Websites have evolved significantly since the early days of internet surfing.  It is not acceptable to have a facsimile of your corporate brochure as the template for your site.  You want to be user-friendly and like anything with healthcare marketing, focus on what your patients and referring physicians need to know versus what you want to tell.  Content is still king and in this case, you want your healthcare service information to be tailored to your prospect’s needs and wants.

Websites, some beautifully crafted, others demonstrating valuable services and information, cannot stand on their own. Plain and simple, websites need traffic to be effective.  The concept of “if you build it, they will come” just doesn’t work in our crowded and noisy marketplace.

When reviewing your marketing strategy (i.e. how to gain name recognition in a saturated market and get new patients in the door), you are smart to use your website as your central element but you need to utilize search engine optimization (SEO) to help bring traffic to your site.

SEO is not a simple concept and it continues to evolve.  You certainly can pay a firm to assist you in getting a high ranking on the terms you consider “key words” in your promotion or you can work on concepts yourself.  Either way, having an on-going awareness of SEO tactics will serve you well.

Here is a link to a great blog that has lots of good information on SEO.