It wasn’t that long ago when chiropractors would wonder whether or not they should bother having a practice website. Hopefully, we can all agree that those times are in the past. A chiropractor’s website is one of the most important parts of their marketing and outreach, which is why every chiropractor should have one.
Of course, a chiropractor’s website isn’t the only place they represent themselves online, but their website is one of the most important places. More often than not, chiropractic new patients will visit their next chiropractor’s website prior to scheduling their first appointment. Like it or not, what a prospective patient sees or doesn’t see on that website will impact their decision.
If a chiropractor wants to get the most value from their chiropractic website, it’s important that they are intentional about it. Whether they create their own website or they pay one of the many chiropractic website companies, chiropractors who put little thought into their website are most likely missing out on the full benefits of a quality chiropractic website.
Purpose of a Chiropractic Website
If a chiropractor wants to get the most out of their chiropractic website, it starts by clarifying its purpose. For the vast majority of chiropractors, the main purpose of their chiropractic website is to attract new patients. A chiropractor’s website should do a good job of helping new people transition from a non-patient into a patient.
Sure, chiropractic websites can be used for a variety of different things. Chiropractors can use their website to educate existing patients. They can use it to sell products. But those things are NOT the primary purpose of most chiropractic websites.
When chiropractors highlight these secondary purposes on their website, it distracts from the main purpose. The result is fewer new patients. That’s not good.
Best Chiropractic Websites Are Easily Found
If you are a chiropractor, I want you to think about something. Right now there are people in your area who are online actively searching for their next chiropractor. Are they going to find your website? You could have the nicest website in the history of chiropractors, but if no one ever finds that website, it’s NOT a great chiropractic website.
And when I say a chiropractic website should be easily found, what I’m mostly talking about is being found on Google. 85-90% of searches are done using Google, so Google should be the main focus if a chiropractor wants to optimize their website for search.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple solution to chiropractic SEO (search engine optimization). One of the things I tell clients is, “The secret to chiropractic SEO is doing a lot of little things correctly and consistently.”
A lot of chiropractors want to know the shortcut to higher rankings on Google. But SEO shortcuts are sort of like Big Foot sightings. It’s not hard to find people who claim to have seen Big Foot, but no one seems to be able to prove that Big Foot is real.
Sure, there are plenty of chiropractic marketing gurus who claim to know about some SEO secret or shortcut. For the most part, I would just remind you that if it sounds too good to be true…it probably is.
If you are interested in learning more about chiropractic SEO, I wrote a detailed article that is a great place to start. You can find my chiropractic SEO article here.
Best Chiropractic Websites Convert New Patients
Like I said before, a great chiropractic website is going to be focused on new patients. But not only that, a great chiropractic website will do a good job of helping people schedule their first appointment. That’s what chiropractors really want people to do, right?
If people are regularly visiting a chiropractor’s website, but that chiropractor is rarely getting new patients to schedule an appointment, that chiropractor’s website is a terrible chiropractic website. It doesn’t matter how pretty the website is. It doesn’t matter which chiropractic website company built it. It doesn’t matter how much the chiropractor likes their website.
What matters above and beyond everything else is that as many people as possible who are visiting a chiropractor’s website are scheduling their first appointment. If a chiropractic website isn’t doing a good job in that area, it’s a crappy chiropractic website. Period.
Common Chiropractic Website Mistakes
I’ve seen a lot of mistakes that chiropractors make regarding their websites. In no particular order, here are a few of the most common chiropractic website mistakes.
Chiropractic Website Mistake #1: Cluttering up the website
It’s not a mistake for a chiropractor to have a lot of content on their website. It is a mistake for that content to be on display as if it’s all of equal importance. It’s not.
The content on a chiropractor’s website that is going to be very important for new patients should be organized and displayed in a prominent way. Potential new patients are not going to spend 15-20 minutes digging through a chiropractor’s website to find what they are looking for. Make it easy for them or they will leave and choose a different chiropractor.
Chiropractic Website Mistake #2: Being unclear about the next step
If a caveman stumbled upon a good chiropractic website, he should be able to figure out what the next step is. Many chiropractic websites make the mistake of not having a clear call-to-action on the homepage above the fold.
I would recommend adding a button so your call-to-action is easy to see.
Being unclear what value they offer: It’s very common for chiropractors to prominently display their practice name on the homepage above the fold. I believe this is a mistake because it takes up website real-estate where a more compelling value statement should be displayed.
Think about it. If you were a potential new patient who was visiting a chiropractor’s website for the first time, would you be more likely to schedule your first appointment if you read Kennedy Chiropractic & Wellness or Get Out Of Pain & Get Back To Enjoying Life?
Chiropractic Website Mistake #3: Website designed without SEO in mind
It’s not uncommon for me to see chiropractic websites that are completely missing the mark when it comes to SEO. Some of the websites are self-hosted chiropractic websites, so that makes sense. The chiropractor who built it doesn’t really understand SEO.
Other times I see chiropractic websites that (according to the chiropractor) have been optimized but they just aren’t. Many of those sites have been built by chiropractic website companies.
Regardless of whether a chiropractic site is self-hosted or it’s managed by a chiropractic website company, it’s important that SEO best practices are followed. If not, the website will rank poorly in Google searches resulting in fewer new patients for the chiropractor.
Chiropractic Website Mistake #4: Adding social media links to the header
A lot of people will advise chiropractors to prominently display their social media links in their website header. I think that’s a mistake and here’s why. When someone is on a chiropractor’s website, they are on the doorstep of scheduling their first appointment.
Does the chiropractor want the potential new patient to visit their social media links or schedule their first appointment? Once someone is on a chiropractor’s website, scheduling an appointment is the most important thing. The chiropractor’s social media accounts are a distraction from that goal.
Does that mean a chiropractor shouldn’t have social media links on their website? No. Put them in the footer. Put them on the contact page. Put them at the end of your blog posts. You definitely want people to be able to connect with you on social. I just wouldn’t recommend putting the links in a chiropractor’s website header.
Chiropractic Website Mistake #5: Adding content for the sake of adding content
Many chiropractors have heard the phrase, “Content is king.” Chiropractors have also heard marketing gurus talk bout how important content is for chiropractic marketing. While it is true that content is valuable, it would be more accurate to say “quality content is king” or “specific content is king.”
I have met a lot of chiropractors who religiously write blogs, record videos, and publish podcasts assuming that someday all that content will result in a flood of new patients. More often than not, it doesn’t.. That’s because most of the time content isn’t king. Most of the time content is crap.
Now I’m not saying that you shouldn’t create content. I’m saying you should create content with a plan. Know why you are doing it and understand the marketing path that leads to new patients. Otherwise, you are just creating content for the same of creating content. That’s a mistake.
Assuming the website itself is the ONLY thing that impacts SEO: When it comes to SEO, a chiropractor’s website is VERY important. But the website itself is not the only thing that impacts SEO. This is especially true when talking about local SEO.
A chiropractor’s Google Business Profile, online reviews, local citations, and links from other sites are all factors that impact SEO. If a chiropractor really wants their website to rank higher on Google, it’s important that their optimization includes more than just the chiropractic website itself.
Chiropractic Website Mistake #6: Saying too much too soon
One of the things I see a lot on chiropractic websites is a list of different phases of care. I’m pretty sure it’s something that has been recycled from a popular chiropractic website company. I wouldn’t recommend putting it on your website.
There are a lot of different reasons why people start going to the chiropractor. Most people are not thinking about some made up 3rd or 4th phase of care. Initially, they just want to feel better.
Best-case-scenario the different phases are pointless and no one reads them. Worst-case scenario the different phases scare the potential new patients off who are worried that once they go to the chiropractor they are always going to have to go.
Chiropractic Website Mistake #7: Giving someone else control of URL
In many cases, this isn’t a big deal. But I do feel very strongly about it. A chiropractor should never let anyone else have control of their URL.
This most often happens when a chiropractor is having their website built for the first time. Instead of the chiropractor purchasing their own URL through GoDaddy or somewhere else, the chiropractic website company will purchase it for them.
That’s not a problem as long as the chiropractor doesn’t want to do anything different with their website. If the chiropractor wants to start self-hosting their own site, or they want to move over to a different chiropractic website company, they are going to need that URL.
In many cases, the chiropractic website company will just transfer the URL over to the chiropractor. Sometimes, the website company isn’t as easy to deal with and it becomes a big production to get access to the URL.
URLs cost about $15-20 per year. They aren’t expensive, and you can do whatever you want with it when you own it.
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