Drug Rehab Marketing Needs SEO
Drug rehab marketing is understandably becoming the most important part of drug and alcohol addiction treatment centers business model. Search engine optimization (SEO) is what allows Google to effectively communicate with your website. Search engines speak many languages, but SEO is what it understands best. It requires on-page and off-page critical areas to rank on page one.
Substance abuse marketing for intensive outpatient programs and inpatient drug rehabs requires many different areas. CEO’s and Directors have always taken short term solutions to their long-term problem of a healthy census. They expect immediate results in all their marketing efforts. Many rehabilitation centers are seeking that one thing. They think they can do one singular thing that generates clients or gets them page one rankings, it doesn’t exist. Drug rehab SEO and marketing takes many things to accomplish, time and investment.
Understanding Drug Rehab Marketing, SEO and Digital Darwinism
Digital Darwinism is a sign of the 21st-century. It demonstrates that conducting business, as usual, will eventually force you to close your doors. There are many addiction treatment centers and behavioral health organizations closing their doors nationwide.
The one thing they all had in common is that they suffered from drug rehab SEO digital Darwinism. They stayed with past and outdated drug rehab marketing, SEO and business strategies. These consist of a “buy rehab leads” mentality. These organizations should have learned from Google when addiction treatment ads were first banned on July 1, 2017.
Now, in 2019, if you want to buy rehab leads or do PPC on Google and Facebook you need the Legit Script certification. This certification is only needed if you want to place paid ads on these platforms. This certification does not apply to organic marketing. Google AdWords is not the answer for small to medium size players. A $10,000 budget gets eaten fast considering there are big players spending in excess of $500,000 per month. In order to achieve page one rankings in organic marketing, it takes;
- a structurally correct website
- schema
- a fast loading website
- drug rehab SEO
Each component requires a specialist with specific knowledge. It takes time and investment, however, the payoff goes way beyond a buy rehab leads strategy. Consider this, AdWords or PPC only account for about 2% of page one clicks. The first three organic slots and Maps account for 70% of page one clicks.
Digital Darwinism Fuels Short-term Drug Rehab Marketing Solutions
Digital Darwinism is when technology evolves faster than businesses can adapt. The substance abuse industry has ignored web marketing for short-term solutions to their long-term problem of maintaining a healthy census. Not realizing that the short-term solutions strategy has put them on a hamster wheel with their addiction treatment marketing. They are forced to pay over and over again for the lead generation. Many of the small to medium size recovery centers think that they cannot compete on the web with the big players spending $500,000’s every month.
They can compete with proven strategies put into place properly. Many of these centers have also been burned by the large drug rehab marketing agencies with their cookie cutter option (click to read more on how they are burning operators.) Many of these agencies do not even rank for key terms for their own business like;
- drug rehab SEO
- drug rehab marketing agency
- drug rehab marketing consultants
- drug rehab marketing
If they can’t rank their own business, how can you expect them to rank yours? Being educated on the many components of SEO, knowing what to look for, and performing some of the SEO themselves will get the smaller centers on page one of Google.
What is Drug Rehab Marketing and Drug Rehab SEO?
Drug rehab marketing goes beyond outreach and “buy rehab leads”. It is a key component in addiction treatment center lead generation. Some of the things consist of:
- proper website development
- building high PR7, PR8, and PR9 back-links
- schema
- Google My Business
- proper H tags
- keyword counts
- META descriptions
- SERP descriptions
- ALT tags
- URL’s with keyword
- and many more
Then there is off-page SEO that involves drug rehab marketing and SEO citations, back-links, long tail keywords, social media, and email marketing to name a few. These are some of the long-standing components that must be performed. The newest, as of July 2018, is Google’s speed update affecting rankings on mobile devices. We recently spoke with Brian Frye, of Magna Technology, a national leader in drug rehab website development about the importance of speed. This is what he had to say;
After proper website development and drug rehab SEO, speed becomes a big factor when ranking on mobile.
While it is impossible to name all the different components, the CEO’s and marketing directors must get educated in order to rank on page one organically. Many in the rehabilitation industry have a poor website structure in their drug rehab lead generation strategy.
Critical Business Areas Are Drug Rehab Marketing and Substance Abuse Billing
In any business, the #1 factor is generating revenue. In the drug and alcohol addiction treatment industry you generate revenue from marketing and billing. Many recovery industry businesses think they have these two areas under control. These are critical areas that CEO’s must be extremely knowledgeable in. In many cases organizations are leaving huge chunks of revenue on the table.
Marketing dollars are being thrown and wasted on top of a poorly developed website with poor marketing. In-house billing and unchecked substance abuse billing and revenue cycle management companies errors are costing centers operating revenue. If you aren’t looking at the following you may not be in business much longer:
- how many organic keywords are we ranking for?
- are we ranking in Google maps for long tail keywords (IE drug rehabs followed by city)
- have an SEO agency that is increasing rankings on a monthly basis
Our industry is changing fast and the organizations that don’t adapt will not be in business. You will not be able to operate with lazaire fare strategies. Relying upon your marketing Directors and Outreach staff’s book of referral sources puts your organization at great risk. Many are simply shuffling the same referral sources back and forth. This is a short-term strategy that is causing many centers to close their doors. Behavioral Health Network Resources is recognized as a top drug rehab SEO marketing agency on Design Rush. We educate and teach our clients search engine optimization.
Marketing Directors Role in Drug Rehab Marketing Marketing and SEO
Marketing Directors in our industry do not understand web marketing in general. They have risen to the position of Marketing Director because at some point they generated a referral base from boots on the ground tactics. What happens many times is that their referral sources dry up? They are usually let go because they have little value to the organization with drug rehab marketing.
They have no marketing education or skills that provide value to the organizations. Judging from the many LinkedIn profiles we see daily, the average length of employment for Marketing Directors is about six months to one year.
What treatment center owners don’t realize is that each employee turnover costs the organization $20,000 in hidden costs. Weeks of rev up time, training, education, administrative costs, HR, equipment, systems to be learned =, and many more. The main reason why this is occurring in our industry is that owners are not supplying the correct tools to Marketing and Outreach. They are relying upon these positions to generate calls, instead of providing the calls for them to convert. This was ok in the past, however, with the current climate it is essential for operators to have a robust business and marketing plan in place.
The very first step in a solid marketing plan is drug rehab SEO website development. An abundance of centers will use a website designer, not a website developer to build their website. There is a very distinctive difference between these two roles. A website designer will build the most beautiful website. This is often what CEO’s and marketing directors are most concerned with on their website. They don’t understand that this is only a small part of web marketing.
On the other hand, a website developer plays a much larger role in marketing on the web. A website developer puts the many critical components in place that get you ranked on Google. Many judge their website on its’ aesthetics. This is about 10% of what you need to be looking at on a website. The remaining 90% is like the inside of a watch.
There are many moving parts that must be placed correctly for Google to rank on page one. Without a structurally sound website, you are leaking wasted marketing dollars. If a website does not have the following Google will not rank you or rank poorly::
- a proper silo
- schema, sitemap
- HTTPS
- mobile optimization
- proper local SEO
What to Look for in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
A Marketing Director position definitely says you are an addiction professional. As a professional, you should be skilled in every aspect of that position. This biggest chunk of that position is web marketing. Web marketing if executed correctly outperforms all other marketing combined.
There are only a few small to medium size addiction treatment centers, detox’s, sober living facilities and sales/service organizations that have a decent web marketing strategy. If your organization or drug rehab marketing agency is not getting your facility on the first page of Google in the 3-pack or in the first three slots on page one organically for key long tail keywords (ie drug rehabs West Palm Beach) you are not doing your job very well.
As a CEO or Marketing Director you should be able to answer the following marketing and drug rehab SEO questions;
- Is our website structurally correct?
- Is the hierarchy of our website good for Google?
- Are the URL’s for our website correct for drug rehab SEO?
- Does our website have an SSL certificate?
- Do we have schema incorporated into our website?
- Are our Google maps properly coded and placed on our website?
- Does our website have a sitemap and have we told Google it’s there?
- What is our list of keywords based on our organization’s services? And, out of those keywords which ones can, we easily rank for on the first page of Google?
- Do the main pages of our website have SEO for these keywords?
- Is our website fast enough on mobile for the new speed update released on July 9, 2018?
- What marketing company is performing our SEO and have we recently looked at their performance? Do we rank in the first three slots of Google organically for any of the keywords?
- What keywords are we ranking for in the Google 3-pack?
- How do we understand Google analytics and how to use it to build our marketing campaign?
- What posts are producing the most calls from our call tracking metrics?
- How many calls are being produced by our marketing company?
- When was the last time we posted in our Google My Business?
- When was the last time we uploaded pictures in our Google My Business?
- Are we using Yoast to check the bare minimum for our SEO?
- Are our pictures on the website optimized?
- Do we have a blog?
- Is our blog long-form (1,500 words or more)?
- Is our blog content attracting, engaging to our target audience and does it touch an emotional level?
- Does our SEO for our keywords? If so, what are those keywords and how many of the blog posts have made it to page one of Google? Do we need a drug rehab SEO blog writing service provider?
- Do we any orphaned posts?
- How are we building quality back-links?
- How many drug rehab marketing and SEO citations do we have?
- Do we have a staff page?
- Are we getting regular Google Reviews? If not, why?
- Can we use email marketing to professionals, individuals seeking treatment and our alumni? Are we emailing EAP’s, Labor Unions, Interventionists, Private Clinicians, Treatment Centers, Detoxes and more…?
- How many of our staff are involved in our social media marketing? And, what are the uniform messages we are using?
- Are we building a targeted and captured social media audience of professionals and individuals seeking treatment with our drug rehab SEO marketing on Facebook and LinkedIn?
- Is our direct addiction professional, and individuals seeking treatment audience over 10,000?
- What is our activity on the World’s #1 business networking site LinkedIn (500 million members)? Are you using drug rehab SEO marketing strategies to connect on LinkedIn?
- Do we understand how to maximize Facebook (2 billion members)
- Are we driving 500-1000 targeted visitors (per article) to your blog posts?
- Do we understand and utilize your Google Analytics?
- What have we done to utilize call tracking metrics?
- Are we doing Lunch and Learns at our center for EAP’s, Labor Unions, Interventionists, Private Clinicians and more…?
- Do we have any kind of Outreach training (LinkedIn, Sales force, answering calls from potential clients, etc…)?
- Is our entire organization on the same page with the messages we are putting out on social media?
Addiction Conferences for C-Level Executives Provide Business, Drug Rehab Marketing and SEO Answers
You can get answers to these critical questions and more at Behavioral Health Network Resources next addiction conference on 5/20/20. This event features education on LinkedIn. It can be used effectively for outreach and SEO. Yes, SEO click to lean more about our addiction conference. These are proven business and marketing solutions. One critical area the event will cover is “Why are my beds empty?, How to navigate the landscape of today’s drug rehab marketing, Google, Legit Script, and NAATP.” You can check out the entire C-suite Executive event by clicking on the event picture.
We are currently looking for Co-Hosts and Co-Chair sponsors for New Jersey addiction Executive conference. These addiction conferences cover proven and ethical business and marketing practices. Each event has 5 panelists educating on the real pain points of operators. Some of these topics include;
- proper website development
- drug rehab SEO
- dealing with insurance companies
- social media marketing
- the business of medication-assisted treatment
- substance abuse billing
- ranking in Google maps
- legal issues
- patient brokers
Outreach Needs More Drug Rehab Marketing Education
This is even more evident for Outreach positions. There are many new pups that are in the role of Outreach. Many are out of treatment for less than a year, and again have some source for referrals. Once their referral sources dry up or get reduced they are given the talk by the treatment center owner. This talk reveals they have 30 days to start generating more referrals. In those 30 days, they are aggressively seeking new treatment centers for employment. Many times this is when they try to start using LinkedIn for outreach and addiction professional networking. As an Outreach professional and certainly as a Marketing Director you need to understand the complexities of web marketing.
Understanding Drug Rehab SEO Vs. Digital Darwinism
Your drug rehab SEO marketing outperforms all other marketing combined. It requires H Tags, ALT Tags, SERP’s, URL’s and keywords. Not understanding Digital Darwinism is a costly mistake and could be detrimental to the success of the organization. Once you have set-up the proper foundation you need to drive your target market to your website.
Many drug and alcohol addiction treatment centers, opiate detox’s, sober livings and behavioral health sales/service organizations do not have the proper foundation in place. Without the proper website foundation, you are wasting large amounts of money on marketing. A website is like an iceberg only 10% of it is showing. The 90% underneath is the critical piece to be examined. Many organizations judge their website on how it looks. This is a critical and costly mistake.
Drug rehab marketing is extremely complicated and behavioral health organizations need to be educated on what needs to be done. SEO involves;
- key search words
- H tags
- internal and external links
- high PR back-links
- citations
- Google My Business
- Google 3-pack
- schema
- site speed
- SERPS
While this article provides a healthy checklist for drug rehab SEO, there is much more. It’s is an on-going task and treatment centers must take on more of this role. We not only perform drug rehab SEO, but we also teach our clients to be able to perform many tasks needed for it. Give us a call at 561-235-6195 and ask about our 90-day program that also provides you SEO training.
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Get educated on ethical business and marketing practices at Behavioral Health Network Resources addiction conferences EMP series.