How can I really engage potential patients on my website?
Your website needs to be great at multi-tasking. It should maintain your connection to current patients while attracting new ones. It needs to educate, establish rapport, and compel potential patients to get off the Web and into your office. In our experience, pages that contain content inspired by real patient experiences are better at all of these tasks than just about any other pages on any given site.
Consider our findings:
- Potential patients view more than twice as many pages per visit on sites that offer patient-inspired content
- Potential patients spend almost 200% more time per visit on sites with patient-inspired content
When you think about it, it makes sense. We like to read stories about people more than general information about procedures. As a culture, we’re fascinated by other people’s lives and experiences.
So what did the sites with the highest per-visit page count, and top time per visit, have in common?
- Detailed photo gallery case descriptions, rich in personal details about the patient
- Real patient stories, written in a magazine-style, describing the patient’s motivations, experience, and advice to others considering their same procedure
- FAQs with answers to questions from real patients
- Video testimonials
Don’t get us wrong. Informative content throughout your site—from the procedure pages to your bio—is critical to your success. But there’s no other type of copy that can accomplish as many goals as patient-inspired pages. They will attract the search engines and engage visitors, and they may be the difference between getting a consult and not.
Three Ways to Take Action Now
With your time devoted to running your practice, it’s tempting to relegate patient-inspired content to the realm of the “nice to have.” Let me assure you, these pages are priceless. Here are three ways you can act now to outperform your competition:
- Add detailed case studies to your photo gallery
Do it yourself: Dr. Robert Cohen writes his photo gallery descriptions himself, allowing his personality to come through along with details that make his patients come alive. See a sample.
Get some help: Dictate a few notes on a case and email us the transcription. Our writers will craft your outline into search optimized case notes that will engage visitors and attract search engines. Each takes less than an hour. - Let your patients share their stories
Do it yourself: We have a proven set of interview questions, just call us if you would like a copy.
Get some help: You know which patients are eager to share their story. Ask them if your writers can call them for a quick interview. The writing team at Etna is experienced at developing patient stories and sensitive to patient needs. See some examples at ThePerfectBreast.com and TheNaturalResult.com. Each story takes 4-5 hours. - Share the answers you compose every day
Do it yourself: You take the time to compose thoughtful answers to email inquiries every day. Leverage those responses by publishing the most common ones to your site. It’s easy; just send us the question and your answer (polished for presentation) and we’ll add it to your site.
Get some help: Etna has an excellent system that empowers you to manage your own FAQs (and the related email inquiries). Just call us for a quote to integrate the system in to your site.
Come on, take the next step and act on one of the suggestions above. When you try it, you’ll find it an enjoyable experience that extends your relationship with your patients. We have tools (or staff) to help you get started.
If you don’t have time to write, we can help by editing your drafts and transcriptions or writing from scratch. We have many years of experience working with plastic surgery, bariatric surgery, dermatology and ophthalmology patients; you may be surprised how efficient our process can be.
Whichever approach appeals to you, the important thing is to get started. There truly is no better way to get people off the Web and into your office than by reaching out and offering inspiration from the real people you’ve met and helped.
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