Branding or Lead Generation Website? Which is Right for Your Firm?

If you made the choice to create an online brochure as your physician or hospital website and wonder why it doesn't produce measurable business and return on investment for what it cost you to design, host and maintain, then this article is for you.

Let's shed some light on the mistakes you may have made and how to fix them.

• You are wonderful and your practice or hospital is great.
• You've received awards (whether you paid for them or not) and been mentioned (either arranged by a fee-based public relations firm or organically) in the popular press and media.
• Your clinic, surgery center or hospital is accredited by some accrediting body that is of no appreciable importance to the general public that is unfamiliar with what accreditation entails.
• You have really expensive technologies you've invested in, and they are all listed, but the majority of visitors to your website have no clue about what those things do or why they are used in their treatment.
• You've filled your website with stock photographs you bought from a catalog of photos about healthcare and hospitals. The same photos are also used in hundreds of competing websites who made the same mistakes you did.
• Your website is designed on a color theme that people with color blindness or color deficiencies cannot see. As a result, your messages are not getting through -- because they aren't visible to some of the visitors who might otherwise be more interested to call and schedule an appointment for a consultation,or diagnostic or surgical procedure.

In today's online marketplace, your website should be your most powerful marketing tool. But for most physicians, dentists, hospitals, clinics, concierge medical practices, medical tourism marketers and healthcare organizations, it fails to produce what it can and should in terms of lead generation and conversions to revenues. How can you improve this?

If you've decided you want your website to be an inbound lead generation machine so you can focus on treating patients and generating fees for professional services, then it is time to create a website that is so great that the general public in need of your services cannot ignore you. But how can you do this?

In this article, I am going to share some high-level guidance you can use to get you started. If you decide your time is better spent treating patients than doing all this redesign and updating yourself, then call me. I've got experts who can help you, people who "specialize in healthcare advertising, marketing, branding, and promotional constraints, and active professionals who understand and teach healthcare branding at universities worldwide.

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Understand the difference between a branding website and a lead generation website

A branding website refers to a website designed to communicate your brand message and provide all the basic information about your practice, clinic or hospital:

• Who you are (about your credentials, reputation, training, experience and specialization)
• The services you provide
• Your NAP information (Name, Address, Phone, Map, Hours of operation, Insurance plans with which you participate, if any, etc.)
• A description of your ideal clients or patients. This description let's people know if your services are intended to help them and how.

In the industry, professionals who know a lot about websites and design or improve them call these websites “brochure” sites. Lots of doctors, dentists, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, and medical tourism facilitators have them. There's no crime in choosing this strategy, as long as you realize the consequences of your choice in strategy. But if you are expecting a brochure website to generate leads, you may find yourself disappointed in the outcome for the expense you've invested. Leads come from websites that nurture and generate business leads. Brochure websites rarely have adequate calls to action and don't nurture new business leads and move potential customers through the sales funnel from discovery to a paid in full, zero balance account.

Generally, these websites cost about $3000-$10000 (though I've seen some invoices as high as $40k from "predator" website designers who believe healthcare professionals are made of money) to set up and run 8-12 pages in total. They cost about $500 a year for hosting, domain registration, and other licensing expenses to maintain.

With brochure websites, doctors, dentists, medical tourism facilitators, hospitals, ASCs and others just set them and forget them. They run in perpetuity in the background and are infrequently updated unless something changes.

Google interprets these sites as "inactive" and doesn't really grant first page search engine return privilege to brochure websites unless the searcher calls for it by name. That's because Google's brand promise is to deliver "relevant" information to the extent it can guess what the searcher wants to find (Hence the "Feeling Lucky" button). To place in the top search engine returns placement requires the searcher already knows about you. As such, chances are high that the searcher is already an existing patient, and not a new business lead.

On the other hand, a lead generation website properly designed is a high-performance tool that runs in the background promoting your business to web searchers while you treat new and existing patients that were referred to you by other healthcare professionals, case managers, care navigators, nurses, hospital emergency departments, etc., or from your lead generating website.

The success and effectiveness of a lead generation website is measured on the number of leads generated and the value in terms of revenues that are produced by the website. Practices, hospitals and other healthcare organizations that have an effective lead generation website grow four times faster, on average than brochure websites. This is true for medical tourism business, concierge medicine, new hospital service lines, new medical and dental practices, and new ancillary health services business. A combined online and offline strategy to generate leads can experience 8x-12x growth in comparison to peers. This difference is what leaves the brochure website owners stymied for an explanation when they compare their growth and profitability to lead generating website owners. It is the #1 reason why new clients call me for help. They want what the other professionals have but they don't know or understand how to pivot or what's different.

Usually, doctors and dentists call me after they have had a website for about 2 years and begin to wonder why people still ask them "if" they have a website. That's downright painful if you've invested $3000 or $40,000 to have a website created and hosted for your business. Don't you agree? But it is also a signal and symptom if you think about it. For example:

1. If they are asking you "if" you have a website, it is logical to deduce they heard about you some other way. Something or someone else generated that lead. What was it? How did it work? Why did it work? How many leads are generated that way? How can you maximize that offline lead generation to your advantage?
2. Does it mean your website is not "findable" by usual search terms and keywords used by your ideal customers? Perhaps they looked but gave up after the first page search engine results. Was your website listed on page 42 of the search they made? Why did that happen? Was it the way your website is structured for search optimization ("SEO"). It that's the case, then perhaps a quick fix will be all that's needed. Many freelancers are available to do SEO treatments on your websites. Like doctors and dentists, however, some are better qualified than others to help you. If you have your pick, choose one that has many clients and referenceable accounts in healthcare. They usually cost no more than generalists. When I do the detailed analysis of a website, I can usually spot the work of a generalist who treats doctor, dentist and medical websites the same as a lawnmower repair shop or sandwich cafe. That's tantamount to an orthopedic surgeon giving internal medicine advice to a patient. Both are doctors, but is it the best possible option? Not hardly! And these days, with the reach of the internet, you are not limited to local talent unless that's your self-imposed constraint.
3. Does it mean that you have an insufficient "share of voice" in the community and that your competitors are outpacing you with better design, better content, and better SEO treatments? There are software tools I use to help me measure share of voice, but first the client must inform me of the names and websites of their three closest competitors. Then, over a period of two days' time, the tool runs in the background searching the net and measuring various data and returns a 9-page detailed report of findings. The cost of this report is only $35. Call me or send me an email if you want one done for your practice or business. There's no further obligation. I'll simply assume you can take the data output and determine next steps. If you need help to develop an action plan, consulting is available by the hour to fit your budget and need.

Is a brochure website a bad thing?

Not at all. A well-designed brochure website is excellent for a doctor, dentist, ancillary supplier, or medical tourism facilitator who is just starting out and hasn't yet determined its target clients and service packages or offers.

A brochure website is fine if as in number 1 listed above, you have other well-performing offline referral sources. Perhaps you don't need or want your website to generate leads because they come from another source. That's fine.

Another reason lots of doctors and dentists and startup medical tourism facilitators have brochure websites is because they lack the sufficient resources to fund or support a lead generating website. They cost more to build and they cost more to maintain on a day-to-day basis. Perhaps your brochure website will generate a few leads while you build up budget and capacity to afford a lead generation website later on if that's your decision. No problem with that. At least you'll have a presence, which in this day and age equates to basic business legitimacy.

When should you consider switching to a lead generation website?

• You have a need to generate and nurture new patient leads
• You have specific expertise that differentiates you from competing hospitals or practitioners, or in the case of medical tourism facilitation - special pricing or packages or distinctive offers to share with potential clients
• You want to increase the visibility and strength of your brand (this assumes you have brand strength established!)
• You need to find new employees or collaboration partners
• You desire to increase growth or profitability
• You have decided to expand your business into new markets or service offerings, especially if they are national or international in scope
• You have adequate financial and staffing resources to fund and maintain the site (a lead generating website typically costs 20–50% more because of the added requirements) until it yields the longer term growth and profitability benefits. You've succeeded when the measurable revenues generated by the website design, hosting, content creation, licenses, staffing, and maintenance (fully loaded costs of website ownership) exceed costs by at least $1 per year.
• You are ready to launch a site and are able to consistently generate and nurture new business leads and you have content such as a blog of original content, a library or resource section that contains free information that is useful to visitors, a content marketing strategy and a series of well-thought-out offers and calls to action.