Across the internet you can find just about anything. Ask a question from your phone, tablet, or laptop and you have an answer in seconds. Considering most people turn to the internet when deciding on a movie or restaurant, should we be surprised if patients too are searching for a physician online?
Websites such as ratemds.com, vitals.com, and Angie’s list give patients the ability to rate their experience with their physician. If a possible patient were to search for you online, what would they find?
You can use these websites to your advantage by encouraging your patients to go online and leave a review of their experience. Keep in mind that not every single patient will be a likely candidate for an online review. However, you can pin point the patients that support and admire what you do for them in order to boost your online presence.
Now that you have convinced a few patients to go online and rate their experience, you will want to stay up-to-date with what they are saying about you. Have you heard of Google alerts? A Google alert gives you the ability to monitor the web for any search query your heart desires. In this case, you would want to set up a google alert for your name. You then decide how often you want to receive the alert and also which email address to send the alert to. Here is what your google alert will look like. My alert is for the term EHR so you will notice all of the stories sent to me are new results on google for the term EHR.
A Google alert doesn’t have to be all work and no play. You can set up alerts on some of your favorite sports teams, musicians, or favorite retailer in case you are planning on some black Friday deals this year. It’s quite simple to get started. Just visit www.google.com/alerts and you will be able to create and manage your alerts instantly.
