Mr. Romano is President of YourInternetDoctor.com and CEO of Instant Marketing Systems. He co-authored The Internet Survival Guide for Doctors (2014, Instant Marketing Systems) and No B.S. Direct Marketing (2006, Entrepreneur Press) and contributed to the Walking with the Wise series (2004, Mentors Publishing). He is an Internet marketing consultant, speaker, and creator of “The Implementation Blueprint System.”
Dr. Baum practices urology in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is Associate Clinical Professor of Urology at Tulane Medical School and Louisiana State University School of Medicine, both in New Orleans. He is also on the medical staff at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, and East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana. And he is the author of several books, including Social Media for the Healthcare Professional (2012, Greenbranch), and Marketing Your Clinical Practice: Ethically, Effectively, Economically (4th edition, 2009; Jones & Bartlett). Dr. Baum is a Contributing Editor for OBG Management.
Mr. Romano reports that he is CEO of Instant Marketing Systems, which provides consulting advice, marketing plans, and Internet marketing services for businesses and medical practices. Dr. Baum reports no financial relationships relevant to this article.
By soliciting and developing credible links to your Web site from other sources, you boost your visibility in Google search results—and can attract more patients to your practice. Here, tips to get you started.
Show your funny bone. Humor often travels in a viral direction. If something funny happens in your practice, share it with others and they will frequently link to the source.
Join a forum. Forums are a great source of high-quality traffic and links. You can use a forum to reach out to a specific community.By placing valid, useful contributions, you gain legitimate authority for your site.
The bottom line You want to attract as many visitors to your Web site as possible. Your own content and the frequency of your postings are mainstays of making your Web site relevant to existing and potential patients. Also useful are backlinks. The number and quality of your inbound links are major factors in SEO. Search engines place high value on trust and authority, and an inbound link from a very high-ranking and trusted Web site tells the search engine that someone trusted also trusts you. So start linking.
