For those who do not know, I am not only the client relations manager at Valitics, but also a dentist in Boise, Idaho. So when I evaluate any sort of marketing effect, I have to do it based on return on investment. If the marketing effort does not provide me with a tangible benefit within a set time frame, then I have to re-evaluate my strategy. For my own practice website, my goals were to:
- Provide a knowledge basis for existing patients - I want to be able to refer my patients to our website more information on the treatments they are considering. Also, our goal is to have patients be able to update their information through online forms and thus save time (this is coming!).
- Get new patients - Of course this is a goal for every dental practice - Making this a reality involved keyword research, good site planning and some minor SEO. Blogging has been a great tool for us, also.
- Establish our practice as an expert in certain fields - People use the Internet more than every for research before they contact anyone to get an appointment. For example, our office provides oral appliances for snoring and sleep apnea. One of these devices is called a TAP-3 appliance. A new patient did a generic search for one of these appliances and our office came up first on Google. He was very impressed and scheduled an appointment. He assumed (and rightly so!) that we had some expertise in this subject. If you know your business and stay on top of the latest developments, let people know!
- Communication and relationship building - Maybe the most important function of a small business website. Keeping existing clients is much easier than getting new clients. For this reason, we are creating a newsletter campaign and providing incentives to our existing patients. Subtly reminding customer, members or patients that you are still there is a great way to keep your business flowing.
As with anything, my experience is you have to be committed to get results. Know your goals up front and be committed to do what it takes to meet them. If you need help in the plan, build, assess or optimize stages of web development, we can help. At Valitics, we don't want to overpromise you on just a website; we want you to have a realistic plan upfront that has specific goals, and we want you to meet or exeed those goals.