You already know that patients are going online to search for health information and find a healthcare providers in their area, but what online websites are they seeing when they do?
You might be surprised.
While there are over 350 different websites that have profile pages for healthcare clinics and individual providers, the following 10 online website profiles are the most prominent and important for any orthopedic surgeon who is serious about their patient acquisition and reputation management.
Top 10 Online Profiles for Orthopedic Surgeons
- AAOS – Available to all AAOS members, the AAOS provides orthopedic surgeons with the ability to create their very own mini-website on AAOS.org. This is a simple and easy way to market your practice that many orthopedic surgeons do not take advantage of when it comes to their online marketing.
- Healthgrades – The most popular of the healthcare related rating and review website, when a patient searches for a orthopedic surgeon online, there’s a good chance they’ll find your profile on healthgrades. Profiles are free for you to claim and manage, with additional advertising opportunities available.
- Yellow Pages – It’s hard to believe that this old offline dinosaur is somehow still relevant to your practice marketing online, but of all of the general business directories online today, Yellow Pages is still the leader. Profiles are free for you to claim and manage, with additional advertising opportunities available.
- Yelp – You may already have an opinion about Yelp and the terror they’ve caused many a doctor, but if you’re truly practicing great medicine, it shouldn’t matter. Plus, Yelp’s not going anywhere and is likely to remain relevant, especially with younger patients, who’ve grown accustomed to “Yelping.” Similar to most sites like it, Yelp is free for orthopedic surgeons to use, with additional advertising opportunities available.
- WebMD – A patient probably tells you about something they read on WebMD a dozen times a week, but did you know they could also be finding you? Through its “local” section, WebMD allows orthopedic surgeons and other physicians to claim and manage a profile for their practice. Given the attention and traffic the site gets, this is a no-brainer for every surgeon.
- Yahoo Local – Once the king of the hill, Yahoo has taken a back seat to Google and Bing in terms of its prowess, but due to the number of different media properties it runs, is still a major source of patient traffic for many orthopedic surgeons. Don’t expect a free lunch though, Yahoo has recently put your practice’s profile behind a paywall, requiring you pay around $300 a year for the right to claim and manage your profile. Is it worth it? For most surgeons yes; the likelihood of getting more than two patient visits as a result is very high, so it pays for itself in most cases.
- SuperPages – Similar to it’s brother Yellow Pages, SuperPages has managed to keep a following as it’s offline business and transitioned online. Profiles are free for you to claim and manage, with additional advertising opportunities available within your local market.
- Facebook – It’s no longer just kids these days on Facebook, 60% of 50 – 65 year old’s reported using the service last year. Of course we don’t see a lot of patients going to Facebook first to find their surgeon, but with over 71% of the United States on Facebook, it’s the one social network no orthopedic surgeon can ignore. Plus, profiles are free and an easy outlet for gaining positive patient reviews.
- UCompareHealth – A relative newcomer to the doctor / medical rating / review scene, that’s not talked about as much as Healthgrades, RateMDs and WebMD, but is every bit as important for patient acquisition. Profiles are free for you to claim and manage, with additional advertising opportunities available.
- US News Health – Powered by doctor social network, Doximity, the US News Health Doctor directory is one of the most prominent online websites featuring orthopedic surgeon information. Creating a Doximity account is free and is the only way (currently) to get a profile on the site.
Remember, this is just the start. Your professional information is found on hundreds of different websites.
If you’re interested in claiming your profiles online, but don’t have weeks to spend doing it contact us at 800-818-7199 for more information on how InboundMD can help with your medical marketing.
