HELPFUL INFORMATION ABOUT MEDICAL MARKETING
Medical Marketing Tip # 5:
Put detailed information about treatment options and office procedures on your website. Having the mostly asked questions online reduces consultation time. New patient registration forms will make it easy to download them before the appointment and saves administration time and postage costs.
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Five Ways to Know When a Redesign Makes Sense.
Medical Marketing Resources
Five Ways to Know if a Redesign Makes Sense
Affiliated Websites
Websites of Green Businesses
Other Helpful Websites
Affiliated Websites
TD Media
TD Media provides design, technology and communication services.
Fertility Success Rates
Compare National IVF Success Rates of the Top IVF Clinics
PrintFellas
Competitive Pricing for high quality printing needs.
PromoFellas
For exceptional promotional items for lasting impressions.
ListLoop
Email Newsletter Tool, automated newsletter design, mailing list management, automated, double-opt-in subscription service and more.
Websites of Local Green Businesses
Recycled Products Cooperative
Recycled & Environmentally Friendly Office Supplies
Angel Printing, Inc
Chlorine free recycled papers & soy based ink offset printing
Groove House Records, Inc.
Manufacturer of CDs and DVDs out of recycled materials
M. Marie Photography
Professional photography for celebrations, special events, or portraits.
E3 Strategies
Offers education & training for businesses on becoming more sustainable.
Heart & Solar Energy Unlimited San Diego
Run your office on Green Energy
Verde Paperie
Eco-Friendly stationery & vegetable-based inks
Caboodle Cartridge
Recycle toner cartridges & save $$ on toners & ink
Verde Agency
Green product marketing & promotions firm
Other Helpful Websites
Web Position
Search engine optimization (SEO) tool to drive traffic to your website.
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
Health care provider resource for compliance with HIPAA.
Market Position
Use this search engine marketing resource center to see what you can do to position your website better on search engines.
Five Ways to Know if a Redesign Makes Sense
When it's time to redesign your medical website:
1. Your web traffic is decreasing or activities are not congruent with your business goals.
The majority of your website traffic depends on search engines who display your website on search results. Search engines change the way they rank websites all the time. If your traffic is stagnating or shows a declining trend over a 6-month period, your website is no longer optimized for search engine and it’s time to redesign.
The most effective medical website can generate up to 50% of new patient volume. If your website is not the source of at least 25% of new patients, consider the investment into a redesign.
2. How familiar are you with your state’s Medical Board regulations for physician advertising?
We are. Violating those regulations is considered a misdemeanor and is cause for revocation or suspension of your license to practice medicine or other disciplinary action. For example, the website of a plastic surgeon needs to identify each photograph if an actual patient or a model is displayed. In addition, there are other industry guidelines we recommend your website should comply with. Does your website follow HIPAA guidelines and the generic guidelines set by the American Medical Association? Are you aware of AMA’s guidelines for medical and health information sites in the Internet? These are just two generic sets of rules you will want to follow closely when posting a medical website on the Internet. Things get more specific for a fertility specialist with the “Guidelines for advertising by ART programs” set by the ASRM in 2004. Your website is a reflection of the quality of your patient services. Make sure you comply with medical field standards of today.
3. Is your website adhering to current web standards?
Over the past 3 years, web standards have evolved dramatically. Take a look at your website and evaluate the semantic structure of the site. Are you using table elements? Is your site Flash content driven? Flash content cannot be indexed by search engines and might do more harm with increased page size than good. Are you using inline styles, meaning styles are embedded in your website instead of being linked via a Cascading Style Sheet? How large are your pages? Search engines look also at download time when indexing websites. Adhering to modern web standards, we recommend to design a table-less website in XHTML, using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and optimal page size.
4. Are you satisfied with the overall performance of your website?
As a minimum requirement for a website, your practice’s name should come up No. 1 on all search engines! If somebody is looking for you, it is unacceptable that your competitor gets listed before you on a search engine! After that, there are key phrases relevant to your business you should be ranked on search engines. As a test, pick a key phrase you would expect patients to use to find your site on the web. When typing in this keyword on the most powerful search engines, is your website listed in the top 10 or top 20? Try additional key phrases. If results are not satisfactory to you, it’s time for a redesign.
5. Search engine optimization in 2011 is linked to excellent content as much as a good website design.
In 2011, the top rule for search engine optimization is adding value to your site to make it an information resource to patients and less of an advertising tool. It is important to go beyond the basic information site and offer unique content that fosters community. Offering free patient education in form of multi-media and videos, links to other helpful sites, newsletters, a search tool or even a chat room or patient message board are ways to accomplish this. Doing something special can bring attention to your site and increase popularity.
With Fertility Marketing, you can be sure that a redesign of your website will correct the shortcomings of your current website. Contact us today for a free consultation!