{"id":896,"date":"2021-12-18T00:04:38","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T16:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.digitalpractice.co\/?p=896"},"modified":"2021-12-18T00:04:40","modified_gmt":"2021-12-17T16:04:40","slug":"healthcare-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.digitalpractice.co\/articles\/healthcare-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"7 best healthcare marketing action steps [examples included]"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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healthcare marketing<\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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7 best healthcare marketing action steps [examples included]<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIn this article, I will explain seven healthcare marketing action steps that improve your Google ranking and lead to a successful medical practice.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\thealthcare marketing<\/span>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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7 best healthcare marketing action steps [examples included]<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"Els<\/figure>

Els Van de Veire<\/h3>

December 18, 2021<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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#1 Medical website strategy<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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healthcare marketing website strategies<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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When you plan to build a new house, it would be quite weird to call a bricklayer and tell him to \u201cjust get started\u201d. When it comes to architecture, we accept that it starts with thinking and consulting about the design, functionality and structure of the house we want.<\/p>

The same applies to medical websites. You would be missing out on opportunities and business avenues if you were to apply the bricklayer-first approach<\/em> in your medical practice.<\/p>

Before you start building your website – and this is similar to planning a construction job – you want to think about the design, functionality and structure of your new asset.<\/p>

As a healthcare marketing agency, we help our customers with this important foundational work. Take Sexual Health North, a start-up private sexual health clinic in the northern suburbs of Perth. We catapulted their clinic to page 1 of Google for all the keywords<\/strong> they wanted to rank for, including \u201csexual health clinic Perth\u201d and \u201cSTI testing Perth\u201d, some of the highly competitive keywords on the wishlist. 20 out of 38 search terms now rank on position 1, in under one year of clinic activity as a sexual health provider in Perth\u2019s northern suburbs.<\/p>

The secret? Putting a strategy behind the medical website (and hard work; keep reading).<\/p>

We sat down with the owners and asked questions. This fed into our keyword data research and analysis, allowing us to create a content plan for keywords that we know patients are searching for.<\/p>

This is by far the most important step in healthcare marketing, just like it is the most important step in the architecture process. Without a building plan, there is no reliable and future-proof house. Without a medical content and keyword strategy, there can be no successful medical website.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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#2 Medical content marketing<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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healthcare content marketing<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Only when you have your medical website strategy, are you ready to write content. As a healthcare marketing agency, we help our customers with a framework to streamline the content input process. Based on your input, we then help you write effective content pages that help you rank.<\/p>

It is a labour-intense process and the failproof backbone of a successful medical website strategy.<\/p>

The better the content input, the better the outcome.<\/p>

Here\u2019s a snippet of some of the content we co-produced with the owners of Sexual Health North.<\/a> Based on their excellent content input, we wrote over 16 pages of medical content, every page underpinned by extensive keyword research and analysis. And with an average of 800-1600 words per page.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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#3 Medical SEO<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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healthcare marketing SEO<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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SEO or search engine optimisation is an often misunderstood term. And that is obviously not your fault.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Unfortunately, some SEOs (people who claim they are SEO experts) interpret their own profession as \u2018backlink-builders\u2019. Being a backlink-builder isn\u2019t per se an inaccurate interpretation if only they would do the hard work of creating quality backlinks. For example, if they would pick up the phone and ask the editor of a quality newspaper to link news article Y to their client\u2019s page Z.<\/p>

Unfortunately, backlink-builders simply buy a volume of cheap labour to create a backlink for Australian plastic surgeon X<\/strong> in an obscure Chech guest blog post about dental plaque solutions in Prague<\/strong>, for example.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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So what is great medical SEO? It is on-page<\/strong> SEO. The content we have created, based on the content plan (the strategy), should be optimised with your keywords.<\/p>

Because we are an integrated digital marketing agency for doctors and specialists, medical SEO and content marketing are actually one and the same thing. In other words, when we write your content, we optimise every page so your keywords are being used. SEO is not something you do later, just like you don\u2019t ask the structural engineer to slide a good foundation under your newly built house.<\/em><\/p>

So let\u2019s unpack how we applied ation steps #1, #2 and #3 for Sexual Health North:<\/p>

Sexual Health North specialises in STI testing in Perth:<\/p>

  1. We analyse how people search for this service (Action step #1 strategy)<\/li>
  2. We write a dedicated page on STI testing in Perth (Action step #2 content writing), and use the search terms in the copy (Action step #3 medical SEO). We repeat this for all other pages.<\/li><\/ol>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    #4 Medical web design<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    healthcare marketing web design<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    This is the fun part.<\/p>

    Now that we know what your website will be about, we can design your homepage and highlight your most important services in a visually compelling way.<\/p>

    As you can see, this is step #4, not step #1 and unfortunately, you may have had bad experiences in the past when your web designer created a fabulous-looking homepage that then proved to rank very poorly on Google.<\/p>

    This is why working with an integrated<\/em> healthcare marketing agency like Digital Practice is worth the investment. Just like you, we first diagnose, then we treat. Not the other way around.<\/p>

    Sexual Health North, positioned as an inclusive sexual health clinic, has a colourful web design. The images are purposely chosen to evoke a feeling of \u201chassle-free treatment\u201d and \u201cjoy of life\u201d.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    #5 Medical website health<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    healthcare website development <\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    This involves the invisible work – the work behind the scenes – and the work that is often underestimated.<\/p>

    Let\u2019s go back to the house analogy.<\/p>

    When your builder uses cheap materials to build your house\u2019s foundation, you won\u2019t notice this the first months after you moved in. As a matter of fact, it may take a few years before you start noticing that something is wrong.<\/p>

    Medical websites should be built using Google\u2019s quality web guidelines<\/a>. Building a quality, high-ranking website is not a drag-and-drop job; even though some companies would like you to believe that. It takes years to become a qualified web developer and great web developers are life-long learners, as technology and tools keep changing.<\/p>

    As a medical marketing agency, we use software that is linked to Google\u2019s web guidelines to track the health of each and every website that we build. And the result? Our websites rank in the top positions – simply because we master all aspects of the process: understanding the mechanics of an effective strategy all the way to knowing these web guidelines inside and out.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    #6 Social media for doctors<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    healthcare marketing and social media<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    I strongly believe that social media for doctors only makes sense if your social media posts link back to your medical website.<\/p>

    Yes, some restaurants don\u2019t have a website at all and only use social to promote their business. Some restaurants are successful in that. But you\u2019re not a restaurant, and showing a gallbladder polyp on Instagram won\u2019t bring in any new patients.<\/p>

    Social media for doctors is the icing on the cake. It\u2019s nice to have. But it\u2019s not the cake.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    \"Els<\/figure>
    Els Van de Veire, Co-founder of Digital Practice<\/span>

    \"I love seeing my clients discover social once they are successful on Google. Social reinforces their leadership position, and in turn, social confirms their authority and helps to improve the Google ranking of their medical website.\"<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    #7 Tracking, analytics and optimising your medical website<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    medical website SEO and analytics<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    When your website goes live, you want to make sure it is doing what it is supposed to do. And this is another reason to hire a medical digital marketing agency.<\/p>

    Digital Practice uses software to track your keywords on a daily basis. The idea is to track your overall visibility 24\/7 and optimise content that is not ranking as high as we would like it to.<\/p>

    The good news about organic content marketing (and this is quite the opposite of paid advertising) is that it gets better over time.<\/p>

    For example, when we created a website for a gynaecology practice in 2017, following the 7 steps as described in this article, we decided to add a blog article in October 2021. Even though this website was already ranking very well for all its keywords, its visibility skyrocketed after adding this one new blog article.<\/p>

    Paid advertising only works for as long as you keep the tap running. The tap that costs you money. Medical content marketing is a one-off investment, with a low maintenance cost, that keeps working for you.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Ready to take action?<\/h3>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    healthcare marketing action steps<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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    If you feel the time is right to take action, let\u2019s start with a strategy session on Zoom<\/a>. We talk about your practice, where you want to be in 12 months\u2019 time, and how we can implement these action steps together to help you grow.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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