I often preach about the importance of being listed on medical review sites. I want to take a moment to mention the main sites that you need to be listed on and promote…
Medical review sites:
- Ratemds.com– This site has been around since 2004 and is highly publicized as one of the top review sites for both doctors and dentists. You don’t need to be an MD to be listed here. Chiropractors, Acupuncturists, and even psychiatrists & psychologists can be listed.
- Healthgrades.com– A popular site for reviews of physicians, dentists and hospitals. Most of the listings are for MDs, but they do have some unique specialty listings for sports therapists, optometrists, and a few other fields.
- Vitals.com- This site is strictly for doctors (no dentists); however, they have many different specialties listed here, particularly hospital-related doctors and surgeons.
- Doctorbase.com- This is a much lesser known site that I want to bring up because it offers both a free listing, where patients can review you, and a paid scheduling and follow up software. The software, known as PANDA, can automatically email patients after appointments to not only ask for reviews, but integrate those reviews with social networking websites.
General Review sites:
Yelp- The most popular local business review site on the Internet. Keep an eye on this because many of your reviews will come from Yelp.- Google Places- Arguably the most important place to be listed. At least 65% of people searching online are using Google. More often than not, specific geographic searches bring up Google Places results. While more people are likely to review you on Yelp, more people are searching for you on Google.
- Citysearch- An afterthought when it comes to local reviews because of Yelp and Google Places. Citysearch offers a very diversified list of professionals that you can review, including all types of doctors, medical degree or not. After Yelp and Google Places, if you’re looking for another local business review site to get listed on then consider Citysearch.
Having a presence on these review sites is a start. However, you need to do more than have a presence to use these review sites to your benefit. You need to promote them actively. Having a link on your website to these review sites helps. Even better, having signs posted in your office and sending emails occasionally asking for reviews (or use a software that does this for you) helps even more.
The best way to get reviews is to simply ask for them directly from your patients. Make sure you do it at the end of your meeting with the patient and after you’ve answered all their questions. You’d be surprised at the responses you get by simply asking.
If you have any questions about review sites and generating reviews then contact TRBO ADvance today, or call 877-673-7096 x2.
