I’ll be the first to admit that there are a lot of changes I’d like to make to my clinic’s website, and I know that it could be much better. With an overflowing patient schedule, spending time and money on it just hasn’t been a high priority for a long time. However, even with that being the case, it still produces a number of patients willing to pay $150/hour to get treatment at my clinic. Not every component of a website is going to convert visitors to patients. There are some pages that every website needs that are more geared toward logistical information, formalities, etc.; but who wants to hear about those pages … let’s look at the parts of my website that make me the most money.
When I ask my patients (who found me via my website) what compelled them to call for an appointment. They usually tell me it was one of three pages/sections:
- Testimonials
- “What to Expect”/Treatment Philosophy
- An Injury-specific Blog Post about an issue the patient is dealing with
Gathering Reviews and Testimonials from your Patients
A testimonials page is important for obvious reasons. Though it probably goes without saying: never underestimate the power that a complete stranger’s words can have over a prospective patient.
So how do you make sure you are regularly collecting new testimonials? You ask for them! See my post on Discharge Marketing for details on how I tactfully compel patients to post testimonials online. Once they are posted on Google/Yelp/etc, you can post them on your site. I keep it simple and confidential by using an initial for the last name, but some marketers claim that these types of testimonials have less impact. If you can get the patient to agree in writing to use both first and last name, great! While you’re at it, you can also see if they’ll allow you to use a profile pic with their testimonial. This apparently has the biggest impact on a reader, but I don’t bother with it myself when it comes to my clinical website.
Connecting with Prospective Patients via a Treatment Philosophy Page
It doesn’t necessarily need to be it’s own page but you really should explain your approach to treatment somewhere on your website. Going into detail about how you work with each patient, the types of things they can expect, and how you view physical therapy and health/wellness as a whole is hugely important. I have had a good number of patients tell me that it was this webpage that made them feel I was the right person for them to see for treatment, even though I didn’t bill insurance. Not everyone who reads my “What to Expect” page will connect with what I write and how I describe my treatment philosophy, but those who do seem to be exactly the types of patients I want to work with. They come in already understanding the value of the long one-on-one sessions and a holistic approach to movement and wellness. Not everyone out there in need of physical therapy is going to be a good fit for you and your particular approach to treatment. Describing your treatment philosophy is a great way to attract the type of patient who will naturally work well with you and consistently get good results from your treatments (and also avert those who won’t).
Blog Posts on Specific Injuries to Attract Specific Patients
It seems quite popular to write about Manual Therapy, Functional Movement and Training, Sports-Specifc Rehab, etc but I don’t see as much blogging by my colleagues on specific injuries/conditions as I would like to. Though I myself am guilty of not blogging nearly enough on my clinical site, I can confidently say that my most lucrative blog posts have been the ones about a specific injury/syndrome/pain. As an example, this post on neck pain has produced a good number of cash-paying patients for my practice.
If you have a particular talent and knowledge about a specific injury or syndrome, write and series of blog posts on it and watch the patients role in over time. For details on how to write to the blog posts and other things to keep in mind as you produce them, make sure to check out the other articles on this site about blogging.
Is there a particular part of your clinical website that seems to produce a lot of patients for your practice? Please share it with us in the comments below.
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Dr. Carter,
Like always, thanks for posting such informative and concise content. You were one of the primary motivations behind my practice and till this day, still look to your posts for guidance. Thanks so much!
Thanks so much, Jason. Comments like that mean more than I can say, and really help keep me going when things are so crazy busy.
Great post Jarod, this is so true. No matter what type of company you are looking at, you always want to see, what other people say about it, how their experience was, what I can expect (which removes any uncertainty) and then some product specific information. Great post. Twitter love to follow 😉
Just want to say the neck pain blog was so well done. Informative, impressive, professional. Thanks for posting!
Thanks so much for taking the time to say that, Kim! I need to do a lot more posts like that, because they really do bring in patients
Jarod as always very informative. One thing I have found that helps me get good reviews without much work on my part is my online scheduling program. When people schedule I ask for their email and the program sends them appointment reminders, following their initial visit it will send them an email with the date of their follow-up appointment and asking them to click a link to write a review. Most people are so happy after their first visit they are looking to help out and this makes he process so easy. The other benefit is that it tells people looking at the reviews that they are verified and that only those who had an appointment can write a review.
Great input, Justin. I know you use Genbook, and I’m just about to start using ClickBook for scheduling (would’ve gone with Genbook but didn’t allow for odd scheduling times – 12:20pm, 4:40pm, etc). So I’ll have to see if it has that same testimonial functionality as well. Does the testimonial link with Genbook post directly to any of the major sites like Google Places or Yelp? Also, is the link sent with every follow up appointment reminder? Thanks for contributing!
The Genbook testimonial will only post to your “scheduler” page with them. You can then use them for your site as well if you wish, but they don’t publish to google or Yelp because, according to the genbook folks neither site will allow that. They do publish to citysearch and city grid, neither of which are big around me.
They only ask for the review after the first visit and then again in 90 days if they are still and active customer (so basically only after the first visit).
Thanks Jarod – I’ve been meaning to start blogging for a while, but your post helped push me to just do it! I wrote a post and had so much to say that I decided to split the post into a 5 part series that I’ll post over a period of time. Thanks for your wise words and encouragement. Here’s the first of the posts you inspired: http://www.asanaintelligence.com/blog.html