Millions of people access Google’s search engine every minute. Some of them are within driving distance of your practice, and they are looking for a chiropractor to help them. You can reach these prospective patients by running little pay per click ads on Google’s Adwords network. Here are 5 strategies for success in your Google Adwords campaigns.

#1. Choose the right keywords.

Keywords are the terms people are searching for. Doctors usually think of chiropractic, chiropractor, and all of it’s derivatives. But terms like back pain, neck pain, headaches, sciatica, etc have great potential. People searching for these conditions are looking for information, usually have or know someone who has the problem, and are motivated to do something about it. Think of the problems people come into your office with, and do some research using Google’s keyword tool.

#2. Write effective ads.

When writing your ads, you only have so many spaces to get your message across. No time for wasting words. You only get 25-35 characters for four lines of text, two of which are your headline and website address. Here’s the proven formula for your ads:

• First line should contain your keyword in a headline type phrase
• Second line should be a benefit you offer, for example “Get Rid Of Migraines”
• Line three should describe a feature offer, like “Without Drugs Or Surgery”
• Line four is your URL, with each word capitalized and using a keyword if possible

#3. Improve Your CTR.

Your click through rate (CTR) is very important to you and to Google. How much you pay, what position your ad is in, and your quality score all relate to your CTR. To get your CTR higher, make sure you are in ad position 2-5 on the first page. As your CTR goes up, you can readjust your bid to lower your position, and still keep your CTR up. If your CTR goes below .5%, Google can pull your ads from running on their searches.

One easy way to improve your CTR is through split testing. Adwords has a built in feature to their system that allows you to run tests. They will rotate your ads evenly and give you the stats to determine which ad is winning. By continuously testing your ads against each other, you can improve your CTR and your clicks.

#4. Watch Your Quality Score.

Google currently has three levels of quality score. “Ok”,”Poor” and “Great”. The better your quality score is, the less you will pay per click. Google won’t tell you exactly how to improve your score, but they do reveal a few keys to help you. One is to make sure you have your keyword in your ad and headline. Having it as part of your URL (domain name) can help to. Another way to improve quality score is by having a higher CTR. And the most important factor of all, and the one that will give you the most headache, is the quality of your landing page.

#5. Improve Your Landing Page.

A landing page is where the person lands after clicking through your Adwords ad. For multiple reasons I don’t have room to list here, I do not recommend the landing be on your “main site”. A simple page that collects information like name and email address works much better than putting them on a website with multiple options. You should have a headline, some copy, some bullet points, and testimonials. Videos and audios work very well too.

Use to, you built your landing page for your visitor. Since 2006, you also have to build it to please Google. This is because your Adwords ad quality score is based on the “relevancy” of your landing page. Google wants to make sure your page is relevant to your keyword and to your ad. If your landing page is not relevant, you can be “slapped” with a high cost per click, in the range of $5-10. To help with this, make sure you have a privacy policy, your keyword is listed about 10-20% of the time on the page, and that you have a link out to some “big” sites like your main website and blog.

In 2009, a chiropractor can not rely on simply having a website to bring him new patients from the internet. It’s simply not enough anymore (and likely hasn’t been for a few years.)

Now if it was still 1999, and you were the first to get a website up in your town, then you could expect to get new patients from it over the next few years.

But by 2004-2005, just about everyone had a website in your area. This brought up a new problem, since there was now quite a bit more competition online.

So what happened?

Overpriced SEO services happened. Web designers came to you and offered to “search engine optimize” your site for around 2,000 dollars or more! For this amount, they would go in and “tweak  your code”, essentially stuffing keywords and meta tags on your site, somewhat optimizing it so you would come up high on Google and Yahoo’s free listings. (Turns out it’s not so “Free” if you have to pay someone $2,000 to do it!)

This worked for a short while, until search engines like Google figured this out and developed a program to detect all the fake “stuffing” that was going on. (Believe it or not, there are still SEO companies out there today spending 10 minutes doing this and charging chiros a ton of money.)

So now it’s 2009. What’s changed? Well, quite a lot has changed on the internet. Many industries have implemented new technologies and moved on into the whole Web 2.0 phase. Even many small businesses have realized they can get new customers online at a less expensive cost, thereby cutting ineffective offline marketing.

But where are most chiropractors?

Still stuck in 1999, simply thinking a website alone will work? Or in 2004, thinking if they have a website all they need is some quick optimization to help it out a little?

If you’ve been thinking these things too, it’s really not your fault. No one has really stood up and said…

“No, it doesn’t work like that anymore!”

Instead, website companies just update their graphics and make their site look prettier, knowing they can sell you on looks instead of effectiveness.

But no matter how good you dress it up, a website is not enough (unless you practice in a very small town and you’re the only chiropractor there.)

Let’s look at the offline world. You have a sign on your door or on the front of your building, correct? This sign is important, because it tells people where your office is and if they are driving by they know how to find you. But does this sign magically go out and tell people to come into your office? Does it go 5 miles down the road and find qualified new patients?

Of course not! You have to do other types of marketing first to get people over to your office and come in as a new patient.

Your sign is part of your offline marketing system, but it does not make up 100% of it (unless you are in a really small town). Well the same goes for your website. Your website is not going to go out there and grab qualified prospects for you. Sure, a few people may pass by your site and come in as a new patient, like a walk in would when driving by your office. But do you just want to live off of walk-in traffic?

Look, here’s how internet marketing works. You must have 3 steps running all the time.

#1. Source of qualified traffic. (Pay per click, articles, organic listings, blog, incoming links, press releases, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Some of these work better than others.)

#2. Conversion of that traffic to scheduled new patients. (This is where your website comes in. But just ‘any ole website’ won’t do. You have to have good copy and layout to make it work.)

#3. Automatic follow-up with the traffic that doesn’t call and schedule. (Here you use email autoresponders to do the work for you.)

If all you have is a website, you only have  #2 covered above. And judging by most chiropractic websites out there, they struggle with even doing #2 right.

I know, we are chiropractors. We’re not trained to know all the ins and outs of internet marketing. Nor do we have time to keep up with all this “new fangled” stuff. That is why sometimes I hear the following statement…

“Dr. Beck, I don’t understand all that internet marketing stuff out there.
But I get that you need a website. Can’t I just get by with that for now?”

My answer: sure, you can “get by”, but don’t be upset when you don’t get many new patients from your website.

And not understanding how internet marketing works is no excuse not to learn it or pay someone else to do it for you. Most patients don’t understand chiropractic when they first come in to see you. But it doesn’t take them long to appreciate the benefits of your care.

The same goes for all the components of internet marketing. You don’t have to understand it all the mechanics of it to reap the benefits of having tons of new patients come in to your office from it.

We know people are searching everyday in your area for a chiropractor, or solutions to problems that you can help (they are because we can see that with Google’s keyword tool), then why aren’t they finding your website and causing the phone to ring off the hook?

Do patients find your website when someone types in “fibromyalgia treatment” on Google? What about “neuropathy”? Sciatica?

I can make that happen with ChiroPatients Online. There are still a few spots left for October, as long as your area has not been taken already.

It’s time for you to experience a completely done-for-you chiropractic advertising system.

http://ultimatechiropracticads.com/ultimate-chiropractic-marketing-ads

If you’ve been following the blog lately, you know I’ve talked a lot about having a marketing system in your practice. One that’s easy to implement and is effective at bringing in quality new patients.

Check it out now:
http://ultimatechiropracticads.com/ultimate-chiropractic-marketing-ads

And for a limited time, I’m making it an even better deal with 2 launch bonuses.

1. The first 7 doctors that buy get a 30 minute practice marketing consultation with me personally.
2. The first 30 to get the system will receive 16 Lessons of ChiroMarketing Academy — the premier chiropractic internet marketing program.

The Ultimate Chiropractic Ads are plug and play advertising proven to work in competitive areas, even during the current recession. You’ll discover…

-40+ ‘done-for-you’ high-profit ads that bring in a consistent flow of high quality patients
-First-class ads for niche conditions like fibromyalgia, migraines, spinal decompression, carpal tunnel, cold laser, arthritis, and much more
-A reliable marketing plan with multiple unique ads, giving you the ability to run a different one every month for years
-Professional home-care ghostwritten booklets you can customize and use in your report of findings
-Effective ads written by a chiropractor that’s ‘lived in the trenches’ and is now hailed by marketing experts as writing “extraordinary” and “superior copy”… “without hype or exaggeration”

Find out more now:
http://ultimatechiropracticads.com/ultimate-chiropractic-marketing-ads

The Contest Winner…

We had some great entries into the contest. In fact, choosing the winner was tougher than I thought it would be, because there was a very close race for the winner. But I did choose a winner, and it was based on need for the product (although just about every practice needs it) in their practice, but also what I thought they could do with it and how it would change their life.

I chose Jennifer Rozenhart…

I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to win your contest because we really NEED your product! My sister and I opened our practice one year ago and have been learning all the ins and outs of advertising- at a very high cost!! We would have loved to have your system a year ago! We have been spending time doing screenings with some success, but what we really would love is more time with our families! I have 2 boys who always miss their mommy – between time at the office for adjusting and then the weekend time for screenings. We are fast implementers and take on things full force, we just need the right system to make the maximum impact in our community! We want to serve the families in our community with excellent chiropractic care so they need to know we are here and ready to SERVE!! The system will allow our team to experience greater prosperity and live a higher quality of life. Overall, the system will allow us to reach more people more effectively and allow us to have MORE FUN!! Thanks for this contest and we would make you proud WHEN you pick us!! Thanks!

Congratulations Jennifer! I’ll be contacting you by email shortly.

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