Business reporter Pamela Lewis Dolan of The AMedNews (the newsletter of the American Medical Association) is pounding away at her keys doing a good job of highlighting important ways for physicians to do a better job of marketing.

This week's article, "Helping search engines find you more quickly" provides an overview of how search engines like Google work to help your practice, or business, get found by the people who are searching for products or services just like yours.

She writes:

Search engine optimization uses some Internet tips and tricks to make sure your name comes up on top in a specific Web search -- say, for example, being the first allergist in Tulsa, Okla., to pop up if someone types "Tulsa allergist" into a Google search.

Numerous studies have found that few people look beyond the first page, or even below the first five or so listings of search results. Therefore it pays to be on top when launching any kind of Web presence.

There are several reasons physicians might want to use search engine optimization tactics, even if your practice is busy and you don't need to attract new patients. For starters, experts say, these techniques can help you gain control of what is found when people Google your name. Good placement in an online search also can help attract referring physicians...

... The first thing you need to do is to figure out who you want to reach with your Web site, said Linda Pophal, owner and CEO of Strategic Communications, a Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based marketing firm. The intended audience might be other physicians, a specific kind of patient or even people looking for an expert in a particular area of medicine.

Thanks Pamela - this is a useful service you are performing to help physicians attract the kind of business they really want (here is the article she wrote on Physician Branding, in which The Entrepreneurial MD is quoted!)

And her article is also a great segue to tell you about our free May teleclass - "Five Proven Strategies to Grow Your Physician Business or Practice via the Web", a guest interview with author and eBoot Camp president, Corey Perlman (he has written a favorite book of mine “eBoot Camp: Proven Internet Marketing Techniques to Grow Your Business”)

Come join us in this free hour-long class if you want to make heads or tails of how to create an effective website!