Reason 1: Finding You

Reason 2: Are you Legit?

Reason 3: Patient Education

Reason 4: Save Staff Time!

Reason 5: Save Patients Time!

Reason 1: Finding You

Do you even exist?

If a prospective patient uses Google, will your practice show up? If a current patient searches for you - to find out your hours, phone number or location - will you appear?

Today, if you don’t have a website for your medical or dental practice, you don’t exist. More importantly, if your competitors have websites and you don’t, you are missing out (and you might not have thought about it until now).

Don’t believe for a moment that the internet is only for younger people. More people of all ages prefer the internet over the phone book to gather information and impressions.

A good website by a reputable company brings patients to you. It allows your current patients to send you referrals more easily. Make sure people can find you.

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Reason 2: Are You Legit?

Like it or not, people form impressions: Do you and your staff answer the phone professionally? Is your office clean and orderly? Is it well-appointed or shabby?

How do your business card and brochure look?

Is your email address JSmith@AOL.com or JSmith@SmithCare.com?

Is your website attractive and helpful, or amateurish?

Do you even have a website?

This subtle “judging” churns in all of our minds. We can’t help it. And today, people see your website before any of the other items mentioned above! (That’s because it’s safe to “check you out” on the internet, anonymously. Most people are a bit shy; we prefer to search the web before picking up the phone). in the first few seconds, the patient is wondering:

• do they have website?
• what is it like?
• what are “they” like?
• how do I feel now that I’ve looked? Comfortable? Secure? Willing to pay real money to get this quality of care and expertise?

Even without reading, an impression is formed. A professional website home page is a signpost - your office front and yellow page ad, rolled into one (and available from anywhere). It conveys your style, your approachability, your expertise. It legitimizes your enterprise; it justifies your price.

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Reason 3: Patient Education

Many people like to learn all they can before choosing a care provider. And so they read, dig, and compare. You should make that easy for them

One way to do that is to compile a knowledge library on your website. With an editable website, you and your staff can continually update relevant documents on treatments, medications, and more. As knowledge and treatments improve, you can update your site continually (without paying a webmaster).

In the process, you create the impression of being the experts in the field, and you establish your practice as the source for current information. Prospective patients choose you over other practices. Current patients become better informed.

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Reason 4: Save Staff Time!

You'll save hours and days of staff time by publishing basic information online. Throw in patient paperwork and current medical knowledge, and you'll make a quantum leap.

Use your staff for the quality work for which they were trained: Special attention, one-on-one interaction, and running your office. Answering the same basic questions over and over is just a waste of their time (and your money).

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Reason 5: Save Patients Time!

New patients and returning patients could get a lot of answers and take care of many routine tasks by using your website.

What kinds of treatments do you provide? How do I find you? What are your hours? Do you take insurance? What are your other policies?

These are questions that normally require a phone conversation with one of your staff members.

More substantial transactions also can be handled using your website. Things like:

• Requesting an appointment. Patients can submit a first, second and third choice. Your staff gets an email, schedules, and confirms via email.
• Paper forms. Patients can print out your paperwork and complete it in the their own homes. They just bring it when they come in. This is easier for the patient, and it takes less of your staff time.
• Completing forms online: even better than paper! Online forms are easier for the patient than paper. Once submitted, your staff can print out the completed information, or upload it to your patient database. These are secure forms that are encrypted to comply with HIPAA regulations.
• Making payments. Patients can pay you online using a secure credit card transaction. It's faster, easier, and the funds go right into your account.

We like building websites for non-profits, and and we donate half of our fee back to them. So we were especially happy for the opportunity to rebuild the Latimer House website. Home to the Historical Society of the Lower Cape Fear, the Latimer House sponsors tours, houses historical archives, and features a beautiful enclosed garden. Their website, HSLCF.org, includes online ticket purchasing and e-newsletter signup (in addition to a design we really like).

Visit their site at HSLFC.org. More importantly, visit the Latimer House.

Wilmington attorneys Mitch Baker and Troy Slaughter have created a new website for their firm.

The site, bakerandslaughter.com, is flash as well as substance. The design features an animated photo slideshow that presents both attorneys and the approach of the firm. Professional photography makes a world of difference. The site is also a deep and well-organized law library of only original and topical material. As "attorneys to the attorneys," Baker and Slaughter provide current material in a special section of the site geared toward attorneys. Another section addresses the public. A client section is also available, as well as a Hot Topics area that addresses up-to-the-minute developments in ongoing cases.