Donald M. Petersen Jr., BS, HCD(hc), FICC(h), Publisher
We are all ambassadors for chiropractic. What we say, how we act and (especially in our case) what we publish impacts the opinions of others, particularly the less informed. We may be their first contact with chiropractic, helping form their first impression. It takes some work, but the rewards can be substantial.
This is particularly true for your website, Facebook page and other social media. Searching the web is how most of the public first learns about chiropractic. People searching in your community are likely to see your website or Facebook page the first time they search for "chiropractic."
Am I Representing the Profession Effectively?
This is a question we at Dynamic Chiropractic constantly ask ourselves. It's the reason we continue to make changes to our website every few years. While it's not easy to redesign a website with more than 31,000 pages of information, it's important to stay effective and extend our reach as far as possible.
Our newest design was launched as January came to a close (www.dynamicchiropractic.com). If you haven't seen it yet, the website is a hybrid of a best-practices news site with an advanced digital publication. In addition to our digital editions, this hybrid provides access to all of our digital media including webinars, e-books, white papers, chiropractic calendar, e-newsletters and our extensive archives.
Because we know DynamicChiropractic.com is a popular destination for consumers as well, we have added a Consumer Corner to more prominently present information of interest to them. This section provides links to our various consumer websites including ChiroFind.com and ToYourHealth.com.
These sites may be unfamiliar to you, but they have been providing consumer information about chiropractic, along with our "ChiroLocator," for almost 25 years. (That's a few years before Google was founded.) Consumers are also encouraged to subscribe to our free To Your Health e-newsletter, which is sent out every two weeks with a growing consumer circulation of just under 300,000.
All this effort requires substantial resources, but continues to yield excellent results. DynamicChiropractic.com is reaching more DCs with the latest news and information as our consumer sites and e-newsletters are reaching more potential chiropractic patients.
As of press time, DynamicChiropractic.com is ranked higher than any other chiropractic media website, with more than twice the estimated monthly unique visitors as the next most popular site. In addition, DynamicChiropractic.com has a higher global ranking in the "Health > Alternative And Natural Medicine" category.1
Constant Effort = Constant Results
Keeping your website and social media current and effective requires constant effort. If you haven't looked at your website in a while, it may be time to do so. You may be embarrassed to find that some of your information is outdated or your design needs a facelift. You should also have a social media presence. If that concept is still foreign to you, I encourage you to consult with one of the many companies serving our profession. A good place to start is with Amplifeied: http://mypracticeamplifeied.com/.
Finally, if you don't have a patient e-newsletter, take a look at the one we send out: Sample TYH Newsletter. We can personalize the To Your Health e-newsletter and send it to all your patients (and others who subscribe to it) for less than $12 per month. It's another way to educate patients and their friends about the importance of chiropractic care ... spreading the good news.
When it comes to chiropractic, we all need to represent. We can speak proudly of our philosophy and the care that brings health and wellness without drugs and surgery.
Reference
- Siteworthtraffic.com and similarweb.com comparisons on Jan. 26, 2018.
Read more findings on my blog: http://blog.toyourhealth.com/wrblog/. You can also visit me on Facebook.
