Why Adding Fresh Content to Your Ophthalmic Website Is Important

1. Why Adding Fresh Content to Your Ophthalmic Website Is Important Does your ophthalmic practice have a website? If not, you should consider creating one to inform and engage with your patients. If you do have a website, is it all it could be? Just having a website isn’t enough. For the best results, your ophthalmic practice should create a website and update it frequently. Adding useful, updated information could improve your website, practice, and interactions with your patients. That’s because fresh online content could do many things. Answer questions and handle concerns No one knows everything, and no one is expected to know everything. But a good website could teach people things. Frequently asked question (FAQ) web pages or sections are popular for a reason. Many times, people visit a site because they have questions or want to know more about someone or something. Adding a FAQ page to your ophthalmic website could help answer these concerns. To find content for these pages, compile a list of questions that multiple patients have asked. If other questions arise, add those, and update the FAQ page or section accordingly. To find some examples of how to design and format this page, go online. You’ll find several tips and sample pages that you could use to create a FAQ page or section that works for your site. Keep the appearance of this page similar to other pages on your website. A uniform design will tie the pages together and make the site (and your practice) look more professional. Also keep the language of your FAQ page similar to your other web pages. Ideally, you’ll use a tone that’s knowledgeable yet accessible. Although you might be an expert in your field, you don’t have to share everything you know about ophthalmology, and you probably shouldn’t. Too much detailed information that doesn’t really pertain to people might drive people from your practice, not attract them to it.

2. Instead, answer common questions and concerns that you’ve heard. You’re not trying to impress people with big words or complex topics, you’re answering their questions and addressing their concerns. Position yourself as a trusted resource Effective websites do more than answer your patients’ questions. They could serve as resources for everyone. During the pandemic, we’ve appreciated timely, accurate information from certain sources. In fact, timely information has helped people live healthier, and it’s maybe even saved lives. By providing accurate, updated content on your ophthalmic website, you could serve as a resource as well. You could enlist the reputation of other sites to enhance yours. If you’ve written a page about glaucoma or other eye diseases, for example, you could add a link to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page that provides information about the condition and its treatment. When you do this, you illustrate how you’re committed to finding and sharing the most recent, accurate information about a topic that concerns readers. You’re positioning yourself as someone who knows about certain conditions but is also willing to listen to other perspectives. Experts become experts because they’re always searching for answers and aren’t stuck in the past. This continual search means they’re always improving the ways they operate. Inform patients about new developments Keeping abreast of new information shows your expertise. Sharing with your patients and others helps inform others as well. Medicine isn’t a static field. There are always new instruments, products, medications, and procedures. It might be a lot for you and your coworkers to process, so imagine how patients and other people who visit your site might feel. Again, you might want to discuss new ophthalmic developments a little to demystify them. A blogging section could be helpful for that. By their nature, sites create and publish blog posts more than they do web pages, so a blogging area could be a good place to share recent developments.

3. Blogs are often less formal and more emotional than other web pages, so you could also use your posts to explore not only recent developments, but how they could impact patients’ lives. Help your patients interact with your office Speaking of impacting patients’ lives, do you want to help them interact with your office better and make in-person visits easier? It might sound counterintuitive, but you could use digital tools to accomplish those tasks. For example, maybe your office uses electronic health record and practice management systems that allow them to Share information Make appointments Refill their prescriptions Add pages to your website that include step-by-step instructions for doing each of these functions. It could help patients complete tasks related to your ophthalmic practice. The pages could help many people complete tasks related to your office. Time and place won’t matter, either, because online assistance could help people in different geographic locations, regardless of the time of day. Such assistance could also help your practice. Web-based assistance means they won’t need to ask your practice those questions in person because they’ll find the answers on its website. This frees you and your coworkers up to assist them in other ways. Retain patients, boost loyalty, and attract new patients Answering patients’ questions, anticipating their concerns, and adding updated content is a good way to keep patients–and attract new ones. On the other hand, if you don’t answer questions and add content, you’re not helping, and you’re not caring. Patients might question their loyalty to a practice that isn’t loyal to them. By providing all those things, you’re demonstrating that you’re responsive and on top of things. You’re showing that you care.

4. When you take actions that show that you care, your patients are more likely to leave good online reviews. They’re more likely to tell friends and family members about your services. If these loved ones (and people reading online patient reviews) are looking for an ophthalmologist, they might be more likely to visit your office than one they find unfamiliar. Even in a world where technology is becoming increasingly dominant, old- fashioned word-of-mouth recommendations still matter. People are still interested in other people’s firsthand experiences. You could make these experiences better to help your patients and your practice. Make your site more attractive to search engines Fresh content helps your practice and its website. It’s also more attractive to search engines. Search engines are more likely to list websites that include unique, useful information. If your health care website contains multiple pages with useful content, there’s a better chance that search engine results pages (SERPs) will mention one or more of these pages. People go on search engines because they’re, well, searching for something. By creating easy-to-use pages with lots of pertinent, timely information, you’re increasing the odds that the search engines, your web pages, and your ophthalmic office will assist people with their searches. Do you need online assistance yourself? You might want to contact Eye Care Leaders. We’ll help you and your ophthalmic practice find digital solutions to your real-world challenges.