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Jim and Tyson provide comprehensive insights into creating effective websites for podiatry clinics. The episode starts by emphasizing the importance of how a great website attracts and retains patients. There are five key characteristics:
✉️ CONTACT
jim@podiatrygrowth.com
[00:00:00]
Tyson E. Franklin: Hi, I'm Tyson Franklin and welcome to this week's episode of Podiatry Marketing with me as usual, my partner in crime, Big Jim Mac. How are you doing today, Jimmy boy?
Jim McDannald, DPM: doing fantastic. It's, that time it's the holidays. Let's get into the holidays here. it's, I gotta check out my Christmas shopping list, right? the days are ticking away and I keep putting it off. So I'm feeling the pressure today, Tyson. I'm definitely feeling the pressure.
Tyson E. Franklin: So I just, I called you Jimmy boy then, which I haven't called you before. What is the, do you have an Irish background?
Yeah, so James McDonald, that's so I've got a, I've got a mixed kind of Irish English and Scottish background. yeah, Jimmy Boyd, Jimbo, Jim, Jim and James Sets, sets you up for a lot of different kind of, Nicknames. So yeah,I will respond to all of them. Anything that starts with J.
Jim McDannald, DPM: pretty much not like jackass
Tyson E. Franklin: Jemma with it. Yeah. Jackass or anything like that.
Jim McDannald, DPM: [00:01:00] Jag off. I don't know.
Tyson E. Franklin: I was going to say jack off, but I thought, Oh, is that going too far? No, but now that you've put it out there, we'll leave it there.
Tyson E. Franklin: So what are we talking about today?
Jim McDannald, DPM: we're coming back around to one of my favorite topics. I think it's something that Even though we've talked about in the past is something I think it's really important for podiatrists to that We really reiterate this on a consistent basis. And this is really jumping back into what is what are like five characteristics of a successful podiatry clinic website Your website for your clinic is something that everyone knows need to they need to have one but it can really Be a huge source of, building your expertise, really getting, shining a light on who you are and how you can, service patients in your local area.
So I think it's really important to get back to the basics. cause like sometimes, we live in a digital world and I think sometimes we are, our eyes gloss over. That Oh yeah, a website, great. I know what one of those is. and you don't [00:02:00] understand the kind of like the details that go into either building and maintaining a website that can really make a big difference and really help you stand apart from other clinics and other providers in your local area.
So I think.
Jim McDannald, DPM: We're going to jump into those five characteristics today. I know that, you're on board with me with this, but I think it is important to go over these basics with our podiatrists just to, they can know what's going on and ways that they can improve their current website setups.
Tyson E. Franklin: So what's the first part? Someone's thinking of putting a website together. What is the first part that they should really be putting the time and effort, especially if they've never had a website before. If they've just opened up a new business, they're about to have their first website. They're not revamping an old one.
What should they be concentrating on?
Jim McDannald, DPM: Yeah, so I think the first kind of characteristic of a successful website that should be considered is making sure it's a patient friendly design. when either, either you're building it yourself on a platform like Squarespace or WordPress, or you're working with a professional to really hone in, on building it, it's really [00:03:00] important that you have a intuitive navigation and layout for the website.
I think we've been on websites before where you're, you can't find the contact information. You can't find the, how to connect or contact the clinic. And it's a huge sign to a patient that like. If their website is difficult, probably their clinic is going to be difficult as well, or they have an ugly website, what is the clinic going to look like?
So that, that user, that kind of patient friendly or that user friendly design, it's not only important for the utility of getting around the website and navigating, but it really Translates to like what their expectations of you as a provider are and what your their expectations of your clinic is going to be so that first impression is really huge.
So it should be, a clean, organized site. and it has to have that kind of professional aesthetic. if there's. Flashing lights or stock images. And it just it's a, an alert or an alarm bell to patients that, I'm not too sure about this podiatrist, right? the website looks a little sketchy.
I [00:04:00] can't find what I'm looking for. I'm just going to go back to Google and find somebody else that looks a little bit more professional.
Tyson E. Franklin: Yeah. I remember going on one particular, podiatry website and it was a shocker. There was so much information on the homepage that I mean, I didn't know where to start, but then as you scrolled, the bottom of the page kept chasing you up the side of the screen. And there was so much information there that you'd be trying to, I'm just trying to get away from you and this thing just kept chasing you and you did, you'd end up just leaving their page and going, that was an awful experience.
And there were things flashing and, yeah, luckily there was no noise attached to it, but it was like being at the pokies. This thing just kept moving and changing. So yeah, and that, and this was a big podiatry company too. It was an absolute shocker. So it wasn't just some shonky guy. they'd actually had this built by, I don't know who.
Jim McDannald, DPM: of those. Yeah, but one of those features that I think a lot of people like the idea of, but it [00:05:00] feels a little clunky still to me is like the, the live chat. And, there's some websites and some tech websites that do it really well, but, I haven't really seen any on a podiatry clinic website.
that really had a, like a smooth interface and it looked professional. They, sometimes you see these images of someone wearing like a headset with a microphone and it's like live, live chat now. And it just seems like almost like an infomercial or this weird, I'm going to talk to a telemarketer about my medical problems now.
So I think. The live chat will get there over time, I think, but that's one area that I, when I look at it, it doesn't feel like it builds a lot of trust with patients. So like we talked about the role of this website design is really to how do you get patients to trust that you are that local expert and then have them take action, right?
How do they convert from just being a website visitor to a patient that's on your schedule or your agenda? And that requires, clear call outs, a good design, ways that [00:06:00] people can contact you where they think the button should be. So those are really important as far as building that patient friendly design is that first.
thing you should consider, when you're looking either to build a website or to improve the website you currently have.
Tyson E. Franklin: I hate things that just pop up unexpectedly. You come to the website, you're on the homepage and you go, okay, is this the business that I'm searching for? And before you can even get through the second line of the first paragraph, this box pops up and says, would you like to join our newsletter? No. So you get out of there, you keep reading, then another thing pops up and you haven't even got to the end of the paragraph.
And by then I've usually got the shits because I'm thinking,
Jim McDannald, DPM: Usually you're back to Google or to a different website by then.
Tyson E. Franklin: Yeah, because I'm thinking, just let me read through this and know that I've, if I've read through something for 60 seconds, then there's a chance I'm enjoying what I'm reading.
Then ask me a question, but to just throw it at me straight away and you go, Oh, now I've got to click to get out of there to get back to where I was. So I haven't seen that on any [00:07:00] podiatry websites. Thank God.
Jim McDannald, DPM: Yeah, luckily most podiatrists realize that's something that will annoy most patients and I haven't seen it pop up too often either.
Tyson E. Franklin: Okay. What's next?
Jim McDannald, DPM: So next is making sure that your website is mobily optimized. So you got to make sure that your website, the pages. the ability to contact and make an appointment in your clinic is optimized for mobile. people are spending more and more time on their smartphones. I think, obviously for a long time people were on desktop computers and laptops and it's easy.
That's, that's probably the way that either you or the person building your website. That's probably how they're building it is through a desktop or a laptop, but you really need to make sure that the kind of experience on mobile It's top notch, they're just, for healthcare services.
it's really important, every, it's not only the small screen, but also now we have, things like GPS within our phone. So if people are searching, for your clinic, it's going to pop up on a mobile. So it's really important to have a kind of a mobile [00:08:00] responsive design, and user experience.
And that includes, call search engine optimization, right? So it's Making sure that there's the right text and the right, the procedures, the types of treatment you do is being written and can be seen in a mobile way. So that's really important. So if it's you or the person you're working with, you have to make sure you're testing.
is it, how does it look on phones at different sizes? How does it look on Android versus iPhone? Just want to make sure that you have a really functional and seamless experience across all the devices, whether it be desktop, tablet, laptop, or phone, but just making sure that it's mobile optimized, because like I said, more and more people are just doing things with their phone these days and less with laptops and desktop computers.
Tyson E. Franklin: Yeah, I use my phone all the time, constantly. And a lot of times you'll be with, especially when you're with other people, if you're out socially and there's any conversation and somebody mentions something, you go, Oh, let's just check it out. And everyone goes to the phone to try and find. Further information, [00:09:00] because I'm, I work from home in front of my computer all the time, I will, I don't use it at home, but as soon as I'm out of the house, constantly searching websites on the phone.
And I think everybody is the same.
Jim McDannald, DPM: I'm the same way. I spent a lot of time on my laptop and my desktop. But, when you're out of the house or sometimes I'm just testing websites, I'm building, it definitely spent a lot of time on that phone. So it's really important. I think it's sometimes the first thing that people will sometimes see in the morning and the first last time thing they'll see before they go to bed at night, which is a little, maybe it's a sad state of our society, but, the cell phone, the mobile phone is huge these days.
Tyson E. Franklin: Yeah, I must admit, it's one of those things I'm trying to, when I'm going to bed, I hook it up and don't look at it. And then, especially since I've been back from America, I get up earlier in the morning and as soon as I wake up, I grab my phone, I put it in my pocket and then by 5. 30 I'm out the door
Jim McDannald, DPM: There you go.
Tyson E. Franklin: and, Off walking.
So then I've got the headphones in and I'm trying not to look or check or really do [00:10:00] anything until after a finished walk, come home, had a coffee, and then I go, okay, now let's get into it. What's the next part after that?
Jim McDannald, DPM: Yeah.
Jim McDannald, DPM: So next is, making sure that your website is full of informative and engaging content. So that's basically just saying, any content that's on your website, written content, it just needs to be clear, concise, and jargon free. I think it is, as medical professionals and even myself, I find myself, writing and medical ease.
but when people are reading your website, these are patients that didn't go to podiatry school, that didn't go to residency. They don't know what probably what a lapidus bunionectomy is. And while maybe it's important for them to know certain terms like that in the future, it shouldn't be their first contact or they shouldn't run into that, right off the bat when going to your website, you really need to highlight the benefits of the care you provide.
in language that they'll understand. So it's really important to have things on your website. If you're, if it's possible, I know that some people [00:11:00] in the UK or Australia aren't able to use them, but things like patient testimonials, anytime you can use before and after photos, or there's educational materials about the different foot and ankle conditions you treat, and providing some.
some advice, it's not medical advice, but maybe some things that have been tried before, just so you can give them a little bit of information about causes, potential treatments, so they feel a little bit informed before they make an appointment to know that kind of you are that expert, and then just regularly updating this content, right?
Just because you built your website 10 years ago, doesn't mean that the type of content or the type of care you're providing is still relevant. So in order to maintain that trust and build authority, in your local area, for the care you want to provide, you really need to make sure that you have updated content.
like I said, in a clear, concise and jargon free manner.
Tyson E. Franklin: but what you're thinking on how much text should there be with each page or if it's the home page or an article because sometimes you'll go to a particular [00:12:00] page and there is so much there I mean it is so text heavy and the font is really small and you start reading you go This is gonna take forever and then you go to another one where the fonts slightly bigger easy to read And it gets to the point really quickly.
It's not just dragging on to finally get to what you were searching for in the first place.
Jim McDannald, DPM: Yeah, it approaches in a couple of different ways. I would say number one, if you can tell somebody through an image or through a video.
I would also say that when you're scrolling, when I'm looking at my laptop or desktop, even on a cell phone, if you can, it's probably a little harder on the cell phone, but, I like to see no more than like 50%. Of the screen have text on it. So maybe it's a, an image above it, but then there's text below or there's tech, an image below the text or interspersed there.
even a blog posts, if you write 400 words about marathon running injuries and [00:13:00] there's no visuals associated with it, maybe you have a little bit of bold text or some bullets, those things will definitely help break up the kind of the. The kind of, how intimidating or that wall of text kind of feeling, but you definitely need to have some engaging visuals with whatever you're writing, whether it be the introduction to who you are, information about your clinic, on the type of patients you treat.
like I said, blog posts, you really need to have that, a nice mix of visuals and text. And, when you do that, it's much more engaging and much more, more likely to get people to stick on your website. If it's. 90 percent text and a little bit of images here and there. not very engaging content means that people are going to bounce and go to somebody else's website.
Tyson E. Franklin: Yeah. I have had some people where they will have a blog article, for example, it'll be say three to 400 words, few photos, and it looks really good. But then they'll have something where they'll say, if you want to
read further, more detailed article, and they click on it, it goes through to a different [00:14:00] blog that is far bigger and a lot more information. There's one particular friend that I know, he's got a, it's one blog article. It's four and a half thousand or 5, 000 words. It's massive. And he just said the amount of traffic that blog article gets, it just surprises him.
But it's, but he feeds into it from other places to say, Hey, if you want more information on this, you read through it. And he says he's never been able to write one as well. It just happened to be one we just got in this flow and it was just an interesting topic. Wasn't podiatry related though. It was something else.
Yeah. Yeah. The ingrown words.
Jim McDannald, DPM: No, one's going to read that.
Tyson E. Franklin: Nah. Okay. So what comes next after that?
Jim McDannald, DPM: Yeah.
Jim McDannald, DPM: So next is this, making sure that your website has strong calls to action. that's basically, that's really important. If you don't tell the patient what you'd the action you'd like them to do, like then they're They wonder why they're on your website in the first place, [00:15:00] right?
Usually when people are searching for podiatrists, they're looking for someone to help them or one that someone they love or someone in their network with a foot and ankle problem. So you need to make sure that you provide these strong calls to action. also it's, you really, like we mentioned previously, you want to make sure you have, make it very easy for people to contact you.
You want to clearly define what these call to actions are, whether it be, you don't want 50, 000 book now or book online or book appointment now and stuff, but you definitely need to have it a few times, throughout your content. like we talked about along with the images in the text, having it on.
Almost every page you scroll down, can be helpful and there's different ways to show it in a very helpful manner. but you want to make sure that people know how to book appointments with you. Some people prefer online forums. Other people like to have their phone number highlighted for patients to call.
It's really what you like to do, but just make sure it's visible. and not only visible from a size perspective, but for colors, I'll sometimes see websites that are. And then they have, the phone numbers, the same [00:16:00] blue as every other headline is on the web, on the webpage. you want to make sure that it stands out these calls to action, right?
It needs to be almost a different color entirely, or the button needs to be a visually appealing color that stands out from the rest of the content on the website. so accessibility, like I talked about the phone number, maybe it's an email contact form and the maps. You want to have that all very easy to find on your website.
And then, like I said, if you have, an EMR that allows integration of online booking, services or patient portals, making sure that's very clear as well, because there's nothing more annoying to a patient than having to go, go on a scavenger hunt on your website. the majority of. Places that people could
Tyson E. Franklin: I know it's only because, yeah, I was in the States. So I had a few days to myself at different locations, Nashville, Chicago, and all that. And I was jumping on websites of things to do at different times. And sometimes I would click onto a website and I'm going, where are you? [00:17:00] where's the meeting point?
But how do I book? And I'm searching through and I always say, confused mind says no. As soon as I got confused, I was like, yeah, I'll just go back to the list and see who else was there. And some of them, and I've been on podiatry websites where, yeah, cause I'm always searching through them, but I'll find some and I'll go, Oh, nice.
Yeah, this looks nice. It's great. And I'll go, where are you located? and I'm trying to figure out from the phone number. Okay. I know from that phone number, I think it's in this state, but whereabouts are you in the state? And I've really got to search. I can't find the address.
Jim McDannald, DPM: know it comes back down to like understanding the patient journey Looking at your website not from your perspective, right? we love that we went to school and what some of us went to residency in those things But patients don't care about that you don't want to have that get in the way of Your contact information, how to make an appointment, your phone number, the map, directions to your clinic.
Those are the things that people are actively searching [00:18:00] for. Maybe it's the form they have to fill out before they go to your clinic, So making that as simple as possible, you'll have very thankful patients. And, like I said, like nobody signed up for a scavenger hunt when they went to your website.
and if you make it hard for them, like you said, confused mind says no, they'll just go find another clinic to go visit. So
Tyson E. Franklin: Yeah, I totally agree. So what else would be, how many points? I think I've gone through a
Jim McDannald, DPM: yeah, so this is the last one. This is number five. this is really important and, and this is getting patient reviews and if possible, displaying it on your website. why that's important is that. We can go on all day to talk about how great we are. I know that Tyson, I know that Tyson, I talk about ourselves all the time.
he's
Oh, we're awesome. at coaching. he's great at helping you plan the marketing. I'm the master of implementing all these different digital tactics.
Tyson E. Franklin: and I do, I said that, I've said it previously and I'll say it again. If there's podiatrists out there and they're going, Oh, should I work with you? Oh, should I work with Tyson? Or should I go and work [00:19:00] with this big company where they're going to just farm me off to somebody who's an employer who works for them, who really doesn't care about me?
Then I'm just thinking, why would you do that? Yeah, call me, call Jim. It's, I don't know, I don't know, it just makes sense. But, yeah, this is just me.
Jim McDannald, DPM: No, and that's great advice, and I definitely second that information, but what's even more powerful than us talking about ourselves, or what's more powerful than podiatrists talking about their own practice or their own training, is that when a patient leaves a, a great online review, that really helps shift the next patient's decision making process, right?
when you can showcase positive testimonials. Prominently on your website and other marketing collateral. if it's allowed by your state or your location you're in, fantastic. and you really want to make sure that. Anytime that you have a negative review, that's addressed professionally and promptly.
having patient reviews visible on your website. it's huge. And, having a quote from a patient [00:20:00] speaks volume. So really incorporate some of the patient reviews into the way you build your website.
Tyson E. Franklin: I think that is fantastic advice. And I think if people go back and listen to this again, and start, and take some notes. So if you're not going to gym to help you with your website, if you're going somewhere else, it's just make sure you got this information and when you're, as your website's getting done and you're creating information for it, it's just make sure all these points are basically covered and I'm sure gym is, I know there's a ton of other things you can actually do on your website,
Jim McDannald, DPM: I don't want to have a list of the 450 things to do for your website, right? So just keep it nice and tight at five. I'm sure we'll discuss some other ones in future podcasts,
Tyson E. Franklin: what I love doing is saying to podiatrists, Oh, so I take it your website went live on the 12th of, April, 2021. Yeah. How did you know that? I go, because there were five blog articles all with that date and nothing has, nothing's been added since then. The other thing I would just advise people on their website is don't keep [00:21:00] using the same photo from 1988. Yeah, update your photographs every now and then. Look, I could still have on my website, I could still have hair. The photo where I had hair was so much better, but It's one of those things that the photos that you're using, and this goes back to what we said before about stock photos. I think even the photos yourself, as you age and mature and become wiser, it is update the photos.
So it actually does depict who they're going to be seeing, especially with your team as well.
Jim McDannald, DPM: yeah, that's definitely, finishing off on that note, I really want to encourage people to go back and evaluate and find ways to improve their current clinic websites. whether it's that photo from 1984, or, you have a ton of stock images, just go look at your website from the patient's perspective, because these things do make a difference.
Thank you. By changing some of these essential elements of your website, you can really stand out and effectively cater to who your ideal patients are. So really important to do [00:22:00] those things. if you've been enjoying the show today, make sure that, email a link to one of your colleagues, give us a review on iTunes and subscribe because, Tyson and I are going to keep on putting out this helpful content.
And, Hopefully you'll learn some things from it and it'll improve not only your practice, but hopefully your life as well. So
Tyson E. Franklin: That's a fantastic way to wrap up Jim. So I look forward to talking to you again next week.
Jim McDannald, DPM: Sounds like a plan Tyson
Tyson E. Franklin: Okay. See ya.
Jim McDannald, DPM: by now..
