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.”