Whether you run an established or new medical practice and find it difficult to remain open, your main focus is probably on how to boost patient load. Covering running expenses and maintaining development becomes challenging without a consistent flow of new patients.
As a digital marketing agency focused on Healthcare SEO Services and PPC, this article will highlight what has worked for our clients. From improving patient experience to optimizing your internet presence, we will guide you not just in staying open but also in thriving.
1. Optimize Your Online Presence
Ensuring your practice is easily found online and presents a professional image will attract more visitors and convert them into patients.
▶ Update & Maintain Your Website
Ensure your top navigation displays your services so potential clients can find exactly what they need. Each service should have a dedicated page with up-to-date information regarding what you offer.
You can’t miss our services (SEO, web design, Google ads), which make it easy for our website visitors to navigate to relevant information.
Most importantly, don’t forget about mobile users. A large majority of patients will access your website via their smartphones, so a mobile-friendly website could easily make or break their decision to schedule an appointment, learn more about your services, or trust your practice altogether. Check to make sure all buttons work, the pages load quickly, and the formatting isn’t messed up on a smaller screen.
▶ Implement an SEO Strategy
Create a thorough SEO plan first to boost your web presence and draw more patients. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is the process of improving your website to rank higher in search engine results, so facilitating the finding of possible clients. For a medical office, this usually entails designing service and location pages targeted at particular keywords like “chiropractor in San Jose.”
Begin by identifying how people are searching for your services through keyword research. Determine whether your ideal clients search for terms like “botox injection” or just “botox.” Ensure that your pages target the exact phrases potential patients use, such as “scar revision,” instead of less common terms like “scar reduction procedure.” Understanding search behavior is crucial for attracting new patients and keeping your appointment schedule full.
Competitive research is also essential for creating top-ranking content. Your content should not only match but surpass the value provided by other high-ranking pages. Once you know which keywords to target and the information to include, write your page with strategic keyword placement and relevant entities to optimize it well. Additionally, use internal links to connect this page to other relevant pages on your site and ensure it’s not an orphan page, which can hinder its discoverability by Google.
Acquiring backlinks from authoritative websites is another important aspect of SEO. These backlinks serve as endorsements for your content, boosting its credibility and ranking potential. Avoid link farms or spammy sites that can negatively impact your page.
▶ Engage with Online Reviews
Online reviews can make or break your practice’s reputation and, ultimately, whether you’re able to increase patient volume. Responding to patient reviews, even more so. Would you call a business where you saw a scathing review with no reply from the company? Maybe no reply means that the review is right. Maybe no reply means that the company doesn’t care. Either way, it doesn’t reflect well on your medical practice.
Responding to both positive and negative reviews shows that you value patient feedback and are committed to improving your services.
▶ Actively Manage Social Media Accounts
Actively managing your social media accounts is crucial for engaging with your audience and attracting new patients. However, a common misconception is that health tips, patient testimonials, and updates about your practice are enough.
It’s not.
Posting on social media is a lot like posting content on your website. You need to make content that people are searching for. You may care about your new office remodel, but potential clients (and social media algorithms) won’t.
One step further our digital marketing agency is assisting our clients in linking their social media accounts with their SEO plan. This entails using interesting material from your blog for your YouTube channel, Instagram, TikHub, and Facebook, profiles. Filming video first allows us to interact with viewers on both long-form and short-form video channels using the transcript to generate a blog post.
This comprehensive strategy will help maximize the payoff from a single piece of content, nurture potential clients on the platforms they’re already using, and ensure your medical practice stays top of mind when new patients are ready to convert.
2. Enhance Patient Experience
Retaining current patients and drawing in new ones depend on offering a first-rate patient encounter. Patients who feel appreciated and well-cared for are more inclined to come back and tell others about your office. From the first contact to follow-up treatment, improving the patient experience calls for numerous important areas that are all crucial for the expansion of your practice.
▶ Improve Patient Service
Delivering top-notch patient service starts with training your staff to be courteous, empathetic, and efficient. Ensure that every patient interaction, whether in person, over the phone, or online, reflects the high standards of your practice.
I know I’ve taken my business elsewhere when someone answering the phone was rude. Don’t let your practice fall prey to that mistake. Your medical practice can implement a phone call tracking system like CallRail that allows you to listen back to ensure your staff is following best practices for patient service.
▶ Streamline Appointment Scheduling
Simplify the appointment booking process so that patients may make appointments as conveniently as feasible. Clear communication and online booking choices will help greatly lower scheduling conflicts and raise patient satisfaction.
Many of our clients recently had us set up Calendly, the same booking system we employ for our digital marketing agency. Simple calendar access whereby patients may select a day and time most suitable for them (as well as you). New patients will be encouraged to depend on your medical practice for their needs through a flawless online user experience.
▶ Offer Telehealth Services
Incorporating telehealth services provides patients with flexible and convenient care options. Virtual consultations can attract patients who prefer or require remote healthcare, expanding your reach and enhancing the overall patient experience.
While telehealth services won’t be possible for practices like med spas, chiropractors, or anything that demands in-person visits, you can still utilize this option. Instead of in-person consultations, offer them as video meetings. The convenience will encourage more people to schedule, and during these meetings, you can nurture that lead so they come in for your services.
▶ Foster a Welcoming Office Environment
Making patients feel comfortable and cared for depends on friendly workplace surroundings. Make sure your waiting room exudes a welcoming clean, comfortable environment suitable for children. To improve the patient experience, take into account including Wi-Fi, reading materials, and free refreshments.
A good office environment can also be enhanced by friendly and attentive staff members who welcome patients cordially and help them right away.
▶ Reduce Patient Wait Times
Long wait times can be a major deterrent, something likely hindering your ability to increase patient volume. Implement efficient scheduling practices and ensure your operations are streamlined to minimize wait times. Maintaining patient knowledge should also assist control expectations should delays arise.
By letting customers finish required patient intake forms before their visit, pre-appointments sent online assist cut time spent in the clinic. Furthermore take into account putting in place a check-in system whereby patients may let the office know when they come, therefore enabling staff to be ready for their appointment right away.
3. Leverage Marketing & Advertising
Growing your clinic and drawing in new patients depend on using focused marketing and advertising techniques. Investing in paid advertising, organizing neighborhood activities, and creating referral systems can help you to properly reach a larger audience. Creating and distributing informational content and newsletters keeps potential patients informed and engaged with your practice. These marketing efforts help build your practice’s brand, establish trust, and drive more patient appointments.
▶ Use Targeted & Paid Advertising
Paid advertising—especially Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising—is a great technique for attracting fresh clients by making sure your clinic shows up highly in search engine results. PPC ads—like Google Ads—let you bid on pertinent keywords connected to your offerings, so your ad shows first on search results for those phrases. Higher conversion rates follow from your practice being seen by those actively seeking the medical procedures you provide.
You may be wondering why you would ever do SEO if this is the case for your target keywords. PPC is great for quick wins but you’ll have to pay every time someone clicks on your ad and once you stop putting money toward it, your listing will come down.
Comparatively, with SEO for medical practices, when you make a page that’s optimized for Google, it’ll stay in search results forever. SEO is an evergreen channel to bring in new clients.
Both types of marketing are helpful, and we often recommend a combination of these strategies to help medical practices increase patient volume.
▶ Develop Referral Programs
Encourage current patients to refer friends and family to your practice. This form of word of mouth is often a strong way to increase patient volume. Offer incentives like discounts or free services for successful referrals. A well-structured referral program can significantly boost patient volume.
▶ Send Out Newsletters
One of the best ways to cultivate leads who aren’t ready for conversion right away is by sending newsletters. By giving prospective patients useful information and updates, regularly planned newsletters help to keep your practice top-of-mind. This regular involvement fosters familiarity and trust, which increases the likelihood that these leads will choose your practice when they are ready for an appointment.
A med spa might provide articles on skin care regimens, a chiropractor might offer suggestions for keeping excellent posture, and a wellness clinic might offer stress management guidance. Giving useful information not only benefits patients but also shows your knowledge and dedication to their welfare.
Newsletters serve as a gentle reminder of the existence and offerings of your practice for leads who aren’t quite ready to convert. Every edition can feature gentle calls to action, including asking readers to plan a free consultation, go to a forthcoming community event, or use a special offer.
4. Expand & Diversify Services
Expanding and expanding the offerings of your practice will draw fresh clientele and satisfy a larger spectrum of demands. New specialties, therapies, and wellness programs let you present your business as a whole healthcare provider, hence boosting patient volume.
▶ Add New Specialties & Treatments
One way to increase patient volume is to attract a new type of patient, something that can be done by offering a new suite of services. If you’re a chiropractor, consider offering acupuncture. If you’re a med spa, start offering the latest filler that’s making big waves on social media. Identify what type of clients you want to reach and conduct research to figure out what services you could offer to get them through the door.
▶ Offer Wellness Programs
Providing customized wellness programs will help your practice appeal more widely and draw more patients. As you meet a gathering of possible clients, these initiatives help your practice to be a leader in your field.
Medspas should take into account, for instance, launching initiatives emphasizing skin care regimens, anti-aging treatments, and holistic beauty standards. Providing wellness programs addressing common skin disorders and advancing general skin health benefits dermatologists as well.
Wellness initiatives for SMP (Scalp Micropigmentation) artists could include scalp health education, hair care advice, and continuous maintenance visits. A dental or medical office might launch wellness initiatives emphasizing oral health education, preventative care, and cosmetic treatments—including teeth whitening sessions.
▶ Provide Flexible Hours
Providing longer and more flexible hours will help your practice be more approachable to those with hectic lives. Appointments for evenings and weekends might serve working professionals and families who might find it challenging to visit during regular office hours. This exposes your practice to fresh clients you would have overlooked otherwise.
5. Engage with Your Local Community
Developing great relationships and raising the profile of your practice depends on your interactions with your neighborhood. Participating in neighborhood events and providing useful health resources will help your practice to be a reliable and natural part of society. Events such as free health seminars, community sports event sponsorships, and health fairs not only show your dedication to community health but also draw new patients and enhance the loyalty of your current patient population.
▶ Participate in Local Events
Being present at local health fairs and community festivals allows you to interact directly with potential patients, providing them with information about your services. These activities showcase your commitment to community health and position your practice as a trusted local resource.
▶ Network with Other Healthcare Providers
Building a network with other healthcare providers in your area can lead to valuable referrals and collaborative opportunities, enhancing the overall healthcare landscape in your community. Attend local medical conferences, join professional healthcare associations, and participate in multidisciplinary meetings to establish connections with other practitioners.
Increase Your Patient Volume with Digital Marketing From IndeedSEO
Increasing your patient volume requires a strategic approach. If you’re looking for a way to see a short and long-term increase in patient volume, you need to invest in digital marketing. By optimizing your online presence and implementing targeted advertising campaigns, you can create a robust pipeline of new patients for your practice.
At IndeedSEO, we specialize in crafting customized digital marketing plans that deliver results for medical practices just like yours. Our expertise in SEO and PPC allows us to develop strategies that boost your online visibility, attract more qualified leads, and convert those leads into loyal patients.