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When it comes to SEO for your medical practice’s website, not all hosting platforms are created equal — here’s why WordPress outshines the rest.
Many medical practices think that simply building out a website and pushing it live is enough to guarantee solid online visibility and a steady stream of high-quality traffic — if only it were that simple…
In reality, your site’s visibility largely depends on your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. In order to improve your ranking in Google’s search results, you’ll need to optimize your content accordingly — something that any SEO professional will tell you is, in and of itself, a full-time job.
The good news is that some Content Management Systems (CMS) make optimizing your content for search a piece of cake — at least relatively speaking. We typically recommend WordPress to our clients, as it comes with a number of incredibly helpful built-in features that help you adhere to SEO best practices without placing undue strain on your time or resources.
Lucy Barret recently wrote a great article for Search Engine Watch that outlines a number of WordPress’ key advantages when it comes to SEO — here are a few that every medical marketer should know about.
When it comes to improving search rankings, your pages’ title tags play a vital role. In addition to serving as an indicator of quality and relevancy for search bots, the title tags are the text that users actually see on the results pages — in other words, this is your opportunity to convince prospective patients to actually visit your site.
With WordPress’ All in One SEO Pack plugin, you can customize your title tags to make them more SEO-friendly. Try to add the most relevant keywords at the beginning, as search engines tend to focus heavily on the first one to three words — moreover, it will make it much easier for users to quickly determine the contents of your page, thereby increasing your click-through-rate (CTR) with more qualified traffic.
Meta descriptions are essentially a short abstract that appear on search result pages. They provide readers and web crawlers with a brief summary of your post in order to help them determine the contents and relevancy of a given page.
WordPress allows users to customize their own meta descriptions, or utilize a variety of plugins, such as the Yoast SEO plugin or the All in One SEO Pack, to auto-generate optimized meta descriptions for onsite content.
Think of categories and tags as your site’s table of contents — by grouping blog posts and landing pages under these umbrella terms, your visitors will be able to navigate your site and locate the information they’re looking quickly and easily. When leveraged correctly, categories and tags can help boost your search rankings as well.
Change Your Default Permalink Structure
Permalinks are the permanent URLs that form the basis of all of the various types of content on your site. In other words, this is the base address that ultimately links to all of your blog posts, landing pages, FAQ sections, etc. The default permalink structure typically looks like this:
This actually makes it difficult for web crawlers to read and index your site pages.
Conveniently, WordPress allows users to change the default permalink structure to include relevant keywords and/or categories, which in turn will make it more algorithm- and patient-friendly. For example, a custom permalink structure might look something like this:
On a more fundamental level, WordPress itself is designed with search crawlers in mind. The underlying code is clean and simple, making it much easier for bots to quickly and easily index your content.
As the level of competition in the local search market continues to increase, medical practices need to make sure they’re capitalizing on every digital resource at their disposal. WordPress effectively comes with a built-in leg up for bolstering your visibility in search and improving the user experience — in other words, by going with “the other guy” you may be placing yourself at a serious disadvantage.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
If you are considering your next DTP digital strategy for your medical device, check out this new research study first.
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:
The right search strategy can help you reach potential patients at every stage of the conversion funnel, generating valuable leads without breaking the bank.
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:
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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).
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.
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 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.
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 (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.
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:
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.
