As a physician I am often asked by colleagues about the importance of a medical website design and internet marketing for primary care physicians since physicians believe that the majority of their patients are acquired by referrals and word of mouth . Although I believe these sources are effective, it is also important to have a variety of methods of acquiring new patients. One of the most effective methods of acquiring new patients is through the internet and by having an powerful medical website.
The first step before you can begin an Internet marketing campaign is to have an effective medical website. This website will serve as your Practice Online and will help you directly to acquire new patients. In addition, this website will be a valuable resource for your current patients and the more you provide a service to your patients the more you will gain their trust and respect which ultimately translates to more referrals.
It is important to make sure you also have an effective medical website design. Some designers place a very high importance on elements such as flash and colors and less importance on the coding of your medical website. Over the years I have learned from my staff that the design is important but not at the expense of the function of the medical website. Don’t forget what the overall purpose of your website is in the first place.
Not only will it serve as a resource but it will also help you acquire new patients from the internet so you want to make sure it is visible when a patient performs a search for a common service you offer. An effective medical website design will take this into consideration and the designer will make sure the website it built and coded correctly. The medical website design team at Rx Medical Web understand that the purpose of your website is not just for the “looks” of it. Any web designer you hire, make sure they are building this site for you so that it will show up during an internet search, make sure they understand it is for your business not for personal reasons.
In this article we have discussed less about the colors and overall appearance of your medical website and placed a significant emphasis on the structure and foundation of your site. After all, what good is having the nicest looking website if your patients cannot find your information when they do a search for a service you offer. The next topic we will discuss in the next article will go over some of these searches your patients are performing. You will be surprised how many people are actually looking for things like, “family physician fort Lauderdale” or “weight loss” doctor san Francisco.