing content production, website design/development services, Search Engine Optimization services, and digital patient outreach using Google, Bing and Facebook advertising. Full tracking was implemented using form and phone call tracking. 

Shoulder Replacement

MD Connect works with Exactech, a shoulder replacement medical device company, on a co-marketing program highlighting the local practitioners and the technology patients seek for shoulder replacement. To help Exactech clients (local practices) in the program increase their online and advertising presence, MD Connect developed a templated website that is easily scalable. MD Connect also manages the program’s digital advertising spend and provides full-funnel tracking, down to the appointment, for both the practice and Exactech (patient information is de-identified).

Florida Orthopedic Surgeons

Dr. Lincoln and his practice partnered with Microport, a hip replacement medical device company, as part of a larger co-marketing program that services patients seeking hip replacement surgery options. MD Connect was engaged to create a website that educates patients on the technology while highlighting the local practice and practitioner. MD Connect also manages the digital media spend for the program and provides full tracking and analytics, reporting on lead volume and appointments generated by the digital marketing program.

Denver

Dr. Johnson and his practice are a part of a much larger (30+ practices) co-marketing program with Conformis, a knee replacement medical device company. The program is co-funded by both the practice and Conformis. Because it focuses on generating new patient leads for custom knee replacements, MD Connect was tapped to improve lead volume and quality. This program has been in the market for over seven years, and MD Connect continues to deliver using both online and offline tracking measures to report on appointments generated from the program.

Mansfield Orthopaedics

MD Connect and Mansfield Orthopaedics have an extensive working relationship. MDC crafts and executes digital patient acquisition strategy, from hosting the website and making site updates to managing its digital advertising program with full-funnel tracking that includes form leads and phone calls.

1st Advantage Dental

MD Connect worked with ADPI (the 5th largest DSO at the time) to manage all of its paid media programs across more than 30 affiliates and 100 locations nationwide. Each program is focused on converting local traffic into affiliate practice, and with full-down funnel tracking, MDC was able to help ADPI flexibly adjust marketing budgets by affiliate and location. 

Bright Direction Dental

MD Connect partnered with Bright Direction Dental to lead its rebranding efforts. During this partnership, MDC created a custom corporate website that helps Bright Direction Dental attract new business partners. 

Philadelphia Center For Dermatology

As a new practice, Philly Dermatology engaged MD Connect to develop its website and manage all of its paid media campaigns. During this partnership of over 4 years, MD Connect drove significant new patient referral volume using Google and Bing search, as well as Facebook advertising.  

VIP Vein Center

MD Connect has been a partner of VIP for more than eight years. MDC provides website design services for both the Vein and Fibroid center practices, as well as digital patient acquisition services that utilize Google, Bing, and Facebook advertising. MDC provides full tracking services (form leads and phone calls), reporting on appointments generated from all advertising programs.  

Vein 911

MD Connect worked with Dr. Pittman and Vein911 for over seven years, providing many different services, including a new, custom-developed website, content development, Search Engine Optimization services, digital media management, patient acquisition strategy, and full-funnel tracking and reporting (to appointments and procedures). Dr. Pittman has since referred MDC for multiple new vein partnerships.

South Austin Vein Center

MD Connect currently manages the South Austin Vein website, content production, Search Engine Optimization services, and digital patient acquisition using Google and Facebook ads. MDC also provides full-funnel tracking and reports on appointments generated. 

Medical Marketer's Guide: Google Advertising

Using Google Advertising to Drive New Patient Acquisitions

Today’s patients are more proactive and empowered than ever before. Increasingly, patients are turning to the internet to conduct their own health-related research and make their own decisions about treatment. And where are they finding that information? Google (well, 70% are — the other 30% use Bing).

Download our guide to Google advertising to learn about:

  • The “new” digital marketing funnel as it relates to the modern patient
  • How to target patients who are actively seeking treatment, thereby improving your digital marketing ROI
  • The three basic components of building a high-performing, cost-effective search advertising campaign

Despite the ever-increasing level of competition for new patients in the local healthcare search market, there’s still plenty of opportunity to reach your target audience without blowing your budget in the process.

Advanced Fertility Center of Texas

For over five years, MD Connect has provided Advanced Fertility Center of Texas with Search Engine Optimization services, digital advertising management, and full tracking and reporting based on appointments held and procedures generated. We have expanded our partnership to also include advertising efforts for AFC of Texas’ nutritional supplement production line (Vitagenis and Lowsitol). 

Center for Reproductive Health

Over the last five years, MD Connect has worked with Center for Reproductive Health to drive new leads and convert them into loyal patients. MD Connect also designed, developed, and launched a new practice website to optimize digital outreach efforts. 

Long Island Laparoscopic Doctors

MD Connect worked with Long Island Laparoscopic Doctors for many years, providing a comprehensive range of services that included a custom new website design, content efforts, SEO services, and digital patient acquisition initiatives that saw a significant increase in quality leads. 

Bayside Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery

Bayside Oral Surgery approached MD Connect to help with building a specific digital acquisition program for Dental Implants. MDC designed a service-specific landing page to drive paid advertising traffic and utilizes phone and form tracking to report on all appointments generated from the program. 

KMG Psychiatry

MD Connect collaborated with KMG Psychiatry to promote a newer treatment option that fights depression. TMS is a unique solution that requires partnering with the medical device company to produce content and an ad program focused on converting patients into appointments in a very competitive industry. MD Connect developed a landing page focused solely on TMS treatment, which produced significant results in a short period of time. 

Performance Physical Therapy

Performance Physical Therapy (PPT) engaged MD Connect to develop a localized, practice-focused digital advertising program. MDC created a custom landing page, implementing it across more than 20 practice locations. By providing PPT with tracking and reporting metrics from location-specific digital advertising programs, MDC helps PPT focus on higher-priority practice locations with flexibility in media spending.

FasPsych

MD Connect recently collaborated with FasPsych to not only increase B2B lead volume but also improve the quality of leads. After developing a landing page that speaks directly to FasPsych’s target markets, MD Connect continues to work closely with FasPsych to track and improve lead quality.

Medical Marketer's Guide: Website Design

Smart Design Creates New Patient Opportunities 

Across all industries, web design can make or break a user’s experience with a brand. Visitors’ perception of your website is directly related to their perception of your business. Poor web design can drive away customers, while innovative and user-friendly design can convert them.

Download our guide to web design to learn about:

  • Why web design matters for medical practices and hospitals
  • Best practices for modern medical websites
  • How to develop and implement a new website

Creating a strong website is a complex process, but with the right tools, your site can both engage new visitors and encourage them to schedule appointments within your hospital, clinic, or medical practice. Download our white paper today to learn more.