Creating a website for your clinic is necessary to display all the medical services that you provide, and it also displays the medical features that you provide, in addition to the possibility of displaying the results of treating your cases to increase patients’ confidence and attract them to you and apply the idea of electronic booking to it, so if you want to increase the number of visitors to your clinic or center You should not hesitate to create your own website.
Recently, the way patients choose the right doctor has changed. From relying on reputation, word-of-mouth nominations, and field advertising to online search engines, creating your website has become a major part of medical marketing for clinics.
Creating a website & activating SEO/SEM are the most effective marketing methods in the Internet era
Advertising on the website has become an easily accessible option for adults and children, and it is more comfortable and private for them to search for information and explore health services. It also gives them the freedom to compare available clinics and hospitals, so doctors resort to electronic medical marketing by creating a website, to offer their services to more than a billion people. Daily search for medical services.
Patients always expect to find you online; Therefore, you must be present on it effectively, and it is important to obtain and maintain their attention by creating an appropriate first impression and high-quality, renewable content.
The website is a great way to inform the world about your expertise and services, and once you have the website, you can use it as a basic base for all your other marketing efforts on social media sites, medical content marketing, and others.
What do search engines tell us about medical website marketing?
A study conducted by the Department of Computer Science at Missouri State University reported that 80% of Internet users search for medical information and services online. Search engines are the first choice for patients when they want to book with the right doctor, as they give them the opportunity to explore the various services provided by doctors, and choose the appropriate ones.
The study conducted by the PEW Research Center confirmed that 77% of patients use search engines to search for and choose the appropriate doctor, and 43% of hospital visits start from search engines and review their websites.
Therefore, distinctive websites that contain medical content compatible with search engines, are suitable for Google ads, and are built on the foundations of electronic marketing are considered the most effective means of medical marketing, because they make it easy for people to find you and learn about your services.
Creating a website for your clinic increases your credibility with current patients
The website makes basic information about your clinic available at all times, such as:
- work hours.
- Geographical location.
- Means of communication.
- Answering patients’ common questions.
- Post-surgery instructions.
This means that the website remains at the service of patients 24 hours a day, which improves your credibility and gives confidence to patients, and most patients prefer to obtain their health information from their doctor. If the doctor provides this information on his website, he proves himself as an experienced, trustworthy, and highly credible doctor.
You can include medical content on your website in which you answer the patient’s questions, increase his awareness, and ensure his commitment and confidence in the effectiveness of the treatment methods you use.
All these basics and additional values that your medical website gives you; Your clinic gives you a distinctive identity and gains patients’ trust in recommending you to other potential patients. This is because 84% of customers believe that medical practices with websites are more trustworthy than those without an online presence, and 65% of customers trust medical organization-branded email more than general email.
Creating your own website increases the number of patient bookings
We can define a website as your business address on the Internet. This is the headquarters where your customers go to find you on the Internet. With the widespread spread of advertising on the website and the ability to accomplish basic tasks through the Internet; Customers’ expectations of being able to schedule their doctor’s appointments through websites have increased, especially since studies have shown that each person spends about 6 hours a day on the Internet on average.
In a survey conducted by PatientPop, it was reported that 42% of patients prefer booking through websites over booking by phone or directly contacting the doctor’s office, and booking through traditional methods takes about 8 minutes on average; The customer spends 30% of them waiting.
For Millennials (ages 20-36) who are accustomed to getting everything done online with the push of a button; Traditional reservations act as an obstacle that prevents them from repeating the experience or recommending it to others.
If you are a skilled doctor, this is the reason why you should create a website
Some doctors may see a website as merely marketing advertising for their practice, and fall prey to the outdated idea that a professional doctor does not need advertising. But this time things are different; It’s just 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 recommendations.
83% of patients visit the hospital’s website before booking, and 61% of patients visit at least two websites before choosing the appropriate hospital. Therefore, not having a website at the present time may put your reputation and business at risk, and you will lose an important form of communication if you do not create your own website, as most patients prefer to turn to a doctor who cares and shows understanding of their needs, so capable doctors must start thinking In the future of their online career.
Younger patients who are accustomed to doing everything via the website are more numerous and more active in recommending them to their peers, and the proportion of older people using 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 existing and new patients will be searching online for your medical services, and will most likely be looking for you.
Creating a website for your clinic is one of the basics of correct medical marketing! Patients won’t have to wait any longer for you to create a website; At the time you are reading this article, thousands of Internet users in Egypt and the Arab world are searching for the best medical center using search engines, and comparing several options… so far, your site is not among them.
Creating a website for your clinic is the first step in correct medical marketing to increase patient visits
People consider the website to be the new interface for the medical center. The development of electronic communication has provided people with the ability to check the website of the doctor they want to deal with before visiting his medical center.
A survey says that 61% of patients compare at least two websites before deciding to book a doctor, so you need to have an online reference, otherwise you will lose out on a significant portion of your potential patients.
High rate of patients resorting to visiting the website before booking with a doctor in Arab countries
The online shopping culture has expanded; Trust in it has developed until it has become a reference for choosing doctors for patients in Arab countries over the past few years.
A report prepared by the British research company Public First stated that 84% of Arab users used their mobile phones to search for a product or service on the Internet before making a purchasing decision. Google statistics also indicate that Arab searches for doctors have increased at a steady level over the past few years.
Is medical marketing for a clinic or hospital via social media sufficient? Or is there a need to create a website?
There is a main rule in medical marketing for clinics: knowing the platform that potential customers use and choosing it for marketing, in order to ensure that your services are exposed to the largest possible number of patients. According to Pew statistics, 77% of patients use search engines to find the best clinics, while only 1% of them search on social media sites.
Therefore, limiting medical marketing for clinics to social media sites will cause you to lose a number of potential customers.
E-marketing experts also believe that the link between your doctor’s website and social media channels strengthens your professional authority, increases patients’ awareness of your brand and consolidates it, and also creates a wider publishing space and a longer shelf life for your content.
Four important factors to attract more patients to your clinic
In many cases; Patients’ first impression of the standards of your medical practice arises through your medical website. It is important that you give importance to having your own website that takes care of four main aspects to dazzle site visitors, and transform them from mere website visitors into patients of your clinic.
1. Good design earns patient trust
The more quickly and easily the patient gets to know the information he wants within a short time of visiting your site, and the more high-quality your site design will be. The more credibility this gives your clinic to the patient.
Read also: 6 tips for strategic marketing of medical devices on the Internet
If your website is designed to a high level of professionalism and professionalism, this will give the patient an impression of the quality of health services that your clinic provides to patients.
2. Quality content attracts patients to you
Content is king is a quote by tech legend Bill Gates
Content plays a major role in improving your online presence and contributes greatly to attracting patients to your clinic.
Your website can display two types of content:
Basic content: Such as the clinic address with directions on a map, phone number, and social media channels, making it easy to find you, and providing necessary information that answers patients’ frequently asked questions.
Creative and medical content: This is important in improving your online presence; Patients search for medical services daily on search engines.
Studies have shown that one in twenty Google searches are for health services and information, and users expect information from an expert source. Including high-quality medical content on your medical website is the first step in building trust with new patients to your clinic. It also ensures that your website appears in the first results of search engines and receives a greater number of visits.
3. The ease of using the website prompts patients to visit and book with you
Many people visit the medical website to search for a suitable doctor, and it is important that the website be easy to use. Because the user is often in distress due to his illness or the illness of a family member and does not seek to be preoccupied with details that may not benefit him.
Therefore, checking the smooth performance of all pages of your medical website, creating a special section for the medical services you provide, and ensuring that they are easy to use via computers and mobile phones will increase the direction of patients to book with you.
62% of mobile phone holders (of all ages) search for health services, and 75% of mobile phone holders (between the ages of 18-29) search for health services.
4. The possibility of booking through the website
A website is not just an advertising tool; Rather, it is a direct educational and interactive platform with patients, enabling them to book appointments with the doctor, after learning about his experience and knowledge of his services.
The website provides – for the user who is accustomed to completing his shopping online – the ability to book with a doctor and schedule an appointment with him with ease and comfort, without costing him the trouble of visiting the doctor’s office or making a phone call. This ensures that the doctor increases the number of patients coming to his clinic.
The website of clinics and hospitals receives huge visits daily for reservations and viewing. All of these factors and more have made patients turn to search engines to view the best websites of doctors, clinics and hospitals.
