Optimizing Your Chiropractic Website for Free Organic Traffic

There are only two ways to get traffic to your website: organic (free) or ads (paid). 

Why is traffic to your website so important? New surveys show that over 75% of your patients will visit your website before scheduling an appointment in your practice. 

With a majority of your future patients visiting your site before scheduling their appointment, your website must be a significant part of your overall chiropractic marketing strategy. 

The quality (and content) present on your website can attract or repel patients. It can make or break your practice. 

Ideally, your website should be optimized for chiropractic specific SEO and generating at least 80% of its traffic organically. You may want to supplement or add to your free traffic by occasionally purchasing ads. But be careful, just like a drug, you don't want to become addicted to paid traffic. The price will continue to rise, and the results will continue to diminish over time. 

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Optimizing Your Chiropractic Website

Here are a few simple tips to help search engines understand the content on your site.

1. Look good in the search results using the tips below. 

A. Your page title is used as a suggestion for the title in search results. Describe your business in a concise, informative phrase. Your title tag should be descriptive of your practice as well as enticing. 

B. Domain names are an essential part of search results. Choose a descriptive and easy-to-read domain name for your website. Sub-pages should also be easy to read. For example, use www.stellachiropractic.com/services instead of www.stellachiropractic.com/prodid?12345

C. Meta descriptions are page summaries often used by search engines on the search results page. Write unique descriptions for each page in 160 characters or less. Be sure to include your targeted keywords in the meta-description. The goal of your meta-description is to entice the person searching to click on your website. 

2. Help search engines understand Your images

Images on your website can either dramatically help or hurt your ability to be found on Google. Large images can slow down your website and cause your rank to suffer. Once you compress your images using a tool like Squash, you'll want to use the following three tips to help the search engines understand the pictures on your website. 

A. Give your pictures short, descriptive file names. 

B. The “alt” attribute describes the image. This helps search engines understand what’s in the picture.

C. Write a short caption on the page below each image. Put important information in the text rather than images.

3. Update, keep going, and stay consistent

Provide useful content and keep it up to date

Your website is like a virtual storefront. You wouldn’t leave a store unattended for six months. Keep your site fresh by starting a blog, announcing new products, services, and special events. Remember to put yourself in your patients' shoes and make sure you provide them with the information they need.

If you need help updating the content on your website check out The Smart Chiropractor. We provide docs with all of the content they need on their website, social channels, and more to get more new patients, attract more followers, and drive more visits to their website. 

More information and support directly from Google

Google’s Webmaster Academy offers free step-by-step lessons and short instructional videos.

g.co/webmasteracademy

Looking for more advice on how to optimize your website? Read Google’s SEO starter guide:

g.co/seoguide

Google’s free Webmaster Tools helps you understand and improve your website, get timely alerts on problems, and find answers to questions.

google.com/webmasters

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How to Carry Out a Complete Social Media Campaign for Your Chiropractic Practice

According to this survey, 63% of companies consider generating website traffic and leads as their top two marketing challenges. You need those leads to attract new patients to your chiropractic practice.

To generate those leads, start by getting social online!

With an active social media campaign, you can discover new patients and build your practice.

Here are 10 essential tips for an effective social media campaign. With these tips, you can improve your chiropractic practice's lead generation efforts and stand taller in the marketplace.

Keep reading to learn how to make it happen!

1. Know Your Audience

In the United States alone, 79% of the population has some kind of social media account as of 2019. Your patients are online, tweeting, and liking and snapping with their friends. For a successful social media campaign, however, you need to narrow down the numbers. 

Instead of marketing your chiropractic practice to 79% of the country's population, focus on your target audience.

What do you know about your patients? What are their likes, dislikes, pains, and concerns? The better you know your audience, the easier it is to reach out.

Take a look at the demographics. Break down your audience based on:

• Purchasing behaviors

• Gender

• Age

• Household income

• Marital status

• Travel behavior

• Location

Do you know your audience?

Are you targeting a specific location radius? How far are people willing to travel to reach your chiropractor audience?

Narrowing down your audience based on these details can help you craft concise messages. The more targeted your messaging, the easier it is to connect with your target audience. 

2. Get On Your Goals

Before you set up a complete social media campaign, let's determine your specific goals, first. Knowing your goals can help you create tactics for your campaigns that are built to ensure you accomplish these goals. 

Brand Awareness

A brand awareness campaign will help patients recognize your traffic among other chiropractors.

To create an effective brand awareness campaign on social media, consider what sets you apart. Post on a variety of platforms to reach your target audience. You can also use branded hashtags that set your practice apart from the rest. 

Focus on what makes your practice unique. What's your value proposition? Post images that highlight that value.

You can also encourage your current patients to post with your branded hashtag. User-generated content is a great way to get your existing audience involved as you expand your reach.

Increase Website Traffic

If you have an appointment booking feature on your website, encourage followers to visit your site.

You can also use value content, such as blog posts, to entice people to visit. Use call-to-action language that encourages followers to explore your website content. Make sure you highlight the value of visiting your website in your posts. 

Don't forget to add URLs to your social media posts to make the content easy for your followers to find. 

3. Research the Competition

What are other chiropractic practices in your area up to? What posts are they creating that are generating engagement on social media?

Learning from your competition can help you get a step ahead.

Recognize what they're doing right with their social media campaigns. Then, think about how you can set yourself apart.

Researching the competition will teach you what not to do, too.

That way, you can create successful social media campaigns that help your practice stand out. 

4. Connect with Content

What type of content will convince your followers to stop and listen?

This is where your audience research comes in. Knowing what they like and care about can help you create the best social media campaign possible. 

Consider trying different formats such as videos, blogs, photos, and even stories. 

Make sure the visual content is entertaining and compelling enough that gets people to stop scrolling. Engage your audience, too. Get people involved in your content by asking for their opinions or host a contest.

Getting followers involved in your content will help you reach more people online. 

Using video, like we do with The Smart Chiropractor, can help you connect with content.

5. Stick to a Schedule

The key to successful social media campaigns is consistency.

Try to post at least once a day, or a few times a week to start. The more often people see your brand, the more likely they'll recognize you online. 

You can use a marketing calendar or an automated tool such as CoSchedule or Hootsuite to schedule your posts ahead of time.

6. Find Influencers

Social media influencers can give your content a big advantage. They also add credibility to your campaigns.

Find someone your followers already know and trust. Then, ask them to represent your brand. Having an influencer on your team can help you network and expand your brand.

7. Check What's Trending

What's going on in the world? The digital world is changing a little more every day. There's always something new to try!

Think about planking in 2010 or the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014. A few years ago, everyone was posting using the #MannequinChallenge hashtag. Keep up with these trends and get in on the fun with your posts!

Use trends, but stay relevant!

8. Get Engaged

After you start posting fresh content, make sure you're engaging with your audience.

Answer the questions or take the time to "like" the comments they post. Show your followers (and patients) that you're active online. Your engagement will show them you're interested in and invested in their concerns. 

9. Balance It Out

Start by sharing a singular message online using different social media platforms. By sharing the same message, your followers will start to retain that message over time. 

Make sure your organic content remains in balance with your promotional content. Otherwise, people will feel you're pressuring them a little too much.

10. Study the Data

After you start posting online, study the data from your social media campaign.

What type of content is attracting the most attention? What do people respond to, like, and share?

Metric tracking can help you make informed decisions for your next campaign. 

Look at your Facebook Insights each month to track your progress!

Chiropractic Campaigns: 10 Tips for Your Practice's Next Social Media Campaign

Kick up your next chiropractic social media campaign! With these tips, you can stand out from the crowd and draw new patients to your practice. 

Discover our free tools today for more ways to give your marketing campaigns a boost!

Getting Chiropractic Referrals from MD's with Research

“I am currently averaging 30 referrals a month from local providers. Thank you for your help in making this happen!” - Dr. C. Boyle

How to Market Your Chiropractic Practice to Generate Sustainable MD Referrals

Getting referrals from medical doctors with research is one of the most significant untapped chiropractic marketing strategies and opportunities.

What would your practice look like if you added on another 10, 20, or 30 new referred patients each month (without spending a dime on Facebook or Google Advertising)?

In this article I’ll show you the exact strategy to build referral relationships- and I’ll walk you through the proven process- step-by-step.

Let’s get started!

Building Your MD Referral Target List

The first step in getting referrals from other healthcare providers is to build your Target List. Your Target List will contain all of the doctors you are actively reaching out to and will help keep you organized.

If you're a chiropractor focused on pediatrics, you may want to focus your target list on OB-GYN's, midwives, doula's, and pediatricians. If you are more interested in taking care of the Crossfit community, you may choose to target gym owners, personal trainers, and sports medicine physicians.

Once you have created your Target List, then you begin your marketing and outreach.

The Three Steps of Getting MD Referrals

1. Sending Case Notes

2. Monthly Research Briefs

3. MD Meetings

With years of experience and thousands of referrals, we have discovered that a three-legged approach is the most effective when building referral relationships.

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The first leg is to begin sending Case Notes to showcase the co-management and results you get with your patients. The second one is sending Research Brief's monthly which we're going to focus on here. The third is setting up and executing MD Meetings, where you have the opportunity to learn more about their practice and how you can help them and their clients achieve better health and wellness.

So Why Is Marketing Your Practice with Research So Important?

Research is your marketing. It's the only controllable aspect of your marketing, and it provides the consistency needed to get results.

By sending monthly Research Brief, you can guarantee top of mind awareness and positive branding, by positioning your practice. Consistency is the primary factor that drives the success of any marketing program. Monthly Research Briefs give you the chance to have consistency with your message.

Become a doc that is consistent and stays top of mind by sharing the latest research is a unique way to position your self in your local healthcare community. It doesn't require you to resort to cheesy tactics but instead allows you to market your practice in a way that you can be proud of.

Also, by "dripping" research each month, you can create far more impact than you could in a single meeting. As an example, if you meet with a doc, I would not recommend trying to tell them everything they never wanted to know about chiropractic. It's overwhelming and counterproductive.

Your monthly Research Updates drip the information to them every month. These monthly Research Briefs are the perfect tool to disperse an avalanche of pro-chiropractic information over a period of time. That process is way more impactful and effective at building referral relationships.

Research isn't the only way to do it, which is why we have Case Notes showcasing co-management and the great results you get in your practice as well meetings which build trust and rapport.

But remember, 95% of the "sale" in the follow-up. If you rely on only Case Notes and Meetings, you will be missing out on the consistency of your message. With Case Notes, you can't control who walks through your front door; so they ebb and flow with volume and are uncontrollable. Meetings are great, but clearly, you can't personally visit each doctor office on your target list each week.

Your Monthly Research Briefs Provide a Monthly Marketing Touchpoint, and a Controllable Marketing Asset.

Click to Get a FREE Research Brief

Researchers have produced an abundance of papers supporting chiropractic care as one of the most safe and effective treatment options available, yet we hover at less than 15% utilization because very few of us build a sustainable practice with consistent referrals coming in from other healthcare providers.

It's our job (you and me) to get this information out to the public on our social channels and to the other healthcare providers in our community.

If you'd like more information about how you can systematize and automate that process to get results faster, then become a member of The Evidence Based Chiropractor today.

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Ready to grow your referral base? Listen in to The EBC Podcast for weekly research updates and marketing strategies. If you’re ready to grow FASTER- become a member of The Evidence Based Chiropractor today.

10 Chiropractic Marketing Ideas to Increase Business and Sales

You studied hard, got your license, and gained invaluable experience. You believe in yourself and your chiropractic practice. So, why aren't new patients knocking down your door to find relief? 

Your chiropractic marketing may be to blame. And, needing a little help in this area is normal. 

You aren't a marketing expert. You're a chiropractor. You're also a business owner which comes with an abundance of responsibilities. 

But, you know that your business can't thrive unless you make a profit. And, the only way to do that is to bring in new customers and make them lifelong fans of your practice. 

Sinbad keeping it real.

You also are competing with other chiropractic offices. They may be targeting a similar audience or provide related services. How can you get the edge? 

Successful chiropractic marketing is the solution to these dilemmas. Chiropractic marketing can be a DIY pursuit, or you can outsource your marketing efforts to a digital marketing agency. What's best for your practice will depend on your availability, skills, and staff. 

So, if you're looking to implement new marketing ideas, then look no further. Read on to discover 10 marketing ideas to grow your business while increasing your revenue and new patients. 

Chiropractic Marketing: 10 Marketing Tips to Improve Your Business

Marketing is a vast field. It contains many different layers and elements that you can adjust and improve. Explore the following marketing ideas to learn how to bring in new patients and grow your sales. 

1. Utilize Social Media

As humans, we naturally love familiarity. Being on social media is more about brand awareness and recognition than producing sales. The more familiar patients are with your brand, the more trustworthy your practice will become. 

Create social media profiles based on which ones your target audience uses most. For example, if you're targeting professionals, use LinkedIn.

You can also purchase ads on social media platforms. Select which demographic data to target to reach your audience on these platforms accurately. 

Click to Get a FREE Pack of Social Media Graphics

2. Offer Supplemental Products and Services

While you're at it, use your social media profiles to show off the products and services your offer. It may be supplements, fitness equipment, or group coaching. Focus on the benefits your patients can expect by using the product or service.

This strategy successfully generates leads and can increase your sales.

Your practice website can (and should) have a shop or store to generate additional revenue channels.

3. Create Useful Content

People are smartening up to traditional sales tactics and pitches. They don't want to be pitched to or sold anything. Instead, they want to connect and learn. 

Adhere to your customers' needs by educating them through blog posts. You can also guest blog for another company to gain brand awareness and leads. 

Content will also help to improve your website traffic. And, as your traffic increases, your search engine ranking can also go up. You can reach a wide range of people who can then help you to improve your local rankings as well. 

Using video is one of the best ways to spread your unique healthcare vision.

4. Get Referrals

Develop a referral program for your customers and other medical professionals. For customers, offer a discount or reward for referring a friend or family member. Advertise the referral program on social media, via email marketing, and your website. 

For medical referrals, you'll need to build up a professional partnership. Explain the benefits of your services, automate your referral process, and educate yourself on how to market to other doctors.

5. Build Community Relationships

People love supporting companies that support a higher purpose. Getting involved in the community is a perfect way to show patients that you care. 

Create and build community partnerships.

Support other local businesses by highlighting your favorite healthy restaurants on social media.

Offer lunch and learns to community agencies and companies. Provide free advice and expert wellness tips. 

6. Email Marketing

Email marketing is cost-effective and promotes brand awareness and conversions. It also reminds patients that your practice is still thriving. 

Use email marketing to provide your patients with educational materials, promotions, and company updates. A monthly newsletter is also a beneficial way to engage with your patients.

Grow your email list by offering discounts on your physical products in exchange for their email address. 

Click to get a FREE Email Newsletter Template

7. Press Releases

Traditional marketing tools shouldn't be ignored. Word of mouth marketing, traditional ad space, and press releases can still help you to grow your chiropractic firm. Press releases will help you to reach your target audience and promote brand awareness.

Create press releases when something exciting or out-of-the-norm occurs at your practice. For example, if you win an award, complete a community project, or write a book. 

8. Develop a User-Friendly Website

Website design can influence your search engine ranking, your website traffic, and your conversion rates. Develop a user-friendly website by using a simple, fast-loading design. Your website's menu should also be easy to navigate and include only the necessary information.

Your website can also include videos, meaningful images, and testimonials. Having a "schedule an appointment" feature will also help to streamline the conversion process. The easier it is for customers to contact and schedule an appointment, the better it will be for business.

9. Set Yourself Apart

Your competition can be stiff (no pun intended). 

To truly succeed in your market, you'll need to set yourself apart. What makes your practice different? 

Is it your experience? Maybe you have a piece of equipment, testing tool, or service other chiropractors don't offer. Or, do you holistically approach chiropractic?

When creating your unique value proposition, always keep your target audience in mind.

10. Ask for Reviews

Patients and customers trust each other more than they believe in marketing tactics. Ask for reviews from all your patients. Encourage them to review your practice on social media, Google, and websites like Yelp. 

Asking for reviews is also essential for your reputation management. Many disgruntled customers express their frustrations by leaving negative reviews. Asking for positive reviews balances out these negative reviews.

Stay up to date about your online reviews. If you do receive a negative review, work to amend the patient's concern. Often, the patient will respond positively and be willing to find a resolution. 

Chiropractic Marketing a Pain in the Neck?: Gaining Support

These chiropractic marketing tips will help to put your practice on the map. They can also improve your reputation and increase your profit. 

But, your marketing efforts can be even more successful by hiring a digital marketing agency. Helpful guides and resources can also help to improve your marketing efforts. 

Want to become the chiropractor other doctors refer to? Sign-up for a monthly or yearly membership for a step-by-step guide to learn how to increase your medical referrals.

How to Get Referrals with Chiropractic Case Notes | FREE Template

Are you sending case notes?

If you're like most docs I speak with the answer is unfortunately "no." Maybe you think it takes too much time, perhaps you don't know what to send.

Either way, if you are not sending chiropractic case notes, then you are missing out on an enormous opportunity to showcase the co-management of patients, show off the fantastic results of your care, and begin the process of building referral relationships.

Sending chiropractic case notes is the foundation of building referral relationships with other healthcare providers in your community. If you think you are too busy, or that case notes are a waste of time- then keep reading. It's easier, faster, and more impactful than you think.

This article will show you the four key elements to have on every single case note that you send. Additionally, I'll show you the best time and cadence to send those notes (it's NOT on every visit). By the end of this short article, you'll have all the information you need to send out effective case notes quickly, start bridging the gap, and begin building referral relationships.

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Spoiler alert: Case notes alone have never flooded a chiropractic office with referrals. Sending notes is not a silver bullet to building a relationship. But, sending timely and well-crafted case notes is an essential foundational layer of our physician outreach.

Benefits of Sending Case Notes:

1- Showcase the Great Results You Get with Your Patients (B2B Testimonial)

2- Social Proof of Co-Management

3- Additional Marketing Touch Point

I like to think of case notes as patient-centric testimonials. Most practices are hyper-focused on getting Facebook ratings and Google reviews. These type of reviews are known as B2C marketing. They are business (B) to (2) consumer (C) outreach. Reaching out with B2C testimonials is great...but, what about the other half of the coin?

The other half is your B2B channels. These are your business to business testimonials- and there is no better B2B communication than a case note. Your case notes show the social proof that you are actively co-managing, as well as the fantastic results you get with your patients in your practice.

If I asked you the question of what percentage of your patients leave your office happier and healthier than when they first walked in, I bet your answer would be over 90%.

My next question is, how often have you taken the additional 2 minutes to create a case note that shows off those unbelievably fantastic results? Probably not as often as you could or should!

Not sending case notes showing off the results of your care and the improvement of your patients is a huge missed opportunity that you need to start taking advantage of immediately.

So how often should you send case notes?

We have seen the best results by sending case notes at initial evaluation, any re-evaluation, and discharge from active care.

Discharge from active care is defined as the last visit before a patient goes to as needed, PRN, maintenance, or wellness care. Anytime you are billing a 99201-99204 or 99212-99214, that is a good indication that you should be sending a case note.

What to include in your case notes:

The 4 Essential Components of a Case Note

1. Patient Name

2. Date of Service

3. Diagnosis

4. Treatment Plan

Your case notes should not be long and include every test under the sun. Powerful, effective case notes are typically concise (under 1 page) and contain four critical pieces of information.

Get a FREE Case Notes Template!

Just as a primary care doctor doesn't care about what size screw a surgeon uses during an operation, they don't care about every single orthopedic test you performed.

They do care about, who did you see (patient name), when did you see them (date of service), what did you find (diagnosis), and what are you going to do about it (treatment plan)? Keep it simple.

In an ideal world, your case note should be leaving your office as a one-page document. I say that for pragmatic reasons. When I was working in large scale orthopedic groups, we'd continuously get case notes from doctors in the community.

Unless they were relating to an emergency, the notes would be put into the patient chart by a medical assistant and not looked at until the patient came back into the office. The patients next appointment could have been two days, two weeks, or 2 months after the case note was sent.

Let's get real if the doctor is walking down the hall ready to see the patient, and they open the chart to find a 10-page case note from you...it's not getting read! But, what if they open the chart and see a one-page note which clearly and concisely shows your name, the patient diagnosis, the date of service, and the expected treatment? You now have a high likelihood of them opening the door and asking the patient how they are doing in your practice.

As we went through earlier- the odds are in your favor! Chiropractors typically have sky-high patient satisfaction and remarkable results. So there is an excellent chance that the patient will praise your care- which is precisely the "win" you are looking for.

Think about how many patients you see each month in your practice. Then, think about how many in-active patients have been in your practice since you opened your doors.

Now imagine you had sent case notes for every eval, re-eval, and discharge visit for these patients. You could have hundreds, thousands, or maybe even tens of thousands "touches" to other healthcare providers showcasing the great results that you achieve. I KNOW that would make a massive difference in how many referrals you get each month.

Before you send a case note, you need to know who you are sending it to. The easiest way to do this is to make sure you have a spot on your intake form for patients to enter their primary care doctor.

Typically, this will be filled out 50-60% of the time. When it's left blank, I recommend asking a simple question:

“Hey, John, I noticed you left this blank. We'd love to have that information to communicate and coordinate your care. Do you mind if we have your primary care doc name?"

By asking that question, you should be able to collect the primary care doctor information on 90% of the people who begin care in your practice.

Case notes are one leg of the referral relationship stool. The others are sending research updates (marketing) and taking meetings (trust and rapport). At The Evidence Based Chiropractor, we've had the honor of working with hundreds of chiropractic practices. Using our system, they have generated tens of thousands of referrals that have resulted in millions of dollars in additional revenue.

Think about the amount of time you spend with your patients during treatment. Think about the energy, effort, and expertise it takes to help them get well. To not take 5 minutes and show off your results with case notes is crazy!

If you want to start getting more referrals from other physicians in your community, then become a member of The Evidence Based Chiropractor. I'd love to work with you. You'll receive the entire process, tools, support, and systems needed to bridge the gap. Get out there showcase your practice and improve the health and well-being of the people in your community.

Get a FREE Case Notes Template!