Having a website is not enough

Neil Baum, MD

In the early days of the web, it was impressive if you had a website. Now, nearly every practice and hospital have its own website. Just having that "www" address meant you were a tech-savvy early adopter. If there was a like-minded prospective patient who did a pre-Google search, you would be at the top of the list. You had a website, most other doctors did not. Those days are gone.

How often do you call a business that you find on the web, only to find out that the business has closed? They didn't bother taking down their website when they closed their doors. And yet, they were still ranked on the search engines.

Your website is the hub of your Internet marketing campaign. Everything you do, from social media to blogging, will ultimately lead back to your website, which is designed to convert visitors into patients. For those who are not ready to be patients, you will have a system in place to collect their information, allowing you to communicate with them. Hence, they remember you when they need medical care in the future.

When was the last time your website has changed or updated? When did you add a new article, video, or blog post to your site?

How does Google know that you're still in business?

Google's job is to provide its users with the answers they are looking for. If they think you abandoned your site, your search engine ranking will progressively drop. There is one clear way to stop this from happening: Regularly add content to your website.

In Google's major updates over the past few years, adding high-quality, unique content has been highlighted as a top factor in ranking sites high.

When it was thought that keywords were an important method to stay on the first page of Google, users loaded their sites with keywords. Google caught on and keyword stuffing was no longer successful.

Then, inbound links were a priority, and users would use link farms —sites dedicated to providing links for a fee —and Google rendered them useless.

Later, it was the quality of links that led to the syndication of articles, which made minor changes to make them unique. But Google caught on and made this strategy much less beneficial.

Adding high-quality, unique content to your own website was the best way to ensure your site is viewed favorably by Google. If history has shown us anything, they will eventually catch on and end any benefit from new content contributions to your website.

What is meant by adding content?

Regularly adding pages to your website with unique, high-quality content is key to achieving organic search engine success. Several content areas are most valuable and important to a professional web presence:

Articles

An article for marketing your medical practice is different than what you would expect to write for a journal or other professional publication. The most important thing you need to remember is who your audience is. You are not writing for an award...you are writing to convey important information to those searching for it.

An article will often be the most formal type of content on your website.

Blog posts

Where articles are relatively formal, blogging is generally informal. A blog is an online chronicle that, for our purposes, conveys an educational message. When I write a blog post, I attempt to refer to something in the pop culture or sports world. This allows me to educate my readers and prospective patients in a less formal way. This resonates with many who are searching for news events that interest them.

Suppose Taylor Swift has an injury or medical issue that falls within your area of interest and expertise. In that case, you'll be surprised at how many people are interested in her injury and how much traffic that post will receive.

Frequently asked questions

Different people search in different ways. Some type keywords into a search engine window. Many, however, type questions into Google and hope for a good answer. This is the importance of well-formed FAQ's on your website. Providing the answer to the questions that people are asking is a sure-fire way to build the popularity of your website.

Videos

Some people like to read, while others prefer to be read to. It's no wonder why YouTube is considered a search engine! According to Website Magazine, as well as many other online authorities, the presence of video on a website increases the time spent on the site. This helps ensure you convey your message effectively and signals to search engines that you provide high-quality information to those referred to your site.

Content is king: Selecting a topic

You made a decision to be a doctor, not a writer. In fact, your exposure to writing may be limited to papers written in college and medical school. You enjoy science and may have fulfilled your English and Literature requirements but not taken any additional courses. The long and short of it is, who wants to read what you will write?

The easy answer is: lots of people. More than you could ever imagine!

People are on the internet searching for answers to their pressing questions. Some of them will go straight to a healthcare database, such as WebMD, but many will do an internet search. Here's the kicker: You have the answers to their most burning questions!

Your content holds as much authority as any other. You are an expert in your field. Posting unique content will advance you to be the expert in your field. After all, you are providing the information they are looking for.

Google and the other search engines are in business to provide those searching with the answers they are looking for. How do you move up the search results? You should be the one providing so much content that Google turns to your website and your information to their users. In fact, if you play this game right, your content may be the ONLY answer that Google gives. Can you imagine the increase in your practice then?

Creating content can be daunting, especially if you are not of the "writing" mindset. Before you start, take out a piece of paper and list 10 topics that you know a lot about that you regularly discuss with your patients. You'll find that pretty easy.

Now, for each of those topics, write a title for an article (i.e....... formal) and a blog post (i.e., informal).

For instance, one of my topics is "Heel Pain." If I were to title a post on my website with that topic, who would read it? So, for a formal article, I could title it "Seven Steps to Eliminating the Pain in Your Heel Today." A more informal blog post might feature a sports figure who experiences heel pain. For instance, "How did Eli Manning Cure His Heel Pain to Win a Super Bowl." These topics provide similar information but will appeal to different audiences.

In his book Crush It, Gary Vaynerchuk suggested that if you cannot sit and write 50 blog or article titles about your passion, you are not passionate about it. We are all passionate about our field. Take the challenge and do this exercise. In essence, you'll create a bank of titles to pull from when you may be at a loss for what to write about.

Once you have a title written, the rest should be simple. You're looking for four to five paragraphs, 300 to 450 words, about your title. Don't think too hard about it, write. When you write, remember that you are writing for the public. Write so a fifth grader will understand it and define any medical terms that you use.

Bottom Line: Content creation will become a substantial key to the success of your online marketing plan. There are more tricks and tips to being a Google darling but becoming proficient in content creation will clear the path for you to dominate your market on the internet.

Neil Baum, MD, a Professor of Clinical Urology at Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. Dr. Baum is the author of several books, including the best-selling book, Marketing Your Medical Practice-Ethically, Effectively, and Economically, which has sold over 225,000 copies and has been translated into Spanish.