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Is your website helping or hurting your practice?

January 23, 2017

Is your website helping or hurting your practice?

Did you know the appearance of your website may be attracting potential patients – or unintentionally driving them away?  The College recently conducted tests to evaluate how the public uses our website, and the results are fascinating. The good news: our Find an Allergist Tool is extremely popular, with close to 200,000 users annually searching the site. Allergists’ websites are linked directly to search results, so users can easily access your website to learn more about you and your practice.

The not so good news? Users who clicked on allergist websites found many of them unappealing or out of date. Worse, many said if they did not like a provider’s website, they would not call them to make an appointment.

Are you missing an opportunity to recruit new patients because your website is outdated? According to Stanley Fineman, MD, MBA, FACAAI, “Your practice website has become the ‘face of your practice’. It’s important to keep your website content fresh and interesting. Consider monitoring the College Facebook and Twitter posts and YouTube videos and link to these to help add up to date content for your website and social media posts.”

Most patients now search for physicians online, and your website is frequently the first impression you give them. Make it a positive one by following these tips:

  1. Keep it current. Update your site regularly (at least once a month). Make sure contact information, locations, providers, forms and internal and external links are all accurate. Outdated information on your website gives patients the impression your office doesn’t pay attention to detail, so keep it current.
  2. Make it mobile-friendly and browser-friendly. Approximately 50% of consumers now research companies exclusively on mobile devices, so check your site to make sure it is easy to view on mobile devices. Also make sure it is viewed easily with the top browsers (Chrome, Explorer and Firefox).
  3. Provide information. Patients are looking online for education and information, so make sure your website gives them both. The College has a wealth of online patient education member practices can use, including articles, fact sheets, FAQs and checklists.
  4. Make it useful. Patients increasingly want to do everything online, including pay bills, communicate with their physician, make appointments and complete forms. Give patients what they want by providing online access to your office.

 

Take full advantage of our online Find an Allergist Tool by ensuring your website is attractive and useful, and by keeping your online College profile current.

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