Navigating Internet Advertising: Learning the Basics

It amazes me when looking at how companies advertise their services today. Our culture went from paper ads in the Yellow Pages, newspapers, and magazines, to an almost complete shift to online advertising in what seems like just a few short years. This is an incredible transition to technology, and happily, may present a much less expensive option than in the past. However, there are some vital aspects of digital promotion that medical professionals should be aware of.

In my experience, the single most important aspect of proper internet advertising is a unique and complete website. It is certainly reasonable to build your own website if you have the time, patience and know-how, but you would still need to get information on paying for a domain name, and a web host. These two steps are required to have an internet presence. The domain name is generally where your target audience will find you.

However, like trademarks, you can’t have the same web address as anyone else—which, in today’s world, may be a rather daunting task. When shopping for a domain name, the service you use to host your site will let you know whether you can use your intended site name. If not, you may have to be flexible with that name. The web host is basically where your website lives. The fee you pay monthly or annually is for maintenance of the website and for the web hosting company to pay for the server where your website is. For the uninitiated, I like to think of the domain name as the house, and the web host as the land where the house stands.¹

In my experience, the biggest advantage to creating your own site is much lower costs. The biggest disadvantages I find are a lack of uniqueness in available templates to build your chosen site, and the time investment involved in getting the site up and running. Website design sites like wix.com have thousands of templates, but generally, if you have limited time and aren’t savvy with how to manipulate the templates, many of the basic ones are very generic and easily recognizable. This may mean others have used these templates and your website will look like someone else’s. I suggest looking at your local colleagues and how their websites look to avoid this potentially occurring.

It is then up to you to populate your site with pictures, text, and headings, as you see fit. Avoid using generic Google images, as, firstly, they may be licensed, which means you must pay to use them; and secondly, in my observation, everyone else uses them. You also have to be careful as to the resolution of those online photos. Sometimes they look terrible when used between sites. Include your own, professionally done images if you can, especially shots of your office and your doctors. This is the world wide web’s introduction to you. Make it look great.

One of the other things to investigate when building your own site is how your web host does search engine optimization (SEO). This relates to how high up on a search engine your site shows up when someone searches for the services you provide. Basically, if your SEO is good, when someone searches for “podiatrist” in your area, your practice is in the top 3 on the list when the results pop up, depending on the search engine. Some charge extra to optimize your site, and some include it in their higher-end, more expensive products. Some also have a pay-per-click type of feature, which is also a feature of an SEO program, but it is worth looking into as well.

The other option, which I find will cost more, but can be sleeker in appearance, and a better experience for the end user, is to pay someone to manage and build your site for you. This almost certainly assures a professional, unique look to your site, and one that can be modified without headache or time investment on your part. The cost varies depending on how involved you want the site to be, but generally, a well-designed site that is easily accessible begins in the few thousands of dollars. Also, in my observation, things like pay-per-click and SEO are included in packages that most internet site builders provide to their clients. This may seem like a lot, but back before the internet, I noted that paper advertising could cost much more.

What to include on your site is certainly up to you but be careful to not overburden your viewers with too much information. A principle of keeping it simple applies here, as most will not read your 3-page dissertation about what a bunion is. One thing I do personally believe should be included in every doctor’s website is the new patient paperwork, so that people can download and fill it out before they arrive for their appointment. This can save time and resources and should be required, in my eyes. Today, it is rare that someone doesn’t have a computer and printer at home, and I would venture to guess that most people have access to the internet these days.

If you already have a site that you’re happy with, but think it might be time to make it better, ask your web host to provide you with data pertaining to how many hits your site gets per day, per week and per month. Then ask if this is below average, average, or above average. Don’t get me wrong—if you think your site can use some improvements, have at it. By the same token, if your site is getting thousands of hits a day, your return on investment in improving your site may not be worth it.

As always, this is just a basic guide based on my personal experience, and can be just the tip of the iceberg when looking into advertising your practice with a website. There are just too many options and services available out there to do them justice in a short blog. My next blog will focus more on the individual practitioner and how to ensure that the information on the internet about you, as a practitioner, is current and accurate.

Dr. Raducanu is a Diplomate of the American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery and Fellow of the American Society of Podiatric Surgeons. He practices in Galloway, NJ.

Reference

1. Hostinger Tutorials. Domain vs. hosting: definitions and differences. Posted Jan. 11, 2023.

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