Using Google Adwords for Your Cosmetic Surgery Practice – Easier Than You Think

Adwords Rule #1:

You do not need an SEO or SEM company to do this for you.  If you or a member of your staff has an extra 30 minutes a week, you should be doing it yourself.  Why?  Because it really is that easy.  You and I both know Google makes a lot more money than we ever will.  You have to respect that though.  They have a very user-friendly system that allows small businesses (like you and me) to take advantage of their mass audience.  They make this as simple as possible.  Why?  The easier it is, the better the chance you will spend money with them.

There are a lot of companies out there that are happy to take your money by selling their pay per click (aka. SEM) services.  They call themselves Google accredited or Google certified.  There are so many reasons to stay away from a company that does this.

1. Trust - They do not give you live access to your Google account.  They can tell you that you had 50 clicks, and in reality you had 1.
2. Google Certified – It is a less than 30 minute exam, including studying.  You are allowed to take it until you pass.  If you read 3 pages of information on how ad words works, you too can become a Google certified ad words specialist.  My 10 year old son actually is certified as well!
3. Pay Per Click plus fees – This is where the money is at:  To explain in detail, Google works on a bidding system.  Whoever bids the highest is first, and so on.  However, what you bid and what you pay are 2 different things.  You pay only one penny more than the next highest bid.  Let’s say Doctor 1 bids 17.00 dollars a click, but Doctor 2 bids .33 cents a click, then doctor one will only pay .34 cents for the click.  If Doctor 2 raises his bid to 1.00, then Doctor 1 pays 1.01. What they do as a company is they bid 17 dollars on your specific ad, knowing that the next bid below it is .35.  They can tell you they are bidding so high for you but it is actually costing them only .36 cents. And guess what you paid for the .36 cent click?  Statistically and from our research, usually 5 to 6 times that amount.  How many patients are you losing by paying these fees?  Likely, a good amount because the high profits they make is money you could be spending on getting more patients into your office.

This is only the tip of the iceberg but I have to say, if you can not monitor something through the source, it is usually a bad sign.  Meaning, if you are paying for Google ad words, and you can not go to Google and verify the actual volume of clicks and your cost, then it is a bad deal.

By the way, some of these services are worth it. You have to understand all companies are in business to make money, except for the non-profits of course.  If you find a company willing to handle it for you, and show you the real costs including what they make, it may be worth considering.  It may not be worth your time to do it yourself.  But if you want to do it yourself, shoot me an email and I will send you some links on how to get started today.  It is easier than your typical surgery, I bet.

Keep Cosmetic Patients Happy - Patient Customer Service - Concepts to Follow

Customer service is a vital part of any business and really makes or breaks a company.  The better you treat your clients, the happier they are, which will typically lead to them remaining your client for a much longer period of time.  This simple and obvious concept remains true for all companies, from Fortune 500 mammoths to the smallest fish in the pond.  A happy client means more money for you.  It is that simple.

The interesting thing is many cosmetic surgeons overlook this and do not realize how important it really is.  Every plastic surgeon, cosmetic dentist, Lasik surgeon, etc. makes it a point to point out how HUGE their word of mouth business is.  When I am approached with that statement, my immediate response to any surgeon is, “That is great to hear.  What do you think you can do to increase the volume and size of your word of mouth patients?”  The most common answer I hear is that “we do enough to keep them coming back.”  My next question is “what do you do?”  Almost every time, the answer is “give them discounts” or “they are happy with the results, there is no reason they would not refer people to me.”

Discounts are great… I love them, you love them, and everyone loves them.  However, it is very important to go much further than that.

Keep these things in mind:

1. You have already established a huge amount of trust with this patient.  They let you operate on them, they love the results, and they want to promote you.  They are your best testament and source of new patients.  None of my hundreds of websites can compete with word of mouth, it is simply too strong and personal.
2. They like to hear from you.  Not everyday spams, or weekly updates.  Monthly newsletters are great but be sure to follow my quarterly personal concept… discussed below.  Keeping in touch with an interesting article or a reminder to visit your blog is a simple way to get your name out there.
3. Let them tell you how happy they are - Patient Survey - 6 months after.  There are numerous survey companies out there, and they are simple to do by yourself as well.  This is a very smart thing to do.

Keep in Touch – Earn More Return Business and Word of Mouth Business

1. All you have to do is ask. Ask patients if they are willing to get emails every once in a while in reference to you.  Be sure that you do not bombard them with emails from every potential patient, but one or two a month usually is okay.  Many successful surgeons do this already, but it works well so I figured I would point out the obvious.
2. Quarterly Personal Touch. The cost to you is about 7 dollars a year, per patient.  Happy Holidays, Happy Valentine’s Day, Happy Independence Day and Happy Halloween (or whatever other holiday you want to celebrate).  Send every past patient a card, not a newsletter or email, but an actual snail-mail card.  These can be purchased, electronically written for you, and mailed at a relatively cheap price.  The value is enormous.  It keeps you in front of them all the time and reminds them why they chose you and why they would go back to you, and send friends if it came up.
3. Happy Birthday to you! Send your patients a birthday card with a short handwritten note.  Very effective on personal touch… it makes them remember why they chose you as a surgeon!

Medical Website Design – Cosmetic Surgeons Websites – Medical Marketing Advice

Your personal website should make you money.  I speak to so many surgeons that really do not understand that.  Now, the trick with Internet Marketing is that you actually have to spend money on making your website work, in the sense of it creating a positive cash flow for you.  The most common misconception is that once the site is constructed, your job is done.  With everything in life, the more that you put into it, the more you will get out of it.  Here is the problem though.  You are a cosmetic surgeon, not a website designer or programmer.  You likely know very little about it, which is fine, it is not your job.  However, this also leads to some detrimental mistakes that keep your website from becoming what it could be.  When you choose a company to build your medical website, to do search engine optimization (seo), to make changes to your current website or simply to host your site you need to be very careful.  There are numerous “rookie” mistakes that you can make.  I have listed some below:

1. The Domain – Be Sure You Own It
   When you find a company that you are happy with, be sure that you own the domain.  This is the most common mistake I see.  Have you ever seen the movie Ransom, starring Mel Gibson.  This actually reminds me a lot of that movie.  You work with a company, you give them a lot of money, you trust them, etc.  Then they decide to raise their rates tremendously, they don’t do what they say they were going to do, they don’t call you back, or any other situation comes up and you decide it is time to switch to another company.  But you don’t own your own website that you have paid for, etc.  Seems stupid, but it happens a lot.  The company then tells you, that they are happy to transfer the domain and website into your name, but you need to pay them X amount (sometimes $500, sometime $5,000 and sometimes even more) for them to do it.  They hold your website hostage and demand a ransom….what can you do?  When you sign a contract with a company, be sure you own the domain.  You can check who owns the domain on www.whois.net.  It is a simple, free tool for you.  If you need help finding out, shoot me an email.
2. Search Engine Optimization – Your New Website
   Always try to find a company to build your website that has both the ability to build the site and also search engine optimize it.  A common mistake I see is that cosmetic surgeons will choose one company that has no clue about search engine optimization to build the website, and then after the website is complete, try to find a company to get that website to the top of the search engines.  Unfortunately, it only hurts you.  You pay more and get less results because of this, both short term and long term.  Search Engine Optimization should be built into the website, not added after the website is complete.  Be sure the company you choose knows how to do both and make them show you examples.  I can easily give you a list of questions to ask that can help you determine if they actually know what they are doing.  Most companies have great sales people that can convince you they are the best….make them show you actual verifiable results.  That is a lot easier to understand than a long sales pitch.
3. Your website is complete – How do I add more content?
   This is one of the largest money makers for medical website design companies.  You want to add before and after photos, articles, text, change your phone number, or anything else, but wait, there is a charge for that.  Of course, you are not working with a non-profit so you do have to pay money for services.  However, the issue here is when you are paying someone $50 to change your phone number, or $100 to add an article.  Over time this adds up and makes you a lot less likely to add content.  Changing a phone number should take no more than 2 minutes, total.  A good company will happily do that for free for you.  NKP Medical makes most updates and changes for our current clients at no charge.  The problem with most companies is they think short term, and want as much money as they can get now.  That is also why most companies have very high customer turnover, because you feel like you are being taken advantage of.  It is not fair.  My philosophy, and of course my companies philosophy on this is that when you are making changes to your site, it will mean your site will be more successful for you, both with conversion and also with search engine optimization.  This will make you a happier client which means you will stay with us for a long time.  Customer service is so vital for every company, and most do not realize it.  Get everything in writing before signing any contract.  Be sure that updates and changes are included or are billed per job, not hourly.  This will make it much easier for you to understand exactly what you are paying for.
4. Client Testimonials – Who can I call?
   To me, this is by far the most interesting concept where you are just setting yourself up to be taken advantage of.  When I am asked the question “ Who can I talk to that uses your services?”  It can be phrased in so many ways, but all you are asking for is a third party testament to their services.  So yeah, the smart thing to do is to ask them who you can call……not really.  When I am asked this question, my immediate and constant response is, “Call any of my clients, here is a list of all of them.”  Companies give clients free services, money back, and other incentives to give them a raving testimonial.  I guess my simple point is ask the company for a list of 20 clients, and call three randomly.  Do not call who they tell you to call because of course you and I both already know the answer before you even call that person.  The other thing you can do is Google the companies name, and it should be relatively easy to find some of their clients.  Calling people randomly will get you a much better feel for how good that company really is.  They should welcome it too, if they are good at what they do.

Feel free to email or call me with any questions.  We are always available for free consultations and advice.

Importance of Marketing – Even when the economy is down

I speak to hundreds of cosmetic surgeons every single year, and recently have called some of my top performing clients to figure out how they are doing so well, in this economy.   I have heard numerous different answers, from “I guess I am just lucky” to “I am the best in my area.”  However, I don’t believe one of the surgeons I spoke with really knew for sure, so I felt it was necessary to drill down on a couple things.  I also researched some of the world’s largest companies, to see what they tend to do when markets slide, and the future is not certain.

A good friend of mine is the VP of marketing for a Fortune 500 company.  His comment to me over dinner a couple weeks ago was very valuable, and intelligent.  Specifically, he said “In times like this, most companies will cut back on marketing, in fear of the future. We are the opposite.  Our competitors are cutting back on marketing, we have increased it.  This is the best time ever to increase your company’s market share.”  It is true in his industry, and true in Cosmetic Medical Marketing as well.  Now, the “market share” is a bit different for him than it is for you, but similar in many ways.

Here are some rules I would recommend to follow:

1. If you are running a cosmetic practice, the best source of patient’s for you is obviously word of mouth patients.  When a previous patient recommends you to there friends, family and colleagues the conversion level sky rockets.   It also gives you more word of mouth patients, because they will tell their friends, family and colleagues.  The value of one patient is usually not understood by many cosmetic surgeons, but the long term value of one patient is enormous.  One pleased patient can result in 22 new word of mouth patients in the matter of 5 years.  Now, if you perform surgery on say 5 new patients a week, after one month you have likely put yourself in a position to have 440 new patients, from those 20 patients, in a matter of 5 years. One plastic surgeon I spoke with told me last week that word of mouth patients never go away, and is the main reason he spends so much on Internet Marketing.  The new patients it brings in only results in more patients in the future.  The cost per new patient is much higher, but the long term benefit is almost immeasurable.
2. Yellow Pages used to be a great way to market.  Not any more in my opinion.  They cost a lot, and produce very little results in most cases.  Think about it, patients can research cosmetic surgeons and procedures online, where they get a wealth of information, including photos, testimonials, videos, photos, a full CV and instant contact.  In the yellow pages, if you spend a lot, you get a full page color ad, amongst hundreds of other ads.  If you have a business card size ad, you probably are rarely even seen. If you spend half the amount of money you spend on the Yellow pages, on the Internet, you will still get more patients than ever before.  It really should be the first thing anyone who wants significant growth cuts.  They are outdated.
3. Your personal website is you.  It represents you, is controlled by you, and paints the picture to the patient, who you are.  I will write more on personal websites in the future, but am happy to answer any questions you have.  Bottom line:  An awesome personal website can make you a lot of money.  A poorly made personal website can really hurt your business.  There are certain rules to follow, which I will cover in the near future.
4. Patient Referral Websites can be an excellent tool in getting a lot of patients.  Many of the sites will over saturate the market, which only harms you, but makes them more money.  When choosing a patient referral website, I would follow the following steps and have these questions answered.
   A. How many surgeons in my area will you allow? You should get this in writing in the contract you sign.
   B. Do you have a trial period? This is a common question which I am personally against. The main reason is trial periods are typically 2-3 months and will not give you a full feel on how the program works. It really hurts you more than them. Give a program a full year to make you money. This will allow you to see how well it really works, and give you the chance to truly evaluate the program.
   C. What qualifications does a surgeon need to have to advertise on the site? Important only because you do not want to be affiliated with people not qualified to do what you do.

For a full list of questions to ask a potential referral website, feel free to email me through the contact form here.

Simple, Free ways to Market Yourself and Get More Business Now

Numerous clients have asked what else they can do expand there online presence to get more patients online.  My response is always that there are numerous free ways to do that, and below is a sampling of a few. Feel free to email me anytime….just use the contact form on this website.

1. Social Networking Sites are very easy to set up and can produce patients into your office quickly, if done right.  MySpace, FaceBook etc are great examples of websites that have millions of visitors, and potential patients.  Simply creating a page, doing some weekly maintenance (which by the way, is simple to do) and responding to comments and questions, will generate clients for you, if done properly.  You can also link to your personal website, so it will generate traffic to it as well.  It will take you less than 10 -15 minutes to do, cost’s you nothing, and could generate good business for you.  I know of one client that receives about 3 new plastic surgery cases a month just from MySpace.  This is one of those “why would you not do it?” type of things.  If you need advice on how to set it up, and the best methods to use, shoot me an email.
2. A Blog on your personal website is a great tool to get the word out.  You probably spend a good amount of money to drive traffic to it, and many surgeons make the major mistake of not promoting it internally properly.  External promotion (seo, referral websites, pay per click ads, etc) is great, but if you do not have the right tools on your website to convert the patient, it is useless.  As you know, every single patient is different, and has different desires.  This means that one piece of content that a specific patient finds very helpful, another patient will think is completely useless, even if they are searching for the same surgery.  Blogging is a simple way of addressing numerous things constantly.  This casts a wider net on your personal website which will simply bring more patients into your office.  It is also very helpful for search engine optimization.  Go to www.blogger.com to set up a blog….it is very simple.  By the way, you can write about anything, from your weekend with the family, to your thoughts on certain procedures.  Patients want to get to know you……this is a great free way for them to get to know you.
3. Word of Mouth patients are the most valuable asset to every single practice.  These are patients that had a procedure done with you, are happy with it, and telling there friends and family to use you too.  Some of the most successful practices I have been in touch with maximize there cash flow by marketing to these patients.  By using a newsletter, or email, you will not only get the happy patient to come back to your practice, but that patient may forward that email to there friend, and so on.  Some practices use incentives to former patients to market for them.  One of my clients buys dinner at the nicest steak house in the city for any past patient that refers a new patient to his practice.  Former patients are walking testimonials, and can (and probably already are) generating huge traffic into your office.  Take care of them and they will do the same for you!
4. Google Maps is a very valuable tool to every business that has a website.  This is a free service that drives a ton of traffic to whoever is on the first page of it.  It is actually something very simple to get on, it is free and simple to get to the top of.  This way, when patients type in a specific term and city or area, Google maps will show a map of all the businesses in that area, prior to the natural listings.  If you are interested in learning how to get to the top of it, shoot me an email.  It is simple, free and a huge traffic driver to your personal website, which means more and more patients for you.

If you are interested in learning more about NKP Medical Marketing, shoot me an email.  Feel free to email me as well if you want more tips on how to promote your practice for free.  I can be reached by using this contact form.