February 21st, 2011 Mike Wilton
A common question amongst doctors when it comes to blogging is, “What should I blog about?” Oftentimes doctors come up with generic topics like “Beverly Hills Breast Augmentation” in hopes of getting some love from the search engines, but they fail to produce any sort of relevant content for their readers. Here are some tips to find useful topics that are valuable to your readers, and ultimately valuable in the eyes of the search engines.
Analytics
How often do you review your analytics? Your analytics data is a goldmine for blog post subjects. By reviewing the keyword data that drives traffic to your website or blog you can identify topics that people have found your site for that you might not cover. Did you receive traffic to your dental implants page for the term “dental implant recovery time”, yet your page lacks information on this topic? There’s a topic to consider. Did you get traffic for “wound care after brachioplasty”, but you don’t discuss the subject on the page. There’s another opportunity. Review your analytics regularly and you can find a variety of subjects that people find your site for that you might not actually cover within your website or blog.
Q & A
Another great resource for blog topics are Q&A websites. Perhaps the most popular of these sites is Yahoo! Answers. Sites like these let internet users ask questions about an array of topics in an open forum. Browsing questions related to your procedures or expertise can oftentimes offer suggested topics that people want to know more about. As a bonus you can answer the question while you’re there and start establishing yourself as an authority on the subject matter. A newcomer to the Q&A realm is Quora, and while only a few months old there are already questions being asked about plastic and cosmetic surgery. Q&A sites are a great way to find blog topics, while also establishing yourself as an authority on a subject and build your online presence.
Your Patients
How often do you hear the same question repeated from your patients? Perhaps they wouldn’t keep asking if they had found the information ahead of time on your website. Your patients are a great resource for blog topics since they often ask the same questions repeatedly. When thinking of blog topics, think about what your patients ask you or talk to you about on a regular basis. These questions and concerns are great fodder for blog topics as they are topics many of your patients have already shown you they are interested in.
You are surrounded in topic opportunities. Even the latest news from your practice can be blog worthy, awards, recognition, media attention, etc. Its easy to get wrapped up in the idea of writing for the search engines in hopes of ranking your content quickly, but at the end of the day your patients pay the bills, not the search engines. By writing strong useful content you will drive visitors to your site, and the more useful your content the better chances you have of getting your content linked to or mentioned on a social network, which can ultimately benefit your online presence.
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February 17th, 2011 Mike Wilton
Nearly every cosmetic physician that has a website showcases their before and after photos. From breast augmentations and tummy tucks to facelifts and nose surgeries, before and after photos help potential patients to visualize the quality of your work. But no matter how great your patients new breasts look, they don’t make up for the negative impact of having poor image quality.
Look Current
A common problem I see with physician before and after galleries are dated photos. In the age of digital cameras, it’s time to display high resolution digital photos. Many websites I come across still feature scans of photograph prints and Polaroids. Oftentimes these images are dark and grainy and can look more like something out of a 70′s adult film than a plastic surgeons office. Plastic surgery patients rely heavily on trust, if your before and after photos make them uneasy, there is a strong chance they won’t be contacting you. This isn’t to say you can’t display your old photos, but it would be in your best interest to make them less prominent on your site.
Be Aware of Filenames
Many doctors manage their websites and add and remove content from their site on a regular basis. It’s important to remember patient confidentiality when uploading files to your site. If you use a patients name to identify photos within your practice, be sure to change the filename to a patient number or case number when uploading them to your website. The last thing Jane Doe wants to see when she Google’s her name are photos of her naked body before and after surgery. Remember, Google uses filenames in addition to content on a page to rank and display listings in its search results.
Know Your Rights
As we move further into the social age, more and more doctors are developing their presence on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. It is strongly suggested that you consult with your legal advisor about your rights to the images. A patient may have signed a disclosure form allowing you to post their before and after photos on your website, but that may not apply to social networking and other properties on the internet. The verdict is still out on how patients feel about having their photos shared across the social web, so its better to be safe than sorry.
Before and after photos are a great way to get patients to connect with you and your work. It helps them to identify with you through other patients that have had similar procedures. You wouldn’t show up to a car show to show off your Corvette if it was covered in dirt, so why show off your finest work in less than perfect quality?
Posted in Reputation Management, Website Design | No Comments »
February 15th, 2011 Mike Wilton
Last week Facebook announced a series of new features that will be applied to Facebook Pages on March 1st. At the moment, Facebook is allowing Page admins to update their Pages ahead or preview the new features on their pages. However, many Page admins are still left wondering what to expect with the coming changes.
Photos: Profile-like Featured Photos
Fans of last years change in photo format on Facebook profiles will be excited at the unveiling of the new featured photos section at the top of Facebook pages. This region will display the five most recent photos uploaded to the page in a randomly selected order.
Navigation: Removal of Tabs
Another significant change coming to Facebook Pages is the discontinuation of tabs. In the past tabs were an integral part of Pages, offering businesses additional opportunities to display pertinent business information and promotions. With the latest update from Facebook, tabs have been removed, shifting these additional Page regions into a cleaner looking list of links below the Page’s profile picture. While this is a significant change to the overall page layout, it does not have an impact on the functionality of these regions or how they are displayed.
Wall: What’s Most Important To Your Fans
Most Facebook users are used to see the latest posts from their favorite Pages and friends, however with the new Page update Fans are now delivered the most “interesting” statuses first. The upside to this is that posts that have received a significant amount of interaction either through likes or comments will be more prominent on the page. The downside is that these may not be the most current or most relevant to what’s going on with your business at the moment.
Be Yourself: Use Facebook As Your Page
Up until this update there was a significant disconnect between being a Page admin and being a Page. All interactions outside of the Facebook Page would appear as the admin and not as the Page they represented. This significant disconnect has been ratified with the introduction of “Use Facebook as Page”. This new feature lets you to interact with other Facebook Pages that you “Like”, allowing you to comment on their wall posts as your Page. Previously this feature was limited to Facebook profiles only.
The items listed above are just the major changes associated with the update, there are many smaller changes on an admin level that were also included:
- The ability to change Page categories
- Additional characters for the naming of tab features
- The ability to hide excessive tabs
- The ability to receive email notification about Page interactions
- Add featured liked pages
- Create spam moderation blocklists
- Create profanity Blocklists
Like any new Facebook feature, this is going to take some getting used to from both a user and a Page admin perspective. However, at the end of the day, I think Facebook’s attempt to make the user experience more uniform throughout their site is a positive one and the fact that they are giving admins a chance to test drive the new features before the full push on March 1st is a great opportunity for people to really get to know the new interface.
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