Using Optometric Websites to Expand Your Practice

Want to see an instant boost to your practice? Designing a dynamic, user-friendly website is just the ticket. You might have a basic website right now, and that’s fine—but it you want to attract more patients in today’s world, your website should mirror the content of the best optometric websites.

Here are a few tips based off of what other optometric websites have done well:

“User-Friendly” is the Key. Many of your visitors might have varying degrees of vision impairment, so this should be a given. A user-friendly environment is what your patients will expect—and what will keep them at your site.

Address the Basics. More than a few new websites (and some established ones) leave out critical basic information that you’ll definitely not want to miss. Your practice’s name, location, and hours of operation should be plainly visible on your homepage. Your patients will be expecting it, so definitely include it.

Talk Yourself Up. Include biographical information about you, the history of your practice, and other key staff. This will allow your patients to get a good feel for your practice in the comfort of their own home.

Advertise. Make your name known, especially in your area. People in your area who are looking for an optometrist should know about you. Increase your reach through search engine optimization so that your site will appear in local searches on Google, Yahoo, and other popular search engines. Signing up with Yahoo Local and Google Maps won’t hurt, either.

Give Patients an Incentive to Visit. Incentives are key. They often make the difference between the “on-the-fence” patient and the “newly acquired” patient. Including special offers, coupons, an opt-in newsletter, and other services that people will find useful will help your patient base expand.

Go the Extra Mile. There are many features you can add to your website that will be of use to your patients. Think about interactive features like a glasses suggestion tool or real-time online scheduling—both can be added fairly easily, and they’ll help your patients immeasurably. With extra touches like these, your website will truly stand out.

Successful optometric websites focus on the patient and provide him or her with needed services. If you follow the steps I’ve outlined above, you’ll have no problem establishing yourself as the go-to professional in your area.

Eyecare Marketing through E-mail

Practically everyone has an e-mail address these days, but did you know the numerous potential benefits it can have for your eyecare marketing? If you’re just getting started and building your practice from the ground up, you might be surprised just how much e-mail can help. Used wisely, e-mail can help bring in loads of new patients and get your practice off on the right foot.

There are many ways to use e-mail for eyecare marketing, but the best are those that make things more convenient for you and your patients. Your e-mails might consist of newsletters, appointments reminders, e-coupons, or educational information. Bottom line: Your communications should benefit your patients, and they should anticipate receiving them.

Of course, building that list of patients when you’re just starting out can be a daunting task. Despite your good intentions and innovative ideas for eyecare marketing by e-mail, you still need a list of contacts to send the e-mail to. And without a patient base, where will the e-mails go?

What you don’t want to do is send random e-mails. If you send unsolicited e-mails to people who may or may not be interested, you won’t get the results you’re looking for. Plus, you’re on shaky ethical ground if you go this route. The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 regulates bulk e-mail communications and closely monitors suspicious behavior—such as sending out unsolicited e-mail in bulk.

An alternative is to contact only those patients who opt in to your e-mail campaign. It’s not as difficult as you might think to expand your contact list for potential patients. Here are some suggestions to obtain legitimate patient leads to grow your practice:

Use e-mail to communicate regularly with your existing patients. They’ll like the convenience of e-mail and will feel comfortable asking questions and scheduling appointments over the internet. As existing patients, they’ll be the foundation of your new “word-of-mouth” eyecare marketing campaign.

Get your patients’ family and friends involved. When you’re sending e-mails to your current patients, include e-coupons that can be redeemed by their family members or friends. You’ll be surprised how many new patients this approach can bring through the door. Even during times of economic uncertainty, people need glasses!

Give them the chance to opt-in. Your website should give patients the ability to opt in to e-mail communications. Better yet, it should give them the incentive to do so. If you offer an interesting newsletter or other information that’s beneficial and interesting to your patients, they’ll be more likely to want to receive e-mail from you in the future.

“Brand” other marketing materials. Make sure your e-mail address is on your other marketing materials. This makes it easier for your patients to contact you when they need to. And once they’ve contacted you, the likelihood is high they’ll end up in your office.

Offer prizes. Really! If you publicize a contest with a great prize—a free pair of glasses or a year’s supply of contacts—and publicize that you’ll notify winners via email, you’ll be wowed at how many people sign up. You’ll also get contact information for potential patients who need your services.

Don’t forget one of the golden rules of eyecare marketing: Target locally. In other words, advertise to people in your area. The internet offers you the opportunity to advertise anywhere, technically, but there’s no point in advertising to Lee’s Summit, Missouri when your practice is in Vacaville, California.

Growing a practice isn’t easy, but e-mail can help. Follow the advice printed here and you’ll be well on your way to establishing a thriving practice.

Optometric Marketing through Online Advertising

If you’re an optometrist using 21st-century methods of online advertising, you’re already attracting potential new customers each and every day. Optometric marketing is venturing into exciting new realms that reach out to—and draw in—new customers in unprecedented numbers. If you’re ready to grow your patient base and have more control over the type of patients you attract, this new form of optometric marketing is for you.

Like all forms of marketing, optometric marketing is an evolving process. Traditional methods—newspaper ads, flyers, newsletters, radio and TV ads—are becoming increasingly less effective. Not only that, they cost a lot. By themselves, they aren’t enough for a solid optometric marketing program.

Thinking differently is the key here, and with the technology at our disposal, we have the answer. The Internet has grown and matured into an indispensable asset for any business, including your practice.

Do you have to be highly Internet-savvy to attract potential patients? Of course not. But following the advice listed below will definitely attract patients to your website:

• Provide clear information about your business: phone numbers and working hours should be visible on every page and also included in the meta-tags for search engine optimization purposes.

• Register multiple domain names, including potentially common misspellings of your site name.

• Understand the concept of keywords and how using them can increase your traffic.

• Create a blog in which you write about topics relevant to your practice that will also be of interest to clients.

Optometric marketing doesn’t have to be difficult. With the advent of online advertising, your reach can be as broad, if not broader, than traditional print media—and at a fraction of the cost.

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