Russ and Randy Podcast | Healthcare's Prescription for Web Social

Nothing makes you an authority like writing a book.  A book can establish you as an expert.  Writing a book for your patients can be the catalyst you need to successfully market yourself.

And it's not as difficult as you think.

There are many advantages to writing your own book, even for doctors and other healthcare providers.

Russ interviews renowned healthcare author and speaker, Lynda Goldman in this episode.

Writing a book makes you an authority, it makes you an expert in that field.  Even for healthcare providers, including doctors, writing a book can establish you as a leading expert in your particular niche.

Writing a book, directed to your patients, can educate them and your community.  Lynda discusses how educated patients can improve office efficiency and how they can become happier and healthier.

The obvious advantage of writing a book is to grow your practice.  In doing so, your professional brand improves perhaps leading to speaking and consulting opportunities. 

Russ and Lynda talk about less obvious, but very intriguing, benefits of writing your own book.

Get started! 

Writing a book can be easier and cheaper than you think.  Whether you simply want a book on Amazon or a more traditional version, writing a book can be easy with Lynda's advice and "hacks."

Listen how you can avoid hiring expensive ghost-writers, publishers and agents.  You can even publish a book without ever writing.  Ever think of self-publishing?

Lynda is offering a FREE Writer's Road Map.  This 5 Day course will teach you the methods and secrets Lynda has used over the past 25 years to author over 40 healthcare and wellness books!

Thanks for listening. See you next week!

Please download us at iTunes and leave a review.

All the best!

Russ…and Randy Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social

How do you convert patients from the Internet?  There is an actual process by which a "follower" becomes a patient. 

In this episode Russ and I define the 3 components that will allow you to understand how your website and your content can engage your next patient.

We talk about the need to establish yourself as an authority, provide value and developing trust.

We are healthcare authorities.  We are healthcare experts.

The content you provide on your website must be credible and clinically accurate.  Fortunately, as healthcare experts, this should be natural.

In addition, our readers understand us to be authorities on healthcare.  In any other industry, the website owner (us) has to earn or prove authority, but we are deemed natural authorities based upon our professional degrees. This can take extra time.

Every successful website must provide value.  If not, no one would visit.  Think of every website you visit and figure out the value you receive.  Travel directions, movie listings, recipes, etc., the websites which answer your questions provide value.

For your website to rank well, you must provide content (articles, publications, presentations).  Your content will educate and inform, thus providing value.

With time, by repeatedly providing value, you develop trust with your readers.  Once trust is established, you are likely to convert your reader to your next patient.

My favorite example is a navigation site used for directions.  The value provided is correctly arriving at your site without getting lost.  With time you rely, or trust, this website to get you to your destination each and every time.

If the navigation site failed you 25% of the time, you would never trust that site...ever.

Understanding that there is an actual process should help you with your Internet marketing strategy. 

Authority, value and trust.

Thanks for listening. See you next week!

Please download us at iTunes and leave a review.

All the best!

Russ…and Randy Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social

Your brand in the digital world depends on much more than face-to-face time with your patients! Your brand depends on more than merely how great a physician you are.

If you are skeptical, go check out your doctor ratings on vitals.com, ratemds.com, healthgrades.com, or any of the other doctor-rating sites: note that the majority of questions that determine your online rating have nothing to do with the doctor! Most of the questions that determine your online reputation - your brand - depend on factors out of your control. 

Or are they? Are those factors out of your control? 

Duane Knapp tells us how to control those factors that build your online (and offline) reputation. He tells us how to optimize your brand! 

Did you know you can update your website and social media platforms with a single click?  Just one.

"'Killing two birds with one stone' is wrong Dad, it should be one throw!"

Regardless if you think my then 8 year old son is right, are you maintaining and updating your website and social media platforms as efficiently as possible?

Are you doing everything you can to automate and streamline your web presence?

In this episode of Russ and Randy, we talk about ways to streamline and automate your various platforms and website.  In addition we talk about some time saving tools to make your work more efficient and fun.

Finding time to write one article is hard enough.  By connecting your website to your social media platforms (usually with something called a plugin) you can automatically post a link to your new website article on your social media accounts!

After every article we write gets published on RussandRandy.com, a link goes to Twitter and Facebook announcing to our followers on those platforms that we have a new article to read.

In this way, all of our platforms remain uniformly updated, we avoid manual posting and the possibility of forgetting!

Two popular email handlers are aWeber and Mailchimp. 

They serve the same basic function by sending emails to your subscribers that a new article has been published on your website. 

Your website likely has an RSS feed (every blog/Wordpress site has RSS).  The RSS updates the email handler with information about your new article.

aWeber and Mailchimp then email this information to your subscribers.  This way your subscribers (patients, Internet readers who follow your website) automatically receive your updates.

For those of you interested in publishing content on different media, this can be a time saver.  Randy explains how he will be publishing the same content on his website, YouTube channel and podcast - all with one episode!

Listen to how Russ uses an editorial calendar to keep in sync with real world events.  This is a great way to make sure you don't "miss" any important dates relevant to your audience like "national hand bag day"!  Is there one?

Once you develop a system to producing/writing your content, the process becomes easier and less arduous.  The purpose of templates or blueprints is develop a format which allows you to efficiently produce content.

How many stones or throws are you using?

There are other "time savers" to automate your process.  If you have something you'd like to share, please leave a comment here, or better yet, on RussandRandy.com.

Thanks for listening. See you next week!

Please download us at iTunes and leave a review.

All the best!

Russ…and Randy Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social

In this episode, Russ and I talk about the different ways our patients and listeners learn.  We discuss Google, YouTube and podcasts and how they differ by the different types of content they provide.

Google is the largest search engine in the world.  Most content on the Internet is in the form of text, that is, you have to read articles posted on websites.

Youtube, the second largest search engine, produces video content.  To consume videos, you listen and watch.

Podcasting has exploded over the past few years (hence, "RussandRandy").  Upwards of 20% of adults have listened to a podcast within the last 30 days according to Edison Research.  You can listen to a podcast anywhere.

One explanation of the popularity of these platforms is that we are all different learners.  We all have a preference for learning a certain way. 

If you like to read, you search Google.  You like to watch content, go to YouTube.  Because you are here, you must like to listen to your content.

Russ and I have different ways of learning.  This may have influenced us in our career choices, who knows?

Having a preference for particular types of media must even influence which social media platforms we choose to communicate with one another.

For marketing purposes, text is still preferred because text (your website) can be optimized and ranked better compared to video or audio.  There are no great ways to yet optimize, index and rank audio and visual content.

As you get more proficient with your website, you may choose to re-purpose your content on YouTube or even start a podcast!  We'll be talking about "re-purposing" in an upcoming episode.

Producing content on various media platforms will broaden your audience.  At the same time, however, you want to be producing content tailored to your patient demographic.  Give them content in a form they prefer.

Don't know what they like?  Ask them!

If you have questions or comments, please email us or visit RussandRandy.com.

Please find us on iTunes and subscribe to either the podcast or here to receive our latest episodes.

Thanks for listening. See you next week!

Please download us at iTunes and leave a review.

All the best!

Russ…and Randy Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social

Patient experience is a huge component of your brand.  In this episode, Russ and I talk about 5 common ways, or touch points, which likely cause anxiety, frustration and even anger our patients, thus worsening the patient experience.

In the next few episodes, Russ will be interviewing Duane Knapp and discussing brand.  Brand is your reputation.  Russ and I like to define brand as the summation of all encounters and experience with anything from you and your medical practice.  

Today, we want to talk about a small component of brand, that is, patient experience.

Brand = Patient Experience

This may be an over simplified definition of brand as we should also include the physician/patient interaction, but for our purposes, we are NOT including the physician's role in the overall patient experience.

A majority of the time spent with your office is without the physician, so we all need to be aware of certain stressors or "touch points" which usually negatively impact the overall patient experience, and thereby, our brand.

1.  The Appointment | Message on Hold - how many of us some type on hold messaging system?  There are many aspects of on hold messaging which negatively impact the patient experience and hence, your brand. 

2.  Arriving At The Office - a new patient will not where to go and gets anxious about directions, parking, payment for parking, etc.  Are forms required?

3.  The Waiting Room - this can add a lot of confusion and anxiety to your new and old patients.  Waiting devalues and patient's time.  Do your patients understand the order in which patients are brought to see the doctor?

4.  Insurance participation is quite confusing.  There can be disagreement and misunderstanding about participation, co-pays and coding.  E.g. co-pays mistakenly charge in a post-op period.

5.  Front Desk/Receptionist - your telephone staff, front desk and checkout are the most important people in your office with regard to patient experience.  How to they rate?  Personal? Congenial?  Do they understand your brand and exemplify your brand?

Though these are common problems, evaluate these possible touch points in your own office.  Improving upon them may indeed reduce the anxiety and "friction," and improve your patient experience...and brand.

All the best,

Russ...and Randy Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social

Every great website needs content. 

Regardless if you have a healthcare or medical website, you need content.

Whether you have a solo practice, or you're responsible for marketing for a hospital, your biggest challenge will be CONTENT. 

In order for patients (and future patients) to find you online, you must have content that will be ranked by the search engines. 

Every healthcare and medical website needs relevant content to attract readers and to outrank your competition (SEO).

Content refers to any article you might read, any video you would like to watch or share, any audio file you would listen to, any graphic you find appealing....anything that you might produce on your website which is interesting, or relevant, to your readers.

There are many forms of content:  files containing text (the best and most common for our purposes because they are easiest to optimize and thus rank) such as articles, posts or pages, video, audio, Power Point presentations, etc.

And it can't be just any old content! Your content must be:

• Relevant - it must be important and provide value to your readers
• Technically and medically accurate
• Answering patient questions or problems
• Must be credible, demonstrating your authority in your field.

How to come up with the content - the articles, blog posts ... information - that will get you ranked on the Internet.. and meet those criteria?

Those tasks are not as difficult as you might think.  In fact, healthcare and physicians have endless supplies of content! 

In this episode, Russ & Randy discuss where every physician, healthcare provider, and every hospital marketer, can find content that achieves those goals.

Russ...and Randy Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social

What's the difference between advertising and marketing?  Is this important for a medical practice or hospital?

Most of us hate the notion of advertising.  Most of us equate marketing with advertising.  Historically, there had been a ban on healthcare advertising.

In this episode Russ & Randy help you understand the differences between marketing and advertising.  There are important differences. 

Here are some terms that may help with your understanding of marketing:

Advertising is the act of producing " commercials" - "ads" - for products or services. We all know advertisements when we see or hear them. 

Marketing is the understanding of your patients' needs and providing a solution.  In addition, marketing can also involve promoting your services (i.e. ads).

Market Research involves the process by which you understand the needs or problems of your patients. 

Service is the helpful work you provide as a provider or institution.  Most of us in medicine provide the service of healthcare.

To succeed in marketing, you must first identify your patients' needs or problems and then provide a solution.  By providing a solution to their problem, you are providing value. 

That is marketing, and it can be a profound Win/Win for your practice and you patients: the better you understand their needs, the better you may serve them.

Here's an example of how healthcare marketing can work.

Problem:  Patients want answers for health related questions.  We know, from market research (Pew Research Center) that >80% of Americans first turn to the Internet for health related questions, including finding a physician. 

Solution:  Doctors/Healthcare providers can provide answers to health related questions. 

As we have discussed in other episodes, your first step to connecting with your potential, future patients, is to use your online platform (your website) to answer their health questions. Answer their questions and they will:

• Recognize you as an authority in you chosen profession
• Come to know your website as a go-to resource for trusted, useful health information
• Come to your practice for their care

Patients are eager to find out about you as a person and not just about your credentials as a doctor. 

It will be to your advantage to share some information about you somewhere on your site that will give insight as to the type of person you are;  hobbies, interests, etc.  You can do this without giving personal information away.

The value?  Chances are you share many of the same interests as your (next) patients.  This will enhance your chances of engaging.  We ALL like to find like minded individuals!

Listen to find out.  As always, please find us on iTunes and please leave us a review!

To your success,

Russ and Randy Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social www.RussandRandy.com

The most important aspect of your website is the content.

Content attracts new readers (aka patients).  Content is the only way to get great rankings of your webpages.

Unfortunately, creating content, such as writing articles, is a huge turn-off and can make your digital marketing strategy go down the tubes...writing is just not fun for healthcare providers.

Keep in mind, copying or using someone else's content already published on the Internet is a huge SEO no no.  Publishing "duplicate content" can actually decrease your rankings!

Your content must be original and written by knowledgeable experts in your field...most likely the physicians.  This becomes the hardest challenge for any medical or healthcare website.

We have some "easy peasy" solutions for healthcare providers.  In fact, those of us in medicine have the easiest sources of content in any industry. 

This episode of Russ & Randy acknowledges your biggest challenge for your online brand: how can you create content onto your website that engages your audience??

You need content - information - that is relevant to patients who need a medical practice like yours. You need content that answers their questions. You need content that is medically accurate, but easily understood by a lay audience. Your content must demonstrate your expertise, your authority, in your field of practice. 

Your content must provide value.  If your content is not relevant nor provides value, it is basically spam...a useless article to be ignored.

We've described exactly what content meets those needs in another episode of Russ & Randy. This episode provides more good news: you already have some great content; content that can be used on your website to get you the high rankings you want. 

Listen to find out.  As always, please find us on iTunes and please leave us a review!

To your success,

Russ and Randy Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social www.RussandRandy.com

This is "Part 2" of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for Healthcare. 

Last week we introduced the concepts of Search Engine Optimization in Part 1 and how this increases your ability to achieve, and maintain, high rankings with the search engines.

There are several components to SEO;

1.  Your content 2.  Your website 3.  Inbound links

Today we are addressing only how to optimize your content - it's the most worthwhile.

It's your content which separates you from your competition!

The key to getting your website ranked is your content.  It's the "secret sauce."  The best content gets the best rankings.

There are no gimmicks or work arounds...none.  Your content needs to be relevant to your reader (so they want to read it) and also optimized (so the search engines rank it as high as possible).

Remember, that as Google "owns" search and their quest is to provide the reader with the best answer to a question on the first query.  To achieve this goal, their search algorithm is designed to rank webpages with the best and most relevant answers.

This is the key to optimization.  By understanding how a search engine compares webpages, you improve your rankings by understanding the process of "optimization."

Content optimization takes place behind the scenes.  Within every website generator or blog is an area to write your article.  It's basically a mini-wordprocessor within every program. 

Along with each article, are optional fields which provide specific information to the search engines;  title tag, meta description, snippet, keywords, etc. 

This optimization information is valued by the search engines as you are provided specific information about your articl.

There are free programs - Russ and I are huge Wordpress fans - to help you with your optimization.  One in particular, Yoast SEO, is especially helpful.

We discuss several of the most important components when optimizing your article:  keywords, meta description, title tag and your snippet.

There are nuances to understanding the importance of keywords and how they improve your rankings.  Your keywords can also be part of your meta description, title tag and snippet.

One word of caution:  there are differences between your and the actual Title of your article.</p> Simple Steps to Improving Your SEO <p>What can you do to start improving your SEO?</p> <p>Don't worry so much about the optimization details.  Commit to writing a few articles to publish on your website.  This will add some fresh content.  Search engines love fresh content.</p> <p>With time, start to optimize subsequent articles.  For instance, get in the habit of creating a Title tag for each article etc.</p> <p>Don't labor over what to write.  Choose answers to frequently asked questions you answer every day.  For instance, as a retina specialist, I'm often asked "What are Floaters?" - hence, I'd write an article answering this question.</p> <p>Thanks for listening!  We'll be back next week.<a title= "Russ and Randy on iTunes" href= "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/russ-randy-podcast-healthcares/id1140575412" target="_blank" rel="noopener"></a></p> <p>Please <a href= "https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/russ-randy-podcast-healthcares/id1140575412" target="_blank" rel="noopener">download us at iTunes</a> and leave a review.</p> <p>Be sure to check out our matched articles at <a title= "Russ & Randy: Healthcare's Prescription for Web & Social" href="http://russandrandy.com/" target="_blank" rel= "noopener">Russandrandy.com/</a></p> <p>All the best!</p> <p>Russ...and Randy Healthcare and Medical Internet Marketing <a href="http://russandrandy.com">Healthcare's Rx for Web and Social</a></p>