QuickTip Sundays: BobTheChiropractor.com

If you are a service provider, no matter what, get the phone number somewhere on the site

A friend of mine, Bob Benaderet, runs a small but growing chiropractor business. He doesn’t have a big office (it’s about 700 square feet), but because of his previous experience as a marketing account manager, he understands that the internet is the most cost effective way for him to grow his business.

I helped him out by designing a very simple yet very effective site, and through the use of free tools, we’re seeing about a decent lead acquisition rate, which is excellent for a small business website. The site is designed specifically to reflect that he is a small business that gives a personal touch, but also sophisticated enough so he appears to be respectable and professional.

The amount of time and money spent on the site didn’t break his bank, and for what you can hire a professional writer to work with a designer for, any small business owner would see the return on investment fairly quickly.

The core ideas we recognized:

• Long URL’s are fine as long as you can spell it. BobTheChiropractor doesn’t role off the tounge, but it brands him exactly as he wants to be seen. You can say it over the phone or radio, and know exactly how to spell it, and what the site is.
• No one is using the yellow pages anymorel they are searching on the web. For the cost of a yellow pages advertisement ($150 a month, and you can’t change it all the time), your money would be better spent on internet advertising.
• Target your advertising carefully. Use keywords that are very specific (i.e. Long Beach Chiropractor or Long Beach back pain, which Bob uses).
• Put the contact information prominent, and in multiple places. The main reason users (including myself) are returning to the site is so they can get the address and phone number, more often than calling 411, so they can schedule an appointment.
• It’s a journey, not a destination. Change and tweak the site often, which is the beauty of the web.

Looking at the site, we might increase the visibility of the phone number even more; he may get a uptick of calls, some of them less qualified, but it should pay off.