Planning to open a new orthodontics practice? Expanding your plastic surgery practice to include cosmetic dermatology? Toying with the idea of selling your ophthalmology practice to a new physician and retiring?
Regardless of the reason, choosing the right website domain is paramount. Your practice’s website should be one of your top marketing priorities in regards to new patient acquisition. Whether you are a brand new practice or an established practice, consider the following tips when selecting your website’s domain name.
1. Choose a domain that reflects your practice’s brand.
In branding a new business or trying to keep an existing brand consistent, it’s imperative that your website’s domain name be aligned with your brand. Remember, your domain name will be the first thing potential patients see when they visit your website. Similarly, your website’s domain will be showcased on all of your marketing efforts (think business cards, print ads, email campaigns and billboards). If your website’s domain doesn’t coincide with your brand, the disconnect will be evident and likely have a negative impact on your brand consistency.
2. Keep your domain name short.
If you want people to remember it, keep it short. Be clear, concise and obvious.
3. Use keywords in your website domain (but don’t overdo it).
Utilizing relevant keywords in your website domain is beneficial, as long as it is not over the top. You don’t want to stuff multiple keywords into your domain name, because it appears forced and therefore unnatural to search engines From an SEO perspective, it can actually have a negative impact on your rankings.
4. Consider the long-term goals for your practice.
Domain authority is a score of the strength of the domain name; this score is one of the many factors taken into account in search rankings for a website. As the longevity of a website domain increases, so does the domain authority of that website, typically. The word “typically” is used here because there are other factors affecting the domain authority of a website (i.e. referring backlinks). Since the domain authority of a website affects its rankings, it is important for a practice to continually strive to increase its domain authority. Hence, changing your website’s 5-year-old domain (with a domain authority of “25”) to a brand new website domain (with a domain authority of “1”) could potentially cause a significant drop in the website’s rankings.Basically, if there is a chance you may want to rebrand your practice in the future, add more physicians or services, or if you want to be able to sell the practice when you’re ready to retire, you should take these potential adaptations into consideration when choosing a domain name. Having a domain name with your physician’s name in it will make it difficult to pass on the practice down the line.
5. Consult with an expert.
If you’re unsure of how to choose the proper domain name for your practice’s website, consulting with industry experts may be your best option. Your practice’s website will be one of the top three revenue drivers for your elective healthcare practice, and your domain name will be the first thing consumers see when they find your website. Do your research and consider enlisting the help of an experienced digital marketing agency.
