What You Should Do Now
Healthcare and wellness providers often have open doors for welcoming new patients or clients. On the other hand, patients are now really seeking out the provider they feel most comfortable with and are putting some extra time into finding that ‘right fit’ for themselves and their families.
One of the more common methods consumers use to evaluate you is through online reviews. New research suggests that, like other industries, healthcare is seeing an increase in the number of potential patients evaluating providers by looking at past patient reviews.
A recent study by Software Advice, demonstrated the increasing influence that online review sites are having on patients. In fact, 54% of the participants indicated that they use online review sites “sometimes” or “often,” and only 18% “never” use an online review site. This suggests that consumers value this information.
What’s even more interesting is that they use online review sites. Approximately 72% of the time, consumers are using online review sites as a first step to find a new doctor!
While the Internet does not ultimately define your abilities as a provider, a poor image on the Web can help or hurt your business growth and, subsequently, revenue for your office. Here, then, are eleven online review sites on which your business should have an active presence.
1. Google My Business
The largest and most powerful online review site is Google My Business. You want your presence felt on Google My Business since millions rely on the search engine to point them in the right direction regarding goods and services.
Google My Business (GMB) allows you to establish and showcase your local business on the Google platform. In addition to adding information, like business information, GMB also allows patients and clients to post their reviews.
Establishing a presence with Google My Business is important to:
- Manage how potential customers see your business when they search for goods and services
- Enable your name, address and phone number to be easily found
- Create a link directly to your website
- Showcase your online review rating
- Display your hours of operation
- Feature directions and maps to your business location
Within GMB (as the administrator), you can also:
- Respond to posted reviews
- Gather ‘Insights” about your GMB activity
- Create ‘posts’ that display on your GMB page. (NEW)
Of all the online review sites that you absolutely need to manage, Google My Business should be at the top of your list.
2. Facebook
It’s not one of those exclusive healthcare review sites, but Facebook is certainly a hub where your health and wellness practice should have a presence. Facebook has more than two billion monthly active users. I’m sure the majority of your current patients have accounts on Facebook.
The great thing about Facebook is that the platform has a section that caters to businesses. You can build a page for your company and customers can leave star reviews that show up in search engines. Facebook Business lets you:
- Create new business assets
- Claim business assets
- Manage all assets on one platform
Practice becomes easier when you have a community that follows you. Facebook allow this.
3. Bing
Consider Bing Places for Business as the smaller version of Google’s company suite. Although not as large in notoriety, Bing is not a place that you should neglect when it comes to sharing your practice’s information online.
Many people use Bing as their search engine to search out local businesses. Like Google My Business, it also can display business information and consumers use it to evaluate reviews that patients have left.
Health and wellness providers need to search for ways to impact this market, then.
4. Yahoo! Local
Some believe that the time of Yahoo! has passed. They couldn’t be further from the truth. Yahoo! Local is still influential when it comes to business connections. 1 out of every 8 searchers continue to use Yahoo.
Here’s the problem. Yahoo! Local is managed by Yext. Yext wants to charge you a monthly fee to manage your services. Don’t do it.
However, here’s how you can continue to get a free listing on Yahoo! Local.
5. Super Pages
The Super Pages may not be used as they once were, but they are anything but dead. This directory, which was once print-only, has taken its cause to the Web, and it behooves any healthcare provider to get his name on the books.
The best thing about Super Pages is its free listing feature. You can take out a free listing anytime and ensure that consumers at least know your location and telephone number.
Super Pages offers:
- An easy platform by which customers can search for your business
- The option of providing driving directions to new patients
- The ability to acquire online reviews
Super Pages may be older than Google and Bing, but the service is certainly not outdated.
6. Citysearch
If you are a company without a Citysearch imprint, you are not in the present century. This online city guide is where many tourists go to find businesses near their hotel. Locals also visit the hub to try something new, such as finding a different health provider.
Citysearch lets you:
- Write a guide in which you may shed a positive light on your business and others in the area
- Create a free business listing through Express Update
- Monitor the status of your submitted listing online
People who are looking to compare businesses search the Citysearch database first. Health providers should strive to have their companies listed on the site in addition to being included in guides.
7. Insider Pages
Insider Pages is an online “local search” engine that sheds light on companies sometimes overlooked by larger search engines. Business owners can claim and customize listings to ensure that they are accurately represented online.
Claiming and editing a company’s information via Insider Pages is a matter of:
- Registering with the website
- Claiming your practice’s listing
- Updating information
- Submitting the edited listing for review
Insider Pages also lets you manage photos, which is paramount to patients who want to see the fruits of a doctor’s labor before booking an appointment.
8. Yelp
Is your practice even legitimate if it lacks Yelp presence? Millions may say no. Statistics show that more than 77 million unique visitors stop by Yelp monthly. Such a number is two percent less traffic than Yelp experienced two years ago. Still, even with a slight decrease in visitors, Yelp remains a prime site for reviews and customer commentary.
There have been numerous reports of negative Yelp reviews ruining a company’s reputation to the extent that the business nearly had to close its doors. It is vital, then, that a health provider is represented positively on this site.
Yelp for business owners is a platform that lets you claim your practice’s page that happy patients may have established. Owners can also:
- Respond to reviews to either thank customers for praise or explain to potential buyers what went wrong when the comments are negative
- Measure visitor activity on your page, which may give insight into the popularity of your business
One of the greatest perks associated with Yelp is the live agent support given to business owners. A simple phone call connects entrepreneurs and corporate heads with a representative who can answer questions and address concerns. But, don’t be surprised if they try to sell you on their service. Like Nancy Reagan once said, “Just say No.”
9. Healthgrades
Healthgrades is a niche-specific site and one of the most important medical review sites to which a provider can solicit. More than 17 million unique visitors stop by the site every month, and nearly all of them are looking for something related to the medical field. Healthgrades connects patients to doctors and hospitals.
Healthgrades carries the primary goals of:
- Generating new patient visits for various provider types
- Establishing patient loyalty
- Promoting retention for family practice physicians
Many would-be patients pass on doctors if they see negative connotations or nothing at all on Healthgrades. The medical review site, then, is a key factor in the success of your practice.
10. Vitals
Shopping for healthcare like an expert is possible with Vitals. This site gives you the tools to get educated and choose providers wisely. It is also a platform that allows for patient reviews.
Vitals consists of three platforms:
- Vitals.com
- VitalsChoice
- Vitals SmartShopper
Vitals.com is open to consumers searching for providers. VitalsChoice helps patients fully understand the type of coverage they have and the out-of-pocket expenses they may have to pay during routine checkups or in the instance of an emergency. Finally, Vitals SmartShopper is a shopping program that offers rewards to members that include cash. Vitals is a database where physicians want to be listed.
11. ZocDoc
ZocDoc is an online medical schedule service that lets patients find a doctor in their local area. The site also:
- Let patients see reviews from others
- Book appointments with physicians with “a tap”
The best part of ZocDoc is that it’s a website and app. Patients can search by traditional means via desktop or rate and analyze doctors while running errands during the day. ZocDoc’s status as an app opens the door for greater transparency since patients do not have to wait until they get home to rate physicians. Someone can give you a nod on this platform immediately after leaving your office.
What You Should Do Now
As you can see, there are many important online review websites out there that allow patients to post their experiences. I have listed 11 of the sites that I feel you should really look into and establish yourself on. This allows for patients to leave reviews where others can view the great service that you provide.
Establishing yourself online as a health provider is necessary to the growth of your business. Make sure patients can find you by remaining active on these eleven sites.
