By CJ Levendoski

Although most of the veterinary practices I speak to already have a website, many veterinarians are considering a new website or overhauling their existing site. If one of your goals is to use your veterinary website as a way to reach potential clients and to market your practice, there are some very important guidelines to follow. Most importantly, make sure that you build your site to be Search Engine Friendly!

Search Engines have some very specific rules about how websites rank when a pet owner searches for a veterinary practice online. Important factors include: how your website is built, the relevancy of the content (this means writing content rich with the key words pet owners are using to search for an animal hospital), back links, and meta tags. All of these factors are important and should be taken into consideration when you either build or overhaul your website.

Keep in mind why you're doing this. Your goal should be to appear on the first page when someone searches for a veterinarian. Did you know that the first result in the "free" results section of a search page typically gets 48% of the visits? No. 2 gets 25%, and No. 3 gets 11%. The number 10 spot (still on the first page) only gets 7%. Listings on the second page get 2% and listings on the third page get a whopping .005% of the clicks.

In other words, if your website doesn't appear on the first page of a natural search result, you may never be found! That's why it's so important to make sure your web site is built properly. If it's not, invest in the time and money to change it. The Internet is today what the Yellow Pages was 10 years ago. Make sure pet owners can find you when they're looking for you online!

CJ Levendoski is managing partner of Creative Marketing Solutions, a firm that specializes in search engine optimization for veterinarians through its My Hometown Vet division. CJ can be reached at 314-725-2340 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .