When it comes to the Web, our focus has always been to provide you and your practice with Web services that will generate new patients. This has been our mission for over a decade. In February 1998, Dynamic Chiropractic began offering various services designed to provide doctors of chiropractic with exposure on the Web that would lead to new patients.
- ChiroWeb.com began as the only Web site to provide a complete directory of every known doctor of chiropractic in the world. This same directory (the ChiroLocator) is now on DynamicChiropractic.com and ToYourHealth.com. This is a free service to help patients find doctors of chiropractic in their community.
- The To Your Health patient e-mail newsletters serve two purposes. They are used by participating DCs to educate their patients and also refer local consumer subscribers to participating doctors in their area.
- The Chiropractic Web Site Administrator was developed to allow doctors the ability to create their own basic Web site for a very modest cost.
As the Web has matured in the past decade, so have the sophistication of Web sites and Web services for DCs. But the point of these services hasn't changed: generate new patients. Unfortunately, there have been a lot of Web sites (and even some Web site companies) that just don't seem to understand this point. Providing the basic practice information is important, but educating people about chiropractic is even more important. Today's Web sites need to be proactive in their approach in order to give the doctor the best exposure to potential new patients.
Every chiropractic Web site should have attractive designs that make them appealing and easy to navigate. This goes almost without saying, although many fall below the mark. They should also include local search engine optimization. This causes the DC's Web site to appear on the first page of a search, rather than be buried where few will find it.
Well-designed patient e-mail newsletters are still a must. The topics should encourage patients to forward them to their friends. Each issue should point the reader back to the doctor for more information and chiropractic care.
Directories can get a great deal of searches, but only if they are well-positioned in the search engine results. At the time of this writing, DynamicChiropractic.com is listed fifth on the first page (among free listings) and ChiroWeb.com is listed 15th (fifth on the second page) on Google. The directory searches are part of the constant navigation on both of these sites so visitors can perform searches from almost any page on the Web site.
Over the past four to five years, Dynamic Chiropractic has sought a Web site development company that could provide top-level professional Web sites designed to get new patients. Our search took us outside the chiropractic profession to a number of companies that had great designs, but didn't understand the "new patient machine" concept.
We finally discovered Officite (www.officite.com), a company that is extremely successful in the dental and other health care professions. And while its Web site designs are exceptional, what really attracted us is to the company is its focus on new patients.
Over the past seven years, Officite has become the largest and most successful Web site company for health care professionals. Its Web sites have generated over 200,000 appointment requests for its 4,000 professional Web sites. That's an average of 50 appointment requests per Web site.
In addition to great Web sites, Officite's services include search marketing, social networking and print marketing as well. The company knows that the primary purpose of a Web site is to attract new patients.
Officite has spent the last six months developing Web sites that work with the ChiroLocator and the To Your Health patient e-mail newsletters. It was the obvious choice to partner with in our effort to better serve our profession.
With this issue, you will begin to see announcements and information regarding the DC Sitebuilder program offered by Dynamic Chiropractic and powered by Officite. Please know that we recognize the importance your Web site can play in the success of your practice. We have spent years looking for a partner with the same desire to help build your practice. We believe we have found that partner.
If you would like to discuss this more with us, please call us at (800) 359-2289. For more information, go to www.dcsitebuilder.com.
Click here for more information about Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher.