Attracting new patients requires enhancing your practice’s online presence across multiple digital channels. Most Doctors nowadays understand the importance of a strong online presence for getting new patients and retaining existing ones. Easy availability of information online has changed the way patients decide on a treatment, empowering them to conduct their own research and make their own decisions when considering treatment options. However, it’s important to understand that to increase online presence doesn’t mean simply putting up a website and a few online ads. Making your presence in Local SEO is equally important.
When a patient is looking for doctors in a particular locality or for a particular specialization these days, it always starts with searching in Google, Yahoo, or Bing with keywords like “General Physician near me” or “Orthopaedic in Andheri West, Mumbai”. Thus, it is very critical for every Doctor to claim local listings in search engines like Google, Google Maps, Yahoo, and Bing. These search Engines will display the information that you shared when patients in your area search.
JustDial is the largest listing platform in India, with 43.6 million listings and 148 million reviews. It provides search services on web, mobile, phone and SMS. They have listing services for Doctors as well based on location and have the best reach in tier 2/3 towns in India.
Practo has more than 1,20,000 doctors listed from 310 cities & towns in India. It also provides appointment booking online for doctors that use its software.
Find doctors in India and consult online with them for any kind of medical assistance. Ask health queries, book appointments and get useful health tips.
RateMDs is a global platform that allows users in India to Find doctors by location, specialty, insurance accepted, and other criteria. Get insights into a doctor's bedside manner, knowledge, wait times, and overall experience from other patients.
Objective of any listing platform is to hook the consumer so that each time the consumer needs that product/service they should come to the platform. As a doctor, however, you wouldn’t want the patient to keep going back to the platform. Thus, you must take care that you treat the patient well, so they stick around with you. Build a personal touch in all your interactions
Never share your existing patients list with any listing platform. This happens if you use a patient management software provided by the platform. In that case, you are keeping your entire patient data with them and are hurting your own interests. You are ‘giving’ your patients to the platform to be contacted by them directly (which is what most of them do!) to promote themselves, ‘unhook’ them from you, hook them to themselves – sell them medicines, sell them online consultations by ‘other experts’ etc,. Obviously the ‘other experts’ have to pay more to the platform.
Never send your patients to any platform to book an appointment. They are very likely to show them other practitioners in the same area, often those with ‘better ratings & reviews’. This diverts your patient’s attention to other practitioners. Needless to say, the ‘other practitioners’ have paid more to the platform. Further, nothing stops the platform from contacting your patients directly, to promote the ‘other practitioners’.
These listing platforms promise the first-page to every practitioner who buys a paid listing but obviously can show just 6-8 on the first page. Others will invariably go on other pages. When those on other pages complain, they are told to pay more to come on the first page. Ultimately, practitioners will be competing with each other and filling the pockets of the platform!!
Don’t use the same provider for the listing platform and for practice management software. Use separate providers.
When listing platforms promise new patients, try it out for a couple of months and then extend every two months if you indeed get new patients. Do NOT pay for a longer term.
Nurture your patients such that they become your ambassadors. Use a practice management software which helps you do that. Such software shouldn’t have its own listing platform (so there’s no conflict of interest)
So, to safeguard your long-term interests and to strengthen your own standing, doctors should enter their existing patients’ data in only such software which does not have a listing platform. To get new patients, they can certainly experiment with all listing platforms and continue based on results.
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