Running your own plastic surgery business is a complex and complicated task. One of the top priorities of any small business owner is to be found by the right people so you can increase the number of patients you see. However, this is easier said than done.
While there are many different tactics that can help you grow your brand and become a well-known name in your community, one important yet understated method is to focus on the quantity and quality of directory listings. These listings are a great way to get discovered by potential patients and increase the number of people you service.
In this article, we’ll help you understand what directory listings are and why they matter so much to your business. We’ll also give you the best tips for directory listings management for plastic surgeons so you can boost your marketing strategy and improve your results with simple, easy-to-follow tactics.
What are Directory Listings?
Directory listings are a local business listing that includes important information about your business to provide key details for readers. There are many different types of online directories that you can be listed in, such as local business pages, specific industry lists, or even search engine and social media profiles. Most of them are free to join and can go a long way in helping your practice be discovered.
A directory listing is more than just having your contact information available on your website. These online tools are managed and owned by third-party organizations, like local business councils or major search engines. This helps to provide more authority and credibility to your listings and can give you SEO benefits that other methods like digital advertisements and content marketing can’t deliver.
Each directory listing will have some common elements, including:
- Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Website URL
- Photos
- Videos
- Insurance Accepted
- Details About the Business
There are many important SEO benefits that you can get from having your directories listed and updated with business information and details. Search engine optimization is an essential part of any online marketing strategy, so it’s important to keep these benefits in mind as you move forward with your marketing plans:
Increased Visibility
Directories are most often found at the top in organic search results and relied on by patients to find a plastic or cosmetic surgeon in the area. When someone searches for a plastic surgeon, you want to ensure that they are going to see your brand name before any others. By getting listed in multiple directories on different search engines and platforms, you increase your chances of being discovered and appearing in the top of search results.
Local Search
Directories are based on location, meaning that if someone in Virginia is googling for plastic surgeons, they won’t get results from plastic surgeons available in California. That’s why having your location information available in directory listings is so important. That way, you can ensure that the people who want to find you are in your local area and can become patients of yours when they want a plastic surgeon.
More Credibility
Patients can trust you’re a real and reputable practice when you appear in a directory listing. Anyone can make a business and post it online, but when you have multiple, verified directory listings, it makes it much easier for you to gain a positive reputation and increase your credibility not just among patients, but search engines like Google as well. When a search engine trusts that your business is credible, you will improve in the rankings and get more traffic as a result.
Direct Contact
Another fantastic SEO benefit of a directory listing is that it gives you direct contact with patients, so they have your important details right away. When someone has a business listing without a phone number or email address, they won’t get as many clicks because people don’t like to be inconvenienced. When you have updated, accurate contact information, Google and other search engines will recognize that and help boost you up in the rankings.
How Directory Listings Help You Attract More Patients
Now that you know what a directory listing is and why it is so important, let’s take a look at how you can use directory listings to attract more patients and help increase the clients you serve in your plastic surgery practice.
Improves Your Online Presence
Patients are already looking for your services online. That’s why they Googled for local business information in the first place. When you have answers to give them, they will come to you rather than your competitors. As your directory listings continue to improve and move up in search engine results rankings pages, you will be able to increase the number of people who come to your practice. And, as they leave positive reviews and add more traffic to your monthly metrics, you’ll continue to see improvements in your rankings, which then drives even more business. It’s a great cycle to be a part of, provided you can continue to keep up with your marketing efforts.
Strengthen Your Reputation
Directory listings are a trusted source of information. People put faith in them to be accurate, up to date, and give clear information. If you don’t have business directory listings and only a company website, there isn’t as much trust given to your practice as when you are listed in third-party directories. When someone finds a directory, they know that the information is listed without the bias of the company itself. The more listings you have, the stronger your reputation becomes.
Increase Brand Awareness
You can gain a competitive advantage over your competitors who don’t appear in listings and increase your brand awareness with directories. As mentioned earlier, directories are often an undersung component of digital marketing and local SEO strategies. When you have multiple directory listings, you can gain valuable digital real estate from your competitors and help your business name become more recognizable among your local community. This can help you get more patients and also improve your SEO rankings.
Grow Your Local Visibility
Directory listings help increase your local visibility, so you become more easily found on Google. As a plastic surgery practice, you want to make sure that people who are local to your area know your name, reputation, and want to become a patient. When you have listings in directories, you pull from that local audience that is so valuable to your business. This also helps you become a well renowned local name that has a strong reputation for backing up your services.
Get Discovered Easily
Directory listings help your practice get recommended in voice search. This is increasingly important, as voice search becomes a more standard method of search. When someone uses a hands-free device or digital personal assistant like Siri or Alexa to read the search results aloud, they are looking for specific information that can be easily understood. By having your information in local directories, these devices and assistants know exactly what information to pull and read aloud to help people get the details they are looking for. Optimizing for voice search is a powerful and important way to stay ahead of competitors in today’s online marketing world.
Attend a Surefire Local Marketing Platform Demo
In order to get the most out of your strategies and improve your local search rankings, it helps to have the right tool by your side. Directory listings management for plastic surgeons is important, but it can quickly become overwhelming, especially when you are trying to log onto different platforms to update information and get discovered. That’s where Surefire Local comes in.
Surefire Local is a leading business intelligence marketing platform that provides an all-in-one solution to your marketing needs. At a fraction of the cost of other platforms, Surefire Local can help you achieve all of your business goals easily, without needing to have multiple tools or software solutions to deliver the same results. With the help of Surefire Local, you can create and publish content, track your social media performance, gather and respond to reviews, and update your online directory listings all in a single location. To learn more about Surefire Local and how we can help take your plastic surgery practice to the next level, get a demo of the Surefire Local marketing platform today, and discover all the amazing tools and features that you can use to grow your business and become the number one name in your local area.