• Where you want to spend your marketing and advertising dollars for your practice
• What type of patient (new and recurring) inflow that you can expect over the life of your plan.

Your initial thoughts on marketing might be that you can just spend some money to be in a local newspaper or circular and by making that investment, you will get enough new clients to keep your practice busy and to pay down that investment.  Unfortunately, that sort of wishful thinking is the downfall of many businesses.  Just because you advertise (and you could do it very well), it doesn’t mean that you will get enough new patients to pay off that investment and to keep your practice full.

For example, let’s say that you advertise in a weekly newspaper and it’s a pretty good ad and brings patients through the door.

• You spent $5,000 to reach 10,000 people over 5 different weeks. 
• From that advertisement, you get a 0.1% response rate, or 10 new clients. 
• If each client is worth $1,000 over their lifetime, that’s a $5,000 return on a $5,000 investment - a good 100% ROI

The problem is that this money doesn’t come to you right away.  The $1,000 per patient is over the lifetime so you don’t see that return for probably a year.  So you ran your one marketing campaign, got pretty good results, but you can’t even pay off the campaign within the first month. 

If you had a marketing plan in place, you would know this ahead of time.  By putting together a plan that has the dates for each campaign, the costs, and the expected results, you have a better picture of the impact that your marketing campaigns are going to have on your practice. 

What’s in a Chiropractic Marketing Plan

Here are the elements that you need in your chiropractic marketing plan.  I like to put this information into an Excel spreadsheet so that I can get a bigger picture if need (for example, how much am I going to spend in marketing over the next 12 months)

1. Date to start Campaign
2. Campaign Name
3. Campaign Type (direct mail, newspaper, radio, sponsorship, online search)
4. Number of contacts (how many people you’re going to reach)
5. Expected Cost - Probably should be in the above list since you might need to use that number to determine your cash flow
6. Expected Response Rate - Usually based off of previous campaigns
7. Expected Responses - Based off the projected response rate and the number of contacts that we’re sending out.
8. Expected Sales - We use our sales conversion rate to figure this out
9. Expected Net Revenue - Based on how many sales we project and the average revenue per customer
10. Projected ROI - Based on our expected net revenue and how much we are planning on spending

The big daddy in that list is projected ROI.  Once campaigns are done, that’s the main number that you should care most about.  If you can get a positive ROI, you know that the campaign was a success and you should look to expand it as much as possible to get a higher ROI for more and more profits. 

• If it was a newspaper ad, continue advertising and see if you can advertise more frequently
• If it was a mail campaign, send out mail to more people

Maintaining Your Marketing Plan

Some people like to put marketing plans in calendars so they know exactly when different campaigns are going to kick-off.  This is a good way to ensure that your name is always out there and on people’s short term memory.  It also ensures that you don’t have "gaps" in your flow of new patients.  You might be busy today and don’t think you need to advertise at all.  Just remember, there is a delay in these efforts so your investments today won’t pay off until further down the road.

In the end, it’s all about testing and tracking.  You need to test and see what works and your chiropractic marketing plan is the most effective way to do that.   You can plan and work off of actual results and not just hunches on what seems to work most effectively.

Would you pay to advertise in a magazine or newspaper that no one read?  Or one that was only read by people in a completely different state?

Would you pay for a direct mail campaign in which didn’t have any local addresses?

So Why Did You Pay for a Chiropractic Website if You Don’t Get any Visitors?

Too many chiropractors take their cue from the movie Field of Dreams.  They believe that "if you build it, they will come".  The fact is if you don’t have a way to bring people to your website, I can pretty much guarantee that it’s not bringing you any new patients. 

Maybe You Are Getting Some Visitors to Your Site

Some chiropractors are ahead of the game.  They know that they need to be ranked high in the search engines to attract visitors to their site.  Maybe they are #1 in Google for "Seattle Chiropractor". 

That would be great and that doctor would be getting a good amount of visitors every month searching for that term.  But most people don’t search on the same term.  What about people that are searching for "back pain" in your local area? 

Those people would probably be interested in talking to a chiropractor about the benefits of their service.  But the chances are that there is no way you can show up in the search engines for a term like that.

However, there is a way to easily target people in your local market searching for this term and hundreds of other terms indicating that they are LOOKING for chiropractic services.

The Key to Attracting Visitors to Your Website - Pay-Per-Click

Chiropractic Pay-Per-Click, also known as PPC, is a form of online advertising.  When you type in search terms to any of the search engines, they return a list of advertisements, along with the regular search results.

The beauty of this system is that you only pay when someone clicks on your ad and goes to your site.  And you can have your ad only displayed to potential patients in your local market.

If you Spend Money on Advertising, Why Not Target People Looking for You

The problem with most advertising methods is that they have to get through hundreds and thousands of people who aren’t interested in your services to hopefully reach a few that are.  But with Chiropractic Pay-Per-Click, you only pay to advertise to people who are actively looking for information on chiropractics. 

If you would like to see how you can attract local prospective chiropractic patients to your website through Pay-Per-Click and convert them in to patients, click on the image below and sign up for a 10 minute tour.  If you have a website, you will see how a well-designed website converts visitors into new patients and if you don’t have a website, you’re still in good shape.  Take the tour to learn how to attract new chiropractic patients into your office.

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Free Test Drive of the IVJR Online Marketing System.

These chiropractic websites usually provide some information about the chiropractor, the office, and the services that the practices offer, but they do nothing to get the visitor to pick up the phone and schedule an appointment. 

If the website isn’t bringing new patients through the front door, why even have one?

The problem is that most chiropractors already invested the money and time into building a website, just because they thought they had to have one.  Unfortunately, that time and money was spent on something that is broke and doesn’t work.

If It’s Broke, Replace It

Think of it another way.  Let’s say you were thinking about buying a new 50 inch LCD TV.  You get all excited about how’s it going to look and you can’t wait to have it set up in your living room.  So you go down to your local electronics store, and pay $4,000 for your new TV.  You bring it home, get it all set up, and when you turn it on, the picture is all blurry.  You realize that you got a defective TV. 

Would you just let it go and say "it might not work but at least I have the 50 inch LCD TV I had been dreaming about"?  No - you take it right back to the store and get a new one that works.

Why Pay $4,000 for a Broken Website?

So if you spend $4,000 and hours of your time on a great looking website that doesn’t attract new chiropractic patients, why don’t you get one that works? 

If your website is just sitting there looking great but isn’t attracting visitors and converting them to new patients, would you say that it works?

The Lucky Chiropractors

If you don’t have a new website or bought the 15 inch TV equivalent, consider yourself lucky.  You haven’t made the mistake of putting a lot of money into a website that doesn’t work.

The Solution to the Broken Chiropractic Websites

There are two things a site needs to do to be effective for your practice:

1. Attract local, qualified visitors who are searching for the services that you offer
2. Get those visitors to "raise their hand" and become prospects and future patients

We build websites to do exactly that.  The number one goal of ours is to generate prospects and patients for our clients.  In fact, we feel that this is so important to a successful website that we do not charge $1 for our websites. 

We would rather have our clients put that money to attracting qualified, local visitors to their chiropractic websites.  To see how we do this, sign up for the test drive below and you will be taken on a 10 minute tour of our chiropractic websites and online marketing system.

Customer support is an essential element of your Chiropractic business and office, and keeping track of customer issues for resolution and appointments is much easier with an effective call tracking software program. Today’s patients look for quality customer service and need assurance that your Chiropractic business is credible and worthwhile. Providing a phone number for customer service and direct contact is an excellent way to improve the perception and image of your site, as well as keeping track of visitor behavior and monitoring your target audience.

Why Use Call Forwarders and Call Tracking Systems?

Many companies who do not want to invest in a formal call center or administrative help can take advantage of call tracking and call forwarders to manage their websites. Call tracking and call forwarders simply forward calls from a toll free number to a business line, making it simple for a business to pick up incoming calls and learn exactly where they are coming from. Using different phone numbers on each site is easily managed with call tracking software, and can cut costs for call management, as well as providing important statistics and data on the type of traffic your business and sites are receiving.

Call forwarders and call tracking systems also help your Chiropractic business cut costs on call centers and administrative functions for managing incoming calls. Most can be setup with automated services so that customers can simply dial in and get the information they need, without having to speak with a customer service representative or Chiropractic office agent. After a marketing campaign launch on a website, it may be impossible to handle the influx of calls; this is where a call forwarding or call tracking system can offer the greatest advantage, helping patients receive the attention they need immediately.

How Can Call Tracking Software Gauge the Effectiveness of a Website?

Call tracking software can generate customer call logs and other data pertaining to your website. Visitor tracking, response rates, and other market research information can easily be collected with call tracking software features, and call forwarders can also help to monitor when and where particular phone calls were placed. All of this information can help you develop consistent and effective marketing campaigns, and keep track of visitor responses for review and analysis.

Key Benefits of Call Tracking Software and Forwarding

Call tracking software and forwarding systems offer a range of benefits for both your Chiropractic business and the website. Key benefits include:

• Customer support logs and tracking of each call
• Monitoring of incoming calls, including recordings
• Mapping of each incoming call
• Multiple user access
• Toll-free dial in for customers and patients
• Conferencing options when needed
• Personalized greetings and customized announcements for each type of website
• Clear connections and seamless integration into most phone systems
• Reports and statistics on calls received from each website
• Simple configuration to use across multiple domains
• Virtual call center setup
• Low operating and management costs
• Easy to use software, statistics, and management tools
• Strictly web-based options, eliminating the need for extra hardware or accessories

Call tracking and call forwarders can streamline business operations in the customer service department, improving patient relations and helping your business monitor a variety of campaigns. Most call tracking software programs can also be managed with ease; setting up your site with the appropriate software or tracking system is a simple way to improve customer communications and raise the potential for increased sales as a result.

Effective chiropractic web sites are those that can attract visitors, convert a percentage of those visitors to leads, and follow up on those leads via newsletters, email marketing, etc. This, in effect, is what web sites should always aim to do, and through a system of testing and checking, a web site can be constantly tweaked to perform better and more effectively.

Attracting visitors is the first task that any web site should tackle. It is also arguably the hardest task to achieve. But without visitors, there will be no leads, no sales, and no profits. The web site will therefore have no useful reason for existence.

Visitors can be attracted through being ranked highly in the search engines, or through a pay per click, or PPC, campaign. Often it is done through a combination of both. In order to rank highly in the natural search engine results, a web site needs to be optimized for the search engines. This involves optimizing both on page and off page factors, and it usually takes a little time to get going.

On page factors include the optimization of a page’s title, Meta tags, headline and body text. A web page should have:

· The primary keyword at least once, but no more than twice, in the page title.

· A properly formatted description Meta tag.

· A properly formatted keyword Meta tag.

· The primary keyword in the first H1 headline tag.

· The primary keyword in the first sentence of the first paragraph of the body text.

· The primary keyword in the last paragraph of the body text.

· The primary keyword bolded at least once in the body text.

· The primary keyword used through the body text to a density of between 2% and 5%.

· Body text of at least 400 words, but not exceeding 1,000 words if possible.

Off page factors revolve mainly around back links to the pages of a web site. Ideally, these should be from quality sites that rank well, and that are based on a similar theme. If possible, the back link should go one way; from the other site to yours.

Reciprocal links, where both sites link to each other do carry weight too, but less so that a one-way link. In short, the more relevant quality incoming links you can get pointing to your web site, the better. Properly done, this overall strategy of optimizing the on page and the off page factors will cause the web site to rank well in the natural search engine results. This will result in regular visitors.

Using PPC a web site can also attract a healthy amount of regular visitors. In this case a small advert is placed on a PPC search engine. Visitors to the search engine who see the advert and click on it will be taken to your web site. However, you pay for each visitor who clicks on the advert, which will eat into any potential profits. The advantage of using PPC, however, is that you can start receiving visitors almost immediately.

Once visitors arrive at your web site they need to be encouraged to take action. If your web pages are not optimized to cause this to happen, then it will not be effective. Effective web sites use good quality copy, or sales pages, to entice the visitor to want the product or service your are offering them.

They can also be encouraged to sign up to a newsletter, or for updates. In this way the web site captures their email address. If they then go on to buy the product or service, they are then considered to be a buyer. Buyers are valuable, for they can usually be encouraged to buy again sometime.

If they do not buy, but you have captured their email address, they can be sent regular follow up information. This can continue for as long as it takes them to either unsubscribe from the list, or become a buyer. Either situation is a conclusion and worth having. If they don’t buy they are not furthering your profit margin, and they are therefore wasting your time and not worth having. If they do buy they become a buyer that you can probably sell to again, and therefore definitely worth having.

Effective chiropractic web sites can become virtual money machines if set up properly. It usually takes some time, but it is always well worth it in the end.

In short, with pay-per-click advertising the advertiser only has to pay when a consumer clicks on the link of an advert he or she is interested in. The search engine that displays the advert on behalf of the advertiser tracks the amount of clicks an advert gets. The advertiser has access to this information and knows at a glance how well his adverts are doing.

PPC advertisers start off by finding the keywords they wish to target. This will usually be the keywords that consumer have been typing in to the search engine search bars to find the kind of product that the advertiser is offering.

The search engines that offer pay-per-click allow the advertiser to bid on each keyword he or she wishes to target. When a visitor to the search engine types in a keyword that matches one that the advertiser has bid on, there is a chance that the advertiser’s advert will be shown. If the visitor clicks on the advertiser’s advert, then he or she will have to pay the amount of the bid.

The visitor may or may not purchase the good as a result of clicking on the advert. However, a percentage can be expected to purchase. A successful pay-per-click advertising campaign is one where the cost of advertising is less than the profit made per successful sale.

PPC is effectively an arbitrage model where the actual profit gained is the difference between the net profit and the cost of advertising. If the cost of paid web advertising is greater than the net profit, then the pay-per-click campaign is running at a loss.

With some search engines, notably Google, Yahoo and MSN, pay-per-click adverts will appear, usually at the right-hand side of the search results, when a visitor conducts a search for a particular keyword. The systems are set up so that when a particular keyword is searched for, only relevant pay-per-click adverts will appear next to the organic search results.

They specialize in, Chiropractic websites, content and style. Your site will be specifically designed for your Chiropractic business.

One of the most important marketing aspects for the successful Chiropractic businesses is a comprehensive and informative website. This will help with your chiropractic website analytics.

By utilizing proper website analytics you’ll be able to ascertain whether or not your site is doing its job and attracting visitors.

Your patients will be able to access these websites for say, their referring doctors who use the internet. For the Chiroproctic practice, the use of a website is you could say, absolutely essential.

You can find a web designer who will build you a site for a few dollars a month. You should ensure that you check the draft model and make sure it has good color, patterns, style and content.

Also, make sure it’s easy to navigate.

Some Tips On Why You Should Analyse Your Chiropractic Site!

1. A good looking home page, maybe with a picture of your building on it. With a stats counter here you’ll be able to see how many visitors are coming to your home page.

2. If you don’t use tracking devices to analyse your site, you won’t know if it’s performing like it should.

3. It’s no good just having a site; you have to have potential customers coming to visit. If you have no way of tracking how will you know if they’re coming or not?

4. To make sure they keep coming back, you need to give them excellent and informative Chiropractic information and advice. With tracking on your site you will know which page is getting the most visitors and which ones need attention.

5. Not only should you be using a tracking system, you should also be capturing names and addresses. Build up your database for further contact and updated advice.

6. Get a free stats counter here: http://www.counterdata.com/

7. By monitoring your site, you’ll be able to see what page is more popular to the visitor, if one is not getting any visits or they only stay for a few seconds, then it’s time to seriously do some changes. You want people to stay on your page for a while, because if it’s interesting to them they’re more likely to contact you for an appointment.

You should look at a professional domain name as well, this gives the whole site credibility.

Using an autoresponder is one of the most powerful tools a business can use. If you want to really ramp up your Chiropractic business then you should really think about an autoresponder. You can get one at Aweber.com or GetResponse.com.

You get a simple code from the service and put it on your site, and then offer them a FREE report on something to do with Chiroproctic care.

When they sign up for your free newsletter, you automaticall have their name and email address.

This is your database that you can follow up with anytime you like, as long as they stay subscribed.