9 Jun 2015
Kelly Baltzell
Job Title
Image: © Beyond Indigo.
In the past, marketing could be focused on just a website. Then, search engine optimisation (SEO) emerged to sort the millions of websites created. Blogs rolled out shortly thereafter, followed by social media and online reviews.
When each area of online marketing started, it was akin to its own island. For example, websites just focused on building a fun, engaging website. You gave people your domain name and that is how they found your business.
Website design had to change when SEO factors needed to be incorporated into the coding of the site. Fast forward to today, and a new paradigm has crystallised where all pieces of your digital marketing programme interlace and rely on one another.
For example, the placement of your website within Google search results, depends on the following:
How does one apply this knowledge to a veterinary practice marketing programme?
You need to create a marketing ecosystem that consists of – at a minimum – online review management, an up-to-date mobile-friendly website, weekly blog posting, monthly organic SEO and Facebook posting and advertising.
Let’s look at each one of these components.
Online reviews have become a mainstay for consumers looking to purchase products and services. Market research reveals 90% of people now read reviews, up from 72% just four years ago. Reviews have also been cited by consumers to be equal to word-of-mouth recommendations.
Online brand management tends to be an area where most hospitals shy away from when they consider their marketing plan. Google uses online reviews in its local search algorithm.
The more reviews a business has, the more likely it will float to the top of local search because of statistical accuracy. Put simply, the more reviews an organisation receives, the more meaningful its overall review score will be.
Remember, Google’s focus is to keep people using Google. To keep a person going to www.google.com to conduct a search, the results of his or her search need to be highly accurate.
And never lose sight of the ultimate goal – real-world customer satisfaction. If a pet owner reads your business or service is rated as five-star, then their experience in person needs to match.
Managing your online reviews is the quickest, lowest-cost way of keeping your door swinging.
Websites have undergone a massive change this year because we, as consumers, are searching online via our mobile devices more than our laptops and desktops. Think about it, everywhere we go we have our phones. Plus, we are using multiple screens at any given time. We have our phone to text people, our tablet to web surf, and our TV on playing our favourite show.
Websites are now being built for a mobile device first, and a laptop second. In the past, it was the reverse. As we tend not to read lots of text on our smartphones this has led to website designs that are picture rich and content light. The majority of deeper-dive content on business websites is now located within blogs.
On the website, content is now in “blocks”, not pages.
Let’s try looking at a modern website on a laptop and your smartphone. Go to www.paypal.com on your laptop or desktop and also look at that site on your mobile phone.
See how they look the same? Notice how the bigger pictures and less text are easier to read on your smartphone?
Google is also changing to reflect the human behaviour of using mobile devices. In November 2014 it started labelling search results conducted on a mobile phone as “mobile friendly”. Users could see if a search result would be easy to read on their device.
Next, Google rolled out a new tool showing whether a website is mobile friendly or not (www.google.com/webmasters/tools/mobile-friendly). Simply type in your domain name and the test will show if you passed the Google benchmark for mobile.
Google didn’t stop there. In February it sent out a message that on April 21 it would be making a significant change to the mobile search aspect of its algorithm. If your website doesn’t pass the mobile test, chances are your business will struggle to be ranked highly enough by Google to be returned anywhere near the top of a search.
Take a moment and check out if your website can be found. Do a general, not specific, search. For example, “veterinary surgeries London” (if you look for your business by its name it will, of course, render a result with your business in the forefront).
If your website cannot be found, then most likely you have been affected by this latest change by Google. To redeem your business in Google’s good graces, you need to contact your website provider and enquire about making your website mobile friendly.
Blogging is a “must have”, not a “nice to have”, feature in your online marketing. New content, on a consistent basis, is a requirement by Google to stay prominent in the top of its search results. A blog is where larger chunks of content can be displayed. Typically, 300 to 700 words per post with a picture. The content of a blog should be focused on lighter information – visit www.7hillsvet.com/blog/ for an example.
Google’s SEO policy changes 1,000 to 1,200 times a year. Why? Because competition and consumer behaviour are constantly changing.
Google conducts about 67% of the searches on the internet and it wants to keep that percentage. Hence, it keeps modifying (and ideally improving) its search formula.
Therefore, your website needs to be modified monthly to keep pace with the changes. If you don’t, your website will “slide” in search result placement. Not good.
Make sure to work with a provider who focuses on organic and paid search, who is certified by Google, and gives you monthly reports on the results of its work on your Google placement.
If you can spare some change, social media has blossomed into multiple options. Which to focus on to reach current and potential customers has also become a common marketing dilemma. We recommend Facebook because users of that platform are 35 to 55 and they pay the bills.
Facebook has also undergone major changes in the past year. It needs to make money to satisfy shareholders. To encourage a company to spend money on Facebook it has “throttled” the number of people who see a post made on your business page.
Typically, only 6% (or less) of people who like your page will see your post. To reach the remaining 94% and other potential pet owners within a three-mile radius of your practice, you need to use Facebook Ads.
For roughly £50 a month you can reach women aged 35 to 45 who like pets and live within three miles of your practice. It is called targeted marketing, and it works very well.
Digital marketing today is
a system which includes reviews, a website with a blog SEO and Facebook – as a minimum. Each has incorporated the other platforms into their coding – think of it as a symbiotic relationship. For your business to be seen online, it needs all four components.
If you focus on only one, then the visibility of your brand will suffer.
