If you’re running a veterinary practice, online marketing is absolutely essential. In today’s world, more and more consumers are utilizing the internet to find the products and services that they need. This also means that more and more pet owners are utilizing the internet to find a vet. Therefore, veterinary practice marketing must include effective online marketing, including social media marketing, search engine optimization, and, perhaps most importantly, effective veterinary website design.

A professional, high quality veterinarian website is the cornerstone of effective online marketing practices. Veterinary websites, such as a veterinary clinic website, should be visually appealing, professional, and informative, containing all the necessary information about services, pricing, etc. However, designing an effective website can certainly be challenging. Designing a veterinary clinic website requires HTML and coding skills, as well as graphic design abilities and excellent writing skills. Therefore, if you would like to develop or improve upon an already existing veterinary clinic website, you may want to seek out a professional service. Professional website design companies allow you to focus on your core business, rather than spending time making upgrades to the site.

And keep in mind that effective veterinary marketing should also include search engine optimization and social media marketing. SEO is particularly important, as 93 percent of online experiences begin with a search engine. There is no point in spending thousands of dollars on high quality veterinarian website design if you website isn’t going to show up in search engine results pages and be visible to consumers. Studies show that when consumers utilize an internet search engine they typically click on the first link that meets their criteria and are unlikely to scroll through pages and pages of results. Therefore, the higher a website appears in search engine results pages, the more likely a consumer is to visit that website. SEO, which raises a website’s ranking in search engine results, is thus a crucial part of effective online marketing. And it is also highly effective: Internet search has a return rate of $22 for every dollar spent on it.

And while SEO is certainly important, this is not to understate the importance of social media marketing, which is also essential. And blogging is also key: 57 percent of businesses have acquired a customer through their company blog.