Your website is the home base of your medical practice’s digital strategy. Other aspects such as email marketing and social media are still crucial to the overall strategy but the finish line is still the website. Landing pages, blog posts, patient information, doctor profiles – your website serves as the central point of it all.
Equally important to the medical website itself is the URL address at which it lives. A wise and strategic selection can help your online visibility, Search Engine Optimization and Google page ranking. Ultimately, your online address is the all-important connecting point for reaching patients both current and prospective.
Careful thought and consideration should go into choosing your practice website’s URL but here three good rules to follow:
Go with the “.com” ending
You will be offered different ending options when selecting your address and it can be tempting to choose something that stands out from the crowd. Ignore that instinct in this scenario. The original “.com” ending is more recognizable, expected and respected. Ending your practice’s URL with “.net,” “.org,” “.us,” and “.biz” runs you the risk of coming across as confusing, not legitimate or lacking experience.
Make it easy on people
Keep your address short, easy to say and easy to spell. You want to be able to communicate your address to others in writing, over the phone and person-to-person. Make it professional (not cute or trendy) and easy to understand. The goal is select an address name is makes sense and is easy to recall.
Make it meaningful
You address should convey who you are, what you do, or some sort of halfway point. There are a lot of doctors out there. If you have a unique name for your area, use that in your URL and focus on building a brand around your name. If your name is rather common in your region, choose a URL that focuses on your practice name or your specialty. Name recognition will come later after you have built up a loyal patient base in your local area. If you need to, hold a brainstorming session with your team and get those ideas flowing!
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