Why Adding Fresh Content to Your Ophthalmic Website Is Important

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Why Adding Fresh Content to Your Ophthalmic
Website Is Important Does your ophthalmic
practice have a website? If not, you should
consider creating one to inform and engage with
your patients. If you do have a website, is it
all it could be? Just having a website isnt
enough. For the best results, your ophthalmic
practice should create a website and update it
frequently. Adding useful, updated information
could improve your website, practice, and
interactions with your patients. Thats because
fresh online content could do many
things. Answer questions and handle concerns No
one knows everything, and no one is expected to
know everything. But a good website could teach
people things. Frequently asked question (FAQ)
web pages or sections are popular for a reason.
Many times, people visit a site because they have
questions or want to know more about someone or
something. Adding a FAQ page to your ophthalmic
website could help answer these concerns. To find
content for these pages, compile a list of
questions that multiple patients have asked. If
other questions arise, add those, and update the
FAQ page or section accordingly. To find some
examples of how to design and format this page,
go online. Youll find several tips and sample
pages that you could use to create a FAQ page or
section that works for your site. Keep the
appearance of this page similar to other pages on
your website. A uniform design will tie the pages
together and make the site (and your practice)
look more professional. Also keep the language
of your FAQ page similar to your other web pages.
Ideally, youll use a tone thats knowledgeable
yet accessible. Although you might be an expert
in your field, you dont have to share everything
you know about ophthalmology, and you probably
shouldnt. Too much detailed information that
doesnt really pertain to people might drive
people from your practice, not attract them to it.
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Instead, answer common questions and concerns
that youve heard. Youre not trying to impress
people with big words or complex topics, youre
answering their questions and addressing their
concerns. Position yourself as a trusted
resource Effective websites do more than answer
your patients questions. They could serve as
resources for everyone. During the pandemic,
weve appreciated timely, accurate information
from certain sources. In fact, timely information
has helped people live healthier, and its maybe
even saved lives. By providing accurate, updated
content on your ophthalmic website, you could
serve as a resource as well. You could enlist
the reputation of other sites to enhance yours.
If youve written a page about glaucoma or other
eye diseases, for example, you could add a link
to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) page that provides information about the
condition and its treatment. When you do this,
you illustrate how youre committed to finding
and sharing the most recent, accurate information
about a topic that concerns readers. Youre
positioning yourself as someone who knows about
certain conditions but is also willing to listen
to other perspectives. Experts become experts
because theyre always searching for answers and
arent stuck in the past. This continual search
means theyre always improving the ways they
operate. Inform patients about new
developments Keeping abreast of new information
shows your expertise. Sharing with your patients
and others helps inform others as well. Medicine
isnt a static field. There are always new
instruments, products, medications, and
procedures. It might be a lot for you and your
coworkers to process, so imagine how patients and
other people who visit your site might
feel. Again, you might want to discuss new
ophthalmic developments a little to demystify
them. A blogging section could be helpful for
that. By their nature, sites create and publish
blog posts more than they do web pages, so a
blogging area could be a good place to share
recent developments.
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Blogs are often less formal and more emotional
than other web pages, so you could also use your
posts to explore not only recent developments,
but how they could impact patients lives. Help
your patients interact with your office

• Speaking of impacting patients lives, do you
  want to help them interact with your office
  better and make in-person visits easier? It might
  sound counterintuitive, but you could use digital
  tools to accomplish those tasks.
• For example, maybe your office uses electronic
  health record and practice management systems
  that allow them to
• Share information
• Make appointments
• Refill their prescriptions
• Add pages to your website that include
  step-by-step instructions for doing each of these
  functions. It could help patients complete tasks
  related to your ophthalmic practice.
• The pages could help many people complete tasks
  related to your office. Time and place wont
  matter, either, because online assistance could
  help people in different geographic locations,
  regardless of the time of day.
• Such assistance could also help your practice.
• Web-based assistance means they wont need to ask
  your practice those questions in person because
  theyll find the answers on its website. This
  frees you and your coworkers up to assist them in
  other ways.
• Retain patients, boost loyalty, and attract new
  patients
• Answering patients questions, anticipating their
  concerns, and adding updated content is a good
  way to keep patientsand attract new ones.

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When you take actions that show that you care,
your patients are more likely to leave good
online reviews. Theyre more likely to tell
friends and family members about your services.
If these loved ones (and people reading online
patient reviews) are looking for an
ophthalmologist, they might be more likely to
visit your office than one they find
unfamiliar. Even in a world where technology is
becoming increasingly dominant, old- fashioned
word-of-mouth recommendations still matter.
People are still interested in other peoples
firsthand experiences. You could make these
experiences better to help your patients and your
practice. Make your site more attractive to
search engines Fresh content helps your practice
and its website. Its also more attractive to
search engines. Search engines are more likely
to list websites that include unique, useful
information. If your health care website contains
multiple pages with useful content, theres a
better chance that search engine results pages
(SERPs) will mention one or more of these
pages. People go on search engines because
theyre, well, searching for something. By
creating easy-to-use pages with lots of
pertinent, timely information, youre increasing
the odds that the search engines, your web pages,
and your ophthalmic office will assist people
with their searches. Do you need online
assistance yourself? You might want to contact
Eye Care Leaders. Well help you and your
ophthalmic practice find digital solutions to
your real-world challenges.