How is a web presence beneficial
to your practice?
Unfortunately Chiropractors do not
have the simplicity of gaining new customers the way
many business do. Take a tanning salon for example.
All they really need to do is let people know in their
community who they are, where their located and maybe
the cost of using there service. A potential customer
to them knows if they want to visit a tanning salon
or not and as long as a few factors such as location,
appearance, and price are right. Ta-Da, a new customer
for that salon.
You already know if it were that easy
to let people know about your services and how chiropractic
care can change people’s lives, you might not have
time for new patients. We want to make sure that We
don’t give the impression that having a fresh, content
rich website is the end all answers to getting new
patients. What we're going to show you is a example
of how a good website can be a powerful help to you
clinic.
Print advertising is one of the most
common and affordable means to reach new local residents
in your immediate area, therefore our real life example
comes from couple of ad's found in a community newsletter.
Here are two ad’s that were featured on the same page
of a community newsletter.
We want you to first imagine
that you own a home in this community and you have
been thinking about finishing off your basement for
say the past 6 months. The ad for Princeton Construction
answers a couple if important questions:
1. This company does indeed offer the
service your looking for, Finished basements.
2. They have plenty of experience.
3. They obviously take pride in their work.
4. They want you to learn more in the privacy of your
home, when you have time, without having to call or
go talk to anyone.
Now, we want you to imaging that
your back has been giving you fits for the past 6
months. Does the ad for this unnamed Chiropractic
Health Center address your issue, or any health related
issue…. I wonder just how much good other than having
people in this community read their name do?
People in general do not understand
chiropractic care. When you have an opportunity to
introduce people to your practice, people WILL have
questions, but more and more people are not willing
to call to get answers, and almost nobody wants to
make a visit in person. This is where a high quality,
professional website can be a tremendous asset. You
have unlimited amounts of space and time to educate
and answer questions that people have. The drawback
is people WILL judge your practice by what they see
on line. It’s not enough just the have lot’s of information
about chiropractor care and specifically what the
focus of your practice is, office location etc. Web
sites are visual, and people draw conclusions based
on the impression you site gives.
1. Is it professional?
2. Is it clean or is it cluttered?
3. Will people who have doubted chiropractors in the
past have an improved outlook at the thought of chiropractic
care?
4. Will people feel like they
know a little about you and why you chose to become
a chiropractor?
5. Will people look at your practice with the same
respect they would give a medical doctor?
6. Most important, does it convey the feeling that
someone is going to entrust their health and specifically
the improvement of their health to you?
These are some of the most important
things to consider with a web site; the facts about
your location, office hours, and phone number are
not the priority of a web site. Yes of course you
want and need them in a site, but just having them
does not answer the 6 questions listed above.
Going back to the ads, it’s just not
feasible to answer all of the questions or concerns
that people might have when considering chiropractic
care. It doesn't matter if you use print, radio, TV,
direct mail, or any other form of advertising. It’s
not cost effective to place all the information that
you can have on a website, put in any other form of
advertising.
Let’s look one more real life situation,
the most effective way that people get introduced
to chiropractic care. Word of mouth.
I've been using chiropractic
care for over 15 years now, but I still can’t tell
people much other than it works for me, why, I'm not
the doctor, nor have I had the years of schooling
that one has to go through to become one. After more
than 15 years I still can not clearly and concisely
answers peoples questions other than to say “It Works”
Imagine your best patients being proud to tell their
friends and family that they can visit their chiropractors
web site to learn how and why chiropractic care works
for them.
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