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By Pamela A. Keene

Did you know that between nearly 10 million people every day surf the Internet to find out about health problems, yet 95 percent of them never tap into chiropractic sites?

“Research tells us that people are using the Internet more than ever, but just because you have a web presence doesn’t guarantee people will come to you,” says Herb Newborg, president of Chiropractic America, a national firm based in Pennsylvania that provides marketing and public relations services to chiropractors. “These people are looking for health issues by symptom, diagnosis or condition, and when they do so, it is very rare that a chiropractic site comes up in the first several dozen results on Google, Yahoo or other search engines.”

Try it yourself. Do a web search for back pain, and you’ll get thousands of results, including Wikipedia, The Mayo Clinic and WebMD.

“Chiropractic is not yet fully in the game right now,” Newborg says. “And some of the sites that do come up are anti-chiropractic. We’ve been researching for the past two and half years about chiropractic web impact and we’re finding that the majority of chiropractic websites are simply online brochures that never even register with search engines.”

If You Build It …
“The key to a successful chiropractic website is education,” says Robert Braile, D.C., who owns NowYouKnow.com, a Marietta-based company that builds websites for chiropractors. Since the company was founded eight years ago, it has created sites for more than 1,500 chiropractors. “Making credible educational material available to people can convert skeptical consumers into chiropractic patients.”

Braile, who has been a chiropractor for 30 years, suggests that chiropractors view their websites not as advertising, but as an educational resource for consumers.

“Ninety-five percent of all new patients are referrals, but how to you help your patients refer to you?” Say an existing patient comes in to ask for information to give to his neighbor who has severe migraine headaches. Rather than simply giving the patient a brochure, suggest that he refer the neighbor to your website, which is linked to numerous credible and source-cited articles about the success of chiropractic in managing migraines.

“As good as that pamphlet may be, do we really believe that a tri-fold brochure is enough to change the mind-set of someone to get them to make the conversion over to chiropractic?” Newborg asks. “This may happen in some cases of desperation, but on average, it will not be enough on its own. To be effective in converting consumers to chiropractic, we must change mindsets through substantive and credible consumer chiropractic education.”

Tim Langley, D.C., in northwest Atlanta, has known Braile for at least 20 years. When Langley decided to expand his Internet reach to patients, he chose Now You Know to create his site and provide other services.

“I already had a great e-mail database, and Dr. Braile showed me how to maximize it,” Langley says. “He provides a monthly compilation of third-party articles about chiropractic and health issues that is sent to my patients. I’ve gotten new patients from my current clients who have forwarded these e-mails to their friends. I’ve even gotten calls from across the country about my practice. It’s one of the most effective ways to educate people about chiropractic by using outside sources.”

Langley’s website is langleychiropractic.com.

Value Added for Credibility
In March 1996, Chiropractic America built the first chiropractic website, ChiroUSA.com. The late Garrison Pomeroy, founder of Chiropractic America, and Newborg later designed YourSpine.com to serve as an outlet for doctors nationwide to champion spinal health and for patients to have access to spinal health information.

Newborg, knows the ins and outs of the Internet, chiropractic web presence and search engines. “Search engines are designed to eliminate sites with duplicate content in their results,” he explains. “If chiropractors have cookie-cutter sites that are similar to many other sites, it’s possible that theirs won’t even be indexed in search results.”

Braile speaks of the days when waiting rooms were filled with binders containing positive news clippings about chiropractic. Your website can replace the binder system with links to resources that are updated regularly.

“Without any help from us, most people might only see a positive chiropractic news story once a year,” Braile says. “However, I can tell you that there are positive stories and videos available online every day. Your job is to bring these news stories to your patients and your community. This can be done in part by chiropractic website services, but to make it most effective, you must put some effort into the process yourself.”

It’s easier than you think to link or embed YouTube videos into your website. Braile recommends changing the link weekly to feature a new “Video of the Week” on your website. Many doctors print stories that are linked into their websites and hand them out to patients in their offices as weekly articles, not only to generates interest in chiropractic, but to drive people to your website. Be sure and include your web address on the copies.

Make It Your Own
Personalizing your website is a very effective way to reach out to current patients and prospective ones. “The more feeling and ‘you,’ you put into it, the more it will touch visitors and give them a good and easy feeling,” Braile says. ”Pictures and videos are the biggest things you can add that really make people feel at ease with starting care.”

Whether it’s including a “New Patient Video” to inform about your practice and what patients can expect from their first visit, or using video testimonials from current patients, find a way to distinguish yourself through your website.

“Some of our doctors have added video greetings, pictures of their doctors talking with school children, photos of celebrities and VIP who are patients,” Dr. Braile says. “One doctor not only has pages with pictures for testimonials, he also has included photos of before and after X-rays showing the results of care.”

Here are a few of the sites that Braile says demonstrate what he’s talking about:

Dr. Dennis Nikitow denvertechchiro.com—pictures with testimonials, celebrities and an office tour, plus photos of before and after X-rays.
Dr. Michael Smatt of chirotime.com—a huge section of pictures of the celebrities and VIPs he has taken care of in his office.
Drs. Andrew and Kristi DeSaro of desarochiropractic.com—pictures of themselves speaking to school groups.

“Family health is a huge issue for many of our patients,” says Andrew DeSaro, whose practice is located near Philadelphia. “When we reach out to school and community groups, its yet another way to spread the word about the effectiveness of chiropractic.”

The Bottom Line For your website to be effective, it must be more than an online brochure. “Many of the chiropractic sites I’ve seen have been designed by a patient in trade for services,” Braile says. “It’s just a phone book online and that’s not going to bring in new patients.”

Approximately 70 to 80 percent of all chiropractors have some sort of web presence, but the majority of them are static with just the who, what, when and where. It’s important to continually drive people to your site for new credible information that’s viable with relevant content. Speak to the patient’s needs in terms of educational messages. Link to current resources that objectively endorse chiropractic.

“It’s a difficult task to solve the challenges of the Internet, but it also provides great opportunities,” Newborg says. “The Internet is the most important communication tool invented since the printing press.”