"Over 99% of searchers will visit at least 3 web sites when performing a search."

If your website has the identical before and after vendor photos as the others, why would someone pick your site to spend more time clicking and learning? The information on all the sites may share all the same basic points. Your locations may be within blocks of each other. One of the most pivotal deciding factors of site selection is the availability of actual patient photos.

You may need vendor photos to get started, but relying on them solely on a long-term basis will seriously hamper your competitive edge, regardless of your experience and credentials.

In our recent survey of 400 women,

• 100% of the respondents indicated they are much more likely to spend time on a website that shows the doctor's own patient photos.
• Another 82% consider the use of vendor-only photos a negative.
• Sites with no before-and-after photos that only used the "pretty girl" pictures get a serious thumbs down across the board.

A picture is worth a thousand words and each one of your pictures is potentially worth tens of $1,000's of dollars.

Worth the hassle? Absolutely!

Perils in your Pay per Click?

Pay per click advertising is one of the most phenomenal advertising methods ever invented. However, if you aren't fully aware of how they work, you could be wasting big money on your search engine ad campaigns.

For years, Overture, the big boys who ran MSN and Yahoo search ads, made it impossible to narrow down where your ads were shown. You might have been a family practitioner in Puget Sound but your ads were shown-and clicked-from Miami to Anchorage to Hong Kong. Ouch! Talk about wasted click money.

Google became the king in the PPC market and will likely keep that position with well over 50% of the search market. Google is more sensitive to advertisers' concerns and they have a very comprehensive information section. All I can say is, if you run your own ad campaigns, read it. It will help you with all the search engine ad systems.

Overture has since become Yahoo and MSN has gone on it's own with the new AdCenter (which has thankfully adopted the successful format of Google's geographic targeting). But still, you have to know what you are doing to make that click benefit you more than the kind ad folks who are raking in those billions of advertising dollars.

Here are some basic tips on making sure your clicks benefit YOU.

Peril # 1 - Geography



If your target market lives only where you do, don't allow your clicks to show 3,000 miles away. Pick a radius that is reasonable distance for your target patients. Anything more than 25 to 30 miles (unless you are in a very rural area) is too far. You want your clicks to come from people who are close to your office. A clicker from Montana is hardly likely to fly to Atlanta for her Fraxel.

Peril # 2 - Ad show: Search only or Search plus Content?



Google,  bless 'em, places your pay per click ads in both Search and Content by default. Unless you opt out of content search, your ads may show up on other sites all across the country and potentially around the world. This is essentially non-geographically targeted traffic, so unless you have a whiz bang of a discounted online store, you may want to see how opting out of content search affects your office traffic.

There is separate bidding for content ads, but you must implement that for it to apply. The content opt-out is found in the Campaign Settings of your Google Adwords account. See graphic above.

Peril # 3 - Click in the Dark
Sending all your ad clicks to your home page is like sending a map of southern California to someone who wants to know how to get to Mama's Bistro in Manhattan Beach.
Make your clicks count by making sure they go to a landing page that pertains to the keyword they used in the first place. An ad for Thermage should go to your Thermage page. And your Thermage page better have as much information as your reader might want to know or she'll go to the next site.

Peril # 4 - Ads where you need them first
Do some simple searches for your keywords and phrases. If you show up in the first page in natural search results (not pay per click), count yourself lucky. If you have a tight budget, you can skip those keywords and put your money into search terms where you don't show up well. If your budget allows, the combined effect of a paid ad and your organic ad often doubles your "credibility".

"43% of searchers said that the most important reason for clicking on a result was that it appeared on the first page"
Harvest Digital Study on Search Behavior, April, 2006

Dermatologist News Product and Service Discoveries

We're on the internet all the time (makes us perfect candidates for Velasmooth) and we run across some nifty discoveries. Here're our latest picks.

Summer Soles
Created by a "squishy sandal sufferer" in Texas, Summer Soles are terrific little sweat-absorbing liners for sandals. Just peel and stick and you have feet that are happy no matter how miserable the weather. I personally use them and love them.  And, they get kudos from the International Hyperhidrosis Society.

Visit Summersoles.com then contact the prez, Shannon McLinden, directly for a wholesale sales packet. Tell her you heard about them from Dermatologist News and they'll send you free samples for your office staff.
 

DermTeam
Want to sell products to your website visitors and patients without the hassles, inventory control or shipping nightmares? DermTeam does it all with a turnkey online store solution.

They'll set up your store, match it to your website, front the costs, and manage the entire thing - orders, shipping, returns, maintaining inventory, and all at no cost to you. You simply split the revenues and DermTeam sends you a check each month. Contact developer David Olsen.

Dermatologist News readers get a little extra consideration on the revenue split so be sure to mention us when you talk to David.

The Mighty little E-Newsletter

Interactive and educational newsletters are great business-builders and relationship-builders. Use them to educate, showcase your expertise, promote activity and become a "friend". Paying attention to your patients has never been this easy or this effective.

"It's not your patients' job to remember you. It's your job to make sure they don't have a chance to forget you."

Learn more about how E-News can be incorporated into your overall marketing program. Patients love them and you will too.