Making Your Veterinary Hospital Website an Effective Marketing Tool

Part 1 in a 2 Part Series

Build it and they will come. This is not necessarily true for a veterinary hospital website though.

Your veterinary hospital website may be an excellent marketing tool; however, you need a way for your clients and other local pet owners to find it.

Marketing your vet hospital website begins with your employees. All hospital employees need to be familiar with the content of your website in order to speak intelligently about it with clients. Your staff members need to understand that their knowledge of the vet hospital’s website is not only going to help clients, but is also going to help them in their overall job performance.

Your veterinary hospital website should be a topic of conversation around the hospital. If your employees are unfamiliar with your vet website, you may need to call a staff meeting in order to go over the content of the veterinary hospital website with them. You need to show them the valuable information that you are providing to your clients in your vet website. You also need to show them the interactive sections of the website (hospital forms, client surveys, pharmacy refill page) and the sections that vet clinic website visitors can return to over and over again (monthly newsletter, medical articles, pet-of-the-month, shopping cart). It’s good to get input about the veterinary website from your staff members as they have the most contact with the clients. You may also want to appoint a staff member who can contribute information and feedback (about the website) to the hospital manager and to you.

When pet owners call your veterinary hospital for information about their pets, your receptionists should finish the call by referring them to your vet hospital website. New clients should be directed to the New Client Information page on your website and to the Preventive Care Section (in the Medical Articles – Pet Care Section) for vaccination and wellness care information.

As the veterinary hospital owner or manager, you need to promote your veterinary hospital website to all your clients and explain the benefits that it offers. Before taking the next step (Tomorrow’s Blog – Advertising your Website), make sure that word of mouth is already doing some of the promotional work. Talk to your friends, relatives, neighbors and other business owners about your hospital website. If it’s a great website and they have a pet, they will visit it.

Your veterinary hospital website is a valuable tool and your clients will recognize this. They know that a good, professional veterinary hospital website costs money to create and maintain and that you are providing them with a wonderful service free of charge.

Remember that your veterinarian website reflects you and your veterinary hospital. Your clients and potential clients visit your website. Even if you do not use the Internet, don’t assume that your clients don’t use it. Most people go online several times a day to check their email and visit websites. Make sure that local pet owners make your veterinary hospital website a part of their regular online experience.

Part 2 – Tomorrow’s blog will include ways for advertising your veterinary hospital website. Get details on veterinary marketing packages now…

Article Written and Copyright by
Mark Feltz, DVM
VetNetwork
www.vetnetwork.com