StudentDC Interactive

A readaer asked me about this one a few days ago.  Here is how I responded:

Setting up a website is definitely a good idea; having a site is becoming more and more the preferred way to attract potential patients to your site - even higher in importance than getting a Yellow Pages ad.  But the website business has gotten much more complicated in the past few years, with the addition of stuff like search engine optimization, flash special effects, and fancy widgets.  I did my own website a few years ago, but I would not attempt to tackle it now.

Here is another important reason why you should hire someone to set up your practice website:  Even if you have the expertise, do you really want to spend the time doing this when you could be doing other things - like talking to prospective patients or doing adjustments?  Setting up a website is a huge “time sucker-upper” and I would suggest you not get sucked into that task.

You can set up a fairly simple site for not much money, with all the information a prospective patient needs - who you are, where to find you, all about chiropractic, your services, the ability to contact you by email, even new patient forms.  If you want to do the “max” (and spend much more money) you can create an interactive “member” site where people can go to interact with you and have lots of information about chiropractic.  It’s up to you, your purpose for your site, and how much money you want to spend.

There are many web designers out there.  Here are some suggestions for getting your site done, depending on your budget and your preferences:

1.  I have been working for several years with a company called VirtualImpax.  The owner, Kathy Hendershot-Hurd, is a marketing guru, book author, and website setter-upper. She has helped many people set up great-looking sites with high ranking in search engines.   She has a service called easychiropracticwebsites.comto help chiropractors set up simple but effective websites.   You can see her main website at VirtualImpax.com and you can email her at kathy[at]virtualimpax.com.

2.  I ran a search on Chiropractic Economics online to see what came up for “website design.”  There were lots of vendors on the list.  (http://www.chiroeco.com/buyersguide/Search/MarketingResults.php  .

3. I also know that Bill Esteb over at Patient Media has a partner website service called PerfectPatients.  They have lots of chiropractic content, if you’re looking for a site with more services.

When you get your site set up, send the link to me at jean@dcpracticesuccess.com - I collect chiropractic websites and I would love to see yours.

I talked to a recent grad who said he had met with 4 banks.  All told him, “Your student loan debt is too high.”  That’s interesting.  I’d like to know if these banks would say the same thing to a medical school or dental school grad.  I am sure they wouldn’t.  Banks recognize that a health care provider is a low risk because they have spent the time learning their practice.   But… here is the difference:

THEY DON’T KNOW CHIROPRACTIC.  They don’t know these important figures about chiropractor income and compensation:

• Mean collections for chiropractic offices:  $294,909
• Mean net practice annual income: $134,832
• Mean DC annual salary: $94,116
• Total annual DC compensation: $118,709

These are very respectable figures, and they probably would surprise a skeptical banker.

***ALWAYS REMEMBER WHAT A BANKER IS CONCERNED ABOUT - GETTING THE LOAN PAID BACK. ***

Your job is to convince the banker that you can pay back the loan.  Use these figures and others from the  Chiropractic Economics Salary and Expense Survey to make your case.  Print out a copy and take it along when you make a presentation to a bank.

I was asked that question this week and it took me by surprise. I am so used to thinking about concepts like USP and different types of practices and patients, that I never really thought there was a “typical” or “average” chiropractic patient. Then I checked Chiropractic Economics online and I found an interesting article describing this very person.

The author, Daniel Gonzalez, describes the typical person seeking health information online:

• The typical “health seeker” is female.
• She is between the ages of 30 and 49.
• The top three topics she and other health seekers search are information about disease and conditions (60 percent), medical treatments and procedures (47 percent) vitamins, minerals and supplements (44 percent).

So is this the typical chiropractic patient? Well, maybe. At least, she is the person most aggressively seeking health information, including chiropractic care. The concept here is called “target market.” Here is a good article by Dennis Perman that explains this concept: read down to see the section on “ideal patient.”

If you try to target middle-aged women, that’s what you will get in your practice. Is that who you want? Sure, if you want a family practice, it is known that women buy chiropractic, so target them. But if you want a sports practice, you should look at a different target market.

As a prospective chiropractor, I would think it would be more valuable for you to look at the specific market for your services. What kind of patient do you want in your practice? If you know the answer to this question, you’ll know better how to find that person, either online or in your local community.