At MyAdvice we build, optimize, and maintain websites for myriad medical practices, everything from dentists to plastic surgeons to eye doctors. And every practice has one thing in mind — using their site to build their practices, bring in new patients, and keep current patients happy and engaged with the practice.
Increasingly, doing that means having video on your site.
We know what you’re thinking — video of a root canal, nose surgery, or skin cancer excision doesn’t sound like must-see TV on your site.
Yes, it’s true. Not all procedures make good videos. But maybe an animation explaining the ins and outs of a procedure would be useful for potential patients. Plus, you can use video for other things, such as patient testimonials or office tours. When you’re in a video it positions you as an expert and gives patients a little insight into who you are. Regardless, video viewing has become about three-quarters of all activity on the web, and your practice needs to get in on the act.
Googe Presents: Critical Insights How Patients Search For Medical Practices
Here’s some information on why video has become so important for search and conversion.
Video and SEO
The numbers for video use online are staggering. YouTube claims over one billion users. Facebook says it has 500 million video viewers every day. Studies show that almost three quarters of online traffic is now for online video. And this includes mobile devices.
When a visitor to your practice site clicks on a one-minute video explaining a new procedure, Google interprets that user as engaged, and it notes how long the user stays on the page to watch the video. That helps with the site’s ranking. If the user shares a link to that video with a friend who is also interested in the procedure, ranking rises even higher. Procedure animations or explanation videos are the fastest way to convert curious patients into patients booking a consultation.
Of course, some videos do this far better than others. You may have seen this introduction video for Dollar Shave Club. You’re not alone: the video has over 25 million views on YouTube. Who would ever have guessed that a corporate video about razor blades would be so popular and ultimately successful?!
That video went a long way toward establishing the start-up as a true competitor in what was seen as a stagnant industry. The Dollar Shave Club video was linked to by all kinds of newspapers and marketing content sites, receiving millions of dollars in free advertising and publicity, and providing Google backlinks for search ranking. Millions of people signed up for the company’s blades, and eventually, Unilever bought the new company for $1 billion in 2016.
Here are some stats about the importance of video in search ranking and conversions:
- 50% of users look for product/service videos online (Google)
- Online shoppers who have watched a video are almost twice as likely to buy than non-viewers (DMB Adobe)
- Customers are four times more likely to watch a video about a product than to read about it (Animoto)
With medical procedures, those numbers may not be quite as high, but they simply show the power of video.
According to Wordtracker, around 80 percent of video returned in search engine results pages comes from informational videos. That sounds like a perfect match for a video on your site about your sparkling new intraoral dental camera or CoolSculpting.
When people watch video on your site, they stay longer on pages. Research shows that people spend 2.6x more time on pages with video than on pages without. When Google’s bots see that, they assume the searcher was satisfied with his or her search and that your site answered the search query. That’s the Holy Grail to Google and it ranks your site higher as a reward.
Your video has to be good
It’s not enough to simply put video on your site. The video also has to be engaging and drive conversions. “Explainer” videos, such as the Dollar Shave Club video, are entertaining and informative. Check out this video called “What is Betterment?” Who knew a new financial services company could have a sense of humor?
A good video for your practice doesn’t necessarily need to be funny, but it does need to move the viewer to conversion, meaning it at least piqued the person’s interest. This jibes with a stat from Invodo: 52% of consumers say that watching product videos makes them feel more confident about going ahead and making a purchase. Once your viewer sees how a procedure is done, what its goals are, and the results afterward they are far more likely to fill out a contact form or call for a consultation.
OK, so video will keep visitors on your site longer, it will move you up in Google search results pages, it will make patients and potential patients more confident in the procedure they just saw explained in the video, and it’s basically what everybody’s doing online already. Sounds like your site needs video.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to be Martin Scorsese. At MyAdvice, we can help with your video. We have tools such as Sight Selector, which provides various stock videos describing different eye conditions, along with other tools to help bring video to your practice website. Call or contact us today, and let’s talk about adding video to your website.
We are recognized as a top Video Marketing Company on DesignRush.
