A website can be a tremendous benefit to your plastic surgery practice. In fact, not having a website can actually hurt you given that, in today’s world, it’s often expected. The following are some of the benefits of having a strong online presence:
Cost Effective Compared with other traditional forms of advertising, Internet marketing tends to be far more cost-effective. In fact, a website can save you a great deal of money. A good example involves the search engines. The search engines are capable of brining the majority of traffic to your website provided that your site is well optimized for the search engines. Though you will need to spend time or money for optimization, being listed in the search engines is free. In addition, your website can reduce the cost of printing by replacing traditional catalogs, brochures, fliers and so on. Unlike print advertising, information on your website can be instantly updated on a regular basis. Websites also allow you the ability to display far more information than you could with other forms of advertising.
Wider, More Targeted Audience Another great benefit of the Internet is that your website and your message are capable of reaching a much larger and more targeted audience. There are currently over half a billion Internet users and more than half of U.S. households shop online. With traditional advertising you could hardly reach even a fraction of these people. On the Internet, however, it’s more than possible as your website is available to millions of Internet users and potential patients. The search engines also allow you to reach a very targeted audience, namely Internet users who are conducting searches using terms like plastic surgeon’, plastic surgery’, rhinoplasty’ and so on.
Patient Benefits A good website not only attracts more patients to your practice, but serves to benefit your patients as well. Websites are very convenient as they can be accessed any time and pretty much anywhere. This means that both potential and current patients can access the information they need about you, your practice and plastic surgery in general on their time regardless of your hours of operation. Your website can include valuable procedural information and necessary information like pre- and post-surgical instructions. With email and forums, patients are able to contact you with questions and concerns at their convenience.
Time Saving Aside from saving your patients time, a website can save you time as well. There is no doubt a lot of information that your patients request on a regular basis. For instance, you likely get many of the same questions from your patients. A website provides you with a perfect opportunity to display all that common information in one convenient location. A good example of this would be the FAQ page, where all the questions you’re routinely asked, along with your answers, are compiled.
Competition Consider your competitors. In all likelihood, they’ve got an online presence. If you don’t have a website, they’re the ones who have the edge on you.