Use your web presence to keep patients coming in during
economic down-turns.
- by Gunther Allen
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There is one simple way to get your business or practice noticed online and that is with community directories. How many of you are already listed in at least one online community directory? Phone books and the Yellow Pages are dying. Advertising in them has become totally ineffective and a waist of time and money. The day has finally come: More people use Internet search engines than yellow pages. The yellow pages are exorbitantly expensive to advertise in and it has become too difficult for consumers to use. As of June 21, 2007 in a Harris Interactive study on the behavior and preferences of Americans when searching the web, 54% search online rather than use a phone book. What they found was that 63% are looking for the addresses of phone numbers of people, almost as many (58%) are looking up information on local businesses. Global ad growth rate on Internet yellow pages is now outpacing print four to one according to the Kelsey Group’s Global Directories Forecast 2007. More and more people are turning to online community directories to find what they need. So are your potential new patients able to find you online?
Here is a simple test if you have a web site. Type the city where your business is located and then type your business title. For example, if you’re a business in Solana Beach, California and your business just happens to be chiropractic you would type: SOLANA BEACH CA CHIROPRACTOR into a search engine like GOOGLE. Notice where Solana Beach Chiropractic turns up on the list. It is usually in the top four, not because of paid advertising but by successfully using the five free ways to build up your web sites rankings on GOOGLE: overview, details, reviews, photos & videos, and last but not least web pages. I’m getting ahead of myself here. Before we go further, let’s find out how your web site is ranked. Where did your business rank? Was it even listed on any of the pages in your search? If the answer is that you couldn’t even find your practice or that it took several pages before you got to your web site, then how do you think your potential new patients will ever find you?
Being ranked up towards the top is a huge advantage to having exposure and getting people to discover your business. Ultimate Practice chiropractic and business coaching, management and consulting has help doctors and businesses in economically challenging times with educational programs to market and promote their practices. Getting a higher ranking is just one of the ways to better promote your practice or business. Discovering ways to increase traffic in times when other businesses are closing shop and how to prolong and solidify a long-term business plan in an economic downturn are just a couple of ways that Ultimate Practice can help you.
For more information on how to rank higher on search engines and increase your client volume, please go to UltimatePractice.com or call 866.797.8366
