Before you spend lots of money designing a flashy new website you are going to want to make sure that it’s not just bells and whistles with no real content to sell your business. Make sure you have a site that helps you capitalize on your potential clientele and effectively market your services. Before you even get started ask yourself these following questions.
Do I make the most of my staff page?
If you want people to know right off the bat what kind of person you are, show them the faces behind the company. Truly take advantage of the opportunity to share information about yourself and your staff. Include photos and brief bios about each of your staff members. You’d be surprised how comforting this can be for people who may be skeptical about your company, perhaps because they are considering leaving a practice they’d come to know and love. They would really benefit from seeing the type of people they’ll meet in your office. It’s always good to put a face to a name and that is especially true when putting a face to your business.
Also don’t be afraid to step outside of the box with your staff bios. Perhaps instead of just listing their name, occupation and credentials, include interesting facts about them. For example customers may find it endearing to know their favorite quotes or most cherished accomplishment.
Does my web design have ‘social proof’?
Social Proof is a “psychology phenomenon where people assume the action of others reflect the correct behavior for a given situation…driven by the assumption that the surrounding people have more information than they do.” It is a classic case of monkey see monkey do. You can use social media to make sure your business is being talked about, shared and maintaining a degree of popularity, therefore building your reputation through social proof.
You probably know by now that you need to have your business represented on Facebook, so you have created a Facebook page. You want your page to be active and engaging. Don’t host a page simply for the sake of putting it on your website. Use it as a way to interact with your clients, stay engaged with the online community and show that you are personable and truly involved in your field. Use it to post articles about your field, links to your specials, and to start discussions about the new and inventive procedures your office offers. That is all content and content is important if you want to get noticed.
Facebook has been offering the “Sponsored Story” feature for some time now. It allows advertisers to attain more likes, posts and other activity. By getting their “story” featured, it is seen on the right hand side of your friends Facebook screen and functions as an advertisement of sorts.
In addition to Facebook make sure your social presence is big! If someone tweets something like, “I just got treated for sun damage at “XYZ Dermatology” and my skin has never looked better,” be sure to re-tweet it. Get listed on Yelp, be searchable on Google Business, allow people to check-in on Foursquare, get subscribers to your blog, and post testimonials to your page. Most importantly, make sure it all links back to your website.
Is my site at all persuasive?
Remember that at the end of the day you are selling a service. You can have the prettiest website on the internet and never get a single client if you aren’t persuasive. Incorporate some simple selling strategies to make sure that you are actively marketing and selling your services.
Product Badges—Help your customers during the decision making process by “badging” certain products with qualities such as “best-selling service,” “customer favorite,” “limited time only.”
Customer Reviews—the badges will catch their eye and the reviews will reel them in. You’ve labeled a product as best-selling, so include a review from a particularly happy customer to let people know that you aren’t baselessly boasting about your services.
Suggested sells—Strategies like buy-one get half off is a great way to persuade customers to try new products. Also sharing information about what other clients are buying can be quite persuasive. For example you could have a note under products that complement each other reading something like, “Customers who received the advanced acne treatment also purchased the dark spot removal services.” It suggests that getting both is a logical decision many others have also made and therefore is likely a good investment.
Our Guest Author: Dr. Steven Zimmet is an Austin dermatologist at Zimmet Vein and Dermatology who is dedicated to venous and dermatological advancements. Dr. Zimmet was nominated by his peers for inclusion in the Best Doctors in America Database 2011-2012 and has proudly served the Austin area for several years.