Help New Patients Schedule a Consultation - Cosmetic Surgery Marketing Advice

"You can bring a horse to water, but you can't make it drink." Right? Not necessarily so when it comes to prospective patients who are on your Web site. Your site visitors have found you online because they are already interested in your services and live in your area. The good news is, that means that you have already pre-qualified your visitors right from the start. Here are five steps you can take right now to increase the chances that your site visitors will "drink that water" after you bring them to the proverbial well.

1.  Have a well-laid out Web site. Once your visitor clicks in to your site, you have about 3 seconds to capture their attention of they will hit their back button and go somewhere else. That can be really scary to lose a potential patient that quickly, but one thing you can do is organize your Web site so that they can navigate very easily. First, display all of the procedures you perform in separate pages on your Web site with easy navigation on either the top or the left of the site. This will allow visitors to clearly see what you do and will encourage them to click in to that page from your home page.

2.  Be sure to have links on each page that tell the visitor what you want them to do. For instance, if they are reading an article about breast augmentation, you'll want to include links inside of the article and at the end that will take them to your "Contact Us" page. Instead of naming the link "Contact Us", however, call it "Schedule a Free Consultation" or "Contact Us Now to Schedule Your First Appointment". By telling your reader exactly what you want them to do, you will have a better chance of encouraging them to take that action and your cosmetic surgery marketing efforts will pay off.

3.  Include a section on your site dedicated to testimonials. Trust is everything when it comes to choosing a cosmetic surgeon. Provide reasons for your site visitors to trust you by offering them written and pictorial testimonials of your work. As your site visitors read more about how happy your past patients have been with the work you did, the more likely they will be to take the next step and come in to see you. Be sure to include a link (or links) to your "Contact Us" page on every testimonial page to make it even easier for your patients to take action.

4.  Use a form that asks just enough information, yet it's not intrusive. Since many visitors feel leery about sites "stealing" their personal information for spamming purposes, it's very important for you to include a link to your privacy policy on your "Contact Us" form so they can see that you are trustworthy. The form they fill out should provide you and your staff with just enough information for you to get a general idea of who they are, what they are interested in and how to contact them. Have a checklist included on your form to allow them to check off one or more procedures they are considering. Ask for their name and a phone number or email address. That's it!

5.  Finally, help your new patients schedule a consultation by explaining the process that you have for new patients. For example, you might include a "new patient" FAQ page that they can click on and read about what happens from their first consultation through their post-op follow-up appointment. You can include information about your medical school, board certifications, and a few testimonials that stand out. Remember to include a "Contact Us for a Free Consultation" link on your FAQ page to remind your new patients of the next logical step: to make an appointment with you.

Using these five steps to help site visitors become new patients is not only easy, but extremely uncomplicated. With just a few adjustments to your site, you can experience a dramatic increase in conversion from site visitors to new patients from the very first time they come to your Web site. That's what cosmetic surgery marketing is all about.

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