Internet Marketing of a Chiropractic Practice Part II The Anatomy of a Successful Web Site

Once the decision has been made to market a chiropractic practice on the Internet, the next step is to fully under­stand the options available in web site design and implementation. In the old days (five years ago) only a select few had mastered the art of writ­ing the HTML (HyperText Mark-up Language) scripts used to tell web site browser software how to display infor­mation. As the popularity of the com­mercial side of the internet grew, so did the availability of software programs designed to automate the process of generating HTML scripts. It has now reached the point where anyone can cre­ate a web page using a common soft­ware program like Microsoft Word. But just because everyone can, doesn't mean everyone should. In designing a commercial web site, a delicate balance must be struck between the technical challenges and the desired marketing results. It's a very common mistake to hire a friend, relative or patient to design a chiropractic web site, solely because of their technical abili­ties. This generally results in a site that is all sizzle and no substance. Seek out companies that have a good working knowledge of the profession, and the technical expertise to create a state-of-the-art site. STEP #1: ESTABLISH YOUR GOALS What do you want your new web site to do for you? What do you want the site to do for your local community and the public at-large? I feel a chiropractic web site must have three distinct pur­poses. Promote the individual practice Promote the profession . Promote and support the local com­munity Incorporate these three goals into your web design, and you will have a power­ful marketing tool working for you, twenty-four hours a day. PROMOTE THE INDIVIDUAL PRACTICE When designing your site, remember that people relate first to doctors on a personal level. You can give off "warm and fuzzy" feelings to web visitors by using pictures of you with your family, pictures of you interacting with staff and with your patients. DO NOT use pic­tures of the doctor standing next to a new Mercedes or sitting in a golf cart (I've been asked to use both). When list­ing your bio, start with the personal information, starting with high school. Use short paragraphs to list your prac­tice philosophy; and, please, don't call it a Mission Statement. Don't write as a doctor, but as if you were explaining your practice goals to your best friend. Remember, this section of the site is not the place to get technical. You want the visitor to bond at a personal level. There is plenty of space on the site for practice specifics. PROMOTE THE PROFESSION Remember that, a hundred years later, they still don't know what you do. It's important to have detailed information about the chiropractic profession, using lots of pictures and animations. New technology, using a software program called Flash, allows a site developer to create highly detailed "story animation­s''. The absolute latest in information delivery is streaming video and audio. To view a sample "About Chiropractic" web page that utilizes all of the preced­ing information delivery techniques,visit www.chirosite.com/sample. PROMOTE AND SUPPORT THE LOCAL COMMUNITY It's very important, even critical, to include elements in the web site that encourage visits, and repeat visits, by people who are not necessarily looking for a doctor of chiropractic. Yet, this is the design element most often complete­ly left off a web site. The following are a few design elements that will help build your site traffic and support your local community at the same time. • Local Temperature and Extended Forecast By providing the current weather con­ditions and the extended forecast, you encourage those in your community to bookmark your site as a browser "favor­ite" to visit every day. • "Ask the Doctor" Discussion Site Don't confuse this element with a sim­ ple page that sends an e-mail question to the doctor. An effective "Ask the Doc­ tor" web page utilizes a "Threaded Dis­ cussion" feature that posts all the ques­ tions and answers on a web page. Visitors can read the questions and answers of others, and post their own comments. This is a great feature for getting a casual visitor to return over and over again. An added bonus? Send a short press release to the local newspa­ per letting them know about this free public service. Don't be surprised if the paper runs the press release as an item of interest. • Upcoming Events Think of this as a community billboard. Local residents can submit information about events happening around town, like blood drives, Toys for Tots, con­certs, etc. By posting these on a web site, you provide a localized meeting place for residents to find out what is happening around town. Again, this fea­ture would qualify for a press release by the local paper. It also provides another reason to visit your web site on a regular basis. Remember, in real estate it's Location. Location. Location. In effective web site design it's Content, Content, Content. Give the public a reason to return and they will. NOTE: Don't get hung up on the num­ber of total web site pages offered by some companies. It's not the number of oages that's important. It's what's on the oages that determines the effectiveness of the site. STEP #2: DESIGN THE PERFECT SITE Because advances in web technology happen so rapidly, the rules of web site design change just as quickly. What was considered taboo a year ago is now the norm. I'd like to present what I consider to be the perfect web site design for a Doctor of Chiropractic. THE PERFECT CHIROPRACTIC WEB SITE There are two important design ele­ments commonly overlooked by web site designers. Easy Navigation Keeping the site owner's name and number visible at all times The easiest way to do this is by using frames in the web page design. The web page sample shown here is divided into three frames. The left frame holds the navigation controls. The top frame has the site identification information. The bottom frame holds the page requested by the navigation buttons. No matter what page you are on, the frame containing the navigation buttons is visible, ready for instant use. It can be very frustrating to jump to a page on a web site that doesn't contain links to move to another section. In this example, when a user clicks on a navigation button, the requested web page is shown in the lower frame (Where the cube is). The top frame holds infor­mation about the doctor. The phone num­ber, current date, local weather and e-mail link are always visible. The doctor's name and number is never out of sight. Some web designers feel frames should never be used. This thinking falls under the category of "Used to Be Right". In the old days, not every browser support­ed frames. A designer would have to cre­ate two versions of a site: One for view­ing with frames and one without. All major browsers now fully support frames. The second reason many designers don't use frames is the page loading time. In the web sample shown, three pages on the web site are being loaded at one time. This used to be a problem when visitors were using 14k or even 28k. But with the majority of web visitors using 56k modems, or the new DSL or cable modem ultra high-speed connections, loading time just isn't a problem. And, the last reason some designers don't use frames relates to search engines. Some search engines don't rec­ognize frame pages and might not rank your site as high as other sites. Since search engine placement is NOT a criti­cal factor in the success of a local chiro­practic web site, this objection is moot. Most web site visitors only stay on a site for 5-7 minutes, it's important you provide features that deliver the content quickly. Using frames makes it easy to accomplish that goal. IN CONCLUSION Developing an effective web site means striking a delicate balance between tech­nical and marketing goals. Since a web site is a reflection of the owner, the development should be left to professio­nals that can accomplish the desired goals. It may cost more, but the result will be a web presence that will return dividends for years to come. Joseph Ventura, D.C., is owner of Ven­tura Designs, a full service Internet mar­keting and software development compa­ny. He can be reached at (913) 829-0404, or send e-mail to [email protected]. Visit Ventura Designs at www.venturadesigns.com. ♦♦♦