In my house, we haven't used a phonebook in over three years. I feel a little guilty when the new one gets delivered, because I know it's making a short trip from my front porch to the trash can. I started performing my searches for local goods and services online years ago, and I have never looked back.
And I'm not the only one. Recent studies indicate that print Yellow Pages will be all but defunct in the next four years. The vast amount of local business information available on the Internet and the bevy of options you can use to find that information have made it easier, faster, and more convenient than dragging out that bulky yellow book.
What does this mean to you as a chiropractor? Well, if you haven't taken the time to optimize your online business presence, your competitors are leaving you in the dust. With less than 10% of the population utilizing chiropractic care, we want to ensure that when someone in your community is looking for a chiropractor, they end up in your practice and not at the chiropractor down the street. Taking the steps below to position your business in front of local customers will make a big difference to your bottom line.
The Anatomy of a Local Business Listing
There are certain elements of your online listing that will be similar across the board - in a local search engine, Internet Yellow Pages site, or customer review site. Not just limited to your practice name, address, and phone number, online local business listings allow you to display a ton of information about your practice - for free!
I'm always amazed when I see bare bones listings that aren't taking full advantage of this opportunity for free advertising, but it happens fairly often. Below is just a sample of the information you are usually allowed to display:
- Practice Name
- Address
- Phone Number
- Fax Number
- URL
- E-Mail Address
- Short Description of Your Practice
- Services, Products, and Brands Offered
- Specialties and Techniques
- Payment Options
- Hours of Operation
- Logo
- Photos
- And Most Importantly: User Reviews and Testimonials
Wow!
Right about now you might be saying, "But my business listing only has my name, address, and phone number. What do I do? "The more information you can include with your listing, the more likely it is that you'll attract the type of practice members you want. So let me show you the sites you need to visit to include more information.
The most logical places for many people to start looking for local goods and services are the Internet search engines. If you are brand-new to updating and optimizing your company's local listings, begin with these.
Local Search Engines
Realizing that Internet users were hungry for local information, it didn't take long for the major search engines to roll out enhanced services. Each of them has a local version. Google has Google Maps, Yahoo has Yahoo Local, Ask has AskCity and MSN has Live Search Maps.
They all have impressive features. But because of my unhealthy obsession with all things Google, and to give you a head start on the most market share, I'll talk about Google Maps here.
Your practice will likely already have a listing in Google Maps. You can spice up that listing from Google's Local Business Center. To edit your listing, Google requires you to "claim" your business first.
Your local business listing on Google allows for all the information listed above. Google also pulls user reviews from customer review sites (which I'll explain in a moment). Additionally, Google offers a couple of really cool features that you simply must take advantage of:
- Coupons. You can create a special offer coupon right alongside your listing and update it as often as you want. This is a great way to encourage new patients to visit your practice.
- Video (a feature that has been added fairly recently). That's right. You can add a video that you've posted on YouTube to your Google Maps listing. How cool is that? Think of the possibilities! You could shoot a short commercial, record testimonials from happy patients, or even shoot footage of your practice teeming with enthusiastic practice members.
Once you've perfected your listing on Google Maps, you will want to sure up your listing on Yahoo, MSN and Ask. Don't worry. We'll be covering those too!
Internet Yellow Pages
Just like the print Yellow Pages, the Internet Yellow Pages will automatically have a basic listing for your company. (It's up to you to make the listing pop and really work to drive customers from their computer screens into your practice.) And in addition to your free listing, many Internet Yellow Pages sites offer advertising and fee-based enhanced feature options.
Some of the most popular Internet Yellow Pages sites for you to start with are:
- YellowPages.com
- SuperPages.com
- YellowBook.com
- Local.com
Upon locating your listing, you may be surprised to find that it contains information that you didn't provide. This is because customers, too, are allowed to update and add to the listings - all the more reason to take action to make sure your information is correct.
Customer Review Websites
Customer review sites are arguably the most important of the three local search areas, because the content is user-generated. And, like I mentioned above, Google (and other local search engines) pulls customer reviews from these websites to display on your listing. So it's important to be aware of what people are saying about your business.
Get a little PR for your business by encouraging your happy customers to post positive reviews of your practice and your care. You can also benefit from monitoring any unfavorable reviews about you on these sites to see where you can make improvements.
Popular customer review sites include:
- Yelp.com
- InsiderPages.com
- CitySearch.com
- DexKnows.com
- Wellness.com
- MerchantCircle.com
There are even specialized customer review sites like AngiesList.com for home improvement and MenuPages.com for restaurants. A chiropractic specific review site can't be far behind.
How to Quickly and Easily Get Started Today
If you have not already done so, visit our site at www.BestChiropracticMarketing.com. Here you will find simple to follow, step by step video tutorials to get you started on the above processes. Please leave your questions and comments on the blog and we will do our best to answer them as quickly as possible.
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