Trust and communication are at the heart of every vet-client relationship, and the same goes for your clinic website.

Pet owners detail the signs their pets are exhibiting, their worries, and their stories. Veterinarians and their staff respond with education, guidance, and support. Both sides are sharing information – content if you will. This content is carefully chosen and delivered at the right moment with a specific purpose. Today, such conversations are moving into the digital realm with the benefits of convenience and 24-7 connections.

The desire for health-related information is ongoing for the average pet owner: What does this symptom mean? Where is the closest veterinarian? How can I stop my dog or my cat from doing X? In a recent survey, nearly 75% of veterinary clients report using the internet occasionally to search for pet health information. In this same survey, pet owners were also asked to identify where to search for information online about their pets. They indicated they used a search engine or typed in the URL of their favorite website. Unfortunately, while the worldwide web provides countless options for providing pet health information, the content on the internet is not always accurate.

Instead of scoffing at “Dr. Google” clients, who use the internet for free information and a chance to diagnose the problem before bringing their pet into your office, let’s provide the accurate content they seek right on your site!

Content is KING! You can improve your clinic website by taking these steps:

1. Create a strategy
   The primary purpose of content is not to sell the clinic. Instead, it’s to share veterinary health news, tell interesting medical stories, and create relationships between the veterinarian and potential clients.
2. Develop a content calendar
   Creating a calendar where highlighted topics are identified for each month of the year allows the clinics’ content to be topical and timely.
3.  Identify a key stakeholder in the clinic to help
   The person identified as the stakeholder will post articles and blogs, send out emails, and monitor read rates. Don’t forget the quality control – every email and post should be reviewed and match the overall clinic content strategy. Analytical tools can help facilitate content that resonates with the ideal audience. For example, play with the titles used in the emails’ subject line and monitor read rates to see what messages resonate with the clientele.
4. Regularly update the website and leverage content in multiple ways
   For example, one can write an article and post it to the clinic’s website and then use snippets from that article on the Facebook post of the day.
5. End everything with a call to action
   Before distributing artfully crafted and thoughtful content, give the pet owners something to do at the end of each piece. For example, please provide them with the opportunity to opt into the clinic’s monthly newsletter, hit the share button, or have them call the clinic to schedule an appointment.

Engaging your target audience with informative content and meeting them where they already are is a part of a well-rounded win-win strategy for everyone. Thus, reinforcing the veterinarian as the primary driver of client education and further solidifying the vet-client relationship.