What's involved in building a website?

With 2020 right around the corner, many healthcare professionals are starting to plan their strategies and budget for the new year. If you have evaluated 2019 and come to the conclusion you did not achieve your goals or what you are doing today is not going to help you grow in 2020, then this article is worth a read.

If your website is 12 months or older, it might be time to give it a refresh. If it's 24 months or older, it might be time to give it a complete overhaul! Technology and marketing trends change often, so even if you built a site a year ago, it doesn't mean you are out of the woods.

What's involved in building a new website?

Below is an example of the process that we use at DoctorLogic for building and launching websites with ongoing marketing. This process has been developed over several years of building websites and launching online marketing campaigns for over 1,000 doctors nationwide.

Gathering Information - In the beginning, this is where you or someone from your team will need to provide details to the agency like proper logo file (.AI is typically best), pictures of the doctor(s), staff, interior and sometimes exterior photos of the facility, current procedure list, a description of the technology you are leveraging, etc. This information will be used for the design and content.

Design - This includes the layout on both mobile and desktop and the top banner and bottom banner for every page, menu navigation, gallery structure, review structure, video gallery and more. Find out if you are getting a template or custom design. Custom sites typically run a little more, but it's a good way to stand apart. Many of our competitors use templates to crank out sites quickly, but all of their sites look the same. Most agencies will work with multiple doctors in the same market. Do you really want your website to look just like your competition?

If your website is pulling in good organic traffic, you might just need to update the design to help improve conversions. If your site is not generating good traffic or if you would like more than you are currently receiving, then you probably need a complete overhaul for design and content.

Content - The content should be written by someone who understands SEO and your industry. Agencies that understand the medical industry, vs. a large agency that works with doctors, plumbers, tow truck companies, etc. are more likely going to do a better job. As a doctor, you want to hire someone that has proven results working in your specific healthcare vertical (aesthetics, dentistry, ophthalmology, etc.)

Assembly - Once the site design is approved and complete and the content has been written, it's time for the project manager to assemble everything together.

Site Review - Once complete, the agency should set up a meeting to walk you through the site. After your meeting, they should send you the link to review the staging site. It's not live on Google yet but stored on their servers.

Final Changes - After you and your staff have read through all of the content, you might want to make a few adjustments, add a special offer to go live with the website, add new employees or remove someone who is no longer there, etc.

Go-Live Strategy - Once all final changes have been made, you should be ready to push the new site live to Google. A good agency will perform a 301-redirect if you have an existing site. "A 301 redirect is a permanent redirect which passes between 90-99% of link equity (ranking power) to the redirected page. 301 refers to the HTTP status code for this type of redirect. In most instances, the 301 redirect is the best method for implementing redirects on a website." - Moz.com. If this is not done, it can cost you years of SEO effort, so be sure to work with an agency that really understands how to do this.

Also, if you are utilizing Content Marketing, Paid Advertising, Social Media Management, it is recommended to plan out your first 3 months of content and keywords to target. After the end of each 3-month cycle, you should review the data and then adjust for the next 3 months.

Once the site is LIVE, you want to make sure your local listings are also managed and optimized. If you are paying for SEO, be sure this is included. It's an important part of your "local SEO" strategy and when done correctly, it can help you significantly increase your leads.

>> RELATED: Is Your Website Costing You a Loss in Patients?

Now that you know and understand what a good site-building process looks like, one of the first things you need to do BEFORE you re-design or re-build a website is to evaluate what is working on your current site and what isn't. Items to consider include:

• Is my site mobile-friendy?
• What is the mobile-speed like when I load different pages?
• Is my site optimized for voice search?
• Is my site HIPAA secure?
• How easy is it to navigate within my main menu? Are my pages linked together well?
• Is my content helping or hurting my SEO efforts?
• How many keywords am I ranking for on page 1 of Google? Are they the right keywords to help bring in the type of business that I want?
• What pages are getting the most views on my site? Is there anything else I can do to optimize them? What pages have not been viewed at all in the last 12 months? Do I need them on my website going forward or should I remove them?
• Is my site Google-friendly leveraging the most current technology available?
• Is my site consumer-friendly giving patients the types of info they want to see?
• Could I do a better job with my before-and-after galleries?
• Am I leveraging 3rd party reviews inside the website to help with conversions?
• Am I leveraging videos on my top pages (doctor profile, facility, top 5 procedures)?
• Do I have a strong content marketing strategy?
• Am I able to see my website's analytics transparently with my current provider?
• Do I know where my new patient leads are coming from and what lead sources and pages are driving them in?

RELATED: 3 Most Important Factors in SEO

Once you know what you need to stop/start doing, you can determine what you need to do differently in order to be more successful. If you aren't sure, ask yourself the following questions... and be honest with your answers.

• Is my logo current on my website compared to my print collateral?  
• Does the brand name excite patients to want to learn more?
• Is my website current with today's trends leveraging video, Instagram, etc.?
• Am I giving the consumers the type of information they are looking for online?
• Is my messaging about me and how great I am or how I can actually help the visitor?
• Does my website explain everything I offer today in my practice or is the information out of date?
• When is the last time I marketed a special offer on my site?
• Do I have any team members on the site that are no longer employed with me?
• Do I have any new technology or devices in my practice that is not listed on my site?
• Do I have any new services that I offer that are not listed on my site today?
• Do I have other technologies that I could be leveraging on my site that I am not today (patient portal, financing or payment portals, telemedicine portals, etc.)
• Can I handle at least 25% or more new patients than I am seeing today?

>> RELATED: What Doctors Need to Know Before Hiring Another Agency

Your website is the most important marketing tool that you have and all your other marketing efforts should be referencing it or even driving traffic to it. The website is the center of a solid Omni Channel Marketing approach.

Why I can tell you how important a great website is to your practice, watch this video to hear from one of our customers, Dr. Christopher Khorsandi, who has significantly grown his practice with DoctorLogic.

If you are looking to improve your results in the new year, download DoctorLogic's 2020 Marketing Guide and then contact me for a FREE 1:1 Website and Online Marketing Strategy Session. When we are done, you'll know how you can be more successful online whether you decide to partner with me or not.

If you found this article helpful, please comment below, share it, or even like it.

Wishing you a great start to 2020. To your success!

John Vakidis

Do you have questions about marketing your practice more effectively online? If so, shoot me an email to [email protected] or call me at 469-458-7126.