Exactly Who Is Looking At My Web Site?

Written by idoc llc.

Tuesday, 16 December 2008 02:23

Existing Patients or Potential Patients - Exactly Who Is Looking At My Web Site?

We all know that for the most part, the relevant visitors to your web site are either existing patients or potential patients who are using your web site to help decide whether or not they should make use of your services. Keeping this in mind, a good web site should help both these types of visitors get the information they need. But, here's an interesting fact you might not be aware of that will change the way you view your site... and then, hopefully, help you make changes to the way your visitors view your site.

We analyzed the data across 100 optometrists' web sites that get more than 50 visits to their site per month and found that on average, 75% of all site visitors are new. A visitor is considered knew if that combination of computer and browser has never visited your site before. Granted, the person behind the computer and browser may have already visited your site before, but for all intents and purposes, the ‘computer / browser’ combo is probably a new visitor. Let's put it another way, if 75% of the visitors to your web site are new visitors – it means that 75% of your visitors are only ever going to look at your web site once! Think about it. Every month, 75% of all visitors are new. That number can’t happen if most of your visitors from the previous months are coming back.

This fact sheds a new light on how you should treat the existing and potential patients that visit your site. Your web site strategy should be reviewed to ensure that you provide each visitor with the information they are looking for, in an attractive, easy to navigate and organized manner. Most importantly, that information should be easy to find. If 75% of visitors aren’t coming back, at least we should make it easy for them to find what they’re looking for.

It follows that we should ask ‘What are they looking for?’ Well, potential and existing patients are looking for answers to a basic set of questions. Remember, if it’s an existing patient, they’re likely coming to your site for a specific, standard purpose. If it’s a potential patient, you have to sell them on choosing your practice for their next eye exam. Let’s make sure you have the information they need handy. Since there’s a greater than 90% chance that the first page they will visit is your home page, make sure the following information is either on your home page, or accessible from the home page with one click:

List the Vision and Health Insurances that you accept. As you know, this is the key decision-making piece of information for most potential patients. Make it easy for them for them to decide.
Indicate what geographic areas you service. Most sites neglect to list the surrounding neighborhoods, towns or cities that they service, thereby losing potential patients.
Provide address information, maps, directions, parking and public transportation access. Everyone wants to know if you're nearby and easy to reach.
Be sure to include an action step on your home page. If a visitor makes a decision to use your services, give them a link to book an appointment online, thereby locking them in as a patient. A good action step is one that requires a commitment on the part of the visitor.
Specify your hours of operation and contact numbers.
List the services you offer and any areas of specialty.
Offer doctor profiles and photos of the doctors, staff and location. This helps visitors establish an overall comfort level with your practice before their visit.
Existing patients are often coming to your site to ‘self-serve’, at their convenience, so provide patient history and other forms to help them. This cuts down on your costs and increases patient satisfaction.
Most importantly, present a professional image! That means your site has to look its best - 'home made' sites are no longer acceptable. If your site was built in the 90s, there’s a pretty good chance that it looks old. Carefully review your web site for typos, poor formatting or grammar errors.

We all know that you only have once chance to make a good first impression - which is what your web site is doing for you, 75% of the time. Look at your home page again now for the first time. Does it contain, or link to the information above? If not, there’s no time like the present to start making changes. Let’s make that one visit count!

Daniel specializes in SEO for optometrists and is the Editor of Optometry Web, a newsletter singularly focused on helping optometry practices make the most of their web sites. Daniel is the Managing Director of EyeCarePro.net (http://www.eyecarepro.net), a company that specializes in building web sites for optometrists.