SEO Keywords for Physical Therapy Websites

When it comes to your PT website, SEO or search engine optimization is critical to the success of your digital marketing. An effective SEO strategy helps your website rank higher in natural search. Now that might sound like marketing jargon, but in simple terms—planning for your keywords and SEO will help your website show up higher on the page in Google and other search engines. There are numerous components that go into your search engine performance, but let’s focus on keywords.

SEO keywords are the single word or set of words that each page within your website is indexed for in search engines.

Think about SEO keywords as a traditional textbook index. If you wanted to find “spinal stenosis” in your physical therapy textbook, you would flip to the index at the back and search for spinal stenosis. The index would tell you all the times that the words “spinal stenosis” were used and the page they were found on. Keywords function the same way for your website. Each page gets one keyword that it is indexed for by the search engines. So when someone searches “sports rehabilitation” if your page uses that as a keyword, it is more likely to show up in the search engine results.

Now there is a trick with keywords—you can overuse SEO keywords. For example, if you use “physical therapy” as the keywords for every page, then the search engine can drop your ranking for overuse. It’s might not seem fair, but sometimes you have to play the game by the other team’s rules. Let’s learn how to use keywords correctly to improve your SEO.

Best Practices for SEO Keywords

• Keep a spreadsheet of all your website’s pages and the corresponding keywords to avoid overusing any specific words or phrases.
• Check for frequency of use on the page. A keyword should be used between 5-10 times on a page with 500 words. Avoid using a keyword 30+ times.
• Include the keyword in the URL for that page. If the keyword is dry needling, make sure the page URL is .com/physical-therapy/dry-needling for example. Use a hyphen in between keywords to indicate a space (and don’t combine the keywords into a single word ie. /dryneedling as this does not work for SEO).
• Include the keyword in the title of the page. The keyword will be indexed better if it is in the title of the page and in the SEO page title (the title that shows up in search engines and is populated through your website’s content system).

Using SEO keywords correctly can be a bit experimental. Working with a professional website design and marketing team helps to eliminate the guess work and increased results. For more help with your website’s SEO keywords, request a free demo today!

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Using Twitter for Social Media Marketing

When it comes to your practice’s social media, Facebook is often the first platform to be utilized. Most practice owners and marketers are most familiar with Facebook from personal use, thus making it an easy adoption for clinic marketing. However, Twitter can be a great sister platform that serves a somewhat different purpose and communicates with a different audience. Twitter provides the opportunity for short, simple statements that range from hyping an incentive program to promoting a blog post to sharing an update on clinic operating hours.

Who Uses Twitter?

Twitter users vary slightly from other social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. A 2015 study from the Pew Institute shows a demographic breakdown of all social media platforms. Twitter tends to sway more towards male, under 50 years of age, college educated, and higher income. These demographic combinations differ from Facebook, which is more age neutral and lower income, and Pinterest, which is predominantly female and leans toward rural communities. So by incorporating Twitter into your social media platforms, you can start to market to a different online population.

How to Use Twitter

• Tweets: are 140 characters or less (including links) and act a Twitter’s version of a Facebook post without images. It is important to keep your tweets short and compelling to engage viewers.
• Hashtags: are the “old-school pound” or # symbol. By adding them to the front of a word or phrase, such as #PhysicalTherapy, you can automatically link your tweets to other with the same hashtag.
• RT or Re-Tweet: if you see something you like or think is interesting, RT it! This is the Twitter equivalent of Facebook’s Share feature.
• Favorite: if you like a tweet and want to maybe save it for later, you can favorite it (aka Like it in Facebook terms)
• Reply: say a patient tweets “Back to #running again thx to @ABCPT”, you can reply with “@runnergirl glad to help you get back to #running and #healthy”. Now this looks like a simple interaction and it is! Replying to a tweet is similar to replying to a text message, but on social media.
• Follow: if you see an account (in Twitter speak a “handle”) that you recognize, then follow them on Twitter. Also, if you see someone tweeting fun tips or PT advice, follow them too! A Twitter follow can lead to more exposure for your clinic.

What to Tweet

Unlike Facebook, Twitter is all about quick updates and sharing information. You can tweet several times a day (we recommend a max of 3 times) and share different content with your followers. Three types of tweets are:

• Status Update: share something new or interesting happening at the clinic. Use hashtags where appropriate to increase visibility.
  • Example: Registration for our fall #sports #camp is open! Call the office for more details 888-888-8888 #PhysicalTherapy
• Link Share: when you write a new blog post or add a new service to your website, share that link with your Twitter followers.
• Conversation/PR Update: try to RT another user’s tweet that you find fun, positive, or engaging. This builds a social network and helps to build a POV for your Twitter account.

Want more help with social media? Check out our Pinterest boards for tips, stats, and free content to get you started!

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Coupon Content Basics for Physical Therapy

Many practices routinely send patients a coupon as an incentive to get them to come to physical therapy. This coupon could be for a free screening, discount on services, promotional offer etc. However, practice owners and marketers often comment that patients do not respond or forget to use the coupon. Why? Does the coupon’s design encourage response, does the messaging make sense, and is the incentive worthwhile? If you cannot answer yes to all three of the above, then maybe it’s time to revamp your coupon.

Coupon Design Don’ts

Usually we focus on the Do’s, but with coupons it is often a challenge to know exactly what will work for your practice. Instead, we will tell you what we know to avoid in the coupon design space.

• Overcrowd the design: choose one (and only one) incentive to promote with the coupon and stick to it! It’s easy to want to add a list of all your services, hype your social media…but that only confuses the customer. Choose one message and stick with it.
• Forget key details: think carefully about the incentive you are promoting. What are the key details that can encourage response and prevent awkward confusion about redemption? Every coupon should have:
  • A clear promotion ie. Free 15 minute Injury Prevention Screening
  • An expiration date
  • Fine print for exclusions or restrictions ie. Only valid for new patients
• Create multiple versions: the best solution is to create a template for all your routine incentives and coupons. This provides consistent branding and makes it easier for you to create coupons quickly. If you want to use a coupon in your newsletter, on flyers, and on social media, then choose a design template that works with all those platforms.
• Be gimmicky with your fonts: look at sales and coupons from national brands for inspiration (we like Nordstrom’s, REI, and Apple). They don’t change their font for coupons, which keeps their promotions in line with other branded marketing. FREE (bolded, italicized, and underlined) is font styling overkill! If you want to emphasize something, choose a word or phrase (not a whole sentence) and one style like bold. This adds prominence without being gimmicky.
• Add a dashed border: the “cut along the dotted line” dashed box around a coupon is an instant throwback to 1980s grocery store circulars. Instead, choose a full color background or image that makes the coupon stand out. If you need a border (say for a black and white printed flyer), use a double line stroke with varying thicknesses to add visual weight without the dashed line.

Designing an effective coupon that gets patients into your clinic and generates revenue takes time and some degree of trial and error. If you try a new template or design, monitor the coupon’s results. Do more people respond? Does it work better on one platform versus another? Tracking your response rate is key to a successful promotional campaign and coupon design.

For more graphic design and marketing advice, contact our expert team! We have years of experience, across a variety of industries, and know how to promote your practice.

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Write a Headline that Gets Patients’ Attention

Ever see a billboard along the highway that has a headline that really gets your attention? What is it about those words or phrases that draw your focus away from the road (for a split second) and make you think about the message? It could be something funny or clever, and maybe it’s “catchy” and something that you will remember. Whatever words catch your attention and makes you think for even a split second is probably a good headline.

Most physical therapy practice owners and marketers struggle to find fun and innovative ways to grab patients’ attention while maintaining a sense of authority and professionalism that is needed for a PT. How can you catch a patient’s eye, be creative, and still deliver a clear message? Focus on the headline!

Tips for Writing an Awesome Headline

• Think outside the box: if you are creating a flyer for an upcoming open house, the first headline that comes to mind might be “Come to Our September Open House”. Now this does tell the reader exactly what to do, but is it catchy or memorable? How about something fun and engaging, “You’re Invited to ‘Back to School’ Night at ABC Physical Therapy”. It’s personal, seasonal and stands out.
• Use “key” words: marketing companies, such as HubSpot, spend a lot of time researching which words perform best to get viewer’s attention and have them complete the desired action (ie. go to your clinic’s open house). Some of the best words and phrases to use are:
  • You, Your, etc.
  • How to
  • Get, Start, Learn
  • Now, Today
• Say it in 6 words or less: shorter, simpler headlines are easy to read, comprehend, and remember. Try to use at most 6 words to convey your message (excluding words like the, to, with etc. and your clinic’s name). And, if possible, start with a personal word (you, your) or a verb (get, start) to immediately engage the reader.
• Be positive: physical therapy marketing maintains a delicate balance between pain and recovery or injury and prevention. In some cases, such as article headlines or blog posts, a headline with an intentional negative, “Feeling Sore and Achy from Back Pain,” can be a good fit. But for shorter or smaller marketing campaigns: postcards, brochures, or social media, opt for positive messaging, “Get Back to Work Pain Free!” that encourages or uplifts the reader.

These tips might seem like a lot to process—be creative, use the right words, be brief, and stay positive. But try to incorporate at least one of these tips into each marketing piece and see if you notice a better response to your campaign. Small changes to your headlines can attract more readers, hold their attention, and prompt them to complete the ultimate task of making an appointment for physical therapy.

For more help with writing an effective headline and access to professionally written newsletter and website content, contact us today! We want to help you get the biggest return on investment from your PT marketing.

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Time Management Guidelines for Practice Owners

As a private practice owner, your time is valuable and limited. Most practice owners wear many hats: physical therapist, CEO, employer, staff member, spouse, parent, friend…the list is endless. With these many hats comes a variety of responsibilities and expectations that are all critical to the success of your practice and to your achievement of personal and professional goals. How can one person do it all? The answer is planned, effective, and careful time management.

Time management for practice owners is finding a method to prioritize and perform multiple tasks while maintaining a viable work-life balance.

To some, this might sound easy. But to most, successful time management is a challenge to execute on good day let alone tough ones. True time management requires a set of plans and schedules that are both rigid and flexible and feasible (if you can’t follow your plans then your time is not well managed right?). Let’s take a look at some simple strategies to manage your time and to restore balance to your daily life.

5 Time Management Guidelines

1. List your top three priorities in life: your family, your business, and your career are probably at the top of the list. Now be more specific and think about what it means to prioritize these three things. Do you want to be a loving spouse and engaged parent, a successful business owner, and a caring PT? Breaking things down to a smaller scale can help put things in perspective.
2. Outline what you need to do to support those priorities: keep it simple with choosing 3 actions that will continuously sustain your efforts. For your business, these can be: ensure adequate patient volumes, maintain a balanced budget, and invest in staff training and operational updates.
3. Figure out how much time you need to complete these actions each week: look at parts of a day, not hours or minutes. To ensure adequate patient volumes you might need to do daily reviews of the PT appointment schedules, monitor analytics, and work on your marketing. Altogether, these three tasks might take you 1/3 of each day of the week or maybe 1 day per week.
4. Time box yourself: if you need 1 day per week to ensure adequate patient volumes, then block a day from seeing patients. This will allow you to have 1 whole day (that’s 8 hours) to work on your business and be uninterrupted. You can leave the PT hat off that day and only where your practice owner hat. This boxed time will allow you to really focus on the tasks and be productive.
5. Know your peak performance times: just like some people hit the gym in the morning and others after work, you too have a peak performance time to get stuff done. Maybe you like to tackle the business tasks in the morning when you are refreshed and see patients in the afternoons. Or maybe you want to be home when your kids get off the bus and should treat patients in the mornings and work from the home office later in the day. Figure out your peak times and align these with your time boxes.

These time management guidelines might seem simple, but they do work. You can do the same amount of work that you are doing today in less time (giving you more “fun time” with family and friends) by working effectively. Start small, maybe with time managing your budget and financial tasks, and work your way up to a well-managed schedule that suits your needs and preferences. Let’s get started!

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