1. Make a connection between the services and the physician. James Shamloo, MD, medical director of Avanguard Surgery Center in Tarzana, Calif., says patients typically don’t search for surgery centers when in need of medical attention but rather physicians who are qualified and demonstrate a high level of patient care. Avanguard’s website allows a patient to click on a certain specialty, such as pain management, which takes the patient to another page that lists Avanguard’s pain management physicians.
“The difficulty in marketing a surgery center is that the public doesn’t have any direct interest in it. So although our surgery center is great and provides great services, the physicians are the main driving force behind our facility, so our website will direct patients to the surgeons who practice whatever specialty they are seeking treatment in,” Dr. Shamloo says.
2. Hire an IT expert. Establishing an online presence that is neither cumbersome nor uninteresting may be hard to achieve, so consulting IT experts to assist in the initial start-up processes may be worth investing in. David Greene, MD, owner of Preferred Pain Center in Phoenix, admits he isn’t as proficient in using the web as some other professionals in the industry. Consequently, he worked with a local IT expert who helped him set up a website for the pain management center.
“It’s sometimes difficult to do this by yourself,” Dr. Greene says. “I initially tried to put together a website, but after I put it through a coding system I found there were 190 errors, and that’s when I realized I had to take it to the next level. We hired a local expert, who is an expert at combining all the elements to make it visually appealing and educational while optimizing it so search engines like it.”
3. Upload educational content. Offering educational material about symptoms, conditions and various treatments of pain on your ASC’s website demonstrates to patients the knowledge and expertise the facility possesses about the subject matter and also gives patients a reason to keep returning to the website. Dr. Greene says posting educational content in the form of blog posts gives his pain patients a place to go if they have any questions about pain they may be experiencing.
“Everyone goes to the Internet first to look for information on their health and which healthcare providers are available to provide treatment. On our website, we offer so much educational content that prospective patients often stay on the site after reading the educational part and look into what we have to offer,” Dr. Greene says. “Existing patients will also continue to come back to the site to learn more about their conditions.”
One example of educational content was an article Dr. Greene wrote about generative disc disease. To cater to the needs and questions of patients suffering from this condition, he offered up seven alternatives to surgery. “If a patient with degenerative disc disease went on our blog, they’ll find seven ways to avoid surgery with one alternative being, for example, by spinal decompression,” he says. “I’ll hyperlink that ‘spinal decompression’ to another page that talks more in-depth about it.”
4. Use video applications to post interviews. Posting videos and making your ASC’s website more interactive will encourage existing and prospective patients to revisit your website. One way Preferred Pain has incorporated videos onto its website is by conducting interview with patients and posting the interviews as testimonials on the website.
“I try not to do one-sentence testimonials, but instead I will explain through these videos what the patient’s pain was, how bad it was, how it was affecting their daily lives, the treatment they underwent and how they’re doing now,” Dr. Greene says. “So these are real people speaking to real issues, and visitors to our website can see that.”
5. Update the website regularly to encourage online traffic. By regularly updating the website, an ASC puts itself at a better chance of creating a stronger online presence because search engines, such as Google, will rank the site higher when online users do searches.
“If a website is static and not a living, breathing one, traffic is obviously going to decrease and that’s not what you want,” Dr. Greene says. “It’s a concept called inbound marketing, which means you have already set the stage so that you are not pushing the message on the audience, but rather users are naturally pulled to the website with all its features, educational content, videos and so on.”
Learn more about Avanguard Surgery Center.
Learn more about Preferred Pain Center.
At the Becker's 23rd Annual Spine, Orthopedic and Pain Management-Driven ASC + The Future of Spine Conference, taking place June 11-13 in Chicago, spine surgeons, orthopedic leaders and ASC executives will come together to explore minimally invasive techniques, ASC growth strategies and innovations shaping the future of outpatient spine care. Apply for complimentary registration now.
