Medical Marketing Enterprises, L.L.C.

Website Optimization, SEO, Reputation Management for Medical Practices

Different Learners | Why Choose Google, YouTube or Podcasts?

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Distracted Patients or Different Learners? | Healthcare and Medical Internet MarketingWhat explains the popularity of Google, YouTube and podcasts?  Each produces content in different ways and may appeal to patients who learn differently.

Google is the largest search engine, YouTube the second and podcasts have exploded over the past several years.  In fact, according to Edison Research, over 20% of adults have listened to a podcast over the past 30 days!

What explains the popularity of each platform?  Do followers/patients randomly jump from one media to another?

Google, though it indexes everything on the Internet, produces content which is mainly text (webpages, articles, posts).  YouTube produces video and podcasts are only audio.

Different Learners

Admittedly, I am a visual learner.  I do not read much and I do not even listen to lyrics of a song.  I often wonder just how much being a visual learner influenced my career choice as a physician?

We all learn differently.  We all prefer a certain way to learn.

Google probably attracts the readers.  YouTube the watchers (and listeners) and podcasts are great for the listeners.  Podcasts are also extremely convenient and most portable (another preference!).

Search Engine Optimization

For now, you have to have a website.  There are two reasons:  text is the easiest and best to rank, optimize and index for website rankings and website is the “go to” reference when a person is interested in learning about your practice.

Video and audio files simply can not be indexed and ranked to get the marketing exposure you want, for now.

Different Media

As you become more proficient with producing content, you may consider expanding to other media platforms.  In the very near future, I will be producing content on YouTube and a podcast for my clinical content.  It will help me reach different audiences, those who prefer to watch and listen to their content!

Regardless of the medium you choose, make sure you are publishing on a platform preferred by your readers/patients.  Do they prefer email, web articles, audio or snail mail?

If you have questions or concerns, please leave a comment below!

All the best!

Randy

Do Patients Hate Your Office? | 5 Ways to Improve Patient Experience

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Patient Experience can negatively impact your brand | Healthcare and Medical Internet MarketingPatient experience is probably the most important variable which creates your brand.  It may even rival the physician-patient relationship as being the most important reason patients love or…hate your office.

While patient experience does include the time spent with the physician, for this article, let’s just focus on every interaction besides the healthcare provider.  After all, patients spend about 80% of their time NOT with the doctor.

Here are some common pitfalls or “touch points” we all share.  These touch points can be hurdles for your patient and can invoke anxiety, frustration or even anger.  On the other hand, paying attention to these touch points could represent areas of strength for your practice…and brand.

“Your Call is Very Important to Us”

Really?  Nothing more irritating than a message on hold.  No bigger statement that says we are so busy and distracted that we might not be able to help you in a timely manner.

Being placed on hold is disrespectful of your patient’s time.  Changing voices, as the messages change, depersonalizes the call.

Message on hold can lead to frustration and anxiety.  It’s right up there with leaving a voicemail…after being on hold.

When was the last time you placed a call, to any business, and a real live person answered the phone?

What if you did that for your patients?  What if the very first time a new patient called your office you answered the phone “live”?  That would be a great way to start off this new relationship.

New Office Visit

Going to a new office can be confusing and intimidating.

There is confusion about parking, then actually walking to the office, what about new forms or records sent from the referring doctor’s office?  There are worries about types of payment and when payment may be due.

You can see how this can add up…and the patient hasn’t even seen the doctor yet.

Purgatory – The Waiting Room

Similar to being place on hold, waiting devalues a patient’s time.  Completing new patient forms prior to arrival to a new office does not ever seem to reduce the wait, it just produces frustration, maybe anger.

In my offices, we usually have multiple providers seeing patients, but only one waiting room.  There is ALWAYS confusion (actually anger) when certain patients get called before others (Hey! I was here first.)

Medical Insurance

Even the insurance specialists get confused.  Staff and patients get confused all the time, especially in areas with dozens of insurance companies.

Disagreements about co-pays, or worse, overcharging a co-pay leads to distrust and casts doubt over the capabilities of your office.   A common mistake in our office is charging a co-pay for a post-op visit…although I think we are improving.

The Front Line

Your front office staff are the most important (yet probably paid the least) employees in your office.  They greet and send-off your patients…hopefully sincerely and with cheer.

How often are they distracted, inattentive  or seem disinterested (probably because the phone keeps ringing)?

Too often, patients start the office visit with a negative touch point and end with one, too.

All the best!

Randy

 

 

Where to find Content | Content Marketing for Healthcare and Medicine

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Content Marketing | Medical Marketing Enterprises | Healthcare and Medical Internet MarketingYour content is the most important part of your digital marketing campaign.  It is not only vital for any one interested in healthcare and medical Internet marketing, but for everyone who uses a website as a marketing tool.

Your content is the key to getting high rankings with the search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo.  Your content is also the key to converting readers into followers and then patients.

Every healthcare and medical website needs content.

SEO Rankings and Engagement

The content (articles, post, pages on your website) will get indexed and if properly optimized will get ranked by Google.  The better, and more relevant, the higher your rankings.  The best ranking webpages are those which have been written well and have been optimized.

The same content has another purpose.  Your articles will be answering questions.  Better yet, your content should be educating and informing your readers.

This brings value to your readers.  From value, develops trust.

Value and trust are the first steps to engaging your readers to convert them to become a patient.

So website content has a dual purpose:  to achieve and maintain high Google (i.e. search engine) rankings and patient engagement.

Sources of Content

Fortunately, we, as health providers, have an endless source of content.  The answers and explanations we give routinely in response to commonly asked questions are great sources of content…they are well rehearsed and “written” exactly for our patients.

Use your explanations to serve as patient education articles, posts and pages.

Many of us also have patient education pamphlets adorning our clinic walls.  Paraphrase the articles found in the pamphlets – avoid directly copying the content.  Google frowns upon duplicate content.

You may also provide links to authoritative websites.  While this is not great for your SEO, it still does provide value to your patients.

Curate medical journals.  Analyze the articles you read in your medical journals and explain the relevance and significance to your readers.   Your opinion and analysis can provide your readers with tremendous value.

Write to Engage Your Reader

Here are a few suggestions to make your writing more engaging.

  • Write in the first person point of view (I, we, me, my)
  • Limit each article to just 1 or 2 subjects – avoid the temptation to “show-off” your vast knowledge
  • Length of articles should be 300-500 words.  Too short may not get indexed and too long will bore your reader
  • Avoid clinical jargon and fancy language, write at the level of an 8th grader
  • Write as though your perfect patient were seated directly in front of you, do not write as though you were speaking to a packed auditorium

 

Podcast on Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing

Russ Faust, M.D and I just launched a podcast on Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing. I’d love if you tried us out and gave us a review on iTunes.

Thanks for reading, following…and listening.

If you have a comment, question or concern….just leave below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

To Your Success,

iTunes Cover Art“Randy”
Randall Wong, M.D.
Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing
Healthcare’s Rx for Web and Social
Itunes Badge

Advertising or Marketing in Healthcare?

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Healthcare and Medical MarketingDo you know the difference between marketing and advertising?  Most in healthcare do not.  It took me a long time to truly understand the difference.  Most doctors believe marketing and advertising are the same.

Marketing and advertising are NOT synonyms.

Marketing involves research.  Marketing requires you understand the needs, wants or problems of your customer.  In the healthcare world, this means we take the time to understand what our patients need…and then provide a solution.

Advertising on the other hand is simply random efforts to draw attention to a product or service.   Examples are magazine ads, billboards, radio commercials, etc.  It’s spam to most of us.

Why Marketing in Healthcare?

Patients unknowingly expect us to market.  They want to find out about their health problems on the Internet.  They want to learn from a respected and credible source.  Respected and credible sources are called “authorities.”  Website you yourself trust, on any subject, are authoritative (at least in your mind).

We, healthcare providers, have an opportunity to satisfy this need.  We can provide answers to health related questions on our blogs, websites, social media platforms, etc.  By satisfying their need, we bring value to our readers…who may later become our next patient!

Patients also want to find out information about their next doctor.  We can provide this, too.  As natural authorities we become instantly credible.  This provides tremendous value to your reader (i.e. patient) and separates us from the “layman” posing as an authority.

Personal Transparency | Who are You?

If you choose, and I hope that you do, exhibit some degree of personal transparency for your patients.  You may choose to include this on your website or social media platform on your “About” page or profile.

Personal transparency means including some elements of you as a person.  What do you like to do?  Sports?  Hobbies, etc.

You don’t have to give away any elements of your identity, but just give your reader who you are as a person.  It will resonate with them and put you far ahead of your competition.

As an example,

I love Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, but detest Starbucks.  I play competitive tennis and do not like golf.  Youth ice hockey is the best sport ever, as Labradors are the best dogs.

Resonates a lot more than telling you about fancy residencies and fellowships, right?

Podcast on Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing

Russ Faust, M.D and I just launched a podcast on Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing.  I’d love if you tried us out and gave us a review on iTunes.

Thanks for reading, following…and listening.

If you have a comment, question or concern….just leave below and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can!

To Your Success,

iTunes Cover Art“Randy”
Randall Wong, M.D.
Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing
Healthcare’s Rx for Web and Social
Itunes Badge

SEO for Healthcare & Medicine | Content, Keywords and Tags

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Keywords, tags and content | Healthcare and Medical Internet MarketingWhile SEO means search engine optimization, there’s some confusion as to exactly what gets SEO’d or “optimized.”

There are just 3 parts to “great SEO”;

  1.  The CONTENT of your website
  2.  COMPONENTS of your website
  3.  INBOUND LINKS to your site

This article will address how to properly “optimize” the content of your site.  It’s the most troublesome for most authors, yet the most important part to achieving the high rankings from the search engines.

“Content is STILL King!  Only your content will separate you from your competition.”

What Does “Optimization” Mean?

Optimization, or search engine optimization, is the process and tactics used to make your content most attractive and appealing to the search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.) to allow them to rank your webpage as high as possible.

As a gymnast must stick a landing, because that’s what the judges will find appealing, you must adorn your content with attributes and formats expected by the search engines.

For you to rank well, your content must be relevant to your reader and optimized for the search engines.  It must be interesting to the human and presented in a fashion to be understood by a computer.

Search engines rank and compare webpages based upon content.  The understanding of how this ranking works is the definition of search engine optimization.

Where Optimization Occurs

On every website platform exists a wordprocessor for you to write your article.  There are additional fields where you can supply additional information needed by the search engines to rank you well.

This information includes the <title tag>, meta description, snippet and keywords.  These elements are not visible to your reader, but are understood by the search engine and allows them to best index and categorize your webpage (i.e. “optimize”).

If you don’t take the time to complete these fields, the search engines will determine this information for themselves – allowing for errors, omissions and less than optimal SEO.

Remember that the content gets you the rankings you want through SEO and the starts the process of engaging your next patient!

All the best!

To your success!

“Randy”
Randall Wong, M.D.
Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing

New Podcast on Healthcare and Medical Interenet MarketingNew podcast: Just started a new podcast with Russell Faust, M.D. on Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing.

Thanks for following!

Randy

 

 

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