Make up Your Mind Day

December 31st is the day to make up your mind, to get off the fence, to quit wavering.

Here are some uncertainties you might be facing:

Should you invest in a website?

80% of American adults use the internet to get healthcare information and 63% chose their doctor on the basis of a strong online presence. Yet more than one third of small businesses have no website, according to GoDaddy.

In the town where Haden Interactive is located, more than one third of the doctors we found listed online (at Google Maps) did not have websites. We can’t know how many more doctors without websites didn’t get listed.

Without a website, a doctor will be represented online by an organization like Healthgrades. A local business of some other kind may not be represented at all.

Without a website, your business may be invisible. If you’re a physician, you won’t be invisible. You just won’t have any control over your online presence.

If you don’t currently have a website, creating one should be your top must-do for next year. We’ll be happy to help you.

Do you need a content marketing strategy?

The majority of health care marketers use content marketing, according to Greystone.net. In fact, True North reports that 83% of healthcare marketers rely on content marketing. However, most don’t have a content marketing strategy. In fact, only about one third have a documented plan.

Without a content marketing strategy, you are in the position of legendary retailer John Wanamaker, who famously said that he knew half his marketing investment was wasted… he just didn’t know which half.

Without a clear strategy, you can’t track your results effectively. And, in our experience, random content marketing leads to random results.

Whether you plan to carry out your content marketing in-house or to hire professionals, a strategy document is a necessary starting point.

Is it time to start blogging?

Hubspot has lots of data on the value of blogging. They tell us that websites with blogs get 67% more leads than those without. We found that websites with blogs have significantly more traffic than those without. In fact, whether you call it a blog or not, regular original content on your website is the most important SEO tactic around.

But blogging is not quick and easy. We’ve built websites with blogs for a number of organizations. How many blog regularly on their own?

None.

A Roundpeg survey confirmed this, reporting that businesses that do their own blogging typically write less than once a week. Occasional posts don’t get the results of regular blogging.

Hire a blogger. Haden Interactive is seeking new blogging clients for the New Year, and we have a track record of excellent results for our clients. Fill out the simple form below and have original magazine-quality blog posts on your website on a regular basis.

If you’re a marketing professional, you probably know in your heart that you should have a website, you should have a clear strategy for content marketing, and you should make sure that regular blogging is part of that strategy.

Have these items been on your list of things to take care of for months… or years? It’s Make up Your Mind Day today. Jump off that fence and take the action you know you need to take.