January 2013

Increase Your Patient Volume

Come visit the Internet Marketing Experts at Ceatus

Three SEO success stories!

Background: Despite Google’s many algorithm updates over the last 18 months, including the location-related changes described in our feature article, Ceatus SEO clients have done well. Below are a few examples.

Challenge: Maintaining your rankings when Google is a moving target.

Solution: A customized SEO strategy from Ceatus. Our SEO packages are always carefully tailored to your practice, your market, and your competition.

Example 1: Jennifer Harrington, MD – Edina, MN Plastic Surgeon

Dr. Harrington’s practice is located in Edina, MN (outside of Minneapolis) and her website is focused on ranking in both Edina and Minneapolis. During the Google shakeups of 2012, her listings remained strong for the Minneapolis searches, even though Google no longer provided a Google+ Local listing for her practice in Minneapolis. At the end of 2013, her website continued to rank in the top 2 or 3 positions for the most competitive searches (e.g., “Minneapolis Breast Augmentation” and “Minneapolis Plastic Surgery”), above many of the practices located in Minneapolis proper.

Example 2: Gregory Pamel, MD – New York City LASIK Surgeon

At the beginning of 2012, Dr. Pamel ranked in the top 4 listings on Google for the most important search terms for his practice: “LASIK NYC,” “LASIK New York,” “LASIK New York City” and “LASIK Manhattan.” At the end of 2013, the rankings had been juggled and many of his competitors had disappeared. But Dr. Pamel’s rankings remained solid: his website remained on the first page of Google and his Google+ Local pages were in the top 4 for the most important search terms.

Example 3: Richard Champagne, DMD – Morganville, NJ Dentist

Dr. Champagne practices in Morganville, a small town in northeast New Jersey, about 40 miles from New York. He wanted his website to target not only his town, but also his region. His site always ranked well in Morganville, and at the beginning of 2012 he ranked well for the highly competitive term “New Jersey Cosmetic Dentist.” At the end of 2012, his #1 listing for “New Jersey Cosmetic Dentist” continued, as many of his competitors’ rankings fell to page two or lower in Google’s search results. By casting a targeted SEO net — focusing the SEO efforts on Dr. Champagne’s town and on New Jersey, but no more — Ceatus was able to maintain Dr. Champagne’s rankings.

Blah, Blah Blah-ging

Blogging can be a powerful marketing tool – IF you don’t put your clients to sleep

Do you get tired of those emails and mailed brochures that are always offering some new product or a “special” discount? Makes you wonder if those companies ever sell anything at full price, doesn’t it?

Well, beware of falling into this trap with your practice blogging strategy. Many practices blog as a means to boost their SEO and/or to attract more patients to their practice website. It is a medium with great potential, but it works best if you don’t make every article about some new product or special deal you are offering. If you want to engage prospective and current patients in the social media arena, you have to give them a “social” reason to be interested in your blogs. A constant barrage of product- or price-oriented blog posts will bring little benefit to your practice.

Share, Don’t Broadcast

The best blog posts are those that are actually useful consumer resources. Write about topics that your patient base has an interest in, rather than what you are interested in. Blog posts with interesting topics are read and shared by people. And, if the blog post links out to other articles of interest related to the topic area (as opposed to linking back to your website with every post), then consumers are more likely to return and see what you have written about recently.

Where do you start? Come up with a list of topics that your patients often ask about. “How long after breast augmentation can I exercise?” “Will I still need my reading glasses after cataract surgery?” “Can I eat an apple after I get dental implants or veneers?”

Then, expand the list to topic areas that are timely; you can even consider including some that have nothing to do with your practice. During September, write about back to school ideas (healthcare related or not) or in the spring about allergies and how they affect different people.

Once you have established that your blog posts are informative and interesting, then you can mix in information about your practice or new services that you are offering. By using this strategy, your “product” oriented blog posts will have much more impact and traction. Your patients and prospective patients will feel like they are being educated and provided some value, versus constantly being sold some new product.

Blogging for SEO Value – Long-Tail Search Terms

Another advantage of this type of blog strategy is that it allows you to naturally target the so-called “long-tail search terms.” It’s surprising how often consumers search for information with very specific phrases, e.g., “breast augmentation recovery and exercise” or “eating an apple with dental implants.” While these search terms do not garner a lot of search volume individually, they do add up. More importantly, these types of search “phrases” are targeted. Consumers searching in this manner are frequently very close to making a buying decision. Consumers that come to your informative, interesting blog via these search terms will be impressed with what they find, and that can help your patient flow. After you have blogged for a few months, take the opportunity to look at the search terms consumers are using to arrive at your blog, and expand on those topic areas. Just remember that the objective is to increase the reach of your blog as an information resource, not a product showcase.

Ceatus Can Help

Our expertise in Internet marketing has enabled us to help many practices transform their ineffective blog strategies so that they are engaging to consumers and attract a considerable number of online searchers. Call us to find out how we can help you leverage your unique practice attributes to achieve a powerful and successful blog strategy.