Your practice’s website is undoubtedly the most crucial element needed for an effective online marketing strategy. But, once you launch your website, how can you tell if it’s really helping you attract new patients and increasing the demand for your services?
Would you like experts to review your website performance and offer solutions today? Request a comprehensive website analysis here.
1. Understand Your Website Traffic
Google Analytics (GA) is a service from Google that gives you access to statistics which help you track and monitor your website’s performance. With GA, you can learn key information about your website visitors, and from that, make any necessary adjustments to optimize your website’s success.
Here are just a few of the many statistics you can find with GA:
• Website Visitors: See how many new and returning visitors view your website and how long they stay. Do they leave immediately (bounce), or do they look around and explore your site? If you that find most visitors bounce within seconds, consider adjusting your website (e.g. make navigation simple, create easy-to-read content with bullet points, add images) to increase the duration of their stay.
• Page Views: Identify which pages receive the most views to help you better understand what visitors are looking for. Ideally, the “Contact Us” page will be one of your most viewed pages.
• Traffic Sources: Understand how visitors arrived at your site (e.g. search engine results, social networks, referral websites, direct traffic). Referral sites represent other websites that share a link to your website, whereas direct traffic represents users who typed your domain into the address bar at the top of the browser window.
• Keywords: You can see phrases and keywords people have used to search for your website (e.g., “Houston Family Dentist”). Knowing the most popular terms can help you optimize your site to include more of these keywords and improve your visibility.
• Measure Conversions: Conversions represent how many visitors take action on your website. Actions could include submitting a form or online appointment request – any “click” that brings in new prospects. If you have a high amount of traffic but few conversions, consider editing your website to encourage your visitors to contact your practice. For example, include contact forms on each page, and be sure your “Contact Us” page is easily accessible.
These are just a few of the many insights that you can gain from utilizing GA tools. Some website providers may set-up GA tracking on your website, but you may have to implement it on your own. If you are a ProSites member, we can help you set up GA for you upon creating your site.
2. Consider Phone-call Analytics
When a prospective patient visits your website and proceeds to call your practice to schedule an appointment, you may not know that your website referred the call (unless your staff is asking new patients how they heard about your practice). With a phone-call tracking service, you can easily trace where the caller found your services as well as how many calls your website is generating.
Ask your website provider if they offer phone-call tracking services, in which they place a unique number throughout your site that automatically forwards to your main line. When people call this number, you’ll be able to identify whether the caller visited your website before calling.
When new patients first call your practice or have their first appointment, be sure your staff is asking how they heard about you. Also, consider adding a question on your new patient forms that asks how they heard about your practice and if they’ve visited your website.
By asking patients on the phone and via new patient forms, you can more accurately identify where and how your patients heard about your practice.
There are many ways to track your website’s performance both online and offline, enabling you to measure its effectiveness. To learn more about how you can further improve your website’s performance, call ProSites at (888) 932-3644 or fill out the form below.
