Showcase Skills & Services
A professional website is the best place to start. Include pertinent information about services and how to contact.
Start a Blog
The most important aspect of a website, however, is offten the blog. Using SEO best practices, medical doctors can get onto the front page of Google fast. Dr. Ravi Ramachandran says it took him just two months to reach the front page after creating his website blogs.
When looking for a new doctor, patients always consult review websites for the most highly rated physicians in hair area.
Take control of the review sites by creating your own profiles on each sopatients have a place to post.
It helps to solicit revies form patients you know will say something positive. “If someone is effusive I’ll hand the a card and ask them to write something,”
Dr. Ramachandran says.
Having a little scripted pitch that you give each time can help Dr. Ramachandran says he almost never gets turned down when he asks for a review.
Be active on social media. Even a little involvement can go a long way. Dr. Ramachandran posts short segments once per week to keep his audience engaged. Then he tracks views and solicits reviews from post patients.
Docs Dial offers libraries of social posts for each discpline to get you started.
Dr. Ramachandran also has a personal Facebook account but he makes sure it maintains a professional appearance. Many patients find him on there and he is able to add them back, which drops barriers and offers direct interaction.
If you’re looking to increase your patient load. try Facebook ads. This is a good way to reach patients outside of your network and bring in new clientele.
Remote consultations are helpful for building revenue, but the service can serve anotherpurpose.
“The utility of that in my practice is there are a lot of people who want appointments that I don`t want to see,” Dr Ramachandron explains
That is because a quick conversation often proves that someone won`t be a surgical candidate, so instead of wasting clinic hours on patients that wont’t need surgery, he handles their inquiries quickly over a remote service.
In a way, this creates revenue indirectly because he can weed out nonsurgical condidates and see more candidates that will generate revenue. It`s a time saver for both doctor and patient.
Offering the service also helps preserve a reputation. No one wants to be known as the doctor who simply refuses to see patients.
Dr. Ramachandran forgoes the use of physician assistants and sees all patients pre and post operatively himself. He also gives out his cell phone number to patients and encourages texting.
This type of communication is less formal and provides a level of accessibility that patients don`t usually get with their doctors.
He even uses a services that generates phone numbers he can share without giving out his actual cell phone number.
Many doctors worry about becoming to accessible to patients because they don’t want to violate any HIPAA rules by accident.
Be careful what you post. Don’t violate the rules with patient photos. They can post photos to your page, but as a doctor, you yourself shouldn’t share them.
Also, be careful responding directly to reviews so as not to reveal anything about a patient’s medical history. Instead, acknowledge postitive posts via private message.
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