As a plastic surgeon, you are in a unique position. You provide high-quality surgical care for patients who need aesthetic corrective medical treatment. However, you do not have the benefit of being marketed through medical insurance directories, as insurance does not cover many of the procedures offered. You alone are responsible for making patients aware of your practice, the various services available to them, and acquiring their business.
A strategy is needed to secure patient growth and protect the stability of your practice. That said, most of your potential patients will start their search for a doctor online. Fortunately, Crystal Clear Digital Marketing in Orlando can help with SEO for plastic surgeons, as well as provide a whole host of other services.
What Is SEO And How Can It Benefit Your Practice?
SEO, or search engine optimization, is the skillful manipulation of search engine algorithms to maximize your online presence and reach your consumer market. Google search results are funneled based on a number of factors designed to give consumers the most relevant information. In the vast space that is the web, lack of proper SEO can render even the best websites useless.
Consider these facts:
- Ad Week conducted a consumer review that found 81 percent of consumers use online research as a resource for determining their purchase of a product or service. This means any potential patient of your practice can search, compare and review available plastic surgeons and their offerings before making a final choice. What they find – or don’t find – will have a significant impact on which practice they choose.
- Given the majority of consumers’ buying choices are impacted by online research and brand contact, it is impressive that SEO and search marketing are significantly more cost-effective than other marketing techniques. In fact, SEO is only about a tenth of the cost of print, TV, or radio marketing.
- SEO marketing is active 24/7, prepared to respond to your consumer anytime they choose to seek a surgeon. Since the system uses a continuous influx of high-quality site content, it becomes increasingly more impactful and effective over time.
To summarize, over 80 percent of consumers turn to the internet to help them make buying decisions. They use search engines to find information on products and services in which they are interested. The goal of SEO for plastic surgeons is to be on the first page of those results, which is accomplished with consistent SEO marketing. SEO marketing has a significantly lower cost than almost every other marketing strategy and the advantage of being at consumers’ fingertips 24/7.
Search Queries For Plastic Surgery Are On The Rise
Cosmetic enhancement used to have a stigma attached to it that has been peeling away for some time. People are more open to treatments and procedures they have done than ever before. As a result, more people are becoming aware of the many ways they can improve aspects of their aesthetics.
Procedures, like the mommy makeover, have been experiencing search engine query growth since 2007. The surgeons that potential patients choose are typically the ones with the strongest online presence. The more information you provide, the more reputable you appear. If your site is not optimized for online traffic, potential patients are lost to more savvy practices with up-to-date online marketing strategies and better placement in online search results.
SEO For Plastic Surgeons Yields Higher Quality Leads
Compared to every other marketing strategy you may choose for your practice, SEO will cost you significantly less money per lead produced. However, the leads are not only a lesser cost, but they are consistently higher quality as well.
Consider this – SEO leads are generated because a consumer has willingly chosen to seek information on a procedure or doctor. This means they are a warm lead. We call the leads warm because we can determine they are not only interested in the services you are offering, but they are actively pursuing them. They key is to place your practice in front of patients and filter their potential business into your website.
The above is in contrast with print, radio, or TV advertising. Their effectiveness is dependent on casting a wide net. While many people may be exposed to your marketing, you are doing the pursuing. Granted, you may appeal to a few of those consumers, but most will not be actively looking for what you are offering. They also have to take more additional steps after exposure, which requires higher consumer motivation.
With SEO’s consumer-led and company fueled marketing, your consumer, already wants your service and has expressed motivation. It is just the fuel, i.e., information, encouragement, and education, they lack. If you provide the means to help meet those needs, they are more likely to schedule a consultation and move forward with the appropriate treatment.
That said, it must be done in a way that optimizes your site’s content so that Google’s algorithms will see you as an active, relevant, authority on the topic being searched. Doing so makes your website more visible and each lead higher quality at a lesser cost. But exactly how do SEO’s mechanics work?
The Mechanics Of SEO Benefit Cosmetic Surgery Practices
The amount of content online, for any given subject, is mind-boggling. Due to this excessive amount of content, Google is designed to provide the most relevant, helpful and current information first in order to provide a better user experience. Websites with content that is current, contextual, well-written, with appropriate images and/or video are presented higher in the results.
There are certain algorithms that determine how Google decides that a website has the ideal qualities. The art of designing content in a way the algorithm will respond to is called search engine optimization. Our services at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing have become so popular because SEO is a complex process that has many technical aspects requiring a specific body of knowledge and skills.
A simplified explanation of how SEO is executed would be the development of high-quality website content that:
- Addresses your potential patients’ needs
- Is targeted to satisfy the specific information they search for on Google
- Takes advantage of the most current algorithms to enhance site visibility
The better and more diverse the content on your site, the more search results your practice will rank higher in, and the greater your exposure to potential patients will be.
Sales Cycle Considerations When Developing SEO
The amount of time customers spend in a sales cycle, or sales funnel, ranges from weeks to years. What they search for will vary based on where they are in the cycle. When your site’s content is optimized, we take into consideration the various stages of the cycle of your potential patients.
It is important to develop content that will be relevant throughout the sales cycle. Doing so maximizes the relevancy of your website to the engine and exposes your practice to more patients. Early in the cycle, potential patients search for topics such as:
- Procedural safety
- Insurance coverage
- Who is a good candidate
Further into the cycle, they begin to search for topics dealing with:
- Specific procedures
- Procedures for men
- Procedures for specific body parts
When patients are ready to move forward with a procedure, they search for:
- Surgeon reviews
- Procedural costs
- Surgeons with specialties
These are just examples. With true SEO optimization, we use keyword placement, phrases, and other techniques to drive your result placement higher and capture specific patient searches within the various topics. There are literally thousands of variations needed to optimize a website properly.
Creating A Virtual Dialogue
Another important factor in SEO for plastic surgeons is conversation optimization. Until this point, we have created content that:
- Appeals to Google’s algorithm
- Addresses patient queries throughout the sales cycle
- Provides useful and relevant information
The final stage is getting the patient to engage in real word dialogue and contact with your practice. A low-friction, easy-to-execute transition works best. That is accomplished by utilizing your content to reduce patient anxiety, increase their understanding and comfort level, address their questions, and raise their confidence.
Appropriate content, website design, layout, testimonials, trust marks, and various other factors contribute to the success of your conversation optimization. The better your conversation optimization, the more effective your overall SEO, and the higher Google will want to rank you in its results. It is a system that feeds into itself, providing increasingly more successful results that translate into sales.
Search engine optimization for plastic surgeons is one of the most effective marketing tools of the modern age. How you choose to market your practice will be critical to its ability to grow and compete in the market. For assistance with your SEO and all of your digital marketing efforts, please feel free to get in touch with us at Crystal Clear Digital Marketing in Orlando and see how we can help you. Contact us today to get started!
