Question
What is a "Tower" Website, and how can this help raise awareness and generate leads for my private practice or clinic?
Answer
As a simple explanation, a "Tower" website is a "visibility extender" for your practice on the internet. The main way that people find information they are interested in on the internet is through search engines. The key to getting visibility on search-engine results pages is to secure extensive search engine optimization (SEO) and/or to purchase Page 1 listings through pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.
For most practice websites, the investment necessary to build strong SEO is prohibitive and often impractical since most searches are local, not national, in scope. That's where a "Tower" website comes in. A Tower website is VERY interested in securing a strong national presence on search engine result listings because this particular type of website is focused on nationally promoting a concept, and then directing interested searchers to the local providers of that concept.
Take audiology for example. To bring the concept of audiology care to consumers nationwide, the Tower website invests in and builds substantial SEO around the audiology concept. As the Tower website's SEO grows, more and more people searching for hearing or balance care on the internet anywhere in the country find the Tower website prominently listed on the top of the first results page. Once the searcher (in this case a consumer) learns about the value and importance of audiology care that is presented on the Tower website, they then can go to the Tower website's "Audiology Locator", type in their city, state or zip code, and get a geographically focused listing of audiology providers in their area.
Excellent Tower websites have built extensive SEO foundations that create visibility way beyond what PPC advertising can do. Well crafted Tower websites are found at the top of the first results page not just for key search terms (such as audiology, audiologist, hearing care, hearing testing, for example) but are on Page 1 of the results page for many more obscure search terms, (such as "headaches and hearing loss", or "does aspirin effect hearing").
Furthermore, a Tower website with strong SEO will be on Page 1 for literally hundreds if not thousands of these more obscure search terms each month, where information about audiology care could well be very useful to the searcher, and thus the searcher's interest in connecting to a local audiology provider. So, the reason you should list your audiology practice in a Tower website's Audiology Locator is to get your practice seen by people who are searching for information using many different search terms, and even common search terms where your website is unlikely to be found in the results.
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, you may also visit the AuDNet web channel on AudiologyOnline.