An Argument for developing a Web Presence

An impressive web presence is generally not a high priority for most private practice health care owners. Although many practices now have website, the importance and use of them is often not taken to seriously.

I am not a computer genius nor do I know the first thing about HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language - used for creating web sites) formatting. I use a computer at work and like many people, I have a computer at home that I use for email and more importantly, to "Google."

By "Google" I am of course referring to the massively popular activity of searching for information on the web to find a restaurant, a vacation spot or a doctor's practice that I am considering going to.

Over the past three years, it has become more and more obvious that Americans are more and more using the World Wide Web to find out about companies that they wish to do business with. The days of looking up a doctor's phone number in the bulky, yellow, phone book are gone. I am not implying that paper phone books are no longer useful, they most certainly are. I use mine at home to shore up a short leg on my basement desk. However, if I am interested in finding a good doctor to visit, I am just a mouse click away from the largest resource of information of doctors in my area ever known.

For example, my Veterinarian's site provides directions to her practice so that I can easily refer my friends to her. Her site also lets me know about new services for my pet, background information on her new employees and emergency hours. I even discovered that her office is starting a grooming service! (Hmm, good idea, I am scheduling an appointment for my dog "Bo" next week.)

The idea for this blog was created from an incident that occurred just recently. In the normal course of doing business, I was invited to speak with a Veterinarian in Colorado. Prior to my call, I decided to look up the doctor's practice on the web to find out more about the doctor himself and his practice. As a professional, I find it helpful knowing something about a client before meeting them. I was surprised that I could not find any information regarding the doctor on-line. I attempted to find him on several search engines; I even varied my search. I tried his name, I tried his name plus DVM in "City Name," CO. I even did a search just for Veterinarians in his town. Finally, I was able to find the doctor's name in the web site of his competitor in the same town! His competitor's site was very beautiful with plenty of information about his practice, the staff, his facilities, etc. If I were a resident with a pet in this beautiful town in Colorado, I would now know exactly which practice to go to, and it wasn't his. And yes, I did call the doctor as scheduled and made the doctor very aware of what was happening in his neighborhood. Interestingly enough, the doctor was wondering why his practice was contracting in a community that was expanding quite rapidly.

Unfortunately this is not only a true story it is also very common.

Developing a web presence now is more important than ever. Home computer use is not going to slack off in the years to come. More than ever, Mr. and Mrs. Patient and Client are going to go to the World Wide Web to find information regarding the doctor or practice that they are going to visit.

And yes, word of mouth is still the number one draw of new patients and clients to your practice. But know this - after I hear your name and how wonderful your practice is from my best friend, I promise you, I will Google you. What happens after that is up to you.

We also invite your feedback to this blog or previous blogs by participating in our
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Larry Silver
President, Silkin Management Group

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