Question
How can my website become a valuable tool for growing my practice?
Answer
According to Pew Research, 71% of American adults go online, and 61% of those adults look online for health information. In addition, 52% of online health inquires are on behalf of someone other than the person typing in the search terms. Perhaps most important, 60% of adults who found information on the Internet said it positively affected their decisions about health care. So, having a website is definitely essential. However, measuring its effectiveness can be difficult.
Of particular interest to a website owner is the traffic that website is garnering. One of the most useful ways to get ongoing information about your website's traffic is by creating a Google Analytics account for that website. This is a free service by Google which will require your web master to imbed a special code on each of the pages of your website. Through this code, Google can then track how many unique computers visit your website each day, how many of your website's pages they view, the average duration of their stay on your website, and the percentage of unique computers visiting your website each day. The analytics tool can also let you know how many of your visitors found you by browsing the web, or found you by typing in your website's URL.
Through Google Analytics, you will know the details of your website's traffic. However, to know what impact that traffic is having on your practice's business, you will also need to do your own tracking work at the office. In particular, each new patient or prospective patient that contacts your practice either by phone or by email needs to be asked how they found you. Patient's who indicate that they found you on the Internet are potentially patient's your website brought you. If your practice is also listed in Locator tools on other websites (such as the Audiology Locator on AAA's website or the Audiology Locator on www.NowiHear.com) then these resources may also have directed that patient to your practice via the Internet.
The more your practice is visible on the Internet, the more likely you will get new business as a result of your presence on the Internet. Online presence starts with your practice website, and can be expanded by your presence on other websites designed to drive internet searchers to audiology practices. The combined revenue you can directly attribute to patients who got to you through your internet presence can then be compared to your financial investments in that presence to determine your return-on-investment (ROI). The ROI percentage, along with the overall amount of money you invest in your Internet presence versus other means of marketing, become the key indicators of your website's value to your business.
David Smriga is currently the President of AuDNet, Inc. AuDNet is a national network of independent audiologists dedicated to providing expert, professional hearing and balance care so that patients achieve the best quality of life possible. The company's mission is to position audiologists as THE hearing experts and educate consumers about the importance of audiology care. Through its consumer-facing website www.NowiHear.com and its Preferred Provider Community of audiologists, AuDNet is already educating thousands of Americans each month to both understand and demand audiology care. The current SEO and sponsored link activity associated with www.NowiHear.com makes it the single most effective internet resource for directing hearing health consumers to audiologists.
For more information about AuDNet, visit the AuDNet web channel on AudiologyOnline