physical therapy marketing Archives

Physical Therapy Marketing in 2021 – Does Your Community Know About You?

In this post I want to share five brief interviews I did with members of my local North San Diego community. The answers were a bit surprising.

TL;DR We interviewed four men and one woman in our local community and as you will notice, physical therapy was never mentioned by any of them. So, the obvious question is: Are you marketing your practice enough to your community?

Here’s the recording:

David Straight · Interview With Community Members About PT

Here’s the transcript of the interviews:

Interviewer:
“Thank you for participating. The first question I have is, uh, if you had neck or back pain, who would you go seek medical care?”

Participant #1 Answer:
“Well, it depends on the type, just stiffness or sciatica. I have chronic low stiffness, so I go to the chiropractor.”

Interviewer:
“Okay. And how about if you had shoulder knee problems? Who would you go see for that?”

Participant #1 Answer:
“Um, probably an orthopedist.”

Interviewer:
“And have you ever had physical therapy before?

Participant #1 Answer:
Uh, yes I have.

Participant #2

Interviewer:
My first question for you is if you had neck or low back pain, who would you go see?

Participant #2 Answer
“Chiropractor”

Interviewer:
“If you had a shoulder or knee pain, who would you go?”

Participant #2 Answer
“Either a masseuse or an acupuncturists.”

Interviewer:
“My last question is, uh, have you ever been to physical therapy before?”

Participant #1 Answer:
“Uhhh, no.”

Participant #3

Interviewer:
“My first question is if you had neck or back pain, who would you go see?”

Participant #3 Answer:
“Neck or back pain? Uh, either a chiropractor I go to, or my local doctor.”

Interviewer:
“How about shoulder and knee pain?”

Participant #3 Answer:
“Shoulder and knee pain. Um, uh, it’s shoulder pain. I’ve had before I went to both, I got like treatment at a chiropractor and I also went to my local doctor for that electrical stuff.”

Interviewer:
“Have you ever been to a physical therapist before as therapists?”

Participant #3 Answer:
“No, my sister is actually going to school for that…”

Participant #4

Interviewer:
“My first question is if you had neck or back pain, who would you go see?”

Participant #4 Answer:
“Uh, I would probably say a chiropractor.”

Interviewer:
“How about shoulder and knee pain?”

Participant #4 Answer:
“I would once again, probably say a chiropractor.”

Interviewer:
“Have you ever been to a physical therapist before as therapists?”

Participant #4 Answer:
“Yes”

Participant #5

Interviewer:
“My first question is if you had neck or back pain, who would you go see?”

Participant #5 Answer:
“I would see my general practitioning physician.”

Interviewer:
“How about shoulder and knee pain?”

Participant #5 Answer:
“Also my regular physician.”

Interviewer:
“Have you ever been to a physical therapist before as therapists?”

Participant #5 Answer:
“No, I have not.”

What did you think of their answers. Surprised at all?

If you need help getting your PT Online Marketing Right, give us a call at (760) 585-9097 or click here to request an appointment on my calendar.

Physical Therapy Patient Marketing: Setting the Right Mood in Your Online Content

Physical therapy patient marketing is a process that probably sounds challenging if you think you can’t set yourself apart from your competitors. Maybe you’re feeling like you’re just blending in with all the other physical therapy clinics in your town or city rather than looking unique enough. Even if you don’t have anything overly innovative to offer compared to your competitors, it doesn’t mean you can’t stand out from the crowd.

Your key to success is putting yourself in the shoes of the prospective patient and providing what you’d expect if seeking out physical therapy for the first time. Much of this comes in setting the proper mood rather than attempting to look superior to someone else.

Never underestimate the value of communicating compassion, clinical excellence, and using video as the marketing medium, when promoting your practice on your website, on social media, or other online properties. The reason these qualities are important to share is because first-time clients are nervous and often don’t know what to expect. Ultimately, you can name two places where clients are probably the most uptight: Law firms and medical clinics.

If someone doesn’t know what to expect from you, you can gain trust by showcasing compassion and clinical excellence to you help those prospective patients feel better before they even come in for their initial evaluation.

Sharing the Message of Compassion & Caring

Utilize positive feelings in all of your web content and social media marketing, which includes elements of smiling. Yes, with medical proof of how smiling affects moods, showcasing pictures and happier content makes a big difference in how a new patient perceives you.

You’ve no doubt seen other medical sites post pictures of people smiling as a header on content. It’s worth doing the same thing, if at least keeping your tone positive in the information you present. Avoid talking about procedures or illnesses, because you may want to showcase information about your techniques in a more visual way later.

Part of this positive mood should include humor. This can sometimes be a tricky balancing act, especially in a serious subject like physical therapy. Be sure not to act cavalier in your humor when talking about a serious health problem. Light humor is the best path to take when it’s appropriate.

Some of this lighter humor works well in entertaining infographics where you can rib the process of going to a clinic for the first time as a meta form of calming nerves.

Trust comes from Clinical Excellence

You also want to prove that your clinicians are extremely knowledgeable about what they do they and understand the latest innovations. Providing information that’s valuable and accurate is what many patients want.

The information you provide should always be consistent with the current best health reserach. Let your visitors know you’re providing exclusive care only those in the physical therapy community know about. Be sure to back up the information using links to renowned medical journals so you bring validity and trust.

Keep in mind that when you’re providing medical content, a sure sign of intelligence is making it easy to understand for the masses rather than using confusing medical jargon.

Brand Yourself as the Best with Video

Videos continue to be a powerful influence in marketing campaigns. Whether it’s an emotional testimony about why you started your physical therapy practice, showing procedures being done in real-time, or satisfied patients, video helps build trust and a better understanding of what physical therapists do.

Transparency definitely help to attract the patients you are targeting your videos with.

Contact us here at E-rehab.com and we’ll help you create effective content for your physical therapy practice. We’ll find the right mood you need in your content based on your personal approach to patients.

Blueprint: More Physical Therapy Referrals from Physicians

There is a systematic way to generate more referrals from physicians. Here’s the simple blueprint we’ve used to generate more physical therapy referrals from doctors:

physical therapy marketing - generating more physical therapy referrals from doctors — Blueprint on How to Generate More PT Referrals from Physicians

Increase Visibility and Perform Market Research via Physical Therapy Social Media Marketing

It appears to be more useful on a personal level but physical therapy social media marketing can help greatly in increasing the visibility of your business. By promoting interaction with your patients, it can also help you to perform market research.

The Aura of Authenticity About Facebook “Likes”

Since Facebook is largely an informal space, people feel free to comment on it, either positively or negatively. And a positive Facebook comment counts for a lot more than an advertisement, because those who read it know that there was no coercion involved. If someone “likes” a post, it’s generally because they genuinely like it, and not because they were paid to say so. So there’s an aura of genuineness and authenticity about physical therapy references you might get via Facebook or Twitter.

Celebrity Endorsements vs. Reviews from Friends

The skeptics among us might point out that celebrities are often paid to endorse products or services online. This is true but most of us are more likely to be swayed by what our Facebook friends tell us rather than what a celebrity might say. This is because there are many similarities between us and our friends. We perceive them as being at the same or only a slightly different level of attractiveness, economic class and intellectual understanding. We pay more attention to their “likes” because they’re like us!

Coming up with a Social Media Marketing Plan

If you’re unconvinced about the role of social media marketing companies, keep in mind that you can come up with a social media marketing plan, as suggested by this Hootsuite article. Depending on your business objectives, your social media marketing plan may include an evaluation of what your current social media accounts are doing for you, the creation of new accounts, the development of accounts you already have and the addition of new, relevant content. Checking out what your competitors are up to can also help you to figure out where your business is going and how social media can help you to get there.

Interacting with Prospects via Social Media

Social media helps you to stay in touch with your audience. It’s an interactive space from which you can learn what your patient prospects are looking for. For example, if you put up an update regarding a new type of physical therapy you’re offering, it’s possible that you’ll get a number of positive or negative comments with regard to it. Depending on what your patients are saying, you can decide whether you want to make any changes to your service.

Staying Alert to Figure Out The Tipping Point

If you stay alert on social media, you can also figure out which way the wind is blowing, before it actually gets there. In his book, The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell talks about Hush Puppies, a type of shoe that had slowly been declining in popularity. The makers of Hush Puppies had almost decided to stop producing them when there was a sudden upswing in their sales. Although the middle-aged, conservative demographic had stopped wearing them, they had suddenly become popular with hipsters.

Using Social Media for Market Research of “Niche” Services

What happened with Hush Puppies came as a surprise to many people. But this is the kind of change that soon becomes noticeable via comments or likes on social media. Although a number of people might feel the same way about a certain product or service, there might be undiscovered market segments/audiences that feel differently. If it’s possible for your niche service to start appealing to a new demographic, social media is a great way to find this out first. In this sense, social media is not just a marketing platform to increase sales; it’s also a great place to perform a bit of market research and change direction if need be.

Experiment with the marketing of niche services – sports performance, vestibular rehab, women’s health, tmj treatment, and more. Run an ad, point the viewers to a page on your website about that niche service, give them something of value (this is called a lead magnet or a trust trigger product) in exchange for their name and email address, and see what happens.

3 Statistics to Know For Successful Physical Therapy Online Marketing To Baby Boomers

physical therapy online marketing

When it comes to physical therapy online marketing, reaching the right audience is the most important component to a successful strategy. For physical therapy offices and businesses, it makes perfect sense for your physical therapy online marketing strategy to target baby boomers. As baby boomers age, they face mobility-related accidents, chronic illnesses, and other health obstacles which require short or long-term physical therapy care. So how can you go about making sure that your services are reaching this demographic locally? Here are three key facts to know–thanks to Hubspot‘s informative article on the Baby Boomer generation–that will help you improve your online marketing strategy.

Fact: 82% of baby boomers are on at least 1 social networking site.

In addition, 15% of baby boomers are on Facebook and spend at least 11 hours on the site per week. This is important to note, especially when you work on your social media marketing.

To reach baby boomers on site like Facebook, make sure that you regularly update your social media sites with news and information related to physical therapy tips and reminders to help reach current and potential clients. For example, you can post infographics about the best stretches or routines to build strength after hip surgery, or develop a series of blog posts with photos that explain various equipment, medical terms, or conditions that baby boomers commonly face. Or, start a conversation asking people informally how they’re feeling after physical therapy. It can be helpful for patients to see others respond positively after 3 months of therapy, or provide insight into what helps. Providing helpful links, starting conversations, and more are all ways to help engage with baby boomer customers, who will see you posts when you are active and engaged on the same networks.

In addition, don’t forget that site like Facebook offer ratings and reviews, which can help baby boomers find trustworthy physical therapists. Developing your social media pages will help you maintain authenticity among this demographic.

Fact: 33% of all tablets are owned by people 50 years and over.

This is important information for understanding how important mobile-responsive and mobile-friendly your online marketing should, especially for baby boomers. According to the Venture Capital Review, baby boomers also own 23% of alliPads and 30% of all Kindle Fires, which can help you understand where they are looking at and reading information.

How does this fact help you adjust your strategy? For one, it reaffirms that your blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates, emails, and newsletters should be brief and graphically pleasing. These formats are best for mobile audiences who are skimming through information quickly. Having attention-grabbing newsletters that are concise and to-the-point has immediate

Fact: Only 5-10% of marketing is targeted to baby boomers, even though they lead as the largest group spending in all types of product and service categories.

This is also reflective in physical therapist marketing strategies: though baby boomers are more likely to need physical therapy, marketing exactly to their group is not always a priority. If you want to step ahead of competitors, you can develop a strategy that will improve your presence.

What would make your online presence more appealing and accessible? From your website appearance to your content, you can do many things that will encourage engagement from baby boomers. For example, photos on your website should reflect the demographics you serve, whether it’s older men and women, or younger athletes. Baby boomers are more inclined to use your services when you use photographs reflecting themselves. In addition, the overall website should also be clean-cut and professional, without any gimmicky colors and graphics that can distracting and unappealing. You might also want to add larger text than standard 12-point font for readability, and easy navigation with larger buttons or tabs to change pages, especially on a tablet.

Overall, these five facts will help you understand baby boomers, and allow you to develop an online marketing strategy that really targets their attention. For more facts, read the compiled list at Hubspot, and contact us to help you serve your demographics.

2 Easy Ways to Improve Your Physical Therapy Online Marketing Content

physical therapy online marketing

“Content is king” is a common, hard truth that marketing strategists rally behind when talking about physical therapy online marketing. Any good website builds quality content in order to improve its ranking and support its marketing strategy at an optimal level. But what actually makes content “king,” and how can you improve it? For one, it’s not about the quantity of content: even if you blog every day for a year, it won’t draw in visitors and patients if it doesn’t have the right content. With that said, we bring you these two easy-to-integrate tips for making sure your content is king:

1. Get into (Info)Graphics

People love visuals, whether it’s an infographic or a candid photo. Your physical therapy online marketing content becomes more valuable when there’s an attached graphic that draws people in. In addition, infographics in all their forms—photo lists, data visualizations, timelines, photo-filled posts and articles—make people more inclined to read through, share or become convinced by the content. As we have seen in our own physical therapy work and the science behind it, visuals and visualizing treatment can be an important component to healing and rehabilitation. Why not apply the importance of visuals to your physical therapy online marketing content?

If your blog or website doesn’t currently have many photos or graphics, it’s time to add them. To start with, add professional photos of your staff in action on your “About” or “Staff” pages. [pullquote1 align=”right” textColor=”#000000″]Your physical therapy office has a wealth of information that’s easy to transform into images or graphics; it’s just a matter of finding the right content and properly distributing it[/pullquote1] You can also create your own flow charts about common treatments performed at your clinic and publish them, or provide data charts to help patients visualize their healing process. You should realize that your physical therapy office has a wealth of information that’s easy to transform into images or graphics; it’s just a matter of finding the right content and properly distributing it. There are many different online tools that can help you create infographics, but hiring someone to add creative, unique and personal content will also go a long way in improving your website.

When posting any sort of image, remember to provide descriptive metadata. This helps search engines properly “read” the image and allows it to pop up in searches.

2. Do Link Building the Right Way

You can think of link building in two ways: inbound and outbound. Link building in general can involve a long list of tactics, but at its most basic level, you should link relevant parts of your content back to other pages on your site. This is how to utilize inbound marketing, and some examples of how this works include the following:

Did you mention another office or location of your physical therapy practice? Link that phrase back to the location page on your website.
Did you refer to a post you made about a specific injury from last month? Link it so your readers can find it easily.
Did you mention your monthly physical therapy newsletter as a resource for special offers and tips? Link the sign up form for the newsletters in that sentence.

This type of inbound link building helps prioritize your message and site, and keeps people from navigating away from it. By providing the relevant links on the same page or blog post, you’ll improve the traffic of your website.

When it comes to outbound linking, you’ll want to make it easy to share and spread your content to others. Make sure that you’re automatically sharing your content on your social media profiles, or making it easy for people to share on various platforms directly from your website. For those with a budget, tools like Bitly are great for sharing shorter links that are optimized for social media and mobile users, and they also allow you see the analytics for each of those pages.

It’s also important to remember that there is a limit to link building: going overboard and providing a link to every phrase can actually penalize your site. This is especially true for websites that pay to generate links, as many analytics tools—like Google—will see it as spam and flag your website as a result. Therefore, it’s best to make sure that each of your links are relevant to the phrase used and distributed in a natural way.

We Can Offer Additional Physical Therapy Online Marketing Tips

[squeeze_box4]By focusing on these two strategies, you will easily boost the quality of your physical therapy online marketing content and present a much higher-quality and professional-looking website. If you still feel you could use some assistance with improving your online marketing, contact us today. We can offer additional tips or establish a specific strategy that addresses all important aspects of your website.[/squeeze_box4]

5 More Physical Therapy Online Marketing Terms Explained in Simple English

physical therapy online marketing

So, you’ve decide to start focusing on marketing your physical therapy practice online. You know you need to set up a website, a blog and social media pages. You now understand what search engine optimization (SEO) refers to and why it’s necessary to include keywords throughout your website, but there may still be some physical therapy online marketing terms that you don’t understand.

For instance, you may have heard the term web content, but don’t know exactly what that means. The same may be true for inline or outbound marketing, terms you know are important but don’t completely “get.” While you may not think that you need to know all these terms, it never hurts to have a basic comprehension of the ins and outs of physical therapy online marketing in order to better promote your practice. This is a field that’s likely to only grow in the future, so the more you understand it now, the better you’re going to be prepared for what’s ahead.

5 More Physical Therapy Online Marketing Terms Explained

With that said, we present you with 5 more physical therapy online marketing terms explained in simple English:

1. Web Content

Web content refers to all the components that make up a website. This includes the written words on the website, as well as all the images and videos, if any are present. Written content is most important and most likely to help you get found by patients, since search engines like Google and Bing only search through words and can’t do so with images. Good written content with lots of effective keywords is therefore all that’s necessary to initially attract visitors to your site. Once they get there, though, you should keep them engaged with good images, video, layout, and other attractive elements.

2. Content Marketing

The aim of content marketing is to draw more traffic to your website. As mentioned above, this is largely done by using good written content with a number of keywords embedded in it, preferably in a natural way. But you should also consider using good images for content marketing. Using images with people in them, striking images with lots of contrast and images that are strictly relevant to your subject matter can all help to keep your reader’s attention and keep them coming back to your website.

3. Listicle

What are you reading right now? You got it. This very blog is called a listicle, or a numbered list. In this case, the list reviews physical therapy online marketing terms, but listicles can be used for just about anything. For example, “5 Great Physical Therapists from History” or “7 Types of Cutting Edge Physical Therapy that Might Be Able to Help You” can both be used as attractive titles for listicles. The advantage of listicles is that people can skip over the things they already know and read only those that they are unfamiliar with.

4. Outbound Marketing

Traditional marketing is all outbound. It reaches out to the consumer and tries to sell a certain product or service. Consider the advertisements you see in magazines, on billboards and on TV. Did you ask for these advertisements to be shown to you? Of course not. In fact, you were given no choice in the matter, and yet at times they do catch your eye and you end up buying some of those products. In the online world, you may also see similar advertisements on websites fairly often, and sometimes you may receive emails that try to sell you certain products. These are all examples of outbound marketing.

5. Inbound Marketing

These days, people prefer to practice inbound marketing rather than outbound marketing. In inbound marketing, you’re not forcing the patient to look at your advertisements, but instead, you just wait until they reach out to you. How can you accomplish this? It could happen via word of mouth, on social media or in some other way. There are many ways in which a patient could hear about your physical therapy services, and any of these can cause them to look your practice up online. When they do this, you need to have a website, blog and social media pages ready to give them all the information they need. This state of readiness to serve a patient and provide them with information is referred to as inbound marketing.

[titled_box title=”We’re Here to Help Your Physical Therapy Online Marketing” bgColor=”#000000″ textColor=”#000000″]This blog is just the beginning, and improving your physical therapy online marketing campaign takes regular, focused effort. If it seems like too large a task for you to handle on your own, allow E-Rehab to step in and offer our assistance. Contact us today to ask about our services and how we can revamp your practice’s online marketing.[/titled_box]

5 Physical Therapy Online Marketing Terms Explained in Simple English

physical therapy online marketing

Most people realize that online marketing is the future, but in many cases, they may not be entirely sure how to actually use it to their advantage. This can be particularly true for physical therapists, as the whole physical therapy online marketing world can seem a bit confusing. Going to a digital marketing expert may help by giving you lots of ideas, but it may also complicate matters and make you feel overwhelmed with all the options they present to you.

5 Physical Therapy Online Marketing Terms Explained

To help simplify things, here are few explanations of 5 physical therapy online marketing terms that will help you to understand what will help increase your business.

1. Website

Of course everyone knows what a website is, so the term doesn’t need much of an explanation. A website is the main vehicle through which you’re going to start your digital marketing efforts. It’s used to tell patients who you are, what types of physical therapy services you provide, what your weekly hours are, your phone number, location and how they can make an appointment, as well as any other essential details.

2. Blog

Most people also know what a blog is but they may not understand what purpose they serve. Some practice owners may struggle with figuring out an effective approach to take on blogging, and they may question whether or not they should actually have a blog in the first place. The truth is that you have to find something new and interesting to write about every week. Doing this will enable you to use a number of keywords and be found in many searches, which improves your visibility and gets your name out there. In addition, it convinces patients that you know what you’re doing and what’s happening in your field.

3. Keywords

Though the term “keywords” is tossed around often, many people still may not understand why they are important. It is true that keywords don’t hold the same power as they once did in the past, but search engines still look through all the words on your website for keywords that people might have searched for. For example, “physical therapy,” “physical therapist” and “physiotherapy” are some of the primary keywords used in the physical therapy field. So you should try to use keywords like these on a regular basis throughout your website in order to be found by more patients looking for treatment.

4. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is another term that a number of individuals struggle with. Even people who work in the SEO field might not be able to define exactly what it means. In basic terms, a search engine is a system like Google or Bing that looks through a large number of websites to find the ones that are most relevant to a person’s search. SEO refers to the creation of websites in such a way that they’ll show up among the first few results when people search for certain keywords. This can be accomplished by using keywords, introducing keyword variety, providing quality content or using lists and bullet points, to name a few possible approaches.

5. Call to Action

Keep in mind that you can spend lots of time setting up your website and providing information to your patients, but it’s not going to do you much good unless you also ask them to participate in the process. This is called a “call to action.” It refers to the point where you say, “contact us for more information.” You can say this in nearly every section of your website, whether it’s your “about us” page, your “services” page or even your blog. Essentially, you should make sure that each page of your website contains this call to action and links back to your “contact us” page, so that patients can easily get in touch with you.

We Can Improve Your Physical Therapy Online Marketing

[squeeze_box5]This is just a brief overview of some of the most commonly used physical therapy online marketing terms, but you may need some helping actually putting them into action. Contact us at E-Rehab for more information on any of these terms or for specific guidance with improving your website and online strategy.[/squeeze_box5]

Complete Beginner’s Guide to Physical Therapy Search Marketing

As a private practice owner, physical therapy search marketing is a channel that you cannot afford to neglect. Search engines account for an enormous percentage of all online traffic. They are constantly directing traffic to one website or another and the search giants of today have held strong percentages of market share since their origin. Google, Bing and Yahoo are unlikely to disappear for a while so long as the Internet relies on search engines to be navigated.

This also applies when it comes to potential patients looking for information on physical therapy or searching for a nearby practice online. In just about all cases, they’re using a search engine to accomplish this task. This is why businesses like yours need to capitalize on physical therapy search marketing and use it to your full advantage, as it remains the dominant source of traffic for all businesses, including physical therapy facilities. Below, we offer some relevant keywords and search marketing opportunities that your practice can start taking advantage of right away.

Use the Google Keyword Planner

Google’s Keyword Planner can help you find relevant physical therapy search marketing keywords. Once found, you can begin targeting them with your search marketing campaigns.

To begin driving traffic to your website immediately, you can use Google AdWords, also known as a PPC ad campaign. PPC stands for “pay-per-click” and it implies that every time your ad is clicked, there is a fee. Although it’s a modest one, these fees can add up to quickly consume a several hundreds dollar search marketing budget. Many businesses in other niches spend thousands to tens-of-thousands of dollars per month on PPC campaigns.

PPC ads are featured at the top of Google and the Keyword Planner is a very important tool for PPC campaigns. When creating your ads you enter targeted keywords that your ads will be displayed for. To get you started, below is a collection of some of the most effective keywords that you should be using on your website. By simply adding the city name in which your facility is located somewhere in the phrase, you’ll have a complete list of targeted keyword phrases to begin creating profitable PPC ads with:

physical therapy
neck physical therapy
back physical therapy
arm physical therapy
leg physical therapy
foot physical therapy
knee physical therapy
hip physical therapy
shoulder physical therapy
physical therapy programs
physical therapy association
physical therapy clinics
sports physical therapy
physical therapy clinic
pediatric physical therapy
outpatient physical therapy
doctor of physical therapy
physical therapy services
advanced physical therapy
orthopedic physical therapy
physical therapy offices
performance physical therapy
physical therapy rehabilitation
professional physical therapy
physical therapy program
physical therapy treatments
geriatric physical therapy
physical therapy centers
physical therapy center
dynamic physical therapy
hand physical therapy
physical therapy locations

Google’s Keyword Planner provides a competition rating and suggested bid amount for each keyword that you intend to target. These metrics are very important. The higher the suggested bid and competition rating, the more that keyword will cost to target with your PPC campaign. Costs can add up quickly when targeting keywords that are highly competitive.

Search Engine Optimization

Just as you can pay to be at the top of search engines, you can also rank there naturally. Using the same keywords that you are targeting through PPC with Google Adwords, you can begin to optimize your website to naturally overtake your competitors and be a top contender for Google’s top 10 search results for a given keyword.

[pullquote1 align=”right” textColor=”#000000″]Search engine optimization (SEO) is relatively straightforward and revolves around one simple concept: content is king[/pullquote1] Search engine optimization (SEO) is relatively straightforward and revolves around one simple concept: content is king. Google has been telling webmasters this for years and while some listen, many have not.

What this means is that the content of your website dictates your results through SEO. When you produce valuable content that your audience and readers will benefit from, you will see more promising results. One way to do this is to utilize your website’s blog and integrate targeted keywords into insightful and knowledgeable blog posts. You can write content such as “how-to” guides, tutorials for physical therapy, suggestions, and home-based treatments for patients, to name a few. Always keep in mind that quality content is better than high quantities of content and that your readers are much more likely to share an article that is worth reading.

To optimize your content for search engines, insert your targeted keywords into the following as possible:

Page Title
Meta Description
Meta Keywords
Tags
Categories
H1 Heading
H2 Heading
H3 Heading
Image ALT Text
URL Structure
Body of the Content

By following this basic structure, your content will be well optimized and ready for sharing. The more your content is shared, the more it will link back to your site, which will increase its search engine rankings. Remember to keep the content readable and not overuse the keywords. Your audience wants an article that flows well and doesn’t sound robotic.

Contact Us for Additional Physical Therapy Search Marketing Tips

[squeeze_box]If you still feel like you can use some help with your physical therapy search marketing, contact us at E-Rehab today. We can work together to establish a strategy that’s feasible for you, and soon enough, you’ll see as your website starts ascending in the search rankings.[/squeeze_box]

Physical Therapy Blogging: How You Can Make Your Strategy More Effective

physical therapy blogging

We listen to feedback from our clients all the time, and it’s often clear that physical therapy blogging can be an intimidating pursuit, especially for a new office or website. Another pressing question that many private practices have is this: with so many other great blogs out there, how can we differentiate ourselves and draw people in to read our content?

Believe it or not, but it’s actually quite simple to get started, so long as you know where to start. That’s why we present you with these “main ingredients,” which we believe are necessary for your physical therapy blogging to become successful.

Purpose

Every good blog, no matter their industry, has a focus or niche, which makes blogging easier for you to reach the right visitors.

So how can you make sure your blog has a purpose? Ask yourself questions like:

Who is my blog targeting? Who do I want to target (age, gender, location, types of therapy, etc.)?
What do I want my blog to provide? Extra tips and advice supplementary to my therapeutic work? My opinion on different practices? Statistics and news?
If I was a prospective patient trying to find my practice, what topics would I search for? What kind of results should show up complementary to my website?

Remember, you can cover multiple topics in your blog, but if you’re the only one providing content, you should be writing about topics that interest you, are worth your time and effort, and ones that make it easier for you to remain consistent. If you’re spending hours researching a topic you’re not interested in or find yourself dragging your feet, you’re less likely to be building a blog that’s true to your purpose or goal. As a result, you increase the likelihood that you’re not meeting the best successful standard to blogging: consistency.

Consistency

Consistency is a key part of not just connecting with your audience, but also helping to maintain your web presence and website ranking. On the other hand, blogs that are infrequently posted may leave visitors wondering how reliable your office and the treatment you offer is.

Establishing a schedule (e.g. at least once a week or once a month) will help you remain consistent. You can always post compelling work whenever you find it outside of this regular schedule, but making your minimum posting at least keeps your blog and website active and engaged.

Engagement

In addition to purpose and consistency, you need to be engaging in your physical therapy blogging. Connecting with your audience—whether they love your writing or bring up counterarguments—adds authenticity and personality to your blog.[pullquote2 align=”left” textColor=”#000000″]Connecting with your audience—whether they love your writing or bring up counterarguments—adds authenticity and personality to your blog [/pullquote2] Ask questions, call for their own experiences or opinions, and reply to their comments to show that you’re not a robot generating random content, but a concerned therapist looking out for visitors and patients.

Engagement also doesn’t stop at your website’s blog page. You’ll need to reach people through social media by sharing your posts on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest or even LinkedIn. Make sure that there are sharing buttons to various social media networks you use, and automate your posts so that they show up on your own social media feeds whenever you post.

In addition, following thought leaders in the field and engaging with their work through conversation, guest posting or sharing can help broaden your blog’s visibility and get you connected to prominent bloggers and authoritative figures in physical therapy.

Your Voice

At its foundation, the most successful aspect of physical therapy blogging comes down to you and your voice.[pullquote2 align=”right” textColor=”#000000″] The success of the best blogs with lots of followers is always due to the voice of the writer, who isn’t afraid to reveal his or her true emotions, whether it’s excitement or even disappointment.[/pullquote2] Your voice is key to making your blog unique and providing an engaging, fun, and caring perspective. The success of the best blogs with lots of followers is always due to the voice of the writer, who isn’t afraid to reveal his or her true emotions, whether it’s excitement or even disappointment.

Having that voice is extremely important in the physical therapy industry: when people are searching for a new doctor or therapist, they want someone who they can connect with and someone who shows that they care. When you use your voice on your blog and talk about some of your favorite aspects of the job, what new therapeutic techniques you love or think needs more research, or updates on patients that are transformed by your work, you’ll easily draw people in.

Let Us Guide Your Physical Therapy Blogging

[squeeze_box3]Having a purpose, being consistent, showing engagement and presenting your own voice will really make a difference in your physical therapy blogging and the results that you see come from it. If you need guidance to get you started blogging, or at any other step in the process, E-Rehab can help. Contact us today to find out what we can do for your practice.[/squeeze_box3]

How to Improve Physical Therapy Search Marketing

It’s 2016, and just about everything imaginable can be found on the Internet. As this expansion inevitably continues, you may start to grow concerned that the larger the Internet gets, the smaller your physical therapy practice’s website becomes, especially when all your competitors also have a sites of their own. The reality of the age we live in may cause a stir, but you’re not powerless against it: create a strategy to improve your physical therapy search marketing and you’ll establish your practice as a visible name that stands out above the rest.

More than Just ‘Having a Website’

If you own a physical therapy practice and already have a website, it’s a good start but only the first step. Being available on the Internet makes it much easier for potential patients to find you, because it’s the first place most people turn when they are looking for any business. When it comes to searching for businesses, some people will use a “yellow pages” type website, but most prefer a traditional search engine like Google, Bing or Yahoo. If your website can’t be found by these, or any other smaller, search engine, people are going to have a hard time finding it, and, again, you might as well not exist. It’s important to ensure that your business has high rankings on search engines, because people will tend to look at the first few search results and ignore anything else.

Physical therapy websites are unique in the way they are set up and how they need to be marketed on the Internet. If you have a physical therapy website, or are in need of the creation of one, it is best to turn to a professional company to help you. There are plenty of companies on the Internet that will help you with setting up your website, and many will help with optimizing your search. But with physical therapy companies, it is best to look to a company that knows something about physical therapy and how to market that particular type of business.

So how do you improve your physical therapy search marketing? The first thing is to have a good website that is search engine optimized (SEO). But really, turning to a professional to help you with improving your search engine ranking is the ray to go. E-rehab.com is an ideal solution for physical therapy websites to improve their search rankings. They are set up specifically for helping physical therapy and rehabilitation companies get up and running on the Internet, and that includes improving search marketing for your website.

If you have a physical therapy website, or are in need of setting up physical therapy website, turn to the experts at E-rehab.com. We know what it takes to make sure that a physical therapy company that is looking to get established on the Internet is found in the search results of the major search engines. We know what goes on “behind the scenes” at the search engines, and how to optimize a website to be found by the search engines and let people find your business on the Internet.

The Internet is a big place with millions of websites vying for people’s attention. How do you get your physical therapy website out there for people to see and access? You turn to the professionals so that your physical therapy search marketing is successful. E-rehab.com has the necessary capabilities to make your marketing strategy successful, and make your business found on the Internet.

If you are interested in seeing how much more successful your physical therapy business can be, contact us, we would be happy to help you get started.

What the Best Physical Therapy Websites Have to Offer

physical therapy websites

When it comes to building a website for your business, there are a few basic practices that are standard in any industry. The following are often considered essentials:

An eye-catching display
Easy navigation
A clear sense of what your business is and what it has to offer

But when it comes to physical therapy websites, there are a few additional factors to keep in mind that will make your website stand out from your competitors. You want to convince new patients to come to your clinic, while also offering your current patients the information they need without getting bogged down in a marketing campaign. With that in mind, here are some features that the best physical therapy websites offer their visitors:

Valuable—and Free—Health Information

Because so many physical therapy patients are referred by their doctors, your website needs to do more than just attract business. It should stand out as a leader in the field of physical therapy by providing valuable information that patients and other site visitors may be searching for. [blockquote align=”left”]According to Pew Research, up to 80% of e-patients turn to the Internet to find out about an illness or injury. [/blockquote]

Based on this, your website should offer e-patients a credible resources with credible and useful information. There are several possible ways to accomplish this:

Host a blog where you write about a different physical therapy topic every week
Ask site visitors to sign up for a weekly email newsletter that will contain more in-depth research and columns from various physical therapists; make sure your sources are current, reliable and credible
Provide links to articles, and make sure to check facts before posting them

The time you invest in making your website informative will pay off when you are seen as a thoughtful and experienced leader in the field.

A Practice Run of the First Appointment

Keep in mind that physical therapy is new for many patients, and as a result, it can be a little intimidating. Give site visitors a feel for what they should expect during their first appointment. Offer a video or picture tour of the facility and include photos and bios of all the physical therapists. Give new patients a rundown of what to expect from the moment they walk in the door and answer some of these questions:

How long is the typical wait time?
What should I wear to the first appointment?
How long will it last?
What types of insurance do you accept?

Your visitors should leave your website with the confidence of knowing exactly what is waiting for them when they step through the door for their first appointment.

Online Scheduling

The ease and convenience of the Internet means that many patients are online at most hours, including hours your clinic isn’t open. Allowing patients to schedule, reschedule or cancel appointments online gives them freedom to consider their appointments during off-business hours.

Mobile access

This one goes hand-in-hand with online scheduling. More and more consumers are conducting business on-the-go through cell phones and tablets, so make sure your website is mobile-compatible. [pullquote4 align=”right” textColor=”#2aec3f”]People are using mobile devices 60% of the time compared with only 40% of time being spent on computers[/pullquote4]A recent report from comScore shows that people are using mobile devices 60% of the time compared with only 40% of time being spent on computers. Most of that mobile time is being used on apps, so it’s worth considering whether or not you can make an app for your physical therapy clinic that allows patients to track their progress, their payments and their appointments.

E-Rehab Creates and Improves Physical Therapy Websites

[highlight2]There are clearly many elements that go into building physical therapy websites that will attract new patients and still be a useful tool for returning patients. Fortunately, you don’t need to build your website on your own. Contact us to see how E-Rehab can create the perfect website for your physical therapy clinic.[/highlight2]