Web marketing for Healthcare: Doctors, Dentists, Clinics and Hospitals on FoundLocally

There are two reasons for Healthcare providers to be on FoundLocally: 1) if you are trying to build your medical practice, your marketing needs to be aggressive, yet cost-effective, and 2) so existing clients can find your contact info online (even if you do not have a website). This is why healthcare professionals and facilities especially need to be on FoundLocally.

FoundLocally’s healthcare directory includes medical doctors (the “traditional” category), dental care, counselling services (distinct from product sales), as well as non-traditional practices. The TIPS section will cover affiliated categories typical of some healthcare providers.

FoundLocally is a great way for health care professionals and facilities to raise their own visibility, not just by adding themselves to our high-traffic community directory, but by posting news, jobs, events, and savings to increase the number of pages on their FoundLocally listing, gaining both greater visibility while saving ever-lager amounts of money otherwise spent on advertising in other media.

 

Online marketing generally, and FoundLocally specifically, is especially helpful for those trying to reach a range of youth, seniors, and/or affluent audience.  Unlike broadcast media, where a message is fleeting and must be repeated often (at high cost to the advertiser), online messages are “always there” ready to be found when users are looking for information about an illness or affliction can find possible solutions, local specialists  and can “drill down” to ever-more-detailed information until their curiosity/information needs are satisfied.

 

This approach is also effective for SEO (search engine optimization): the more pages on FoundLocally the more link-backs you have, and the higher your own web site’s ranking and findability!


TIPS for Doctors


FoundLocally listings can help medical professionals manage their listings consistent with their practice philosophy.

  • If you ARE building your medical practice, add a comment “New Patients Welcome.”
  • If your practice is mature, and your schedule is fully booked, then add a comment ”Unable to accept new patients”. 
  • If your practice is based on referrals from other doctors or General Practitioners, then add the comments “Patients accepted only with referral from another doctor.” 

What items are NOT “Healthcare” in FoundLocally


While FoundLocally is quite liberal with “non Traditional Healthcare” categories, including  therapies as diverse as herbal medicine, Asian medicine, and some spa therapies, we do not permit those practicing astrology, “psychics”, fortune telling, or astrology to include themselves in the HEALTH -Counseling.  These should limit themselves to the CONSUMER SHOPPING – Goods & Services – Entertainment category.

 

There are a number of other products and services that “touch” on healthcare, with some of the appropriate categories noted here:


CONSUMER SHOPPING – Goods & Services: Senior Care Non-Medical
CONSUMER SHOPPING – Food : Nutrition Counselling (non-selling)
CONSUMER SHOPPING – Food : Vitamins & Supplements (those selling these, may NOT select Nutrition Counselling as well, since it is part of their selling process)
CONSUMER SHOPPING – Clothing :  Uniforms (for Medical Uniforms)
CONSUMER SHOPPING – Goods & Services: various health & beauty items
CONSUMER SHOPPING – Grooming-Beauty: various cosmetics items & services

 

TIPS for Health Care Professional Associations

  • Professional groups should add themselves so that the public can reach them and access their website and online member’s directory. Many medical professional groups overlook the potential business opportunity for members and their medical practices to grow in a competitive environment, who SHOULD ALSO increase their online footprint by participating in as many directories as possible (and especially the free ones!) Help your members’ reach an ever-increasing online customer base, save money [on traditional media and print directories], increase revenues and become more profitable,

 Enforcement of medial ethics (self-laudatory claims, false claims of professional status/membership. etcetera) is simplified because directories and the entire Internet are so searchable for key phrases, and web pages provide a semi-permanent (and printable) record of such claims.

 

Good professional groups’ websites not only promote the organization itself, but also have a directory of member individuals or  businesses, with links to their web sites (if there are no links, insist they add this, its not “rocket science” technology!), typically organized by category.

 

Making the Most of Your PROFILE

  • You can add an organizational listing to promote your medical practice, clinic or hospital:
  • Use the Description field to state your key branding message (and describe the services, typical/target clients, and benefits)
  • Use the Products/Brands for key service keywords to improve findability (a list is fine here).
  • Link to your website, and include either a logo (also good: a photo of a sole practitioner, or of your building or office)
  • In the Contact field, insert you website’s Contact Us webpage instead of an e-mail address, to reduce chance of spam e-mails. 

TIPS For Hospitals and Clinics


If you are a hospital or clinic with multiple wards and contact numbers, list each separately, with its own description and categories. Indicate the main listing and phone number by starting that listing by inserting a leadings space in the Name field (but do not do this with all or single listings!)


Take Advantage of CATEGORIES

  • Select any categories that are appropriate to services YOU PROVIDE or goods YOU SELL.  There is not cost for any additional and appropriate categories!
  • The PROFILE page provides template options for Family Doctor, Family Dentist, and Therapeutic Massage
  • Use the HEALTH-Counselling section only for services, not for products that may help with those afflictions (ie drugs, devices, supplements, surgery)


Multiple CONTACTS to Update Listing(s)

  • Set up multiple contacts per listing using the CONTACTS tab and “Add New”, to add additional staff people in your organization, so each can post items to your listing, or login and ad additional clients and their websites & locations.
  • You can also add client marketing, HR, and Operations persons who can login and update the operational components of their FoundLocally listings, letting you focus on web marketing and website design.

Posting NEWS Announcements

  • You should post announcements (using the NEWS tab of each respective listing) to FoundLocally listings at the same time as it is sent out to other media outlets.
  • You are welcome to post announcements about new associates, facilities or equipment enhancements, even if you do not send these to other traditional media outlets.
  • News postings can dramatically improve your findability by increasing the association of keywords in the news story with you and /your web site. In addition this can improve your/your creditability as an industry information resource.
  • Announcements stay posted until you take them down. On FoundLocally, news has a long shelf life. FoundLocally news is not thrown out or recycled the next day, like with a newspaper!

Posting EVENTS

  • You can use the EVENTS tab to post any special events, open houses, seminars, workshops, tradeshow/festival booths, fundraisers etcetera.
  • EVENTS postings can link to their own web page if you have an event that people need to RSVP for or buy tickets.


Posting JOBS to fill staffing needs

  • You can use these listings to recruit people for internal or client needs using the JOBS tab.
  • If you are posting jobs for non-profit groups or their fund-raising activities, you can use the JOBS tab to post volunteer opportunities.
 

 

 

Add Your Healthcare Organization/Business to the FoundLocally Directory

Add your oganization/business/faility to the FoundLocally directory where you are located.

Don't forget to also post any News, Events, Jobs, and Savings to promote all aspects of your organization/business and operations, (using the respective tabs in your listing).

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