...Before Developing Your Own Traditional search engine optimization is the most effective means for getting potential LASIK patients to find your LASIK website. The reason for this is that “natural” top search engine result listings are more credible than sponsored ones (highly positioned natural listings tend to be viewed as a third-party endorsement).
If your LASIK practice is in a large, competitive market, chances are that in addition to extensive keyword optimization, you will need to use multiple web marketing tools on an on-going basis to become and remain competitive. But, if your practice is in a smaller market and you have a limited Internet marketing budget, a “Pay-Per-Click” campaign can still be an effective way to drive traffic to your website.
A quick caution: even if you decide to exclusively employ a “Pay-Per-Click” strategy, fresh, original and quality content continues to be of utmost importance since the Internet is being utilized increasingly by prospects as a research tool (do you recognize a consistent theme throughout this blog?). It is difficult to gain credibility as an expert in ophthalmology among prospective patients if your web site is not a “go to” resource.
But regardless of how competitive your market is, as with any smart and effective marketing campaign, you first need to determine your budget, your marketing needs, an estimate of the return on your investment and a way to track results. The good news is that the Internet, more than other media, lends itself to the ability to track results. The way to determine your Internet marketing needs, on the other hand, is the same as for any of your other marketing endeavors: you must first investigate what your competitors are doing.
A good place to start is to generate a list of localized keyword phrases. This is an art unto itself and will not be dealt with in this article. The next step is to choose one of the four major search engines and do a search for one of your more important keyword phrases. Take note of which of your competitor’s websites are receiving favorable positioning and which appear under the sponsored listings. Do the same for three or four of your other top keywords. Then repeat the process with the other three major search engines (as of this writing, the four major search engines are Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask).
This process can be tedious, but not far along into it, there is a good chance you will identify some of the same websites persistently getting favorable positioning. Needless to say, these are the sites of your principal online competition. These are also the sites whose success you will need to emulate and improve upon.
First you should re-visit your keyword list and try to identify relevant keyword phrases that elicit traffic and your competitors may have overlooked. Then visit the sites you identified as those belonging to your principal online competition and try to identify what makes them successful.
How much and what quality content do they have? Is it well organized? Who do they link to and who links to them (you can uncover the latter with http://www.linkpopularity.com/)? Are any of the incoming links from a blog or an electronic public relations article? Where and how often do their keywords appear? Are their keywords being used in the headline(s)? How about the title page? What design elements are being employed? Are they offering “no recovery, no fee” or other promotions? Is it easy to contact them?
More information about link popularity.
Now look at the source code. What meta tags do you find, if any? Are the keywords being used in their images’ ALT tags? Are they spamming (hiding keywords not visible to the web user) or using other deceitful tactics? If they do, you may want to report the site to the major search engines, not only for competitive reasons, but also for the betterment of the medium as a whole.
After going through this exercise, you will have a much better idea what it will take to be competitive online in your market. You will also be better armed to ask questions of the search engine optimization team you may consider working with and to set a budget for your internet marketing campaign.
And after you revamp or begin your online marketing efforts, be sure to keep track of your competitor’s online performance. Your competitors’ tactics will likely change, and so will the rules of the game.
Jessica Espinoza
Page 1 Solutions
