Plastics Web Marketing Blog

Google Places is dominating the results when people are searching locally. It’s even beating out organic listings. Whether you know it or not, chances are your practice is already on Google Places. Once your information is out in Internet Land, Google will pull this information from other websites and create your listing on Google Places. Therefore, you’ll want to check that the information is accurate.

So first, you need to claim and verify your spot on this extremely important resource. Start by searching for your practice and if you see a listing, click to the place page. From there, you’ll see a link that asks “Business Owner?” Click on the link and then follow the instructions to claim your free listing. After you claim it, be sure to verify your page so Google knows you’re the owner and it’s a ‘trusted’ page.

So how can Google Places help your business grow? Here are a few ways to optimize your listing:

• Customize your page—Personalizing your listing really helps to engage and appeal more to your users. You can add photos, videos, links to your website and social media pages as well as information like a description of your business, hours of operation and directions. (For an example, see Page 1 Solution's listing. Just click on –more info> to the right to see our Google Places page.)
• Add reviews—Reviews are very important to Google’s index and helps to rank you higher in the search engine. Besides, people love to read about what others have to say about you and your services first before they contact you. Give your patients a voice and an area where they can praise your practice and give their feedback. (At Page 1, we offer a ratings and review tool that will instantly post to your listing.)
• Create a ‘favorites’ map—You can create a map of all your favorite local businesses in the area on Google Maps, which links back to Google Places. By sharing the places you like to go to or do business with, you’re creating a local community and making a connection, which could lead to more relationships with you and other local businesses where you can collaborate and promote each other.

Helpful Tip: You can also help your ranking on Google by listing your business on respected sites, like The Better Business Bureau, The Chamber of Commerce, Yellow Page Directory, National Association Listings, etc. Google loves authority websites like these and will rank you higher when your practice is on them.

If you’re ready to be found, optimize your listing and increase your business, then call us at 800-916-3886, or contact us for a complimentary consultation. You can also find us on our Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube videos.

So you’re on all the major social media websites, creating accounts and fan pages. Now what?

Here are three helpful tips to keep in mind when you’re using these sites:

Know where your audience is. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube are the top social media websites that attract millions of people every day. Make sure you know where your patients “hang out.” You don’t want to waste your time and energy on a website that they never go to.

Write high-quality content. People get turned off by pushy, commercialized messages through these social channels. You need to write high-quality content and give the information that your patients are seeking. So the big question to ask--do you know what they care about, what interests them? Writing a message that nobody cares about will not attract potential patients or engage current ones. If you’re not sure what to write, just ask. People love to give their feedback.

Be consistent. When you begin posting on these social websites, your fans and followers will expect continual updates and information. Don’t just post once or twice, and then never revisit the site again. You don’t want to alienate your patients. It takes time and commitment but the pay-off will be worth it when you’re increasing your patient base.

By using these tips and interacting with social media, you’re creating a community for your patients. By doing so, you’re enabling and allowing people to express themselves, have a voice and interact with your practice and each other. Ultimately, you’re giving them superior customer service that will keep them loyal and coming back for more, and referring your services.

If you have any questions regarding social media strategies or would like assistance, please call us at 800-916-3886, or contact us for a complimentary consultation. You can also stay informed by following our Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube videos.

Labels: facebook, social media, social media marketing

The online world now goes beyond text and flash animation. Video has become a major player on the Internet and for organizations to increase their business. YouTube has become a worldwide phenomenon with billions of videos being uploaded every month and millions of viewers watching them.

So in this “Video Age,” are you using videos on your website? If not, you’re probably losing out on business. You need something to set your practice apart from other cosmetic surgeons. Moving images and sound creates more personality for your practice than just plain boring text. A 1-2 minute video on your home page can make a world of difference against your competitors, and most likely your visitors will get their basic questions answered during this time.

By incorporating video with your practice, you are connecting more with your viewers and engaging them. Use emotions to help with this connection and people will be moved. Emotions also help spread your message. People like to spread emotion and are more likely to share your videos with others. Be sure to allow people to share your video links with other community sites, like Facebook and Twitter, with a sharing functionality button.

In addition your videos shouldn’t focus so much on your practice as it should on the benefits of your services and how it can help your patients. Never commercialize your business but make the video about them—your viewers.

In the following heat map, you will see a darkened website with small bright bluish-white dots scattered throughout the page. These blue-white dots show where most users click and what information they are interested in. You will see that most of the clicks (the extremely blue-white areas) are from the video area on the left side of the page. Bottom line: People watch videos; People like videos.

At Page 1 Solutions, we can create and customize videos for your website and help you figure out what content to choose, how long the video should be and how often you should update your site with videos.

To discuss using video for your website, call us at 800-916-3886, or contact us for a complimentary consultation. To learn more, check out our C3 video tutorial. You can also keep up-to-date with us by following our Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube videos.

Labels: custom video, sharing video, video seo, website optimization

All Internet pages are connected by linking. You have links throughout your website so current and potential patients can navigate their way around. You may have your website linked to other sites that are helpful to your visitors, and hopefully, you have links coming to your website. All of these links impact your search engine results, which helps your website show up online. But does social media links have an impact on SE listings? According to SEOMoz, they do.

Recently, they conducted a study that showed that there is a strong correlation between link sharing on Facebook and higher rankings on Google’s result pages. However, the number of tweets on Twitter and likes and comments on Facebook didn’t show as much influence. Apparently, Google’s algorithms like when people share links on this social media website. Google usually gives more authority to websites with more inbound links anyway.

So what does this mean for your practice? You should focus more of your time, energy and marketing strategies towards sharing quality links on Facebook that will attract more clicks. You will not only drive more traffic to your website, but you’ll increase the chances of your content ranking higher on Google (Source: SEOMoz Study).

To help increase your audience and spread your content around Facebook, you should:

• Allow people to share your content by adding a sharing functionality for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on your blogs, articles, etc.
• Blog more, blog often and write quality content.
• Increase your social interaction by creating group or fan pages, and then invite fans, friends and followers to join. This will start conversations and your content will spread faster.

To find out more about search engine optimization and how to utilize social media, call us at 800-916-3886, or contact us for a complimentary consultation. You can also keep up-to-date with us by following our Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube videos.

Labels: content management, facebook, Google SEO, social media marketing

More people search for medical practices online than anywhere else, so it’s important to make sure your organization’s listing is easily found. To help your patients find you, you need to optimize your website for the major search engines, like Google, Yahoo and Bing, as wells as Google Places and Google Maps—and yes, there is a difference.

Google Places is a local listing where you can update and manage your physical location information. This information is also used to update your practice listing so that it appears correctly within Google Maps and other search and display network sites. Most likely your practice already shows up on Google Places but you need to verify your listing and review the details to make sure they are accurate. You can also customize your listing with photos, videos, a link to your website, descriptions of your service areas, directions and more.

Google Maps is a service that offers user-friendly mapping technology and local business information, including locations, contact information and driving directions. Potential patients can map where you are located and view other information like hours of operations, driving directions, reviews and your phone number. They can even view your building from a street level, zoom in and out, pan left and right and navigate around the area.

Your local listings also will appear in more “authority” websites, such as The Better Business Bureau, The Chamber of Commerce, Yellow Page Directory, National Association Listings, etc.

At Page 1 Solutions, we guarantee that your website will show up on the first page listings of all the major search engines. Our SEO specialists will also optimize your website for Google Places and Google Maps, using the exact geographical keywords and phrases people are searching for. When people are searching local, we want them to find you.

Another way to boost your ranking on search engines is by reviews. Page 1 also offers a rating and review tool where your loyal patients can easily write a review for your practice. It will immediately be posted to your website as well as other review websites, like Yelp and City Search, social media websites, like Facebook and Twitter, and Google Places and Google Maps. The more reviews you have, the higher you rank in these Google syndications.

If you’re ready to be in the right location, get your website fully optimized and utilize the rating and review tool to obtain more reviews, then call us at 800-916-3886, or contact us for a complimentary consultation.

You can also learn more about us by following our Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube videos.

Labels: Google Maps, Google Places, Google SEO, reviews

With all the buzz about online reputation management these days, obtaining patient reviews has become vital to cosmetic surgery practices. Before potential patients contact your office, they are trying to find you online to see what others are saying about you. Good or bad experiences, they will find numerous websites with testimonials from your previous and current patients. So if people are going to write about your services anyway, why not have them write it on your website?

The more reviews you have, the higher ranking you achieve by the major search engines, such as Google, Yahoo and Bing, and the more likely people will find you. Therefore, you’ll want to acquire a strong presence on review sites as well as your own website.

So how do you get your patients to write a review for your practice? Here are three simple steps to take:

· Just ask. The easiest way to get reviews is by asking your patients to write one for you when they are finished with your services. Let them know how it helps assist others in finding you online. However, be sure to briefly explain how it works, what they need to do and how long it takes. If they agree, then email them detailed instructions.

· Send an email blast. If you feel uncomfortable asking a patient in-person or on the phone to write a review, send out an email blast thanking them for their business and ask for a review. Be sure to provide a link on where they can write one and give instructions on how they can give their input.

· Make it easy and simple. Many times people won’t write reviews if they have to create an account or figure out complicated instructions. So make it easy on them by adopting a ratings and review tool where they don’t have to sign-up for anything and can just write what they have to say. Patients just click the bottom right-hand corner tab. They can also share their thoughts with other major websites, which will boost your ranking on the search engines.

When you allow your patients to give their feedback, this shows them that you care about their opinion and them as a customer. It’s also something unexpected and shows that you take pride in your customer service. This will get those patients coming back and referring your services again and again.

To find out how you can start using reviews to boost your practice’s reputation, give us a call us at 800-916-3886 or contact us for a complimentary consultation.

Check us out and then connect with us by following our Facebook page, Twitter page, and YouTube videos.

Labels: reputation management, reviews, seo

Now is the time to take control of your online reputation. Do you know what people are saying about you and your practice? Is it good or bad? Do you allow your patients to comment on their positive experiences or make suggestions to help your practice?

Online reputation management has been sweeping the business world recently as more practices are being taken online. A better company reputation leads to an increase in new patients and more satisfied current patrons. Even before initial visits, patients are looking up physicians to see what people are saying about them. Be sure you are captured in the light you want people to see you in.

For just $3 a day, you can start managing your online reputation and protect your business. Page 1 Solutions is offering a program to help you efficiently manage your online reviews. With this new tool, you’ll be found on Google local listings, be able to automatically share your ratings and reviews with rating/review websites, like Yelp, CitySearch and Insider Pages, as well as instantly post to social websites, like Facebook and Twitter.

To learn more about adopting the rates and reviews tool, click here to watch a video demonstration, and then call us at 800-916-3886 or contact us for a complimentary consultation.

Labels: reputation management, reviews, seo