In today’s digital world, a website is the first and quite possibly only thing a potential patient sees before deciding whether or not to make a purchase or use a service — including healthcare.
This fact might leave you wondering: how often should you tweak content on your website to keep it fresh and engaging for a contemporary audience? In healthcare, even more than any other business, new information is an essential part of client acquisition and retention. Here’s why:
- Because medicine is rapidly evolving, your website is obligated to keep up. It’s just bad PR to display outdated stories or not stay abreast of recent medical advances – and will certainly affect referrals and pass-along readership.
- Rejuvenating your website instantly creates new content for your brand, allowing it to expand and attract new attention. In addition, you can share information with your followers on social media and via email blasts to grab the attention of distracted readers who thrive on novelty and originality.
- It’s ideal for SEO! Indexed fresh content is definitely something search engines prefer compared to stale, outdated content that has ceased garnering clicks. In particular, Google loves blogs, since they are almost a guarantee of fresh content. An updated website with new information and graphics is also helpful at pacifying the “spiders,” or Web crawlers Google uses to determine order during searches based on content relevance.
A website isn’t social media, so it doesn’t need to be updated daily or weekly. But it is your electronic hub and should be massaged regularly. If you use a Content Management System (CMS), you don’t even need to be a developer to make edits. WordPress, Drupal and Joomla can be used by someone right in your marketing department!
One final thought: adding a banner or a slider promoting a new service can freshen up your website without anyone having to go in and edit the existing page.
For website analytics and additional information on how you can liven up your healthcare website to maximize ROI, contact Wax Custom Communications at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.
