Internet marketing for chiropractors has some parallels to the profession of chiropractic. Being successful online is all about having a proper, solid foundation. Once the core is established, all other marketing activities are natural extensions.

In our work we repeatedly see chiropractors making the same mistakes with their online marketing, bolting together a grab-bag of disparate techniques that have no core strategy or process to connect and support them. In this primer on proper internet marketing for chiropractors, we share with you how to build a foundation for long-term online success.

What is the Proper Role of Internet Marketing for Chiropractors?

Internet Marketing has two primary goals – engage and convert. While many chiropractors also use the internet to educate, education – as a goal in itself needs to be removed from the discussion for the moment. You will have the opportunity to educate in a meaningful way only after you have sufficiently engaged the visitor or captured some contact information from them. Engagement and/or conversion are therefore precursors to education.

Open up the home page of your own website and ask yourself these three questions:

“WHAT do I expect the visitor to DO next?”

“WHY should they do it?”

“Is it crystal clear HOW to do it?”

Do you want them to call and make an appointment? Great. Have you provided a compelling reason to do it right now rather than browse around some more? Is it easy to locate the phone number? Are there instructions for what to do if it is an evening or weekend (the internet never sleeps after all).

Do you want them to read your reviews, watch a video, subscribe to your newsletter, or like your Facebook page? And don’t respond with “all of the above”. The kiss of death when it comes to internet marketing for chiropractors is a busy home page with conflicting objectives and instructions.

Website 101: Ignore This List at Your Own Peril

The following items are non-negotiable if you are serious about your internet marketing. For chiropractors, these are your five commandments:

chiropractic internet marketing

  • Thou shalt have a chiropractic website.
  • Thou shalt own your own domain name (www.tulsachiropracticexample.com).
  • Thou shalt maintain 100% control over the content and design.
  • Thou shalt track volume, engagement and conversion numbers every month
    • Total website visitors (a volumetric measure)
    • Total visitors from non-paid search + referral websites (a volumetric measure of visitors that could become new patients)
    • Average time spent on site (a measure of engagement)
    • Percent of visitors that leave after viewing on the home page (a measure of engagement)
    • Percent of visitors that leave and email or phone number (a conversion measure)
    • Percent of visitors that make an appointment (a conversion measure)
  • Thou shalt be committed to making systematic changes to the home page, content and design to improve these numbers over time.

This is the solid foundation referred to in the opening paragraph. Don’t take shortcuts here or you will regret it later.

We can tell you story after story about chiropractors who get 700+ visitors to their websites every month, but generate almost zero new patients. Why? Because they were lured into pursuing traffic, traffic and more traffic without first establishing a website that engages and converts. You are probably thinking…” Why don’t they change the website to engage and convert better? In most cases they have purchased a chiropractic website template that doesn’t allow them to do so or makes it difficult to do.

If you take nothing else away from this primer on internet marketing for chiropractors, please remember that your practice website is your foundation and you must have total control.

Extensions of Internet Marketing for Chiropractors

internet marketing for chiropractors

Contrary to what you may see preached elsewhere, Facebook, Google Maps, Twitter, YouTube, Adwords, blogging, link building, reviews, comments, and check-ins should always be viewed as extensions of your internet marketing. Do not be lured into believing that these things are your internet marketing. They are tools to increase engagement and increase conversions.

When properly integrated with your foundational website, many of these tools are effective in increasing engagement and conversions. However, when pursued on their own or bolted on haphazardly, they are often enormous time sinks with a negative ROI.

Most Common Pitfalls in Chiropractic Internet Marketing

We’ve already allude to several of the places where chiropractors go wrong in their internet marketing. The most common ones are:

  • Not having complete control over your website.
  • Focusing too much on “extensions” like Facebook, review sites and Google Maps when the website foundation is not ready to support them.
  • Focusing on traffic volumetrics alone rather than engagement and conversion.
  • Having multiple sub-optimal websites instead of one excellent hub.
  • Believing in quick fixes.

The internet is here to stay (and hopefully so is your chiropractic practice). If you’d like to learn more about how to create a foundational, engaging and high-converting website to serve as the backbone of all your internet marketing activities, start by downloading our complimentary Internet Marketing for Chiropractors self-assessment. This tool is designed to assess your current internet marketing activities as well as your attitudes and knowledge about what is and is not effective online. What you discover may surprise you.

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