Experts say it costs 6-7 times more to acquire new business than it is to sell to an existing customer. Unfortunately for even the best chiropractors, new business is the lifeblood of most practices, which means you’re continually marketing yourself to stay afloat.
In today’s digital landscape, one of your most powerful marketing tools is your website. Studies show that 85% of consumers rely on internet searches to find local businesses, including the best chiropractor in their area.
These five tips can help you generate a steady stream of new visitors to your website (and even help you keep some of the old ones!):
Research and Leverage Keywords in Your Blog
Have you ever wondered why some blog articles make it to Google’s coveted Page 1 while others are left behind? It isn’t always because the content is “better” than other similar articles. Rather, a few simple keywords can make the difference being on Page 1 and Page 11 (and honestly, who’s going to go all the way to Page 11 to find you?).
Simply put, keywords are the words or phrases someone types into a search engine to find out more about those terms. For a chiropractor, a few example terms might be “best chiropractor,” “spinal subluxation,” or “develop good posture.”
If you have a blog, make sure you include the right words that will help others find your content online. You can use free keyword tools such as Moz or SEMrush to discover what people are searching for and the websites that are ranking for those terms.
A few tips for using keywords:
- Write each article to focus on 1-2 keywords.
- Include keywords in the title and headers (H2’s)
- Use keywords throughout your blog article (about 1-2% of your words should be keywords)
- Place keywords in image Alt tags
- Consider the geographical terms people are likely to search for, such as “best chiropractor in “area”
Provide Value-Driven Content, Not Sales Pitches
Developing content for your website can help to drive initial traffic, but visitors will come back if your content delivers value.
Granted, the ultimate goal of providing content is to gain new customers. However, coming off like a cheap salesperson rather than the best chiropractor in your market won’t help you build trust and authority, both of which are crucial stepping stones in the customer journey.
If you want to include a call-to-action in your content, opt for one that doesn’t sound like you’re trying to sell them. A subtle “Got questions? We’d love to hear them!” or “Drop us a comment below” can be sufficient to spur engagement and give you a chance to connect with your reader.
Optimize Your Website for SEO
Keywords within your blog content aren’t the only signal search engines look for. You can apply the same blogging keyword tips to the rest of your website to boost your ranking.
For instance, Performance RX Sports Care & Chiropractic specializes in providing wellness and chiropractic services to athletes. Throughout their website, you’ll find keywords and phrases centering around chiropractic topics for athletes.
In addition, you can boost your on-page SEO by adding keywords to your Meta title, Meta description, and Meta tags. These are direct beacons that explain what your website is about so search engines can decide if your content fits the user’s query. (If you’re better at healing bodies than building websites, contract with a web design company to add these descriptions for you – they’re too important to overlook.)
Are you the best chiropractor? Let your satisfied patients share their experience.
One of your strongest, most cost effective marketing tools comes straight from your own patients – the testimonial. Testimonials can give prospective customers an inside look at how someone else benefited from your services.
Online reviews are the (usually) unsolicited digital version of testimonials. Your patients can rate your practice on sites like Google, Yelp!, Facebook, and leave a review of their experience.
People often read online reviews to verify a business’s reputation. An astounding 88% of internet users trust an online review as much as a recommendation from a friend or family member. 39% of people who read reviews do so on a regular basis.
With numbers like these, you can bet that prospects are reading what others have to say about your practice. The good news is, you don’t have to wait for the conversations to happen organically (though if you are the best chiropractor, your patients will already be writing these reviews without you having asked them to).
Building a review acquisition strategy can be one of the most powerful and inexpensive pieces of your digital marketing plan. Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Ask satisfied patients directly to leave you a review on Google or social media
- Respond to patients who leave you a review
- Never pay for reviews – Google is good at detecting phonies and it can prove more harmful than helpful if you’re caught
- Never delete negative reviews – many people will re-post their review and will call you out for deleting it, which can damage your image
Develop Your Backlink Army
In simplest form, backlinks are links from one web page to another. Anytime you link content on your web site to another web page, that is considered “backlinking.” Backlinks serve two main purposes:
- External links drive traffic from other websites to yours
- Internal links keep visitors on your website longer
Here’s how backlinking works:
Search engines want to deliver the most relevant content to a user. If it recognizes that multiple websites are pointing links in your direction, it’s a good indicator that you’re legit. The more quality websites that link to yours, the better chance you stand to rank higher.
However, the key word here is quality. You want to make sure that reputable sites are connected with your own. Google believes you are the company you keep. If your link shows up on spam-laden sites or ones that don’t play by Google’s rules, it could negatively impact your rankings.
To build your external links, consider guest blogging on reputable industry websites to build your credibility as your area’s best chiropractor. This exposure can help you identify as an expert in your field, while also providing you valuable backlinks.
For internal link building, include links in each blog post to previous blog posts or other pages on your website. Linking to yourself within your own blog is one of the most overlooked, yet simple, ways to build links, which could help tout you as the best chiropractor in your market.
Wrap Up
Keep in mind that when you put these ideas into practice, you may not see an increase in web traffic overnight. It could take a few months to develop a solid content marketing strategy. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is not giving your efforts a fair shot. Don’t give up too soon – eventually, you’ll be glad you didn’t.
