Your business website does not need to outrank the entire world. It doesn’t have too. You just want high rankings in the neighborhoods, communities where you operate your business. You want your website to rank highly for your zip code.
You don’t compete globally, therefore, your website needs only to compete locally.
Just as you wouldn’t pay for advertising on TV, radio or print in markets out of your state, you want to ensure your website ranks only in the zip codes where you engage business.
It does you no good if you rank highly across the nation because it is unlikely those patients will come to see you.
Guess what? Your job just got easier.
Competition Within Your Zip Code is ….. Low
Timing your web strategy couldn’t be better. The time to formulate a marketing strategy on the web is right now. Why? Because very few of your competitors, if any, have any idea of how to use SEO (Search Engine Optimization) or content marketing to rank their website. In the medical world, few even have a website.
Instead of competing with thousands or hundreds, if you focus on “owning” your zip code, there is likely very, very little website competition.
Those high rankings are yours for the taking.
Google Your Keywords…and Your Zip Code
Pick three words (aka keywords) for which you would like to rank highly. These should be 3 words that describe your “bread and butter.” For example, an eye doctor might choose; cataract surgery, laser vision correction and contact lenses.
Google those words yourself…and then add your zip code. For instance, I’d type “retina specialist in 22031,” for example. The search results should list should be your competitors. Count the number of different practices, some may come up more than once.
Location, Location, Location
Remember to approach your strategy from the perspective of your next new patient. Your patients are looking for qualified individual(s) who meets their needs and is located in the same geographic location.
While you may actually have several competitors in close proximity to your physical location, you may be surprised to find that you are the only one amongst your competitors that has bothered to create a web presence.
If You Don’t Have a Website, You Don’t Exist
While this may yet be intuitive to you, you need only to compete with those in your immediate geographic area who also have a website. Those businesses with old, stale or non-existent websites are not competing with you. In other words, those other practices that don’t have a website….don’t exist!
To your success!
Randall V. Wong, M.D.
www.MedicalMarketingEnterprises.com