This project started with web design and development, as well as a Local SEO-focused digital marketing strategy. Since the website launch, we have continued working with the clinic to implement an organic search strategy and provide guidance for content development and reporting.
Dr. Cohen spent ten years as the Associate Director of the Wound Healing Center and Institute for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Retreat Doctors’ Hospital before deciding to open her own practice in 2015. She dedicates time to speaking engagements aimed at educating groups about breast and skin cancer, and her attention to patient care has earned her awards for the Best Bedside Manner in Richmond, Virginia.
Dr. Cohen’s focus on comprehensive, compassionate care for her reconstructive and cosmetic patients needed to be explored on her website. She has built her clinic on a foundation of patient-first focus and respect, and aims to treat patients as she would like her family to be treated — the look and feel of the website needed to reflect this personalized standard of care. Her mantra, “face the world with confidence” was the focus of our needs analysis to determine the strongest way to embrace Dr. Cohen’s powerful message.
Client Goal
To establish a compelling local presence in Richmond for her plastic and reconstructive surgery clinic.
Brand Voice Development
Brand voice is the foundation of communication. We needed to learn who Dr. Cohen was as a doctor and a person in order to establish the voice and tone of her brand. We paid careful attention to how she would speak to various personas — for example, what tone would we use to communicate to a burn victim that Dr. Cohen would work tirelessly to help them be confident in their appearance again?
Needs Analysis
Once the sitemap was finalized, we created a website blueprint to figure out the UX (user experience) the site should provide to visitors — not only for the website as a whole, but for each page individually. This included deciding what the most important content was, where it should go, and what Calls-to-Action (CTAs) should be to convert the most visitors into clients. For Dr. Cohen’s site, providing in-depth information and answering questions visitors might have was key, so the CTAs on each page (usually buttons) often reflected that by guiding visitors to the FAQ page or Contact form.
To define the structure of the website we used our keyword research that showed what potential clients search for when they are looking for the procedures Dr. Cohen offers. This helped us figure out which pages should be included on the website, and what they should be called in order to meet searchers’ needs. For example, we structured the navigation to have a parent “Face” page for general facial procedure inquiries, and tertiary pages for in-depth explanations about specific facial procedures because the keyword categorization proved that this is how people want to view this information.
Content Development
16,149 words later… Dr. Cohen boasts a comprehensive lineup of procedures, most of which are very technical — we had to ensure the content was scientifically correct, easy to understand, and appealing. Research was a big part of the content process for this project, and we also interviewed Dr. Cohen about her medical philosophy, education, career, and family life. We used GatherContent to manage the content workflow for this project.
12-Month Editorial Calendar
We created an editorial calendar to make content writing for Dr. Cohen a breeze. Each calendar entry provides a description of what to write, which persona to write for, where to promote (and for what budget), and lists proper title tags and meta descriptions as well.
Website Design & Development
Using the Needs Analysis as a guide, three different prototypes were created. Dr. Cohen wanted a site with a “warm and trustworthy” feel (as opposed to cold and clinical), so the colour palette and style of stock images used were chosen to visually convey that message. Each concept — although aesthetically different — kept a similar hierarchy of information and were designed to effectively execute the defined UX for this website. Additionally, each design made it easy for the personas we identified to navigate through the site and convert without frustration. Once Dr. Cohen chose a concept, we designed the remaining pages to be consistent with that style. The development of the site ensured a positive user experience was maintained across different screen sizes and devices.
Citation Building
Citations are mentions of the clinic name, address, and phone number on other web pages. Creating citations for Dr. Cohen’s clinic made it easier for clients to find her and also impacted her local search ranking. The best citations are those that come from quality or authoritative sources — instead of random, uncategorized directory sites. All citations were structured consistently, with the same business name, address, and phone number.
Limitations
The site was originally built to extensively feature before and after images, using a slider method to easily illustrate results, like you’ve probably seen on BuzzFeed. Unfortunately, due to privacy regulations, Dr. Cohen did not have permission to use her library of patient photos online, just in print. She is currently working on getting photos that can be used online and this feature will be launched in the future.
Reflections
The process of moving from keyword research to categorization, and building a page list from those categories while also assigning a persona to the navigation paths was successful for this website. Dr. Cohen was able to teach us how each of her services was explained, requested, and thought of by current and potential patients — her patient knowledge was key in establishing the best way to structure her website.