Healthcare Pay-Per-Click Advertising: Here's What You Should Consider

The Internet is now the well-established new business front door for health information, healthcare practices and hospitals. Nearly 90 percent of the billions of healthcare searches are online. But what you may not appreciate is that pay-per-click (PPC) advertising delivers answers to consumers’ needs via one billion search ad clicks.

PPC advertising successfully navigates the highly competitive field of healthcare advertising. First of all, the pay-per-click advertising model directs traffic to websites when the viewer clicks an Internet ad. What’s more, the PPC ad is displayed to the visitor when a search word or term matches the advertiser’s keyword list.

Pay-per-Click Advertising considerations...

Consequently, PPC advertising is reaching a prequalified audience. The advertiser only pays when the ad is selected by a targeted audience. Although this system sounds fairly straightforward, “healthcare” is one of the toughest segments for advertisers to navigate successfully. Most advertisers rely on the experience of a qualified healthcare advertising agency.

Here are some of the critical considerations for healthcare marketing via pay-per-click advertising:

• About 60 percent of visitors click through to a relevant website for healthcare information. It pays to have an up-to-date and authoritative website.
• Better than half (53 percent) of search queries are from a smartphone. Some 40 percent from a PC, and seven percent from a tablet. Check everything against the mobile screen.
• Don’t shortchange fundamental contact information in PPC advertising. It’s a common oversight to neglect NAP (Name, Address, Phone.)
• Google Search dominates healthcare search with 89 percent. Only 11 percent use other means such as word-of-mouth or website direct.
• Convenience often drives healthcare decisions. Proximity to home or office is about 63 percent. Google’s location target Adwords help focus the advertising.
• Invest significant time on your PPC keyword list. Have a clear understanding about the available words and phrases that trigger your ad campaign. Recognize that the search vocabulary of patients is likely to be uniquely different from clinical terms.
• Monitor your PPC constantly, and be willing to make adjustments frequently. There’s a certain ease about PPC that can lead to a “set and forget” attitude. It does not do well on a diet of neglect. Work your healthcare advertising plan for greatest effectiveness.
• When a website fails to deliver sufficient information, nearly three-quarters of visitors are lost (71 percent) .
• Powerful landing pages are information laden and benefit driven. Provide the visitor with a clear and compelling call-to-action.

The beauty of pay-per-click advertising is that you are paying for an actual result, a click. You are not paying for the ad when no one sees it, and you aren’t even paying for when they do. This system, however, often depends on professional help to avoid misdirection and potential waste. If you need help generating optimum results, contact us today at (800) 656-0907.

Stewart Gandolf, MBA, CEO