30th April, 2007
Build Your Most Effective Website in Minutes for Free!
Do you still not have a website for your dispensary or practice, or does the website you have fail to bring scads of customers through the front door? Even if you don’t know what a blog is, setting one up is the quickest, simplest, cheapest, most effective way to establish a valuable web presence for your small business and bring customers in the door. If you already have a website, consider blogging to improve visibility, bring traffic to your site, and build relationships with your customers or patients.
Here are a few examples of optical blogs:
Optoblog
The Optometry Blog
Brass Monocle Blog
For little or no money, you can have a professional looking website that is easy to maintain and update, and will almost certainly beat out your competitors in local search rankings.
Step 1. Open a blogging account.
There are a number of blogging services out there that will host a blog for you. Perhaps the most well-known are blogger.com, typepad.com, and wordpress.com. Blogger and Wordpress are free. Typepad will run you about $5 per month. My nod goes to Wordpress.com for the combination of features and price with Typepad a close second. Please, feel free to do your own comparison.
Step 2. Pick a template.
Once you have opened an account, each service has a number of professional-looking templates to choose from. Moreover, most of these template options look better than 90% of the optometrist websites I have visited.
Step 3. Create an “about us” page or featured post.
Include the name of your business, address, phone number, directions, hours, etc. You may also want to include a little blurb about what you do and what makes your business special as well as pictures of you, your staff, and your store front.
Step 4. Start blogging.
Post anything which may be of interest to your customers (e.g. new products, services, or equipment; construction in the street; vacation; a story about you or your business, etc.). Try to make at least one post per week. More is better. Try to use a picture with each post to enrich your readers’ experience. Also try to include terms in your posts potential customers may use in their search for when looking for your services (e.g. optician, optometrist, eye doctor, eyeglasses, contacts, the name of your city or town, etc.). Remember: people are increasingly more likely to google “Montreal optometrist” or “optician 90125” instead of opening their yellow pages.
So now, with very little effort or cost, you have just created a website that is better than most or even all or your competitors’ sites and within several weeks will almost certainly have top 10 results for key local search terms. More importantly, in a short time your new site will be driving business through the front door. Yay!
Popularity: 25% [?]
Posted at 8:16 pm | Comments (3)
25th April, 2007
Bad Patients
Optical folks can be a cranky lot. Spend any time on Optiboard and you’ll hear a myraid of complaints about bad patients, stupid questions, dirty glasses, and customers that *think* they know more than you. Seth Godin has a message from your other customers:
Hey, I know that your last customer was a jerk. I know that you get asked the same stupid questions over and over. I know that people don’t appreciate you, they’re boors, they’re selfish, they’re in a hurry.
But, here’s the thing: I’m not those people. I’ve never been here before. I didn’t do anything wrong! Don’t blame me for them.
If you’re going to be in the service business, you need to accept [the above] or you’re going to hate it and be lousy at it, both at the same time.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Posted at 8:10 pm | Comment (0)
18th April, 2007
A Useful Optometry Blog
Blogger and elephant drawing optometrist, David Langford discovered an excellent optometry blog (a rarity) from a consulting firm in the UK …worth a visit.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Posted at 8:04 pm | Comment (0)
13th April, 2007
Doctor Locator
Are you registered for the free Check Yearly. See Clearly Doctor Locator?
Popularity: 19% [?]
Posted at 8:00 pm | Comment (0)
8th April, 2007
A Most Important Rule
Why do your customers return? Why to they recommend you to others? Is it because you give the most thorough eye exam in town? Is it because you know how to select and fit a PAL they’ll adapt to the first time? Is it because you have largest selection of designer frames?
Or is it because of the way they feel when they walk out your door?
By a factor of three, what you do is not nearly as important as how it makes people feel.
Seth Godin points out there is a difference between doing your job and providing a customer experience. What are you focused on?
Popularity: 19% [?]
Posted at 7:58 pm | Comment (0)
6th April, 2007
10 Ways to Keep your Appointment Book Full
1. Don’t use an appointment book; use a computer.
2. When a patient calls to cancel an appointment, always ask WHEN you can reschedule.
3. When a customer walks into the office for adjustments or repairs, ask when she had her last eye exam. If it has been over a year, offer to schedule one.
4. When a patient calls to reorder contacts, check the computer to see when she had her last eye exam and ask to schedule a one, if appropriate.
5. When scheduling appointments, ask if there are family members requiring exams.
6. Place a sign out front that reads, “Now accepting new patients.”
7. Give employees business cards with a “Check Yearly, See Clearly” logo and a “Call for an appointment” number.
8. Send patient recall cards reminding them of an upcoming appointment or time to schedule a new one.
9. Call each patient with an appointment reminder the night before the exam. You may also consider using an automated service to perform this task.
10. Consider allowing patients to schedule their own appointments online.
Bonus:
11. Value you patients’ time by starting their appointments on time. They will be more likely to return the favor as well as return to your office for their next exam.
Popularity: 19% [?]
Posted at 7:55 pm | Comment (0)
