FROM THE RANKS PART 4: Web Marketing For Cosmetic Plastic Surgeons Isn’t Important…

It's my own damn fault...I got the writing team thinking about the relationship between eye tracking studies and Google's recent infatuation with shorter pages that happen to have keywords in the areas most users look first when "scanning" a page. It seems we just can't get away from the topic. But in the next post, copywriter Mike Roe takes a stab explaining how to satisfy both search engines and scanners...

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Web Marketing For Cosmetic Plastic Surgeons Isn’t Important…
It’s imperative. In fact, studies show that 80% of computer owners use search engines to find physicians and research procedures. And studies suggest that once they’ve found your medical Web site, you have but a few moments to prove to them they’ve come to the right place, to show them what they’re looking for – “show” rather than “tell” being the key word here.

How Can You Show Them Your Page Is Worthy of Being Read?By writing it in such a way that ensures it isn’t. Wait. What? Studies conducted by Jakob Nielsen (“The Guru of Web Page Usability”) and Kara Pernice Coyne – both of the Nielsen Norman Group – bear out that Web readers are in reality “scanners.” They scan pages, often tabbing back-and-forth between your page and your competitor’s. What are they looking for? Answers. What do they ignore? Details (at least in the beginning).

So, how can you help them to find the answers – “the main points” – they’re scanning for? Mr. Nielsen and Ms. Coyne recommend bulleting items, as well as...

• offering straightforward page titles
• increasing white space
• front-loading keywords
• making headlines simple and direct
• guiding the scanner with subheads, and
• bolding or linking from information-bearing words

For Effective Web Marketing, Cosmetic Plastic Surgeons Should Keep In Mind...
Less copy is more – by decreasing the time it takes for the scanner to “read” your page, you actually increase both comprehension and retention. So, try to keep your search engine optimized copy between 250 and 300 words, like this blog.

For more information about how people use the Web, check out Steve Krug’s book, “Don’t Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.”

FROM THE RANKS PART 3: Death by Jargon

Our lead copywriter Cathy has a few words for people with big brains who write their Web sites without thought of their audience.

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Picture this. You’re roaming the Web one evening after a light day of patient consults. You decide to look for some extra help getting your brand new PDA to synch up properly with your old computer. You’re getting close; you think you may have found the right site…eureka! Here’s your advice:

Microsoft Windows Installer can be used to install signed driver packages that are associated with applications in a Windows Installer installation package.

You heave a big sigh and abandon that quest in favor of checking out the classes your college student daughter has signed up for this term. You locate her university’s Web site and here’s the scoop:

This symposium aims to provide ethnographic and anthropological substance to the political philosophy of publicization. We hope to elucidate the ethnographic forms that the new public forums (Helga Nowotny et. al. call them agora) are taking in our anthropological contemporary.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” you say. “Wait just a minute. I know where you’re going with this. I’m smarter about medical Web marketing than you think. My site’s nothing like that.”

Is that right? You’re sure?

Just as doctors aren’t usually skilled in geek-speak or university blather, most prospective plastic surgery patients aren’t experts in medical terminology. Think how they may react to gobbledegook like these gems from real Web sites:

There is no blind dissection of the space for the implant. The fold below the breast (inframammary fold) as well as the medial aspect of the pocket (the cleavage area) is precisely created.

Dr. X prefers the small 3 mm,triple lumen Mercedes cannulas to 1 atmosphere of vacuum suction pressure.

External Ultrasound Assist is a method of preparing tissue for surgery by infusing fluid followed by high frequency ultrasound using a special device
designed especially for this procedure.

Not only will most searchers fail to understand what these passages are trying to say, the average patient does not want to be talked to this way. They are real people seeking understanding, support and expertise in their pursuit of self improvement—they want to connect with a physician, not receive a lecture.

An early study of the behavior of Web site visitors revealed that over 75% of them look at text first (rather than photos or other graphics). What will happen when their eyes land on “1 atmosphere of vacuum suction pressure?”

Sure you don’t want to take another look at your Web site?

Together We Are

Friday afternoon is still with me. Two days later I still can't let it go. I've been reluctant to blog about it, mostly because all of my thoughts come out as, well...corny and cliche.

You see we're hiring...and right off the bat you should know that our hiring process is a bit out of the ordinary. Everyone who gets hired must complete a complicated skills assessment to win a chance to interview. The interview is a conducted panel of our senior staff; four on one. The office is open format, meaning everyone can hear, so it's more like 15 on one.

On Thursday we thought we had found the perfect candidate...but something wasn't sitting right. We scheduled a second interview, bringing in different members from our team to sit on the panel. The young lady in the hot seat was smart, skilled, and a prime contender...but the new questions from the new panel revealed that the fit just wasn't right.

The debate was intense, but the post-interview discussion grew from the panel, to the panel and senior staff, to the panel, senior staff and pretty much everyone else.

I was certain this young lady would master the job, make our clients happy, I even denied my feelings that something about her personality might abrade the rest of the team.

But, when I set my ego aside, and trusted my team, listened to my team, I heard reflected back at me the truth about the candidate. Her ambition and approach to conflict were certain to pit her against the production staff in short order.

It was a moment for me, a moment when I realized that sometimes I manage best by getting out of the way. I think it may have been a moment of for my team, a moment when they realized I trust them implicitly. It was golden. We had invested a ton of time and energy in the wrong candidate, but I think we walked away feeling successful, and closer.

Like the candidate, I have a history of trying too hard to always have thins my way. It seems that together we are smarter, better, and more successful.

FROM THE RANKS PART 2: Matt Gets Write to the Point

Staff copywriter Matt had a few choice words to share about the risks of do-it-yourself copywriting...and the rewards of turning to our professional team for help. The stage is yours Matt...

"Imagine this: you’re a cosmetic surgeon, and you want to do some medical marketing of your services over the Web. Seems simple enough—just write up what procedures you offer and a little bit about your office, your staff, and your treatment philosophy, right?"

"In fact, many of the surgeons we work with do believe they can do all this writing on their own, and in a few hours at that. Writing may not be rocket science (though a recent study gave corporate employees a D in their grammar skills), but I’m a big fan of trusting a professional to do the job right. I don’t pretend to know how to rebuild a transmission or administer an IV drip. I haven’t been trained in those things. But I did graduate from Carnegie-Mellon with a degree in Creative Writing, and I refined my skills writing proposals, memos, letters, and case studies before heading back to law school at UCLA, where you bet I got a healthy dose of readin’ and writin’. I have to admit that I take a little offense at those who think anyone can write—it’s a skill I’ve worked hard to develop and refine for over a decade. "

"But enough with me being grouchy. Getting back to that surgeon, how’s the Web site writing really going to go? Think traffic jams. Think molasses. Think three-toed sloth. In my experience, our clients who choose to do their own writing have a very slow go of it. That’s not to criticize the doctors in any way—they always start out with the best intentions. But the strains and pressures of their practice mean that Web site writing has to take a back burner. Many think they’ll find time for the writing over the weekend. In all but the rarest case, they won’t."

"Most of our sites require 50 to 100 hours of copywriting, when a pro does it. Figure probably twice as much time for a surgeon to get in the swing of things: thinking about what to say, integrating keywords, developing a page model, researching the marketing of the products they use, optimizing the copy, and having someone proof it. So even if a surgeon, who mind you is more than likely slammed with consultations, scheduled surgeries, and practice administration, can devote 2 hours per week to writing their site, they’ll be finished in about one to two years. Think that’s exaggerating things? We are currently working with a surgeon who has spent over a year drafting copy, and is not all that close to completing it. Meanwhile, the surgeon has no Web presence and is missing growth opportunities."

"Here’s the moral of this medical marketing story: do what you do best. Leave the writing to us."

Not sure if you can trust our team to get the writing, well, right? Ask our clients. They routinely report that we convey their personality, voice, mission, and the essential clinical details of their procedures with resounding success.

FROM THE RANKS, PART 1: The Client Who Cried Urgent

I recently sent an email out to the entire Etna Interactive staff, asking the team to weigh in on what they would share with a client if they had no fear of causing offense. It's not too surprising that most of the comments I've received from the team relate to communication and vendor management.

One of our Senior Project Manager's, Kristin Bertsch, commented on one of my favorite (or least favorite) topics...the client who cries URGENT!!!!!

Kristin wrote, "We understand that things come up at the last minute and that most edits need to be made to a web site as soon as possible. I would want our clients to understand that urgent and last minute requests impact our production schedule, delay other projects, and cause unnecessary stress on the production team."

"Our best clients let us know when important events are approaching, plan for updates and direct marketing efforts, and reserve URGENT requests for real emergencies. When those things happen it feels good to come to the rescue."

What Kristin was too polite to bring up was the other side of that coin. If you're a doctor, you know what you feel, and what the front office says, about that one patient that insists she's having a "Botox emergency" and simply must have her next treatment today. The one that calls at the last minute and insists that the doctor drop everything for her consultation. Need I say more?

So when it comes to working with my team, and really any of your vendors, a little planning, and a little respect, goes a long way

Why Original Content Matters

So a medical web site assessment I performed this morning landed me on yet another site with 100% duplicated content. The ensuing call left me explaining again why original content matters. Some things are better explained in person, so I invite you to sit back, relax, and listen to me rant on why original content matters...