website audit for doctors

Do the test: How many patients are you losing?

Are you unsure how your online presence is supporting your practice? Do you sometimes get the feeling that other doctors are performing better and attracting more patients? It’s time to assess the main reasons why you may be losing patient leads and income.

Do the test: How many patients are you losing?

The self-check that could double your turnover

DIY website audit for doctors

Doing a site audit for doctors may seem like a daunting perspective. I get it, you are busy seeing patients, helping them in theatre or managing your practice. But what if we reconfirmed that over 50% of patients will do online research before they confirm their choice of a specialist doctor?

If your online profile is not optimised and not really visible in this 24/7 activity behind the scenes, you may be losing lots and lots of potential new patients…to your competitor down the road. Now, we don’t want that, and that is why I wanted to suggest a Do-It-Yourself site audit with the following key areas.

Get checked. Don’t give away your business growth to your competitors.

The key areas where you could be losing patients

site audit key areas

Let’s go over the main areas of this DIY site audit for doctors first. The areas that could cost you traffic, patient leads and money in your private practice are:

Website health: Things that are simply not working in this living piece of software that makes up your website. Remember, what you see on the homepage is like the skin on the human body; there is a lot going on on the inside that you might not be aware of.
Visibility: If you tell me that your income depends on antenatal care, endometriosis treatment and IVF cycles, then my advice is to google anything that you associate with these topics and check if your content pages show up on Page 1 of Google.
Leadership status: Ask someone you trust if they trust you, after looking at your website. Do they get to know you? Do they learn something about the personality of your practice? Do you come across as a real thought leader in your field?

I cover these key areas in some more detail in this short video and below, we will talk about these key areas of an effective site audit for doctors.

If your website health is under 50%, ring the alarm bell

medical website audits

The common unhealthy things we see when we assess a doctor’s website are often too technical at first sight. As a business owner, educating yourself means that you are now in a stronger position to discuss your website health with your agency.

So in a site audit for doctors, what are the components that relate to website health?

Broken links and error pages: Links are the oxygen of the internet and they make us travel from page to page, from website to website. Now if your website has old links that lead to nowhere, can you imagine how that almighty Google-crawling-robot feels when it gives you a website health score? Or in the case of error pages that show up as soon as the patient browses through your menu and clicks on something? Robots don’t feel, but Google flags broken links as a nuisance that it wants to protect its users from. If that means sending Tom, Dick and Harry to this other bariatric surgeon across town then Google will not hesitate.
Not enough content: It’s a classic drama that we see over and over again, even with leading specialists and top surgeons: Just a few lines of copy to talk about fibroids or recovery after ACL reconstruction. While you thought you wouldn’t overload the patient’s brain, Google flags pages with less than 200 words as not very wordy…and unworthy of a top Google ranking.
Issues with titles and headers: This is a typical consequence when web development gets subcontracted and outsourced and then subcontracted again. Under the hood, headers are forgotten, titles are too long and it leads to poor user experiences and lower rankings. Remember: every time a competitor shows up on Page 1 Of Google (I write it with capitals because it’s so important for you to be there as a leading specialist doctor), someone else is eating your lunch.

Aiming for 95% or 100% website health is not a myth. Ask us how we do it and we may share aspects of our precious recipe.

Do you really want those patients or not?

visibility in google search

Does your content reflect that you really want more patients for rhinoplasty procedures, knee replacement or gastric sleeves? (And yes, of these you can only pick one).

In other words, if your business plan mentions a top 3 of conditions that you treat or procedures that you perform to make your private practice successful, how visible are you?

Measuring your visibility for the most common Google searches that relate to your key income avenues is an absolute must for anyone in private practice. I meet the most switched on specialists who look at their 100-200 key patient searches every single quarter, and who take pride in the progress that we make together, moving them up keyword by keyword.

If you rank well for 5 key searches, that’s great. If you rank on Page 1 for 30 or 40 terms that patients commonly use, you will get busier. You will be in a position to take on more staff, perhaps even form a partnership or become a group practice. Who knows, in 5 years’ time you may even be in a position to have other specialists do the bulk of the work so you can use your time for other passions.

Being visible for your key income avenues starts with getting clear about what you want. It doesn’t stop there. Putting content in place to make you rank is the next step. And we can help you with that.

Do you inspire trust and credibility?

reputation management for doctors

There is no measuring tool to verify if your website visitors (prospective new patients) trust you immediately. No site audit tool can scan your website and stick an emotive score on it that expresses how patients will feel after they land on your homepage.

This is where experience in medical marketing and public relations comes in. You can ask us to check your profile, or you can ask a colleague or a friend. Don’t pick a colleague who is a competitor. Don’t pick your best friend. They will all bring you a biased story.

Aspects that may or may not contribute to your trust and credibility are:

The lack of great photos: A small grainy portrait or photography that is either too formal or just completely unprofessional.
The lack of responsiveness: A website that is all skewed and distorted or even totally unreadable on smartphones. If you can’t fix that, how can I trust you with my shoulder injury.
Dry academic Wikipedia-style content: A tone that is a good fit for a white paper or a research document, but that does not sound human. You would think academic dry copy builds trust, but in reality, patients will just go elsewhere for simplicity and a human touch.
Poor layout: Patients are humans and consumers and they are used to quality content on quality web pages. If yours seem to come from a distant past in terms of the browsing and reading experience, what will patients conclude in regards to your bedside manners and surgical skills?

Managing your reputation is all about checking your online presence with an open mind and a willingness to inspect.

Surgeons and specialists who have taken the time to inspect their online profiles and who have listened to expert feedback are now in a different place. I have witnessed spectacular turnover increases of +150% to +200% by doing this work. The failproof pathway was always a technically healthy and very visible website, that builds the doctor’s reputation and creates new leads while they are seeing patients.

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Do you need help doing the test?

free website audit for doctors

Effective change happens when you involve experts who live and breathe medical marketing. If you need help assessing your current online presence, and you want to create sustainable growth for your practice, get in touch. Book your obligation-free 1:1 strategy session and we will discuss your website assessment in full detail.