Frequently Asked Questions
Why medical practice websites?
Through our daily interactions with the medical community we found that this industry is significantly behind the rest of the business world in relation to the web. Because we know medical practices and their unique needs we bring an insider’s knowledge to developing websites that are user friendly, visually appealing and compliant.
Why does my medical practice need a website?
Like every business, a medical practice should be on the cutting edge of technology. A website is a tool to help your practice run more efficiently and help cut costs. More and more people are searching the internet to find medical information; your website can help you reach people more effectively than traditional methods.
What does our staff need to know about our website?
Get them excited that your practice has a website and how it will help them in their daily routine. Be sure they’ve been on the website and can navigate to information so they can tell the patients. Most important make sure they know the web address.
My medical practice does not currently have a website, how do I start?
When you decide to use our services, starting your website we will setup an Interview and Proposal with you. Through a phone call we get an understanding of your web site goals, needs, and strategies. From that, we work up a written proposal.
How do I decide what size website package I need?
The size of your practice indicates the size of the website you need. Sometimes your specialty can determine this as well. What do you want your website to do? Do you want your website to educate or just let patients know your location? Do you want your website enhanced with bill pay and forms? Look through the page options and pricing sections to think about what you want your website to do for your practice. One of our profile managers can also be helpful, please contact us with questions.
How long does it take to get the website up and running?
That depends on you, the client, the quicker that you can enter information into the online questionnaire the faster we can get a design to you. The data gathering and site planning process should not take more than a few hours of your time. Our preference is that you provide as much as possible in a digital (typed, digital photos, Word files, Excel files, Acrobat files...) format. This will make the site development more rapid and keep your development cost to a minimum. The site will be sent to the web developer and a prototype site will be visible in about 2 weeks.
Who will write the content for my website?
You know your practice best so you should write the content. However if you are unable to do so, your profile manager can help with content at an additional cost by using your brochures and forms. Your profile manager will edit and proofread your content.
How is my website searchable on search engines?
All sites developed by SMA are optimized for the web including search engine optimization (SEO). In order to ensure that your site is searchable, we use these techniques:
- Title tags
- Keywords
- Metatags
- Title attributes of links
- Alt attributes of images
- Site Map
- Repetition of keywords within site
- Content of at least 150 words per page (however, we recommend keeping pages short in order to ensure easy reading and navigation by viewers)
- Use of CSS and valid markup
- Advanced SEO to improve search engine rankings available at additional cost.
How does my website get to the search engines and which ones?
SMA will submit your site to the following search engines at no charge: Google, Yahoo, MSN. You may want to have your website submitted to other search engines that are not as widely known. Let us know if you are interested and we will get you a submission quote.
How else can I market my medical practice?
When you decide to get a website a whole new world of marketing can open up for you.
- Be sure to do the basics such as adding your web address to all your "paper" items and your auto attendant.
- Check with hospitals, insurance companies, yellow pages, professional associations, Medical Society, Medical Board, Specialty Societies and Foundations you may be involve with, some will allow you to have a link to your site. Having other sites link to yours increases your search engine ranking as long as the content of the site that links to you is compatible with your site.
- Google AdWords –Advertise on Google under sponsored links-pay per click
- Reach Local- Advertise in several places including Google and Yahoo; receive tracking reports including # of contacts you receive. Pay per Click. Let us know if you are interested and we can set this up for you.
What is a domain?
A domain name is an address on the Internet. Domain names allow users to key in memorable text addresses versus numerical addresses to reach Web destinations.
Are there other domains besides .com?
There are heaps of different top domains out there, from commercial (.com) through to non-profit (.org) and even country-specific top domains such as France (.fr) and Italy (.it). Now the medical community has its own domain name as .md. .md was inspired by physician demand and is the only Internet domain dedicated to the medical community. If you are interested in setting up a .md you can search if your name is available by entering the name at the top of our website.
How do I register a domain name?
If you currently don’t have a domain name we can register one for you either with .com or .md. Talk to our representatives about the cost to register your new domain name.
Can I ensure that my ranking on the internet will be at the top?
You can’t always ensure your website will be one of the first when someone looks up a general topic on the internet but if you really want to be on top using multiple links to your website will help.
Can your websites be HIPPA compliant?
Yes, websites built by SMA can be HIPPA compliant.
What is hosting?
The World Wide Web is a massive collection of web sites, all hosted on computers (called web servers) all over the world. The web server (computer) where your web site's html files, graphics, etc. reside is known as the web host. Web hosting clients simply upload their web sites to a shared (or dedicated) webserver, which the ISP maintains to ensure a constant, fast connection to the Internet. Web hosting (also known as Webhosting, Web site hosting, and hosting) is the business of housing, serving, and maintaining files for one or more Web site.
What hosting options do I have using SMA?
Hosting is included in all of our maintenance plans. We have both secure and non-secure hosting.
