Planning for marketing and business development in 2025 requires a strategic approach that anticipates evolving industry trends, technologies, and market demands. Medical practices today are dealing with massive changes in procedure volume, technology upkeep, staff shortages, ever-evolving competition, and economic disruption.

The pressure on physicians, administrators and marketing directors to enhance return on investment has never been higher. How do we accomplish this with young people hampered by economic frustration and declining refractive surgery volumes?

While there’s no one-size-fits-all solution, there are several promising approaches to help optimize your practice for the year ahead. Keep reading to learn five key areas that can strengthen your strategic planning for 2025!

1. Leverage Refractive Lens Exchange 

Focus on leveraging RLE as a vision correction procedure that is ideally suited for GenX and has massive potential for growth in 2025. Are you participating?

This is a vastly important generation with purchasing power. Their focus on flexibility with healthcare payments is important, and their choice of quality healthcare is evident.

The lens implant options for RLE have evolved, making many people happy to be able to reduce their dependence on glasses and contacts. RLE marketing can be challenging but can be approached from a variety of angles.

Here is what some other industry people have to say about RLE, implant options, and creating better consumer awareness.

Market data indicates that Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE) presents a strong opportunity for both patient satisfaction and practice growth. In a 2024 �����ƽ��, Inc. case study, the average cost per lead for Google Ads paid search was $187.00, and the cost per lead for social media ads was $25.00. Although this data shows costs per lead are higher than what you would see with LASIK and cataract ad groups, the costs are well within the range of acceptability.

There is still a gray area around the awareness of the procedure and what terms should be used to describe it. The main descriptions should include not just Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE) but also Custom Lens Replacement (CLR). Unfortunately, there is no magic word that has evolved yet that is like LASIK so creating awareness will prove more difficult.

Let’s hear what people are saying about Refractive Lens Exchange:

“If you are seeing a refractive surgery candidate older than 40 years of age, take the time and explain the concept of presbyopia. The best solution for presbyopia is Refractive Lens Exchange with a trifocal lens. Assuring the eyes are very healthy and discussing the potential drawbacks of the IOL is paramount.”

-Rob Melendez, MD, MBA
Juliette Eye Institute, CEO/Founder

“Today’s patient has more options than ever to achieve excellent post operative vision.  The variety of IOLs can be confusing and patient education is critical to meet expectations.  Having an educational program is extremely valuable and can reduce the surgeon’s chair time as well as improve patient satisfaction.”

– Edward J. Holland, MD
Director of Cornea, Cincinnati Eye Institute
Professor of Ophthalmology, University of Cincinnati

“As an Ophthalmic Consultant and CEO, metrics on patients and planning are key to future financial success and growth of a practice. To be more progressive in 2025, take an example from your own playbook and understand the road map of the premium patient. Not all patients need hand holding, rather the patients that are paying out of pocket and choosing the refractive elective services are your savvier patients that are looking at your social media presence, looking at how well your website presents the technology of your providers. You have one chance to sell yourself, making sure that your practice, your providers, and your technology will live up to the expectations of the patient. You need the tools and information to set the patient’s expectations so that when they finally arrive at your practice – closing is so much sweeter!”

– Tracy J. Kenniff, MBA, OCS
Practice Administrator
The Eye Center, Greenfield MA

“Clinics that focus on educating patients and putting their needs first in marketing Refractive Lens Exchange (RLE) are likely to see strong growth in the coming years. Although RLE as a procedure is still not widely known, many people over 50 are frustrated with using glasses, contacts, and readers. These potential patients know they have a problem but are not yet aware of the solution. To grow RLE procedures consistently, clinics should adopt a modern vision correction approach and invest in effective traditional and digital media campaigns that deliver a positive return on investment.”

– Mike King
Clinic Marketing System

2. Identify Your Online Persona and Embrace a Patient-First Value Proposition

Making patients feel empowered with vision correction goes a very long way. Each patient is unique, and they all have a story to share. At its core, patients simply seek better vision. True emotional intelligence in healthcare means shifting our focus from professional achievements to what matters most: our patients’ quality of life and their journey to improved sight. 

Many eye care practitioners were first made aware of this concept in a book by Donald Miller, where he aims to help businesses tell meaningful stories to dramatically improve their business. Creating an online persona is crucial for practices aiming to connect deeply with their target audience. An effective persona helps you understand your patient’s needs and visual goals, driving a more personalized approach to patient care and marketing.

We have seen the emergence of three general types of practice/provider personas. Some practices may fall outside these categories, but these are the main common personas. Consider whether or not your practice falls in any of these categories:

1. The Self-Focused Practice

In this scenario, the practice website talks a lot about the physicians successes. Although it’s great to put forth the extensive experience that your physicians have, its also important to make sure its not overboard. Experience matters significantly, but be careful to make sure it does not outweigh the message of delivering quality vision care for your patients. Many people would argue that it’s the doctors who show empathy that patients remember so vividly.

2. The Patient-First Practice

In the next scenario, the practice’s website is welcoming to the average person and addresses the symptoms, needs, and desires of patients. You will often see real patients and hear real patient stories on these websites. Creating a genuinely warm patient experience requires more than just clinical excellence—it demands emotional intelligence (EI). This cornerstone of a patient-first philosophy encompasses four key abilities: identifying emotions in ourselves and others, using emotions to guide reasoning, understanding emotional complexity, and managing emotional responses. When properly integrated into practice, these EI skills not only enhance patient care and satisfaction but also strengthen safety protocols and treatment outcomes

3. The Oblivious Practice

The last scenario involves practices that are oblivious to how a website should be used as an opportunity to introduce yourself to the community. In today’s healthcare world, where patients actively research and compare providers online, neglecting your digital presence can have profound consequences. A poorly designed website doesn’t just fail to attract new patients—it actively drives them toward more digitally savvy competitors. With countless options available, patients won’t hesitate to choose practices that demonstrate professionalism and attention to detail through their online presence.

Let’s hear what people are saying about embracing a patient-first value proposition:

“Remember that the patient is the hero of the story, not you. All marketing efforts should be geared toward elevating the hero, aka your patients!!”

– Dr. Brett Mueller
Mueller Vision

“Patients must feel connected, informed, and safe in their journey with us. This starts with interest and research online, extends through their experience in our practice with a great surgical outcome, and ends in success as a patient advocate spreading the word to everyone they know. It’s up to us to create these three feelings in every patient interaction – and be committed to constantly re-assessing and evolving everything we do.”
 
– Christine Scarlett & Lauren Weaver
The Patient Whisperers

3. Stay Up to Date 

In today’s ever-changing world, it’s essential to stay up to date on emerging trends, data trends, what media is working, how leads are generated and where you get the best bang for your buck for patient acquisition.

One strategy practices can put in place to stay up to date with the latest digital marketing trends and techniques is to regularly read industry news and publications. Many digital marketing blogs, magazines, and websites provide regular updates on the latest trends and techniques.

Several industry leaders offer valuable resources across different aspects of practice management:

On the administrative side, there is the AHA (Administrators Helping Administrators) webinar series run by James Dawes, Patti Barkey, and Janna Mullaney. This has proven to be very informative and unbiased.

Guido Piquet, CEO of Mann Eye Institute, hosts ‘The Ophthalmology Experience’ podcast produced by Boost Patients. Known for staying ahead of industry trends, Piquet regularly tests and implements innovative software solutions before they become widespread in the field, making his insights particularly valuable for forward-thinking practices.

On the marketing side our team at �����ƽ�� holds regular webinars going over various trends. Additionally, we release various case studies on marketing cost per leads by media source.

Let’s hear what practices and industry professionals have to say about staying up on trends:

“Do Your Homework” or “Homework Never Ends…Even for Professionals.

Every single year I pit all of my media representatives (of which I have 35) up against each other. I begin to heavily assess market research data pertaining to SW Florida on how my target audience most commonly receives information. For example, in October, I asked Comcast (a partner who would know) – to compile the top OTT/Streaming platforms’ cumulative rankings and highest-rated ROI’s for a 12 month period. Comcast uses set top box data directly into their customers’ homes to “first-party” ascertain the viewing habits of all audiences.  I was able to quickly determine which OTT mediums were priority. THEN – I sent a “BCC” email to all of my reps and said…these platforms are my top priority. 1. Do you sell this? 2. Can you target it uniquely or are you just throwing money into the wind? 3. Who is going to give me the lowest CPM?”

– Bev Hollingshead
Marketing Director
Frantz EyeCare

“Many practices overlook the value of educating their existing patient databases on premium vision correction procedures. A practice should understand the opportunities to market and offer these services to their existing patients. Additionally, the practice should have a strategy to gauge their patients’ interest in these procedures and how to nurture them. Having an automated way to gather this information and put it into targeted drip campaigns and text blasts can be very powerful.”

– Guido Piquet, MBA, COE
Chief Operating Officer
Mann Eye Institute

“Consider the performance signals you are feeding your marketing engines and strategy.  Are these signals “proxy metrics” like clicks and inbound calls lasting more than 30 seconds or are they actual patient bookings. Adopt online booking as an option for your patients.  Simply put, your practice is behind if you don’t already have this in place.  I’m confident that there will be objections from colleagues in your practice, but patients expect to do business with you as easily as they can do business with everyone else.”

– Charlie Winn
Chief Revenue Officer
Liine

4. Make 2025 the Year to Audit and Edit Your Lead Follow Up Process

Even practices considered among the best in the country need to stay vigilant, as 2024 marked a sea change in understanding best practices and what it takes to engage potential patients to book consultations.

2024 began with groundbreaking insights from two major Carl Zeiss Meditec case studies. These case studies were tremendous at getting to the bottom of an issue that has plagued practices and marketing firms for years: the consistently inadequate follow-up process and lead response time in refractive surgery. 

This critical deficiency, which was clearly identified in both studies, had deeper roots than initially understood. The issue first surfaced around 2015 through MD Prospects and Michelle Pelletier’s work investigating the lead-to-consult bottleneck. 

A telling pattern emerged in MDprospects reports: hundreds of leads would appear in the system, yet very few converted to consultations. While this observation was a generality, it proved remarkably common across practices. The industry made attempts to improve, but didn’t have clear goals to aim for.

The breakthrough came with the first ZEISS case study, which established that seven return phone calls were the magic number for improving lead-to-consult conversions. By early 2024, this finding highlighted a stark reality: most practices weren’t just falling short of this standard—they lacked the internal capacity to achieve it. 

Significant progress was made with the analysis tool developed by Dan Haddad at the Laser Eye Institute in Troy, Michigan. This comprehensive tool, which became the industry standard for evaluating total response, examined calls, self-tests, contact forms, and scheduling capabilities. Dan’s work quickly demonstrated a clear correlation between improved response time and quality and increased surgical conversions. 

Now that the study has revealed the blueprint for proper response protocols, practices face a new challenge: how to consistently meet this elevated standard?

Let’s hear what people are saying about the lead follow-up process:

“In today’s digital-first world it’s increasingly important to be fast and first. In fact, 78% of consumers will choose the first business to respond to their inquiry. You can’t improve what you haven’t measured. Creating a repeatable process to routinely test your digital funnel is paramount to success in a digital-first world. People turnover, websites break, and workflows change. These changes are difficult to detect without a solid process in place to routinely digitally mystery shop your practice and continuously monitor your speed-to-lead contact time.”

– Dan Haddad
Marketing Director
Laser Eye Institute

“I think the most important thing I come back to repeatedly is for practices to regularly “shop” the patient journey.  Search for yourself as though you are a patient, click on all the links on your website or other marketing assets, call your own practice or others and ask a couple of questions. Shadow a patient through a consult and/or do one as a group as though you are doing a play and refine messaging and flow together.  It’s very easy to come up with many ideas for optimization, but the great practices make time to evaluate and refine and practice.”

– Amy Jo Lippe
Account Manager, Florida Region
RxSight

5. Evolving Privacy Standards Should Not Be Ignored

2024 marked another year of healthcare digital marketing compliance updates, requiring medical providers to reassess their online marketing strategies due to increasing concerns about patient privacy and stricter data protection regulations.

A major development came in June when the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas issued a ruling that partially vacated HHS guidance on website tracking technologies. While initially causing some confusion in the industry, the ruling specifically addressed the combination of IP addresses and visits to public (un-authenticated) healthcare related webpages.

The realm of SMS communications also saw increased scrutiny. Medical practices implementing text message marketing or appointment reminders need to ensure they have proper documentation of patient consent for SMS communications, maintain secure messaging platforms, and provide clear opt-out mechanisms.

The international dimension of digital healthcare marketing also gained prominence this year, with more practices wondering about the impact of GDPR on their operations. Even U.S.-based healthcare providers need to consider GDPR compliance if they’re treating European patients.

This complexity is particularly evident in how practices must handle capturing lead and patient information. HIPAA-compliant forms remain the foundation for any medical practice doing digital marketing, as the combination of collecting personal identifiers with health-related information from leads still constitutes Protected Health Information (PHI) under HIPAA regulations. Plus, forms can be used to collect the required consent forms for SMS communications.

Looking ahead to 2025, industry experts recommend the following when thinking about compliance and digital marketing:

• Reviewing your website forms and the technology behind them.
• Staying up to date on state level privacy laws as these supersede many others.
• Updated privacy policies that reflect current regulatory requirements.
• Continuing to evaluate online pixel technologies and the HHS Bulletin.

Turning Strategy into Success

The more you can anticipate changes in consumer behavior, stay ahead of technology trends, and focus on building meaningful relationships with your customers, the better positioned your business will be to thrive. Start planning now by setting clear, actionable goals, optimizing your existing processes, and investing in the right tools and talent to fuel growth.

Contact the team at �����ƽ�� to learn how we can help your practice navigate the challenges of 2025 with innovative marketing strategies, cutting-edge technologies, and expert guidance tailored to your unique needs.

If you are unable to be present for the workshop, fill out this form to be sent the presentation slides and website cheatsheet afterwards.

Glacial is proud to partner with Skin and Cancer Institute to help them update their existing dermatology website design. Incorporating a number of these great features ensures that users enjoy seamless access to valuable and up-to-date information.

Keep reading to learn about a few of the unique and essential elements that helped take their site to the next level!

Hero Section Video

A hero section video is an excellent way to catch the eye and attention of any visitor to your website. Not only is it visually appealing, but it also can showcase the character of your practice.

The new Skin and Cancer Institute website includes a unique and cinematographic video on the home page that is front and center for website viewers to see. When choosing to add a hero section video to your website, it’s best to decide to film an original video.

An original video filmed in your practice adds a unique personal touch and provides future patients with greater insight into the atmosphere of your practice. The hero section video for Skin and Cancer Institute utilizes a variety of clips, including footage from the practice and of the doctors themselves. It also provides eye-catching contact information!

Another essential feature of the hero section video is that it is large enough to fill the screen to ensure that it captures attention. It is also vital that the video plays and loops automatically. 

The loop should be smooth to create a seamless viewing experience. The mobile-user experience is just as important as the web browser experience. 

Instead of having a video in the hero section of the mobile version, it’s best to include an image. Using an image over a video for mobile viewing is purposeful to avoid bogging down the load speed.

Cosmetic Improvements Tool

Another feature on the website that improves user experience and educates patients is the cosmetic improvements tool. This interactive tool allows users to click the tab of their age on the left and receive useful information about skin care for that general age range.

This kind of tool can be implemented on a variety of clinical specialty websites. In this case, it works excellent for dermatology since these recommendations tend to change depending on each patient’s age. 

This tool is interactive, user-friendly, educational, and visually pleasing. Implementing a feature like this on a website encourages visitors to browse the site for helpful information or recommendations. 

Skin and Cancer Institute

Skin and Cancer Institute is a group of  specializing in managing conditions related to the skin, nails, hair, and cosmetics. They are a full-service dermatology practice with office locations across California, Arizona, and Nevada.

The specialists at Skin and Cancer institute are dedicated to providing their patients with the most advanced treatments for acne, skin cancer, rashes, skin growths, laser treatments, and cosmetic injectables. They strive to provide the best medical and personal care available.

With over forty locations, the Skin and Cancer Institute is available to provide excellent preventative care regardless of what skin-related concern you may have.  

Featured Testimonials

The Skin and Cancer Institute’s website also has a feature that showcases testimonials. This is an excellent way to share the many positive words that others have said about your practice.

Not only do easily accessible and visible testimonials support Skin and Cancer Institute’s excellent reputation, but it also increases credibility. Testimonials are a great way to boast about your expertise and excellent patient outcomes without having to sell your practice to prospective patients with your own words. Instead, the testimonials do the boasting for you.

Also, on the Skin and Cancer Institute’s website is a button to read more testimonials. For visitors who are interested, they are invited to read more words from previous patients about their experiences at one of their locations. 

This is an easy way to encourage viewing additional testimonials and further reap the benefit of collecting those testimonials.

Dynamic Contact Buttons

The addition of dynamic contact buttons encourages patients to contact Skin and Cancer Institute and are visible regardless of where they are when scrolling on the page or maneuvering through the website. With this, patients won’t struggle to find phone numbers or other contact methods because it stays on the screen regardless of where you scroll.

These buttons can encourage more website interaction and will result in increased contacts to the practice. What’s especially important about the dynamic contact buttons on the Skin and Cancer Institute’s website is that although it is present all the time, it is small enough to not obstruct any other pertinent information on the page.

Easy Online Scheduling

Along with the easy-to-access contact button for the practice’s phone number, there is also a link for patients to schedule appointments online. Easy online scheduling integrations capture more prospective patients than traditional call-to-schedule methods.

Online scheduling is inviting and convenient for patients. It also improves the number of no-shows and patients’ loss-to-follow-up. 

This tool can improve the patient experience, reduce empty appointment slots and allow all day and night access to scheduling appointments. With 24/7 access to the online-scheduling system, patients can make their appointment when it’s most convenient for them.

Streamlined Location Finder

The website’s theme includes a streamlined location finder that makes it easier for both users of the website and those working on the backend. Instead of having to update the provider location in each part of the website that’s necessary, you are able to update the information in one spot, and it automatically will add them to the other pages. 

For example, if the doctor’s information is updated, it will automatically update on both the service and location page. 

Are you interested in learning more about how Glacial can help you? Schedule a call with a client manager from �����ƽ�� to learn how we can help enhance your website!

Do you want to improve potential patients’ digital first impression of your clinic? Testimonials can be invaluable in creating an excellent first impression, gaining prospective patients, and cultivating a positive digital presence. 

Follow these tips to ensure you are digitally benefiting from the positive patient experiences you are providing every day!

1. Ask Patients for Testimonials After a Successful Surgical Outcome

Positive patient reviews and testimonials are an excellent way to increase patient loyalty and support your practice’s exceptional reputation. In addition to this, positive first-person experiences listed on your website can prompt potential patients who are perusing your website to schedule the consultation they have been considering.

The first step to showcasing these positive post-surgical testimonials and clinic reviews on your website is to collect them from current patients. A great way to endorse patients to write testimonials is to provide them with a prompt.

A prompt will help your patients write about their positive experiences and create a more valuable, insightful, and grounded testimonial. Consider asking them to include information like the eye surgeon or doctor’s name, type of procedure, and an explanation of their level of satisfaction or results. 

It is essential to not alter or change the original words of your patients in any way. It is also important to keep the testimonial in the context it was written and not pick and choose what you use from each testimonial.

This is good practice to ensure that you respect your patients and maintain a trustworthy reputation. All testimonials on your website should be directly from the source it is signed by, unaltered, and in the quotation form.

Following these guidelines will ensure that your practice maintains an authentic presence in the digital world.

2. Ask Patients for Permission to Publish Testimonials and Permission to Use Pictures

Another important part of maintaining a trustworthy reputation and respecting your patients is to ensure you are following all HIPAA rules and regulations. This includes publishing testimonials or pictures of your patients on your website or social media channels. 

 require you to get expressed consent from your patients in order to publish ePHI on social media networks or on your website. Protected health information (PHI) that is published electronically.

It includes any information that may identify the patient or related to that person’s health. It is best to err on the side of caution when including detailed information about patients.

This applies even when it’s their own words, on your website or social media channels. Besides asking for permission to publish their testimonials, you may also want to consider limiting their name or using initials. 

When obtaining expressed consent, make sure you are following all of the rules laid out by HIPAA laws. It is also essential to ensure that the patients permitting their testimonials to be published know that anyone can potentially see their words and that they will be visible to the world.

When it comes to respecting your patient’s privacy when publishing testimonials, transparency is key to establishing trust in this mutually beneficial relationship. Beyond testimonials, it is also important to enact this process when considering posting any pictures of your patients online or on social media.

Be cautious when personalizing your website with fresh and unique images. If patients are identifiable in them, ensure that you receive express consent before publishing.

3. Have Patient Testimonials Visible and Interactive on Your Website

First you must legally and respectfully gather and choose which testimonials and reviews you want to publish on our website. Next, it is important to have a team of professional website development experts design a spot for them to live.

It’s best to have your testimonials visible or easily accessible on your website. Your web development team can even customize this feature to include interactive arrows so that visitors can navigate through the testimonials easily. 

Additionally, they will be able to install a button that can prompt current or previous patients to leave their own reviews. After you have done all of the leg work to gather these invaluable testimonials, you will want to ensure that they are placed on your website in an appropriate and strategic location. 

This will ensure that as many eyes as possible are able to view the many positive things that your patients have to say about your practice, doctors, or procedures. If you have already signed up for services through MDidentity, it is easy to utilize the review showcase widget to accomplish this mission.

Reading a good testimonial about an elective procedure can be the final push a potential patient needs to schedule a consultation. It’s essential not to overlook the value of accurate, reliable, first-person testimonials that are easily viewable on your website.

This is especially true when it comes to gaining the trust and admiration of potential patients.

4. Publish Testimonials Periodically on Social Media

Making a good first impression sometimes needs to go beyond the confines of your website. Your website is your new front door. There is immense potential to create an excellent first impression. 

But it’s essential to reach potential patients who haven’t yet visited your website through social media. Once you have obtained written consent and followed all the HIPAA guidelines, you may also want to consider posting these testimonials periodically on your social media channels. 

Your social media manager will be able to design a post that is eye-catching and visibly pleasing to match your website or social media channel aesthetic. Publishing these testimonials on social media will take getting new eyes on your practice one step further. 

Social media can reach new and broader audiences than a website alone. It is even likely that potential patients may learn about your practice for the first time through one of these social media posts. 

What better way to learn about a medical practice than to read a positive and encouraging testimonial by a fellow patient? Let patient testimonials do the hard work of securing your reputation as a trustworthy, dedicated, and reliable clinical practice. 

Accurate and legally collected testimonials and reviews can be invaluable for ensuring that potential patients have an excellent first impression of your clinic.

Are you interested more about how to get reviews and testimonials on your website or social media channels? Schedule a call with a client manager from �����ƽ�� to learn how we can help enhance your online presence to garner excellent first impressions.

When it comes to designing a modern medical website, it’s never been more important to keep some key points in mind during the design process. Not sure where to start? Continue reading for 10 key points for modern medical website design! 

1. Get Load Speed and Google Vitals Set

Ever heard that it’s nice to have a fast website but not necessary? This is no longer true, and now, you need a fast website as the digital landscape only continues to become more competitive. 

Google’s Core Web Vitals are coming in the middle of June and this will be an important algorithm update that could hurt web rankings. In other words, how fast your website loads, interactivity, and the stability of your content as it loads on your website will now be part of what’s taken into account for Google search rankings. 

2. Embrace Engagement Tools like CTAs, Self Tests, and more 

Another extremely important component of a well-designed website is engagement tools. In ophthalmology especially, these are the perfect way to keep patients engaged when they want to learn more about procedures like LASIK or cataract surgery.

With self-tests, requests for in-person or virtual consultations, and LASIK pricing forms, to name a few, you’ll provide plenty of options to a patient or a prospective patient. Engaging patients is crucial when they are still in the “thinking about it” phase. 

These CTAs are a tool for you to know about your prospective patient and provide them educational materials to help them make a decision and to see the value of your practice.

3. Make Your Website ADA Compliant 

There is no excuse for having a medical website that isn’t ADA compliant. With an ADA-compliant website, your website will be accessible according to the Americans with Disabilities Act WCAG 2.1 standards. 

This means that your website is easily accessible to anyone, even if they may have disabilities that make it difficult to see, hear, or other difficulties. Websites that don’t follow these provisions are subject to fines and potential lawsuits. 

ADA compliance is standard in all of our new websites effective 2020. Depending on the age of your website, we can also optimize for ADA Compliance post-launch. Contact your Glacial Client Manager or call us for more information. 

4. Any Forms with PHI Must be HIPAA Compliant 

It can seem easy to forget about forms on your website, but it’s a pretty important part of your website running smoothly. If you have any PHI on your forms (Patient Health Information like date of birth, social security number, etc), you need to have HIPAA compliant forms.

These forms look similar to our existing contact and intake forms but Glacial hosts the responses on a HIPAA Compliant software called MDcompliant. Because of the security on MDcompliant, your practice can include Medical History Forms, Medical Records Release, and more directly on your website. If you need these, make sure to contact your client manager before your new website launches!

5. Use Cloudflare to Keep Your Site Secure and Fast

Site security is another big part of how to keep your website up and functional when you need it most. With services like Cloudflare, your website will stay live and it will be protected from hackers. 

Using Cloudflare also increases site speed, which is an important part of the upcoming Google Core Vitals update rolling out shortly in June.

6. Modern and Minimal Design

When you’re creating a beautiful new website, less is more. A modern and minimal design is the best way to go, as having too much going on can distract patients that visit your website. 

With website design, you may have heard that the website is your new front door, and it makes sense. After all, it’s the first thing that people see, especially prospective new patients.

In the age of “try before you buy”, it’s more and more common for a potential patient to research online before choosing the practice they want to go to. If you have an old and outdated website, they may leave and go with a competitor who has a new, modern website instead. 

Even if you think that you’re a state-of-the-art practice, if your website looks like it was built twenty years ago, it’s not giving off the right message.

With these websites, patient engagement is at the forefront. Content is easy to find, and patients don’t have to search endlessly for what they’re looking for. 

Oh, and this should go without saying: they are both responsive websites as well. This means that if you look at them on your smartphone, you’ll have a seamless experience. 

Whether you’re on a desktop computer, a tablet, or a phone, the website will look perfect on every device. A responsive design will respond accordingly so that the user has a great experience, no matter how they view the website.

7. Use Patient First Messaging on Your Website

Does your website contain calls to action that direct patients to take the next step? With patient first messaging, you will simplify the process for patients to fill out forms, request an appointment, or simply learn more about a procedure.

Hunting for the information is a bad design and will result in patients getting frustrated and leaving your website. A beautiful website won’t help if you don’t have CTAs that help patients understand what your practice has to offer them.

8. Embrace the Power of Blogging and Content

Think that blogs are useless? Think again! Having a good content marketing strategy that includes a regular blogging schedule is a great way to increase your rankings, but you need to do it correctly. 

A good blog is not an academic article, but a totally different form of writing. Combine your blogging strategy with solid pillar pages that are informative on your website, and your practice can be both effective and successful. 

9. Offer Online Payment Solutions

Have you heard from patients that they wish your medical website included online payment options? Giving patients the option to pay online is a good idea because it’s easy, convenient, and it may be able to reduce the amount of time it takes your practice to receive payments.

These are things that Glacial offers, so contact us if you want to learn more about how you can add online payment options to your website!

10. Explore AI Options for Engagement without Touching Design

AI is an incredibly exciting field for healthcare website design. It is possible to add AI elements to your website without bogging down its design, like .

Using an AI-based chatbot can help enhance the patient experience as well as improve conversion rates. Using text messaging, audio, video chats, and AI chatbots on your website will allow you to engage your patients more thoroughly without touching any of the design features that make your website work and function. Contact us to learn more about the AI options Glacial can offer!

With these 10 key tips, your new medical website will be the talk of the town! Unhappy with your current website?

�����ƽ�� is here to help! Contact us to learn how we can transform your website and take your practice’s digital marketing efforts to the next level!

Contact Us For A Website Quote

Glacial is proud to announce the launch of the new IQ Laser Vision . The opportunity had arisen to work with Cindy Wong and Edward Lu on a new website to redefine the look and feel of the practice.

IQ Laser Vision has made tremendous strides to become one of the top vision correction practices in the Los Angeles area. Spearheaded by the longtime refractive surgeon, Robert Lin, MD this group has transcended the average LASIK eye surgery practice by adding a complete suite of vision correction options including SMILE and the Visian ICL.

Opening the options for patients made this practice far more attractive to young consumers who are trending towards quality vision care instead of low-end LASIK providers. IQ Laser Vision has been visited by many LA celebrities including California congresswoman Judy Chu.

�����ƽ�� was honored to work with such a progressive group of ophthalmologists. In typical Glacial fashion, the discovery meeting was held to understand the client’s goals.

Both Cindy and Edward were heavily involved in this process. Having this involvement with Angie Grosso, project management was critical for the success of the project. Some of the unique elements are listed below.

Video header

The decision to go with a video header instead of a static image or slide show is always a different one but video can really give you that “wow” factor. Everyone at Glacial was honestly pretty excited IQ Laser Vision went with video.

Many practices opt for a custom video but in this case, we were able to use some lifestyle action video that came out very nicely. In the future, this may be able to be a live video from the practice, but for now, this is an excellent and impactful option.

Engagement palette on all pages

Ophthalmology websites should be about much more than just beauty, although Glacial does take great pride in creating some of the best-designed websites in the field of ophthalmology. The engagement palette option works very well for improving conversions.

Having a place where at a moment’s notice the visitor can contact you is vital. In fact, providing options is the “new normal”. Objects like virtual consultation, phones, self-tests, and scheduling options will elevate your service level beyond your competition.

If you are serious about improving your conversion rate, especially from organic search visits, this needs to be considered.

Use of Celebrity testimonials

It’s beyond impressive that this practice has invested the time to get some patient testimonials, and more importantly, to actually have some celebrities. Having people of noteworthy fame come to your practice is not a bad thing.

Many people use the ideology that if someone that is famous comes to the practice then they must be good. Glacial has seen this work for numerous clients over the years including professional football, baseball, mixed martial arts, and basketball athletes as well as entertainers, actors, and musicians.

Mention of all vision correction options

Dr. Lin has made it very clear that he wants to be not just a LASIK provider but a vision correction center that provides the best procedure for a patient. If LASIK is not a good fit, he does not have to do the procedure.

Instead, he can use Visian ICL for patients that are more nearsighted (myopia) or the SMILE procedure by Zeiss. One size simply does not fix all when you’re correcting vision.

Dr. Lin even helped pioneer the All-Laser Soft Touch Comfort Micro-LASIK® technique to improve results and safety with LASIK.

Addressing cost

Not every refractive surgery practice likes to address COST on their website, but it is an issue for anyone getting LASIK. The 2 biggest barriers for patients are price and fear.

Since IQ Laser Vision addressed fear with all the safety protocols and vision correction options, price is the next barrier. Aside from providing the best rates in the industry, they have also made a graphic with some price comparisons.

Use of self-tests and virtual consultations

As previously expressed, having engagement objects are critical to enhanced conversions. In today’s new normal with COVID, having virtual consultations is simply smart.

Technology has been increasingly involved with ophthalmology and the COVID pandemic bridged the gap and now patients expect virtual capabilities. This will only continue as patients get used to the ease that telemedicine provides them with.

Use of blog article feed on the homepage

The inclusion of the blog post feeds on the homepage should make a nice impact on SEO over time. It demonstrates to the search engines that this practice updates their website and provides new and engaging content on a regular basis.

Feeds like this can provide major benefits, especially since search engines are accepting feed submissions and are interested in user-generated content. This feed will provide new information for visitors, push the administrators to update content (which encourages more spidering), and lower the need to send out newsletters for update reasons, and encourages repeat visits.

Thinking that it’s time to update your old and outdated ophthalmology website? There’s never been a better time than right now! Contact �����ƽ�� to request a free website audit now!

When it comes to blogging, something that many people don’t think about is images. It’s all about words on the page, right?

Although that is true, there are other parts of a blog that you need if you want to succeed. One of those things is the featured image.

Keep reading to learn more about featured images, how to add them to your WordPress website, and why they are so important to have!

What is a featured image?

Let’s start at the beginning here. Reading this blog post, did you notice the image that’s at the very top and located after the title of the blog?

That is the featured image of the blog. You’ll notice that in our case, it includes the title of the blog and is easy to read.

If you’re putting featured images into your own blog posts (and you should be) they don’t need to look like this, but they should follow a similar format.

Here’s why.

Nobody likes looking at a block of text that runs together and sentences after sentence of text. You may have noticed that our own blog posts follow a certain kind of formula that makes them easy to read.

Paragraphs are only one to two sentences usually. This makes it a lot easier for you to keep track of what you’re reading and it makes it easier to skim as well.

These are deliberate actions taken on our part. Adding a featured image at the top of every single blog post that we publish here at Glacial is the same as well.

Images are a great way to break up the text, especially when you’re publishing blogs. If your blog post is on the longer side (over 600 words) you may want to add more than one image to break up your text further. This is especially useful when you’re looking at blogs on a mobile device.

How to add a featured image to your WordPress website

There’s nothing really complicated about featured images and why you need them. But what seems to be the hardest part for people is how to add them. Let’s go step by step here so you understand the basics of adding featured images to your own WordPress website.

Step 1: Before you do anything, save your draft first.

Step 2: After saving your draft, click over to the Media section of your dashboard.

You’ll find this on the left-hand side of every WordPress website. Once you’ve clicked Media, you’ll be prompted to select an image. Make sure that whatever image you select is horizontal and not vertical.

This matters because most people want to post their blog posts on social media, especially on Facebook. If your image is not horizontal, your image will not fit properly. Sticking to an image that’s 560 x 315 pixels works well, provided it’s horizontal.

Step 3: Go back to your draft (Posts) and click Set Featured Image on the right-hand side

Once you click Set featured image, a dialogue box will appear with all the media you’ve added to your website. Click the image that you want to be the featured image, and then scroll down to the blue button where it says Set featured image. This will save and set your featured image.

Now that you’ve set the featured image, all you need to do is save your draft (again). Really, you can never save a post too many times. Better safe than sorry.

After saving again, go to the top of your post. Add a little space in front of whatever you’ve already written, courtesy of the enter button.

Then, once you’ve given yourself that space, go up to where it says Add Media. Since you’ve already added the featured image to your website, you don’t need to exit out of your post to add it to the top of it.

Simply click the button at the top that says Add Media (you’ll see a camera icon and a music note). Once you’ve clicked Add Media, another dialogue box will appear.

This will look like the same dialogue box that you saw earlier to add your featured image on the right-hand side. Simply click the image, and scroll down to the bottom where you’ll see the options for alignment.

When you get to this point, make sure to have your image aligned in the center and then hit the button that says Insert into post. Now you have a featured image, as well as an image at the very top of your blog!

It’s not complicated but these are the extra things that can make a big difference when you’re blogging. Ready to take your digital marketing to the next level in 2021? �����ƽ�� can help! Contact us to find out how!

8 Things Every Optometry Website Needs To Do

It is not every day that Glacial gets the opportunity to work on developing an optometry website. Most optometry sites are very low level, template sites that don’t function well.

If you’re lucky, every now and then you’ll meet a daring optometrist. They’ll believe that websites should be beautiful, patient-focused, and above all, extremely functional.

This is obviously a major departure from creating ophthalmology websites. With an optometry website, having a retail component becomes far more important.

Glacial has had the fortunate experience of working with some great optometrists. Because of working with them, they have helped us appreciate the differences in eye care websites.

Most recently, Glacial had the pleasure to work with Blue Sky Vision’s Colleen Mulder, VP of Marketing and Lindsay Briefel, Marketing Coordinator, on the new Optometrists of Lansing website. If you have not seen this yet, make sure to .

This was a custom responsive website that was carefully designed and crafted over a period of six months. Attention to detail was taken.

The content and text were revised and rewritten several times. The browser testing process was thorough. Taglines and images were meticulously reviewed.

It is rare that the average practice and website company would take the time to do this right but that is what both of us were able to do.

What Makes This Website So Special?

One of the things that makes the Optometrists of Lansing website stand out is it . It’s 2020 and if your eye care practice is missing an e-commerce component, you are simply missing the boat.

This store fits seamlessly with the design of the site. The store system was designed by Compulink’s system. It features work by Stephannie Keller and Glacial’s Onur Birsen.

Early indications of the store system’s success look very positive. It seems odd that so many practices hesitate to become involved with e-commerce.

A system like MyEyeStore makes it easier than ever before to set up and be successful. MyEyeStore does all the heavy lifting, meaning it gets all the products centralized with a drop-ship system.

In other words, the practice does not have to pick, pack, or ship anything. Why let online vendors pick away at your contact revenue stream when something like this exists?

In the end, your patients get a better product, since it’s one that you have endorsed. These are things that your patients take into account and find important.

1. A High-Quality Design

Have you ever heard your website is your new front door? The website is often the first impression that a consumer has of your business.

It is the first thing they see when they start their research about vision correction procedures like LASIK. The design of a website is important because it impacts how your audience perceives your brand.

The impression you make on them can either get them to remain on your page and learn about your business or leave your page and turn to a competitor. The design on this site is excellent thanks to great value proposition positioning.

The value proposition is key to converting leads to patients and you will see that reflected in the web site’s content and taglines. The tagline of “Eye Care You Trust For The Ones You Love ” is brilliant and done with a font that feels like a script font. The layout has parallax scrolling with modern imagery while staying straight forward.

2. Analytics Platform

Behind the scenes is a robust analytics platform that consolidates all marketing sources into one system. You can see paid search data, visits for Google My Business profiles, social media ad data, remarking data set positions, Google Analytics metrics, and more.

This enables practices to easily see how their marketing is performing without scheduling a call with anyone. When practices know how their marketing is already performing, there is less room for errors further down the road.

3. Website Security and Performance

Whether you have one website or many, keeping a daily backup of your site is a must. You also need to make sure site code and plugins are kept up to date, as it is critical to website security and performance.

Part of having a world-class website in any vertical is making sure you have these systems in place to do these tasks regularly.

4. Robust Optical Section Designed by Jason Mansuy

If you want to have a good optometry site, it’s essential to have an optical manager that’s both competent and cares. Jason Mansuy directed this section at a very high level and challenged us in new ways.

With limited stock photography and using optical images of actual products, the Optical section feels much more personal.

5. Optical Pillar Page with Sponsorship Option

This was one of the first we have made at Glacial. Jason and Colleen both wanted a system where they could take on a sponsor and give this sponsor some prime real estate.

For the best results, the entire header area is reserved for sponsorship. The content for the optical page is then under the sponsorship. This is a wonderful idea that we will be watching as time goes on.

6. Unique Dual Branding of Both The Practice and Private Equity Firm

Because this optometry practice is part of a bigger firm, Glacial had the opportunity to work with a wonderful firm from Chicago called Root3. This company provided amazing branding guidelines and a complete domain name rollout strategy.

At this junction, both Glacial and are using the original practice name, as well as the private equity firm’s brand as well. This enables progress towards a new cohesive brand.

7. Review Feed Widget

The website also contains a review feed widget. It may seem easy, but gathering reviews is one of the most important things practices should be doing.

Having a widget on the website keeps reviews top of mind, no matter where they choose to navigate. Without great reviews, there is no sense in doing any marketing.

8. Promotions to Appeal to Retail Component

Promotional strategies are powerful tools. They can give marketing campaigns an extra edge when it comes to attracting new customers.

Because optometry has to rely on retail sales for its total revenue, getting this part of a website right is very important. Sales promotions rely on consumers’ price sensitivity.

This can encourage them to try new products, or retry products they may not have tried in a while. They may also choose to buy a greater volume of products they already buy, such as contact lenses.

By not including promotions on your website, you are missing an opportunity.

Ready to give your website or digital marketing a makeover? �����ƽ�� is here to help! Contact us to request a quote now!

It portrays your brand and puts your information into the hands of potential leads. You want to make sure that your website accurately portrays your practice and is easy to use.

There are web development tools that can create a website. But they use templates, meaning you don’t get that personal touch you’re looking for.

�����ƽ��’s team of web designers and project managers work with you to create your custom website. We create stunning, high-quality websites, and you get the comfort of working with real people.

We have designed and launched over 700 websites. You may be asking yourself, “What is a custom-designed website”? Keep reading to learn why custom really is king!

What Are Custom Designed Websites?

Having a site that looks cluttered, doesn’t load fast, and is confusing to use won’t help you beat your competition. Most users judge a practice based on the look of their site.

You only get one first impression and having an old and outdated website is a surefire way to lose potential leads! In today’s digital age, it’s important to have a site that is well branded, responsive, and user-friendly.

Our team has expertise and industry knowledge when it comes to creating custom, high-quality sites. All our sites work on multiple devices and have custom and flexible layouts because they are responsive first.

This allows your practice to get a site tailored and personalized to you. Our sites can also have various interactive features that help the site stand out. Don’t take our word for it, check out our portfolio!

The Process of Creating Your Custom Website

Every website development project starts with a discovery meeting. In this meeting, you’ll be able to identify things you like and don’t like about your current site.

The project manager will also develop the structure for the new site. After we have an idea of what will go into the site, it goes through the design process.

The best part about this is that we don’t waste time mocking up various templates. Instead, we use the information from the discovery meeting to come up with designs that fit your preferences. This design is completely custom to you and your practice!

After designing the site, �����ƽ�� copies the content from your original site, and add it to the new one. We also offer custom content writing for an extra charge.

You’ll also have access to our photo gallery which is licensed for use on your site. All our sites get tested on all desktop and mobile browsers.

The best part is that you get to approve everything before it moves onto the next step. This ensures that your practice is being portrayed the way you want.

Custom designed websites allow your practice to have a personalized, responsive website. Glacial makes creating a site easy, so if you’re ready for an upgrade then request a quote today!

Don’t let your leads walk away because you were too stubborn to take the leap!

Most web design firms glaze over when you bring up the idea of ADA compliant websites.

I have to admit the first time I heard this, I was confused about what this meant. It seemed like something that was not even possible.

I had a lot of questions like who was the enforcement agency and who sets these standards. I realized many of the standards also affected the design quality of websites. How does one even navigate making a website ADA compliant?

The ADA

The American Disabilities Act was enacted in 1990 to address building accessibility. It did not include language specific to website accessibility. It was not until 2010 that the issue of websites were addressed.

In 2010, the US Department of Justice issued a proposal to amend Title 3 of the ADA to include website accessibility. Since this date, there have been numerous ADA website compliant lawsuits. These have targeted large corporations including Target, Reebok, and even the NBA.

Who Enforces ADA Website Compliancy?

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is the enforcement group for private commercial websites. The Department of Justice (DOJ), has made it clear that it interprets the ADA as applicable to websites.

What Are ADA Website Compliancy Standards?

The organization known as WCAG has issued standard checklists known as 2.0 and 2.1 versions. These compliancy levels are separated into three levels A, AA, and AAA. We will address the detail of the standards within this article.

Glacial’s Website Compliancy Story

Here at Glacial, we made the decision to provide ADA compliant websites for our base of practices. Learning how to do this was not an easy task and spanned the course of an entire year of research and training.

We started by interviewing companies who were completely dedicated to this topic. They only build compliance plans, and for thousands of dollars. At first, it seemed confusing how a small medical practice could afford full compliance. After a lot of research, we were able to use the WCAG resource. We got a list with the different functionalities and the levels of compliance.

We recently received a client letter stating the importance of an ADA compliant website. Understandably, he was alarmed that his site was not compliant. He is not alone and there are many practices who are not even close to being compliant! Many people assume that their websites are built to be ADA compliant but the harsh reality is they aren’t.

If you are researching the process of making your website compliant, we would like to suggest a few steps.

1. The organization needs to make the decision to be ADA compliant

When we first started telling clients about this, most of them did not care. Many did not want to incur expenses to complete the items required. We completely understood this reaction! After all, it can seem like just one more website cost to pay for. Most firms will give their clients the options to make their websites ADA compliant. The option is there but it is not mandatory.

2. Determine how much it will cost to make your website ADA compliant

Once you have determined the value of making your site ADA compliant, you’ll have to know the cost. It’s important to do some research since the numbers vary! From our own research, most of these compliancy tasks are overpriced and not worth it.

At the end of the day, it comes down to hours and time spent. Interpreting a certain set of criteria and what it means to be truly compliant can often be an opinion. At the very least, most businesses should make a basic attempt to get a majority of the retrofit items into play.

If you want to avoid problems later on, it is worth it to be proactive and plan ahead. As a medical marketing agency, there is no way around saying anything else. Like making physical buildings ADA compliant, we must do the same thing on websites.

There is a cost when you’re making buildings wheelchair accessible. That cost is time and labor. It’s the same issue when completing the tasks for ADA compliancy on a website. The difficult part of pricing an ADA compliance retrofit is that it depends on page volume. The more pages a site has, then the longer it will take.

3. Finding an ADA compliant website designer

Not every website firm even knows about such standards. You need to find a website design company that can clearly describe how to make a website compliant. They should be versed in the WCAG 2.0/2.1 guidelines and be able to discuss the functionality. They should be able to discuss:

• contrast toggles
• audio elements
• text alternatives
• adaptable structures
• font re-sizers.

What happens if I get a letter from a lawyer?

If you receive a demand letter or complaint you will want to do 2 main things:

1. Contact a lawyer who is well versed in ADA compliancy

2. Find a reputable website development company that can begin getting the basics of ADA compliancy onto your website

The lawyer will be instrumental in crafting a response. Most of the clients who have come to us for help had scenarios that amounted to nothing more than someone trying to get cash out of them.

It is unfortunate that this happens but you can take some steps to prevent this from happening. Find this happening to you? Check out from a lawyer who tried to bully a pratice.

Once you find a reputable website design company to assist with the ADA compliancy work, you should consult with their technical team. You need to find out what items they will be completing to make the website compliant. Here is a list of some of the Level 1 compliancy items that Glacial performs for ADA compliance:

• Make sure all links are underlined
• Make sure all images have descriptive alt tags
• Make sure form fields are highlighted upon clicking
• Make sure there is a proper contrast between buttons and the text within them
• Make sure all links have title tags
• Add a font re-sizer
• Add Search Bar
• Add dir=”ltr” to html element.
• Add lang=”en” for english sites to html element
• Add anchor links and “Back to Top” links
• Add ability to use captions on videos
• Make sure text is easily readable against backgrounds
• Add landmark roles to HTML5 structural elements
• For links that open in a new window, also contain a title attribute set to a text value that includes the phrase “opens new window”
• Add ability to change contrast on site
• Make sure any i-frame has a title tag
• For forms, instead of “Default Value”, use “Instructions”
• Make sure titles are not all caps in the code. Text transform is OK
• Make sure buttons don’t say, “Click Here”. Instead, use descriptive text, like “Click Here to Learn More About LASIK”

After Your Initial Compliance Retrofit

Just because you have an ADA compliancy retrofit does not mean that you can set it and forget it. We encourage both web design firms and practices to stay up-to-date on compliance standards post-launch.

You never know when a new feature will come out that could make the website more compliant or easier to browse for users!

Using An ADA Disclaimer

We find it useful to have ADA web compliancy statement.

Here is a common disclaimer example:

This website aims to meet the compliancy standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by utilizing the WCAG 2.1 guidelines. WCAG 2.1 are stable, referencing technical standards presented to meet the ADA. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is a civil rights law that mandates the elimination of discrimination against persons with a qualifying disability.

If your practice has a website, you are obligated to comply with the ADA. This is regardless of the size of the practice or the number of employees.

In particular, Title II of the ADA refers to websites and protects the freedoms of the visually impaired. This also protects those that are hearing impaired. Any disability should not prevent someone from being able to access information on the internet.

If you do enough research, you will find a lot of information about what it takes to make your site compliant.

If you are using a screen reader and are having problems using this website, please call us!

Not sure where to start when it comes to making sure your practice’s site is compliant? Fill out the form below to contact us!