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Imagine that you are sitting in your lucky chair on a Saturday afternoon watching your favorite baseball team beating their arch rival. You were thrilled because they are going to win, but even happier because they are about to clinch the Division Championship for the first time in fifteen years. As each moment passes, the tension and anticipation build. The joy you feel is overwhelming and it’s almost too much to bear. When the final fly ball towers high in the air and lands safely into the glove of your team’s rookie sensation, you let out a resounding “YES” as they storm the field in celebration. In a sudden frenzy, you look around and realize that you need to share this magical moment with someone, so you call your best friend, the best man in your wedding, and the one person that you have known since you were seven years old. When he answers the phone, without hesitation, you proudly proclaim that WE WON!

In the midst of this possible once in a lifetime experience, what if the reaction of your lifelong friend was simply to ask, which team had more errors, or who had more at bats? While that information may be interesting and give you some indication of who was likely to win, you would probably think that he was going crazy. Is he really judging this moment based on whether or not they had more at bats? If you are like me, you would hang up the phone and call almost anyone else.

As silly as this story sounds, you may be surprised to learn that many people view their websites and Internet marketing efforts like your friend views baseball.  They forget about what is important and they drown in the complexity and data of their program. They ultimately take their eye off the ball and make poor decisions leading to disappointment and wasted money.

You may have heard various marketing companies explain to you either how well, or how poor your web marketing efforts are using industry specific data. They point out search engine rankings, conversion rates, time on site, bounce rates, and number of visitors, but never explain what those and other important statics mean to growing the revenue of your practice. Evaluating the success of your efforts only using this data is like judging your favorite baseball team based on their batting average with runners in scoring position. For this information to be useful, it has to be used to formulate and tweak a strategy that will drive new revenue, and ultimately help you reach your goals.

Generally speaking, a marketing strategy that is used to effectively market one business is not always the best option for another. Effective Internet marketing is not one size fits all. You must use the data you collect to find a formula that is the right fit for your practice.

Here are Four Great Ways to Measure the Success of your Web Marketing Program:

1. Calculate your total new revenue compared to the money spent

The single most important goal should be to make sure the marketing dollars you spend add new revenue. You should work with your marketing company to identify any new patient revenue that the website is producing. Once you understand how much revenue you are generating, you can determine your return on investment (ROI).  A good rule of thumb is to expect at least a ten times revenue return on a monthly Internet marketing investment after the first six months of your program. So if you invest $1,000, your program should produce a least $10,000 in revenue.

2. Count your total new patients

It is important to understand how many new patients you need to achieve your revenue goal. If your procedures are valued at $1,000.00 in revenue and above, you will obviously need fewer new patients than someone whose procedures are valued below $1,000.00.  By working with your marketing partner, you should be able to determine how many new patients need to be generating to hit your target revenue.

3. Track your calls and lead forms

In order to determine new revenue and patients, you need to be able to know which prospects are coming to your practice through the Internet. To accomplish this goal, you need to able to track phone calls and forms. Every web marketing program should give you the ability to track your calls and submitted forms. This information will help you determine the number of leads you need each month to generate the new patients needed to hit your revenue goals.

4. Analyze your data to evolve your program

Industry specific data is an important piece of a good web marketing campaign. Knowing your rankings, number of visitors, bounce rate, time on page, exit pages and countless other performance indicators gives you the ability to make the tweaks and changes necessary to attract new patients and generate more revenue. Make sure that your marketing partner explains this data to you and helps you determine how its use can improve your ability to generate new revenue through the web.

So the next time you sit down to evaluate your web marketing program, remember to not to take your eye off the ball. Ask yourself questions, such as how much revenue are you generating? Are you getting a good return on the investment you are making? The Internet can be a powerful tool to grow your practice. It can help you to connect with new patients and generate revenue beyond what you thought was possible. Just remember to KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE BALL!

Bill Mulcahy is Vice President of Ads Next. To find out more information about how you can develop a web strategy that helps you keep your eye on the revenue ball, please feel free to contact him at: bmulcahy@adsnext.com.

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