You have to be found, before you can be seen! Website development isn't just about fancy graphics, it is more about the content or what is seen by the search engines.
The overall success of your website becomes my real accomplishment. I focus not only on content (photos and text) but on what the browser wants —simplicity, photos and information about the practice. Many sites these days are hyped with graphics that while “pretty and eye catching” do not seem to matter as much as what potential patients really want to see-- the doctor ’s results, credentials and some basic procedure information. Webtrends reports have consistently qualified this fact.
Cosmetic Website: Generating and Converting Leads
Can the design, architecture and content on your site get you ranked and interest browsers enough to contact you? Your website may serve as a means to answering patient questions or to generating leads that result in establishing new patients. Either way, your website must be found before it is seen. You have to draw potential patients to the website and keep them there.
Cosmetic Website: Getting them there
If you want web-browsers (potential patients) to enter your site, you must rank high on the first few pages of a major search engine. How search engines rank websites varies, but all rankings are effected by link popularity and the quality of website content and architecture. Google is the search engine you should be most concerned with as it is the most popular search engine on the world wide web.
There are several ways in which to improve your search engine ranking on Google. First, maximize your website link popularity. Google uses PageRank™, which assesses a pages importance by the number of links on the web that lead to that page. Some links have greater value than others. Important pages receive a higher PageRank and appear at the top of the search results. A link from a site such as I-Enhance, Enhancement Media or Locate-a-doc is of greater value because these sights are well placed by Google. Purchasing a portal listing is unnecessary, however, you need to illicit as many links to your site as possible. Your vendors, for instance, might offer links from their site to yours.
You can also maximize your engine ranking by having good, browser friendly content and fewer graphics. Although graphics (photos, pictures, and text graphics) are eye-catching, search engines do not recognize graphics; they recognize text. Search engines analyze the full content of a page and factor in fonts and the precise location of each word. They also analyze the content of neighboring web pages to ensure the results returned are the most relevant to a user’s query. Web content should clearly identify what your website is about. Instead of relying on graphics to make your website aesthetically pleasing to the eye, simplify your design and use various font sizes and styles to visually enhance web site literature. Furthermore, maximize hits from search engines by including location listings (region, city and state) at least once on every page. Most browsers do not search for “breast augmentation”; they search for “breast augmentation Atlanta.”
Cosmetic Website: Keeping them there
Only a site that opens quickly and permits browsers to locate the information they seek efficiently and easily will keep a browser’s attention. In addition to improving search engine rankings, minimizing graphics and relying on rich content keeps browsers on the page longer.
Your home page is the most important page on your site. It links potential plastic surgery patients to before and after photos, surgeon’s credentials and procedure information. Your website home page should have a clearly identified navigation menu that includes direct links to the sections browser’s most commonly seek. I often have a listing of every procedure on the home page with direct links to those pages so that patients do not have to click through more than one or two pages to see the information. Also, including one or two sets of before and after photos (small) on the home page offers potential patients an immediate sample of your most popular procedures that distinguish you as a surgeon.
Cosmetic Website: Converting Leads—Making Contact
Encourage browsers to contact you by including a simple contact form or a “call-to-action” (brochure request, seminar invitation, medical spa discount, etc.). This simple but effective invitation to establish contact should require the browser’s name, address and method of referral to your website. “Contact Us” forms offer the browser a method to submit a request for additional information without having to interact with someone. Furthermore, this empowers browsers to act at their best convenience.
