The medical profession is not exactly known for having the most relevant online presence. Websites in the industry typically have websites that look as old as the internet combined with an equally antiquated marketing strategy. The following guide will give you some quick tips on how to stay relevant to your marketing and online presence.

Have a Modern Website

The first step in staying relevant in the medical industry is to have a modern site and healthcare marketing strategy. This includes a sleek design and fast loading time. Most importantly, it includes having a mobile responsive website. Mobile responsive means that your website is easily viewed on a mobile device. No spilling outside the visible screen and no unusual zoomed in text.

A responsive website is especially important in 2018 because mobile traffic makes up the majority of internet traffic. Therefore, if your website will not load on a mobile device, then you will lose out on the majority of internet traffic.

Optimize for Search Engines

Setting up a website is the first step. The next step is making sure that customers can find you online. This is done through search engine optimisation. A good web developer will help make sure your website is properly set up for search engines to find it.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is more than just having a website that makes it easy for search engines to find. It has two main components: on-page and off-page. On-page SEO relates to the keywords on the page and making them rank higher on Google. This is typically done using a blog, which will be touched in a later point.

Off-page SEO is a little different. It is all about SEO that occurs off of your webpage. It usually involves building links to your website through the use of guest posting, 301 redirects to your website, and commenting on other blog posts.

SEO is complicated for most business owners to do themselves. They usually will hire marketing agencies that have teams devoted to building up the SEO of a website. Medical professionals have an even more difficult time building up an SEO strategy due to the competitiveness of the medical industry.

Create Content that Adds Value

This was touched on in the SEO section but will get a fuller look here. You should have a blog on your website and publish articles that add tremendous value to your readers. Now, in the medical industry, you must be careful about not providing medical advice.

However, many methods exist for providing value to your readers without providing medical advice. Some example articles include ways to choose the right medical professional, symptoms of various diseases that you treat, and what to do if you have certain symptoms. You will know the topics that interest your patients the most. Think of those headlines and relay that information to your marketing agency and they can write excellent articles that add value.

The other benefit of these articles is that they improve the SEO of your website. Search engines nowadays mostly focus on content that adds value and not strictly on keywords. So, make sure that the content published to your website adds value, and you should see your search engine rankings increase over time.

Setup a Google Business Listing

Setting up a Google Business listing is another way to stay relevant and is the official way to claim your business on Google. You can place pictures of your office, add business hours, and all types of other information. Doing so makes your business stay relevant online and has the added benefit of pushing you toward the top of the Google search results.

Adding a Google Business listing is not particularly and can be done through a Google+ account. Google will mail you a verification letter to your address to claim the business and address. Once verified, you can fully edit the information on the listing. You can even respond to reviews on your Google listing.

Build a Social Media Presence

The medical industry is not particularly known for having the savviest social media presence. However, a social media presence will not hurt your medical agency. Setup a Facebook page and Twitter account. You should then share the articles that you publish on your blog. Combine this with other valuable articles, and you have a good enough social media presence for the medical industry.

Remember, social media is not a primary driver of customers to your business. Instead, use it to keep your agency in the minds of your customers for their next visit.

Use Video Marketing

Video marketing is another way to really stand out from the competition. Focus on videos that have testimonials from customers and that provide value. This will make you appear trustworthy and knowledgeable to your patients.

In fact, it is much easier to gain the trust of patients with a video of a doctor discussing issues than it is with a text post. Make sure that the testimonials from patients are enthusiastic. A forced patient testimonial will have the opposite effect. Plus, it will bore the viewers.

Other video ideas include filming the office and a “Meet the Doctors” type video. Upload the videos to YouTube. You can then easily embed the videos on your website and blog and doing so will also add some on-page SEO value combined with making your website look so much better.

Final Thoughts

The above tips will help your medical agency stay relevant on the internet. If you combine all the steps, then it is nearly impossible to stay irrelevant online. Customers will see a relevant online presence and associate it with a high-quality medical presence. Oftentimes the association between the two is subconscious. However, with the internet becoming an ever-present thing in our lives it makes sense to have a strong online presence.

Marketing agencies can take some of the burden off of developing these complicated strategies as well. This allows you to focus on the business and the marketing professionals to focus on the marketing.