Why “Just a Website” is Not Enough: The Case for Online Marketing

Practis Blog

Your Website without Online Marketing is like a Ferrari without gas

Consider the following scenario…. You go out and by your dream car, a brand new Ferrari Testarossa. It looks great and has all the latest accessories, but there is a problem… the car does not run and you still have to take the bus to work.

Sure the car looks great in your driveway and you can tell your friends to come and take a look at it, but it really isn’t serving its true purpose, to get you where you need to go. The scenario that I just described may sound far-fetched, but I have found that a lot of companies are replicating this same scenario with their website.  They have a very well designed site, but when it comes to attracting visitors,  most sites are falling well short of expectations.

Online Marketing – The Fuel For Your Website

Returning to the car analogy, online marketing is the fuel that makes your website go.  Having a professionally designed site is important, but it is only half the battle.  A successful online marketing program will drive new potential patients to your site.  Ideally, your website should function as a virtual sales person for your practice – one that does not sleep or take breaks.  However, just like in any sales program, if you are just focusing on incoming leads and not proactively seeking out new patients,  you are seriously limiting the effectiveness of your sales and marketing program.  If you want to obtain new patients, then you have to go where the new patients are…online.

It Really Is A Jungle Out There

We know that there are a ton of potential new patients online actively looking for medical practices.  So, the question is,  how do you effectively reach these potential new patients?

Here is where a comprehensive online marketing strategy is beneficial.  There are millions of people online searching every day for medical practices, but there are also a ton of practices competing for these same patients.  The challenge is to make your website stand out from the herd and, in order to do so, developing and implementing a comprehensive online marketing plan is a necessity.

A Comprehensive Online Marketing Strategy

Any successful online marketing strategy consists of three parts:

  1. On-Page Optimization
  2. Off-Page Optimization
  3. Social Media

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will examine each of these three aspects and how incorporating elements from each of them into a comprehensive/actionable plan can help fulfill the goal of driving patients to your site, and eventually to your door.

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