As a dermatologist, you spend most of your time meeting patient needs. Your time is valuable. However, you still know it’s important for you to grow your practice and ensure a steady stream of new patients. Having a fully-optimized website is a great starting place to help you accomplish this. But a website alone will only get you so far in today’s dynamic online world. Therefore, it’s important to craft an expansive digital footprint for your dermatology practice that helps lift up your website to make it more easily found. In this article, we’ll discuss eight of our favorite strategies dermatologists can use to increase traffic to their websites.
How Dermatologists Can Increase Website Traffic
#1: Manage and Optimize Your Google Business Profile
Your Google Business Profile is much like a yellow page listing where people can locate information about your business online. An optimized profile will include:
- Photos of your business that create an instant level of interest and engagement to a viewer
- The website link
- Reviews and ratings
- The category for your dermatologist practice
- The hours your practice is open
- Your phone number
- Questions and answers
When you optimize your listing, it enables people to not only get the link to your website, but it provides them with most of the information they need so they can call you and set up an appointment right away. That’s even better than a visit to your site.
Your Google Business Profile provides more visibility on Google Search and Maps. Use it to include important information about your practice; such as years in business, awards and attributes that will help sway someone to your dermatology practice over another in the area. And then use your profile to publish Google Posts that appear directly on Google Search and Maps with a link back to your website.
#2: Claim and Manage Your Local Business Directories
The more directories your business has the more chances that your practice will capture the interest of a prospective patient. Be sure that, when adding your practice to business directories, you also include a link back to your website. That’s helpful for creating backlinks to boost your search engine results as well.
Most directories do not cost anything to you. However, you need to keep the information in these listings up to date. Some directories have a strong domain authority on Google. Those are most likely to give you the boost you need in the search results. For your dermatologist website, consider directories such as:
- Yelp
- Better Business Burau
- YellowPages
- City Search
- MapQuest
#3: Get More Reviews on the Top Platforms
Reviews are a valuable tool for dermatologists because your prospective clients want to know what to expect. They need to know you have the skill and knowledge to help them but also the helpful mannerisms and positive outlook to help them get over their fear of getting care.
The most important review sites are Google and Facebook. How do you get people to review your practice? Ask. Ask your patients if they could take a few minutes to find you on social media. Send them an email the day after providing care. Include a link to your Google Business Profile where they can leave a review. Doing this takes only a few minutes (especially if you automate the process). Many people are happy to talk about the great service they got, but you need to make it fast and easy for them to find where to do so.
#4: Be Engaging on Social Media
Again, your time is valuable to you. However, part of building a practice is demonstrating your skill and knowledge. When you do that on social media, you educate people and give them a way to get help. For example, during the summer, encourage people to see a dermatologist if they develop changes in their skin that could be skin cancer. Break down the differences in moles so that someone knows when to get help. Talk about how to stay safe in the sun and protect dry skin in the winter months.
Creating blog posts and then sharing them on your social media is a good start. Then, engage with people. Answer their questions in your posts. Respond to direct messages. Encourage people to make an appointment for specific information and guidance on their skin care needs.
Engaging on social media can be a great way to become a thought leader in your industry as well. Don’t make promises about cures, but work to educate the masses on the services you have and how you can help them. Some may not even know they can call a dermatologist. This is a great way to showcase your expertise and encourage people to get the care they need.
#5: Ensure Your Website Has High-Value Content
As noted with a blog, use your website as a tool for helping to build your reputation in the community. If your website just asks a person to set up an appointment, it’s not giving them the information they need to truly interact and make the decision to come in for care.
Be sure your website offers the type of content they need, such as:
- A list of services you offer with descriptions about when these services are helpful and valuable
- Photos – this is often very important for dermatologists as people are often trying to find images of what’s on their skin
- Procedure information, to help reduce the fear of getting care
- Information on the dermatologist’s office
- Staff information
The goal of your website content is to encourage a person to call or set up an appointment. At the same time, you also need to be sure it offers great information to showcase the professionalism of your practice.
The more content the website has, the more times it will appear in the search results as well. This is called organic ranking in search engines. Your website content should include keywords that people local to your practice are typing into Google to find your services. Photos and content help your practice to show up in traditional search and visual search.
#6: Leverage Email Marketing
Email marketing is an essential way to build website traffic. It’s not just about sending out messages of thanks but providing people with valuable information that helps you and your dermatology practice to stand out.
For example, when setting up an appointment for your clients, ask them to provide their email so you can keep in touch. You can also create contact forms on the website that allow them to input their email information to join your newsletter.
Then, send emails with links to your website to encourage people to stay connected. For example, you may encourage them to sign up for a skin check, which could be a preventative service provided to them through their health insurance. You may want to encourage them to visit your website to learn more about a non-invasive procedure you offer or a new service.
In all emails, provide a call-to-action (CTA) that encourages them to come back to the website to learn more, set up an appointment, or read a new blog post. You can also ask them to refer a friend to their service by passing along the email.
#7: Set Local Targeting Parameters for Digital Ads
One of the ways dermatologists can increase website traffic is through the use of paid advertising. Paid ads online are very common and a necessary tool for building up the brand’s presence online. Most often, this is done with a pay-per-click model, which means you pay for only the instances in which a person clicks on your link and lands on your site.
When doing this, though, you need to find the right target audience and define the local parameters. For example, you’ll need to conduct some research to determine what types of keywords people are typing into the search engines to find the services you offer. Then, add in the geo components such as the city, metro area, or region you service. That way, your digital ads appear in front of people local to you, where your most likely prospective clients are.
#8: Establish Hyperlocal Signals
Also important is establishing hyperlocal signals across your online presence through check-ins. When you post check-ins with a location and relevant keywords, it helps to boost your visibility on Google. It helps to give you a higher ROI on any marketing investment you’re making, too.
You can do this with GeoJuice. When you complete an appointment with a patient, and you know you’ve done a fantastic job, you can send the customer a text message with a link in it. This link allows them to leave a review of their service right away. It is fast and convenient (something that patients need to have). These reviews are visible to Google, which will use them to place your website in front of other people looking for a similar service.
It takes a significant amount of work to boost traffic to a website. When you learn how dermatologists can increase website traffic through these methods, you’ll find outstanding results are easier to realize than you thought. Get a demo of the Surefire Local platform today to find out!
