Hide & Seek

Remember playing hide & seek as a kid?  The game changes a little as you get older- now you want to be found.  In fact, your success depends on it, and when people come looking for you, you don’t want to be hiding from them.

Statistics show that people are using Google for seeking- to the tune of 80 million searches every day.  Ten years ago, you wouldn’t dream of not having your practice in the phone book, right?  Your online presence is that important today.  In fact, it’s even more important because now prospective patients see a little bit of you before they ever pick up the phone.

Your blog is a powerful tool, both for improving your personal brand as well as your SEO.  How can you do both at the same time?  Here are a couple ideas:

Highlight a Service: The majority of the time, people are not Googling your practice- they are seeking a service you offer.  So make sure Google- and therefore the person using Google- know that you offer that service.  Write about why you offer that service, and why you believe in it.  Try to include a link back to the services page of your website- this tells Google that you are what you say you are, and gives the prospective patient more information.

Be Findable: No, I am not being redundant here, given that this whole blog post is on being findable.  I mean it literally this time.  Be sure to mention regularly the areas you serve.  It does very little good for someone in New York to be finding you if your practice is in San Francisco.  So at least every few posts, mention some of the areas you are marketing to- Google will associate you with those areas in future searches.

Hopefully by this point you see where this leads to- think in terms of the average Google search- it goes something like this: (service)+(area)=you, right?  So a fresh blog post that highlights services people are looking for, in an area people search in, will result in Google directing people to you.

So maybe we should rename the game- now we’ll call it seek & find.  If you’re found, you win.  For more information on how you can be found online, don’t be afraid to ask!