The New Measures for Success Online

Out with the old and in with the new. At Etna Interactive, we are constantly adapting our online marketing efforts to help make your business successful. Follow along as we compare the old against the new measures of success:

Ranking vs. Referrals

Old Measure: Rankings

Rankings are still important, but we can’t rely on them alone. Why? Because ranking will vary by device, giving us different results. Today, people are speaking to their phones to search instead of typing from their desktops. This makes for a variety of keywords used and therefore yields a mixture of outcomes.

New Measure: Google Referrals

Using Google Analytics, our team analyzes reports to see where you’ve grown, when you’ve reached plateaus, and when breakthroughs occurred. The breakthroughs and the referrals from the top search engines are what we are aim for and measure.

I’m on Page 1 vs. I Own Page 1

Old Measure: I’m on Page 1

Having a website show up on the first page of search results used to be enough. This is no longer the case — now, we want you to own Page 1. Profiles and reputations are now distributed across multiple third-party sites, and this may be your potential patient’s only interaction with your brand.

New Measure: I Own Page 1

Owning Page 1 involves holding several positions on the page. Because your business is distributed across the Web, we want you to control a larger footprint. This means ensuring your brand is represented in a positive manner on third-party sites. In a previous post, we talked about the online patient migration. Read more about it here so you are well equipped to communicate with patients away from your website.

Likes vs. Engagement

Old Measure: Likes

Previously, when you hit a high fan count on your Facebook Page, we were thrilled. But as time has moved forward, having thousands of people who like your Facebook Page but don’t interact with it is sending the wrong social signal to the search engines. High fan counts are simply not enough.

New Measure: Engagement

Exposure, engagement, and interaction are what keeps us happy. All major social platforms provide insights as to what posts are driving the most engagement from fans. Our team uses these findings to create quality posts that work for your brand.

Visits vs. Leads & Patients

Old Measure: Visits

Let’s not be mistaken — visits can be a relevant measure, but we aim for you to have patients and not just visitors. Poor-quality traffic is easy to come by. Achieving quality visitation that translates into patients is the good stuff.

New Measures: Leads & Patients

Using our engineered systems that we have created allows us to audit your leads and determine what traffic converts so we can adapt that knowledge to future work.

In Summary

Let’s recap the new measures of success online:

  • Rankings reports are inconsistent, so track your referrals from Google organic search in Analytics.
  • When searching for your name, strive to dominate the first page with optimized profiles and an optimal reputation.
  • For social or email campaigns, focus on optimizing engagement.
  • At the end of the day, it’s about patients, and the technology exists today to track your online leads back to their source.

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