Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Online Appointment Booking

Feb 19, 2012 in acupuncture websites by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Integrated Scheduling for Your Acupuncture Website

Acupuncture website appointment booking.There are many online appointment booking providers and you’ll find that the available features and ease of use vary widely. If you’re a solo provider offering just one or a few services, any of these booking tools should work for you. But if you have multiple staff and/or multiple locations you should research carefully to ensure that the available features work with your unique office needs.

Our current overall top pick is BookFresh, because it has a clean, simple user interface, an embeddable widget that allows clients to book right from your acupuncture website, and competitive monthly pricing.

Tags: acupuncture websites

Google AdWords Express

Oct 28, 2011 in acupuncture marketing, acupuncture advertising, search engine marketing by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Simplified Pay-Per-Click Advertising

If you’ve ever tried to use Google AdWords to run pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for your acupuncture practice, you’ll know it is not for the faint of heart. AdWords is a very power platform with a very complex and difficult to navigate interface. That power is great if you’re a professional PPC manager, but for the small business owner (even one who is fairly computer savvy) the complexity of AdWords presents a significant barrier to entry.

Enter Google’s AdWords Express. AdWords Express is specifically intended for local businesses trying to attract local customers. It’s an extension of Google Places, so there’s no complicated interface to use. AdWords Express is very easy to set up and doesn’t require ongoing management.

By the way if you do not already have a Google Places listing for your business you should stop reading and go set one up right now! Google places is a fantastic way to get found on the internet and it’s free.

Okay, now back to AdWords Express…

Geographic Targeting

The great thing about AdWords Express is that it automatically targets your ad based on the geographic location of your acupuncture practice. So if your practice is in Tucson, your ad would be shown to someone who searches for “acupuncturist in Tucson” and would also be shown to a person who’s already in Tucson and searches for “acupuncturist.” Chances are this is the exact kind of targeting you want.

Keywords

One potential downside of AdWords Express is that it determines your keywords for you. You select your business category (e.g. acupuncture clinic or alternative medicine practitioner) and Google decides which keywords will trigger your ad. There are several ramifications:

- You can’t target a niche market.
- If your ad isn’t showing for a specific keyword, there’s nothing you can do.
- If you’re getting clicks for a keyword that doesn’t fit your practice, there’s nothing you can do.
- Every acupuncturist who is using AdWords Express will be competing for the same keywords.

In a region with relatively low advertiser competition the AdWords Express system looks like it could work quite well. But in competitive markets you would usually want to target niche keywords, which is impossible with AdWords Express. This will likely mean that with AdWords Express you’ll pay more per click than you would with traditional AdWords. Of course with a traditional AdWords campaign you would likely have to pay someone to set it up and manage it for you, so the extra cost per click might end up being acceptable.

Ad Types & Placements

AdWords Express only supports simple text ads (the kind you see next to the search results on Google.com). You cannot run image banner ads or animated Flash banners. AdWords Express ads can appear above or next to the search results on Google.com and in the left hand panel of Google Maps. Unlike traditional AdWords, your ads cannot show up on 3rd party websites.

How Much Does it Cost?

AdWords is pay-per-click advertising. That means that you only spend money when someone clicks your ad. The amount you pay for each click is based on a bidding system, so the more competition there is for your keywords the more you’ll pay. In AdWords Express the bidding is handled automatically, so all you need to decide is the total monthly maximum budget you’re willing to spend. Google will suggest a budget based on your business category and advertiser competition, but you are not required to use their suggestion.

Your bang for the buck will largely depend on your location. Let’s say you budget a modest $20 per month. In a geographic region with low advertiser competition a click might only cost $1, so a $20/month budget will allow you to attract up to 20 new visitors to your website. Not bad, right? But in a competitive region like New York City or San Diego a click can easily cost $5 or more, so those same 20 visitors might require a budget of over $100/month.

Writing Effective Ads

Your advertising copy should always be direct and honest. Don’t sell what you can’t deliver. To be effective it helps to have a clearly stated offer and a call to action. Here’s an example:

In the example we’re offering a “free consultation” and we want them to “call today.” Rather than linking people to your home page you may want to create a special landing page for your ad. The landing page should reiterate the offer and the call to action and provide some additional details (but not too many).

Conclusion

If you’d like to test the waters of online advertising and don’t have much money to spend, AdWords Express is an easy place to start. You can get up and running in just a few minutes and set a monthly budget you’re comfortable with. In regions with moderate competition AdWords Express may be all you need. But in more competitive markets it’s likely that you’ll need a more robust and expensive solution.

If you want to learn more about AdWords Express check out Google’s documentation >

Tags: acupuncture marketing, acupuncture advertising, search engine marketing

ALERT: Scam Targeting Acupuncturists

Oct 28, 2011 in alerts by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

The California State Oriental Medical Association recently issued an alert about an “Overpayment Scam” that some acupuncturists have been targeted with. Be wary if anyone offers to prepay for services with a traveler’s check, money order, or certified check. Read more >

Tags: alerts

Attract Links by Being Unique

Aug 30, 2011 in search engine optimization, acupuncture marketing by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Developing Your Offsite SEO

One of the key components to search engine optimization is developing inbound links, i.e. getting other website owners to link to your website. The greater the number of (relevant) inbound links, the better you will do in Google. But how do you get people to link to you? As Google’s Matt Cutts explains, the best way to attract links is by doing something unique that will capture the attention and curiosity of web surfers.

Tags: search engine optimization, acupuncture marketing

Google Webmaster Tools

Jul 30, 2011 in acupuncture websites, search engine optimization by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Google’s Webmaster Tools are useful for checking your backlinks (i.e. finding out who links to you) and for spotting possible errors on your acupuncture website that might hinder your search engine performance. We install Webmaster Tools on your website by default. If you would like login access to Webmaster Tools for you domain, just contact support and let us know.

Tags: acupuncture websites, search engine optimization

Should I Submit a Google XML Sitemap?

Jun 28, 2011 in acupuncture websites, search engine optimization by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Google XML sitemaps are submitted through Google Webmaster Tools. The XML sitemap feature is used to tell Google about pages on a website that it can’t find by itself. Google is very good at finding pages by itself, so it is unlikely that your website will require a Google sitemap. Google XML sitemaps are mainly useful for large websites, especially those where much of the content can only be found via search (e.g. a newspaper archive or other database-driven website).

There is a common misconception that creating a Google XML sitemap will have an impact on how high you place in search results. It won’t. However if you have a fairly large website it may benefit your visitors and Google if you have an HTML sitemap. An HTML sitemap is simply a page that has links to all the other pages on your website (arranged in a logical manner). The sitemap on Apple’s website is a good example of a typical HTML sitemap.

Here’s Google’s Matt Cutts commenting on the usefulness of sitemaps (HINT: HTML sitemaps are more useful)...

 

Tags: acupuncture websites, search engine optimization

There's No One Official Google Result

Jun 20, 2011 in acupuncture websites, search engine optimization by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

SEO is Hard To Gauge

From Google’s Inside Search website:
People often talk about “the Google results” but the truth is there is no single “Google”—at any given time there are 50-200 different versions of our core algorithm out in the wild. Millions more when you realize your search results are personalized to you and you alone.

Tags: acupuncture websites, search engine optimization

How can I optimize my acupuncture website on a small budget?

May 08, 2011 in acupuncture websites, search engine optimization by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Acupuncture Website Search Engine Optimization

Doing SEO on your acupuncture clinic website takes time and effort. In this video Google’s Matt Cutts gives some great basic SEO advice: target a small niche market.

Tags: acupuncture websites, search engine optimization

DMOZ Open Directory Project

Apr 24, 2011 in acupuncture websites, search engine optimization by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Get a Free SEO Backlink

dmoz acupuncture website seo backlink Ever heard of the DMOZ Open Directory Project? Most acupuncturists haven’t, but it’s well known by search engine optimization professionals. DMOZ is a free, non-commercial, human-edited directory of websites. Google uses the DMOZ Directory to power its own Google Directory. DMOZ has always been considered a great place to get a free, high quality backlink that will help your search engine optimization. Unfortunately it can take a really long time to get listed, so submit your DMOZ listing today…

In this video, Google’s Matt Cutts discusses DMOZ…

Tags: acupuncture websites, search engine optimization

Google Places Listing

Apr 12, 2011 in acupuncture websites, search engine optimization by Acupuncture Websites by QiSites

Get Your Acupuncture Website on Page One

local acupuncture website listings Want to get your acupuncture website found by people in your local area? Google Places listings appear in Google Maps and often show up at the very top of the Google search results page for location-based queries, e.g., boise acupuncturist. Listing in Google Places is free, so what are you waiting for? Listed your acupuncture practice in Google now…

Tags: acupuncture websites, search engine optimization

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