{"id":1589,"date":"2016-10-31T10:48:34","date_gmt":"2016-10-31T14:48:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.inboundmd.com\/?p=1589"},"modified":"2016-10-31T10:48:34","modified_gmt":"2016-10-31T14:48:34","slug":"medical-practice-use-pay-per-click-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inboundmd.com\/medical-practice-use-pay-per-click-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Should Your Medical Practice Use Pay Per Click Ads?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Just starting a practice? Or just beginning to market your practice online? \u00a0Weather you have tried Pay Per Click (<\/span>PPC<\/b>) advertising or not, done correctly, it\u2019s a great way to increase patient appointments.\u00a0<\/span>PPC<\/b> simply allows you to help potential patients match their search engine queries to the services practitioners provide.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/b><\/p>\n Adwords<\/b> = Google\u2019s PPC service. <\/span><\/span>Bingads<\/b> = Bing PPC service. <\/span><\/p>\n Both have very similar benefits, and also very similar features and reporting. \u00a0At InboundMD we support both, but Google Adwords is by far and away the more significant of the two services. \u00a0Regardless of the PPC service provider …<\/span><\/p>\n There is $0 entry cost to using PPC services, you can stop at any time, no minimum fee, and unlike in traditional media advertising (television, radio, newspaper, etc), you only pay when someone is interested in your advertisement. Hence the acronym, \u2018pay\u2019 \u2018per\u2019 \u2018<\/span>click<\/b>\u2019. <\/span><\/p>\n Cost of most healthcare related keywords are relatively cheap at $2 to $3 per click, even in competitive markets like New York City.<\/span><\/p>\n With that limited budget of $300, if just a few searchers schedule an appointment, you are very likely to be at least breaking even. \u00a0At a $2-$3 cost per click that\u2019s 100 interested potential patients that visited your website. \u00a0Those interested enough can then proceed to fill out their information on a schedule-an-appointment page, or place a phone call to the practice. <\/span><\/p>\n If your ads are done right, and your website is <\/span>designed to convert<\/span><\/a> those clicks on your \u2018schedule-an-appointment\u2019 landing page, you can certainly expect a higher conversion than \u2018just a few\u2019. \u00a0Consider that many of those who saw your ad, but didn\u2019t click, may have made a phone call simply because your Adwords ad displayed your phone number. Still other searchers may not have clicked, but later on retained your practice information and circled back to the search engine to then type a practitioner’s name or the practice name itself to find your website. Especially if you consider the lifetime value of the patient and the potential for repeat appointments, it\u2019s absolutely realistic to expect to be making more money than you are spending on PPC.<\/span><\/p>\n All of these events can be tracked, including the financial metrics. With practitioners and practice managers having full visibility into these numbers.<\/span><\/p>\n Whether you wish to remain independent, or are looking to be acquired by a hospital system, the more you grow and market your practice, and the more patients you acquire, the more stable and valuable your healthcare practice becomes. This gives you more control and provides you with greater choice in whether or not you remain independent, or if your goal is to be acquired, more leverage when negotiating with the hospital during the acquisition process.<\/span><\/p>\n With the trend of large hospital systems gobbling up an increasing number of independent practices, especially over the past several years (<\/span>and the many reasons<\/span><\/a> for it) it\u2019s more difficult than ever to remain independence. <\/span><\/p>\n If your goal is to buck that trend and remain independent then you need to be able to compete in a David and Goliath marketing match up. \u00a0PPC allows your practice and specialties to get top of the page placements along with much larger providers, and due to the<\/span> possum<\/span><\/a> update you have a fair chance to appear in Google\u2019s search engine equally.<\/span><\/p>\nSpend Money to Make Money!<\/b><\/h1>\n
A budget of only $300 a month is all you need to get started.<\/b><\/h3>\n
And there is plenty of upside left-over…<\/b><\/h3>\n
Maintain Independence: Choice and Leverage!<\/b><\/h1>\n
Control what you can control.<\/b><\/h3>\n
By the way, if anyone out there reading knows the webmaster at MGMA, let me know, so they can get this article better circulated, publishing it on a PDF isn\u2019t the best way. [Re: \u201c…<\/span><\/i>and the many reasons<\/span>…<\/span><\/i>\u201d]<\/span><\/i><\/h5>\n
Now is an excellent time to start using Pay Per Click advertising for your practice! \u00a0<\/b><\/h1>\n
Here\u2019s why\u2026<\/b><\/h3>\n