Creating your own website is necessary to display all the medical services and benefits you provide, in addition to the results of previous cases. This increases the confidence of patients and offers them online booking features further attracting them to your clinic. If you want to increase the number of patients, you should not hesitate to create your own website.
In recent times, the way patients choose the right doctor has changed. From reputation-based, verbal filtering, and field advertising to search engines, creating a website has become a major part of clinic medical marketing.
Medical Marketing by Creating A Website Is the Most Effective Way in the Digital Age
The Internet has become an accessible option for adults and children, and it is more comfortable and private for them to search for information and explore health services, as it gives them the freedom to compare clinics and hospitals available. So doctors resort to digital medical marketing through a website, to present their services among one billion daily searches for medical services. (Source: The Telegraph report).
Patients always expect to find you on the Internet. You should have an effective online presence, and it is crucial to grab their attention and create a suitable, long-lasting first impression, and high quality updated content.
The website is a great way to inform the world about your experiences and services, and you can use it as the base for your other marketing efforts on social media, medical content marketing, etc.
What Do Search Engines Tell Us About Medical Marketing on Websites?
Read also: 4 Tips to Digitally Marketing Your Clinic
According to a study conducted by the Department of Computer Science at Missouri State University, 80% of users are searching for medical information and services online.
Search engines highly rank the patients’ first choices when they want to book with the right service provider, as they give them an opportunity to explore the various services provided by doctors and choose the right ones.
The study conducted by the PEW Research Center confirmed that 77% of patients use search engines to search for and select the right physician and that 43% of hospital visits are from search engines and the institution’s website.
Therefore, distinctive websites that contain medical content compatible with search engines, and are appropriate for Google ads are considered the most effective way in medical marketing, because it makes it easier for people to find you and know your services.
Creating A Website Increases Your Credibility with Existing Patients
The website makes basic information about your clinic available at all times, such as:
- Work hours
- Geographical location
- Means of communication
- Answers to common patients’ questions
- Post-detection instructions
Read also: How Your Website Helps Your Clinic’s Medical Marketing – Part 2
This means that the website serves patients 24 hours a day, which improves your credibility and increases your patients’ confidence in you. Most patients prefer to obtain their health information from their doctor. If the doctor provides this information on his website, he will prove himself as an experienced, trustworthy, and highly credible doctor.
You can include in your website medical content in which you answer questions from patients, increase awareness, and highlight the effectiveness of the treatment methods that you use.
A medical website gives your clinic a distinct identity and ensures that your patients will recommend you to other potential patients. This is because 84% of customers believe that organizations with websites are more reliable than those without an online presence, and 65% of customers trust emails with the medical institution’s domain more than public mail.
Creating A Website Increases the Number of Patient Bookings
We can define a website as your business address online, as this is where your customers go to find you on the Internet.
With the spread of digital marketing and the major tasks accomplished online, customers expect that their appointments with the doctor can be scheduled on websites. Especially as studies have shown that each person spends an average of 6 hours per day on the Internet.
Read also: Online Medical Marketing for Pharmacies in Saudi Arabia
In a survey conducted by PatientPop, it was reported that 42% of patients preferred to book through online websites than to book by phone or contact the doctor’s office directly.
On average, reservations take 8 minutes; the client spends 30% of them waiting.
For Millennials (aged 20 to 36 years) who are used to getting all the tasks done online with the push of a button, the traditional reservation is a stumbling block that prevents them from repeating the experience or recommending the physician to others.
If You Are An Empowered Physician, This Is A Reason to Create A Website
Some doctors may see a website as just a marketing advertisement for their clinic, and fall prey to the old idea that a professional doctor needs no publicity.
But now it’s different. It is the way the world works now, customers first turn to the Internet to get the information and services they want, and they trust search engine nominations.
Where 83% of the patients visit the hospital’s website before booking, and 61% of patients visited at least two websites before choosing the right hospital. Therefore, your lack of a website during the recent times may jeopardize your reputation and work, and you will lose an important form of communication, as most patients prefer to seek a doctor who cares and shows an understanding of their needs – basically physicians who are able to start thinking about the future of their profession online.
Younger patients who are used to doing everything online are the most active population on the Internet and they are the ones most likely to recommend services based on experience. The proportion of older people who use the Internet is increasing at a rapid rate, thus representing an increase in the number of people searching for medical information online. This means that your current and new patients will search online for your medical services, and most likely are looking for you.
