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5 Tools for increasing website visibility: goals and strategies
[Important note: this article has been automatically translated from the original Italian language.]
To date, there is no business that does not have its presence online: users live connected to the network through their devices (mobile devices or PCs), so a part of everyone’s life takes place on the web.
The veterinary clinics and the freelancers are not to be outdone, both as users (they use the Internet for normal daily activities) and as businesses that care about having an online presence.
In this context the website becomes a fundamental tool and the center of every activity. If you think about it, the website is a bit like your home: it is the only space where you decide what to communicate and how, unlike social networks that force you to act within a certain format (post, text, video, images, and reactions) and may, without warning, stop allowing you to post.
So let’s see how to transform the website from a basic tool (I have it because everyone has it) to a tool for growing your business.
The website for the veterinarian
Using metaphors, we could say that the Internet is like a huge city, full of main and side streets, through which a lot of people pass. Each website corresponds to an address of a house, a basement, a big store or a garage… what if your website has no sign, is located in the basement of a side street where no one passes by? Simple: no one will ever know of your existence, you will be invisible.
Here’s why having a website is not enough.
A website must be:
- representative of your brand (graphics and text should best represent you)
- be visible (users need to find you easily)
- be authoritative (receive links from other sites)
Only in this way will the website of your clinic will be able to attract new patients, new employees e generate profit.
How to get visibility for your website?
The ways in which people find out about the existence of your website are countless. Users may come from different channels:
- search engine (doing a Google search)
- social media (Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok, YouTube, following a link in a post, a comment, or doing a spontaneous search)
- maps (Google My Profile tab, formerly Google My Business)
- directly by typing in the domain name of your site (so they already know you)
- from other links scattered around the web (from your emails, from sharing content in Whatsapp or Telegram chats, from a Qr code, from other websites mentioning you and linking to your site or blog article).
Strategies to increase the visibility of your website
Users may or may not already know you, consequently they will use different means with different purposes:
- find you specifically, because they need to get to your location or want to contact you (tools: the website, search engine, or a Google map)
- Find “a vet” suitable for your pet., who meets certain requirements (tools: the search engine, links suggested by a friend in chat, etc.).
- Finding information about an issue, for example, figuring out at what age to vaccinate a puppy or understanding more about a particular disease (tools: Google search, voice search, social)
Therefore, to increase the visibility of your website you will need to set up the right strategies regarding:
- the channel to be manned
- l’interest of your typical user
Here is an overview of opportunities.
1 Increase site visibility through search engine SEO.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the subject of marketing that deals with optimizing the content of a site so that it can be well ranked in the search engine (the desired is the famous first page of Google).
This is the fundamental strategy that every website should have before it even goes online.
Objectives:
- attract customers who don’t yet know you
- attract customers who do a specific search (e.g., for your city)
How to do it?
To implement an SEO strategy you need to carefully study the keywords most used by users and optimize the site in such a way as to climb the top positions of SERPs (Search Engine Result Page, i.e., the results offered by search engines).
In this way, users who will search for “veterinarian Milan” o “oncologist for cats”, will find your website among the first results and clicking on it will take them to your site.
2 Increase website visibility through Blog
The Blogis an essential tool for intercepting all those users who are looking for general information, advice, or are inquiring about a particular topic (e.g., how to choose aHealth Plan for one’s animal). In this sense, having a Blog is crucial for the ranking of your site and increasing the traffic of users interested in your services.
Objectives:
- Attract customers who are “getting information” on an issue where you want to establish yourself as authoritative, expert, reliable
- Support and nurture customers (new or already yours) on all social channels, attempting to move traffic from the social network to your site
- facilitate the sharing of material even off-site (via chat, email, links, etc.)
How to do it?
Identify the topics of greatest interest to your users And write articles about it. Complement your work with original images and infographics, if needed. Also, don’t forget to analyze users’ search volumes on that given topic (there are tools that let you know the average monthly number of searches made by users for a specific word) and optimize the attributes SEO of the page (we will discuss this in a future article).
Remember to establish an editorial plan “before” you start writing and maintain a consistent publication over time. One tip is to host other authors within your Blog, they can be internal clinic contributors or even external partners, it will also be helpful to Networking on social networks.
3 Increase visibility to the website through social media
Social media in itself gives you visibility. They too work through algorithms (like SEO in the search engine), so the more popular you are and entertain your users by getting comments and reactions, the more you are rewarded.
Objectives:
- Attracting customers who don’t know you, intercepting them with interesting content while they are entertaining themselves (if they are on Facebook or YouTube, they are probably not working
- Gain authority in the eyes of clients who already know you, build their loyalty by creating your image as a veterinary doctor expert in such a pathology or surgical technique, and, why not, stimulate them to speak well of you
How to do it?
Facebook and Instagram allow you to bring traffic to your site through links and sharing of pages and images, as such you need a good editorial plan for social (to publish content). Not only that, here too you can feed your audience with informative material and advice, you can use sharing of Blog articles or creating Youtube videos and tutorials.
4 Increase website visibility through maps
When we need to reach a place, it comes naturally to us to open a map, select the destination and follow the suggested route. Maps therefore are essential for activities that have a physical location, such as the outpatient clinic or clinic.
Objectives:
- Be found in time of need (wants to reach us or call)
- promote a good image of the clinic through reviews, photographs, providing accurate and detailed information (if the client is undecided and considering where to turn)
How does it work?
Tabs Google Business Profile, allow you to enter opening hours, services offered, pictures, reviews, and website link. In the consideration phase (that moment when your client is still undecided about who to choose) your client will compare your record with that of another clinic.
If you can get him interested by communicating care and attention to your work (you communicate this through the accuracy with which you keep your board updated and through your responses to all the reviews, which are the new digital word-of-mouth), then he is likely to seek confirmation by clicking on the link to your website.
5 Get links
A curated and popular website can naturally get links from outside, through sharing in chat rooms or on social media.
Not only that, if you post blog articles, insights on certain topics, and answer frequently asked questions from your clients, surely other sites and colleagues will mention you as a resource. Original images and infographics can also serve the same purpose.
Goals:
- become authoritative (both for those who know you and for those who discover you through links)
- Attract users by moving them to your site via a link (so in a very natural way)
How to do it?
To get links you have several ways.
- The first is create valuable content, useful for your users and your colleagues (who might share your content on their social channels): text, images, guides, videos, tutorials, etc.
- Second is to activate collaborations and networks among veterinary colleagues scattered in other regions, perhaps dealing with the same subject and ask to host an article of yours. Conversely, hosting content from other colleagues on your site (an example of this is Codamentis, a Blog Networking space for the veterinary sector).
- The third is to pay to see one of your articles published in some digital veterinary magazine addressed to the owner. If you are authoritative enough, at some point, the opposite may happen.
Conclusions
As you could understand, even to gain visibility on the web you need a strategy. The first thing to do is to know all the tools at your disposal (and we have seen most of them today), the second step is to roll up your sleeves and follow A clear and orderly work plan.
Actually, there is another channel, it is that of the sponsored activities: You pay to get traffic and visibility. This is a strategy that only makes sense if you have already taken care of the 5 points seen in this article, because when you stop paying for your advertising, you will go back to being invisible, instead everything seen so far will allow you to build your online presence by getting constant free visibility that will grow over time.
Claudia Ustione
Consulente SEO specializzata per strutture e cliniche veterinarie.
Porta visibilità ai siti web a professionisti, aziende e cliniche veterinarie attraverso i motori di ricerca.
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