5 Benefits of Having a Website as a Doctor
As a medical practitioner of any kind, it is absolutely essential that you have some sort of online presence. The truth is, today’s world has fully embraced the information age and all that means. Now it’s rare that anyone actually “reads. They watch YouTube videos, listen to podcasts, they play with apps on their “smart” devices.
To be respected as a practitioner, you must keep up with the times. At a minimum, that means creating a website. Ideally, you should calibrate the site so it can be interacted with on mobile devices since most online interactions occur through them.
Regardless of how in-depth you get with your physician website design, transitioning to such modern means of communication will bring certain benefits. Here we’ll explore five key benefits of having a website as a doctor.
1. A Well-Maintained Website Increases Overall Online Visibility
You will be more visible on Search Engine Results Pages or SERPs by having a website as a doctor that’s calibrated to work with mobile devices and that you keep regularly updated regularly. Search engines utilize algorithms to filter out the digital “riffraff”, as it were. One way they do this is through “weighted” content.
In fact, the more material you have online that features the name of your business, associated keywords, geographical indicators, and the like, the more visible your business will be. A website is one of the most simple, organic ways to do that. Be sure you have a blog on the site. Maintain that blog.
Regularly share articles from blog, and build back-links to your site as featured in other blogs. In other words, you get a piece of content posted on someone else’s blog that directs readers back to your site through a few strategically placed links.
2. Website Portals Can Expedite Patient Onboarding
When new patients come to your clinic, they have to fill out the paperwork concerning their varying conditions. This can be done through online portals. Now, be careful with this one; you’ve got to be sure you’re in compliance with HIPAA regulations.
That said, someone who fills out such information online can walk right into your clinic and be seen right away, reducing the “static” of managing individuals in the waiting room. It expedites your ability to see more paying patients daily, increasing the potential profitability of your clinic overall.
3. Websites Are Excellent for Organic Marketing
A website can feature testimonials, videos of satisfied patients, write-ups about your clinic by local newspapers and more. In a nutshell, it’s an acceptable option for organic marketing. It’s like your own digital billboard.
Proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or your website will continuously bring visitors to your site over time, meaning they’re more likely to choose you when they need medical help.
4. Online Presence Facilitates Telemedicine
Telemedicine is a burgeoning trend that is becoming increasingly effective and convenient, facilitating even more appointments on a given day. You can queue up several dozen for the day with zoom meetings and hit them all. Many potential patient issues don’t require in-depth examination and can be resolved or addressed via zoom.
Indeed, there’s a limit to this; some conditions will require invasive procedures either to collect biopsies or for other reasons. Still, most of those with whom you’re working won’t require that examination. A few strategic questions and a visual overview will indicate whether further inspection is necessary.
Now: having a website as a doctor, you can put a portal to schedule a telemedicine session on your site, or you can conduct such meetings through the site itself. There are multiple ways to go about this. Whatever you do, proper telemedicine management will likely require some website.
5.Websites Enhance Competitiveness
Especially when your website has mobile capability, you will become more competitive. Medicine is supposed to be cutting-edge. That means whatever mainstream tech innovations define the modern world, you need to be aware of them. One of the easiest ways to do so is with a properly-managed website of some stripe.
Enhancing Your Overall Visibility
In short, there are a lot of reasons to explore website solutions for your medical practice. Websites enhance competitiveness, they can help to facilitate telemedicine solutions, they are an excellent vehicle for organic online marketing, they can be used to expedite patient onboarding, and they tend to increase online visibility overall.
One last thing: if you do decide to go with a website, be sure you manage it properly. At a minimum, this will mean straightforward, professional design schemes that are easy to navigate. A website that looks like something out of the nineties will probably work against you. Get the balance right, and having a website as a doctor will definitely serve you well.