10 Web Site Tips to Improve Your Practice

The evidence is growing—patients want to beable to deal with their doctors via the Internet.Consider the following cyber points to betterserve your patients today:

1. Give every patient your Web and e-mail address.
2. Encourage them to explore your site and toe-mail you with questions or concerns anytime.Encourage patients to schedule appointmentsand even take care of billing and insurancepaperwork online through your practice Web site.
3. Include online the pre- and post-treatment instructionsyou would normally give to a patient.
4. Engineer your site so patients can exchangequestions and answers with you using an e-mailpop-up or other instant-message device.
5. Once every quarter, write or research an articleon a subject of interest to your prospectivepatients and post it online. This will give people morereason to visit your site, and lend you more credibility.
6. Ask your patients if they mind you periodicallye-mailing them. Then you can program your site tosend offers and information on a regular basis.
7. Perform patient satisfaction surveys online andpost the positive results using compelling chartsand graphs to showcase the strides you're making.
8. Set up a computer in the waiting area of youroffice with your Web site displayed on the monitor,or have the pages of your site placed on a continuousloop and broadcast them on monitors throughoutyour office.
9. Consider including in your Web site sound bytesand/or video clips of brief testimonials from satisfiedpatients as well as endorsements from your referringphysicians.
10. Track your leads. The number-one rule of marketingapplies all the more to your Web site. Thetechnology exists for you to track how many hits yoursite gets, the days and times the hits occur, and thepages that are most often viewed. The more diligentlyyou track, the more effective you can make your site.

Source: Practice Builders (800-679-1200; www.practicebuilders.com)