Technology and the Internet change at lightning speed. With these advances come frequent changes in the way we build and design websites. Is your website up to par with the latest technology? Here are 5 reasons your practice might want to consider a website redesign:

1) Your website does not take advantage of new coding techniques.

Each year, web standards change drastically, and techniques to build websites become more advanced in order to comply those standards. New techniques available allow us to not only enhance the attractiveness of your website, but also enhance your site’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

2) Your website is not suitable for the current most popular screen size and resolution.

The rapid advancement of technology in recent years goes hand-in-hand with the evolution of your website. A few short years ago, most computer monitors were smaller and screen resolutions were much lower. Sites had to conform to those restrictions.

As screen resolutions of desktop and laptop computers keep growing, the options we have to design and create content for your website also grows. A bigger screen and higher resolutions allow us more room for content-rich information “above the fold.”

3) Your site isn’t mobile-friendly.

In addition to the growing screen size and resolution, another important advancement is the growth of the mobile web via smartphones and tablets over the past year. According to media research firm, Nielson, there are over 83 million mobile web users in the U.S., 25% of which are expected to access the web from their device at least once a day. Further, research firm, IDC, is predicting that more people will access the web from mobile devices than computers by the year 2015.

Modern coding techniques allow us to make web pages adaptable on every mobile device. Getting yourself a new website redesign might be a great idea if you want to increase the accessibility of your site to the millions of mobile viewers.

Based on data published by technology performance company, Compuware:
• 46% of mobile web users are unlikely to return to a website that they had trouble accessing from their phone and 57% are unlikely to recommend the site.
• 34% said they’d likely visit a competitor’s mobile website instead.

4) The look and feel of your website is outdated.

Just as we feel the need to revamp our wardrobe or to drive the latest car, a similar attitude should also apply to our websites. Your website says a lot about you and your practice. As a medical professional, you want to be seen as cutting-edge and up-to-date with the latest technologies and treatments. If your website does not match up with the image you want to portray, a potential patient surfing the web may decide to contact a different practice with a more updated site.

5) Your site wasn’t built with a specific goal in mind.

When websites first became a necessary marketing tool for businesses, they served merely as an online brochure. Years ago, your typical website was strictly informative, with no set goal to accomplish. Now, the first question we ask our clients is what goal they want to accomplish by redesigning their website. Whether your goal is to generate leads, to increase blog subscribers or to provide downloadable new patient information forms, we now can design your website to accomplish your practice’s goals.

A website is one of the most important marketing tools for your practice. A new website can pay for itself!

As specialists in healthcare website development, we encourage you to contact us today and learn more about the services we offer. Together, we can work toward improving your site, with the ultimate goal of increasing your web presence and your visibility.

It’s no secret now that Google Places has changed the way it does business. In an attempt to provide their users a better experience, the service recently removed third-party reviews from all their listings, and a lot of businesses are facing a new dilemma: How do I increase my visibility? Read on and find out our tips for making your Google Places listing stand apart from your competitors’.

What’s involved?

With the removal of third-party reviews from all Google Places listings, many practices are feeling the negative effects of low review counts and missing star ratings. It all comes down to visibility. So, if you’re interested in increasing the visibility of your Google Places listing, your two best weapons are getting verified and gaining reviews.

Getting Verified

The first step toward enhancing your visibility is to verify your Google Places listing. Verifying your listing assures Google that the business exists and the information provided is accurate. Posting pictures and videos to your listing makes it more attractive and informative, which Google places value upon. While all these will influence the visibility of your Google Places listing, the most powerful factor continues to be the number of reviews on your listing, so having a strategy to gain reviews is very important.

Gaining More Reviews

You may be asking yourself, “Why are reviews so important?” The answer is simple. Businesses that accumulate reviews are typically placed higher within search results than those with only a few or no reviews. Listings with reviews provide more information to Google users, and, hence, they are placed higher in search results.

With third-party reviews gone, you will have to start encouraging your past patients to post directly to your Google Places listing. The best way is to promote your listing through all the channels you’re already using: email, social networking sites like Facebook, word-of-mouth, etc. Get in the habit of encouraging reviews as part of your message. Over time, you may see your review count climbing back up.

The Bottom Line

When it comes to visibility, the main goal is having your Google Places listing appear in search-engine results—preferably the first page of results. Start giving Google a reason to rank your listing higher than your competitors’. Taking a few steps to ensure your listing is verified and filled out as completely as possible will give you a good foundation to build upon. Taking the next step by soliciting satisfied patients to post reviews directly to your listing will take it to the next level and make your practice even more visible.

“Where is my 5 star rating?” “What happened to all my reviews?” These are only a couple of questions business owners are now asking themselves since Google removed all third-party reviews from their Google Places listing.

What changed?

In the past, a Google Places listing would show every review and rating posted to third-party websites, such as yelp.com and insiderpages.com, and would count these towards a business’ overall “star rating.” However, third-party reviews have recently been pushed towards the bottom of every Google Places listing, and are now referred to as “Reviews from around the web.” Not only have they replaced the reviews with a small link, they have also removed them from counting towards a business’ overall rating.

Why did this change?

Google’s main objective is to provide their users with relevant information quickly and conveniently. Avni Shah, director of product management at Google, explains that now “Rating and review counts reflect only those that’ve been written by fellow Google users,” and that they’re “continuing to provide links to other review sites so you can get a comprehensive view of locations across the globe.” Not to mention that some third-party review sites were not happy with Google “borrowing” their content.

How does this affect me?

As a result of the change, now the only visible reviews & ratings on your Google Places listing are those that have come from Google users. Users must sign into their account and post their review directly through your Google Places listing for it to appear. This forces business owners to encourage their customers to post reviews directly on Google rather than allow them to post on a review website of their choosing.

What do I do about it?

The best way to build up your review count—and increase your visibility—is to encourage past patients to post directly to your Google Places listing. You can promote your listing through any of the channels you already use to communicate with patients. Whether by mail, word-of-mouth, email or through social networking sites like Facebook, make a practice of encouraging reviews as part of your message. A steady focus will allow your total reviews to increase over time.

Like it or not, Google Places’ policies have changed, and a number of your reviews may have disappeared. Don’t let it throw you off. Take this time to build back your star rating and review count. Encourage your patients to post directly to your listing. It’s the best way—and now, perhaps the only way—to make an impression with Google Places.

It’s easy to see why Google is such a successful company. Unlike traditional channels such as print, TV, and radio, search engine marketing targets only users who have already expressed interest in what you have to offer. Furthermore, you pay only when a potential patient clicks on your ad and goes to your website. This targeted advertising in Google’s search results has been incredibly successful for small businesses, and ultimately fueled the tremendous success of Google and their shareholders.

So why not create and manage the campaign yourself? While it’s easy to set up a campaign and start seeing your ad appear in search results, it takes trained professionals to properly create, track and manage a campaign to maximize results for your advertising dollars. Read on to learn how many practices waste a large portion of their money by trying to run their own campaigns.

Google Makes it Too Easy to Get Started

When you use Google AdWords to advertise your practice you have control over the keywords you target, the total amount you want to spend on advertising, when & where your ads appear, and what your ad text says. Google promotes self-managed AdWords campaigns and AdWords Express accounts in which “Creating your ad takes just a few minutes, and that’s it,” however, there are crucial aspects that most beginners will not even know to consider.

Google’s Default Account Settings Are Dangerous

When you add keywords to an AdWords campaign they are automatically added as “broad” match by default. Under broad match Google will show your ad for variations of your keywords that they deem relevant: singular/plural forms, synonyms, phrases containing your keyword, and what Google deems as relevant variations. While this can help attract many relevant variations, it leaves it up to Google to determine relevancy.

Google’s relevancy is extremely far-reaching, for example:

• “eyelid surgery” matches “eye patches,” “eye makeup,” “eye candy,” and the music band “third eye blind”
• “liposuction” matches “lip piercings” and “lipo batteries”
• “laser eye surgery” matches “spine laser institute”
• “tms” matches “team management system”
• “plastic surgery” matches many celebrities including Michael Jackson, Kim Kardashian, and Joan Rivers

30% of Your Advertising Dollars Can Be Wasted

The possibilities with Google broad match are endless. Google’s irrelevant matches can end up costing you a bundle, estimated at 30% of your budget. At MedNet, we begin every campaign with a list of “negative keywords,” or words that if contained in a search query will make your ad as ineligible to appear. Some of these negative keywords include a list of celebrities that are commonly associated with plastic surgery, adult terms synonymous with pornography, and words that may sound similar but have very different meanings (e.g. liposuction and lipo batteries). Your account is then continually reviewed to see what search queries triggered your ads. If there is anything irrelevant, it is added to the negative keyword list. You also benefit from MedNet being a specialized healthcare agency, in that we stay on top of industry trends and will quickly identify trending topics. (e.g. After Michael Jackson’s death searches for his plastic surgeries rapidly increased.)

Trust Our Team of Professionals

MedNet Technologies is a Google Adwords Certified Partner, and our team has the skills and experience to deliver the most results for your budget. If you currently run your own AdWords account or are interested in starting one, call 1-877-MEDNETT or fill out our contact form.

In late March, Facebook introduced a migration tool to allow individuals and businesses to convert their profiles into pages. They promoted this feature by stating that it would offer businesses increased presence since Facebook users could simply “like” their page once it was migrated. Unfortunately, it would appear there have been some obstacles that have left some users unhappy.

Problems with Facebook’s Profile to Page Migration

While Facebook did caution users that not all data from a Facebook profile would transfer to the page, many users were surprised to discover the following after migrating:

• Only the profile photo gets transferred to the page
• Any wall posts and message history are lost permanently
• As soon as the migration is complete, the custom Facebook URL (that allows you to incorporate your username) is once again open for the general public to take
• Effectively, everything that was on the old profile page will be wiped away for good once the migration is complete with no option to restore it
• Once you’ve got your page setup, if you’d like to have a profile as well, it is necessary to create a new account. This is problematic since Facebook does not allow users to use any of the same email accounts or networks that they applied to their former accounts

The above are just the problems relevant to businesses looking to take advantage of the migration feature. Individuals that opted to try it out as well have complained of even greater inconveniences.

Facebook’s Solution to the Migration Problems

After only one week live, this feature was temporarily disabled by Facebook. Facebook has since provided users with the opportunity to ‘appeal’ their migration. A request can be submitted to have the transfer to a business page reversed. They are stating that this service is offered only to those that ‘accidentally’ transfered their personal profiles. They also note that they reserve the right to reject any appeals not deemed appropriate.

Typically when we discuss Google, it is with SEO and SEM in mind. However, this search engine has been taking steps to look at the bigger picture. As a result, we felt it appropriate to draw some attention to a unique, charitable project pioneered by the internet giant.

Google Implements a Crisis Response Initiative

As there have been a number of large-scale natural disasters in recent history, Google made the decision to help in a way that only they know how. In order to facilitate communication and information sharing after a crisis, they put a response team in place full-time. The goal of this team is to ensure real-time information is made available as soon as a situation occurs.

The earthquake that hit Japan in March gave Google their first opportunity to put their full-time team to use. They managed to play a positive role - working with their “People Finder” tool to help individuals post their locations so family and friends could locate them. Live satellite images, citizen videos and regular news updates were also provided under this initiative.

Google intends to keep working on the development of new technology that will provide even greater benefits in the wake of a natural disaster.

The Span of Google’s Influence

While this story may not help you enhance your online marketing strategy, it demonstrates how a company that so greatly influences how we operate online also has the power to be influential for the greater good.

Social network ’share’ buttons have increased the number of ways that individuals can share information online. Now, Google has decided to implement a feature that offers the same convenience. In late March, Google unveiled their plans for the +1 button. This would allow individuals to share organic search engine results as well as web pages with friends.

Details and Features of Google’s +1 Button

• The +1 button will appear next to each website in Google’s search results
• Later, webmasters will also have the option to add the +1 button to their websites along with their other social media buttons
• The goal of this button is not to broadcast information for all the world to see, instead, friends that login to their Google accounts will be able to see which search results or websites you have marked as worth reading
• +1 buttons will also be added to Google ads
• Google will likely use these +1 votes as a factor in search engine rankings

This change will provide a new way for you to share information with your patients using the +1 button to mark search results. It will also provide greater convenience to patients that would like to share your services with others (when the button is on your site).

Take Advantage of Google’s & Other SEO Strategies

MedNet pays close attention to the frequent changes at Google and we adjust our SEO strategies accordingly. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your practice become more visible in search results.

Twitter has offered users a ’suggested users to follow’ feature for a number of months. Now they have expanded upon this feature, integrating suggestions based on interest. They have also introduced a more advanced search function that has a similar focus on user interest.

How Twitter’s New ‘Suggested User By Interest’ Feature Works

• This update applies to Twitter’s ‘Who To Follow Page’
• Twitter takes note of your search queries and suggests users who share those interests.
• In order to determine if you would like to add any of the suggested users, you can click on the avatars and view their profiles

How Twitter’s Interest-Based Searches Work

• Previously, Twitter’s search function would only search keywords in a user’s ID name. This former structure made it challenging for individuals to find other users with common interests because many people use their full name or their business name as their ID.
• You can browse through the search results that appear instantaneously

How Twitter’s Update Benefits Your Practice

This new search function that Twitter is offering allows you to find prospective patients, individuals promoting medical news stories, and more.

Contact us to learn more about how we can help you leverage social networking to benefit your medical practice.

As a member of the medical community looking to establish an SEO presence, it is possible to make mistakes. The American Medical Association (AMA) has even enacted a policy that provides medical professionals with some guidelines on appropriate social media behavior. Below you can review some of the specific standards. These deliver the underlying message that it’s unethical to do anything online - with regards to your patients - that you wouldn’t do in an offline environment.

AMA Guidelines for Social Media Use by the Medical Profession

The AMA has proposed the following guidelines with their policy. We have also outlined what it dictate with regards to appropriate online behavior. These guidelines apply to how you engage with others on Facebook, Twitter, or your blog.

1. Remember patients’ privacy when engaging with people online - social media allows you to interact with your patients in new ways. You are provided with the opportunity to field their questions, provide information about procedures, and share successful results with the world. Make sure that this is accomplished in a way that puts patient privacy first. Never divulge names or display photos of your patients’ faces. Also be careful in your interactions - even if a patient provides some personal information while posing a question, you cannot respond with anything that compromises their privacy regardless of what they have divulged already. Continue your discussion in a private setting if this is a risk - use a private messaging function or setup a consultation in your office.

2. Remember that anything you put online does not go away - even if you think you are posting something that’s protected by privacy settings, there’s the potential for it to be viewed by a greater audience. A good rule of thumb when you’re using social networks as a medical practice is to avoid posting anything you wouldn’t want the whole world to see, regardless of your privacy settings.

3. Remain professional when using social networks for your practice - it is a rule that you likely keep offline; that you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure, and it applies online too. If you have a Twitter account for your practice, use that to engage with patients and discuss industry-relevant topics. Keep a separate account for social interactions so you can discuss topics that have no relationship to your brand image as a medical professional.

Learn More About Effective Use of Social Media in Medicine

Please contact us today if you’d like to discuss an online visibility strategy to get your practice integrated in social media in a manner that will benefit your patients and your online presence.

Social media and blogs open up the opportunity for a very different type of marketing that can help give your practice more exposure. Instead of simply relying upon direct marketing and promotions to draw in new clients, you can connect with them on a more personal level by providing them with helpful information. You don’t need to dispense medical advice through social media or on your blog, but you can provide some education - something patients truly appreciate when it comes to their health. This will help you to develop a rapport with clients, and possibly generate a greater number of referrals.

How To Share Information On Your Blog or Social Media Account

The types of information you can share with your patients include the following:

1. General medical information - you can provide tips on how to find a great doctor or specialist, how to determine which services are covered by insurance, and what information patients should share with a medical professional on their first visit to a practice, for example.
2. Basic questions and answers about procedures - patients like to be armed with knowledge before they step into your office to discuss a procedure. If you have not provided this background, they will find it elsewhere, so it is worth sharing on your blog or via social media. Simply outlining the basics of the procedure, the recovery (if any), the benefits and the potential side effects can all go a long way.
3. Relevant medical news - if there is anything exciting happening in the industry that has relevance to patients, or you have specific news relating to your practice, patients would appreciate hearing about it!

When you present the above information, it can be unique to your practice or you can provide a link to another reputable source. With either approach, you are acting as a source of information and this has its benefits to your online reputation!

Helping You Market Your Practice Online

We can help you start forming this kind of connection with existing and prospective patients with our web visibility and blog article writing services.