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You
should be on the Web promoting your practice.
Millions of people are using the Internet every
day and tens of millions are expected to be
by the year 2000. As a benefit of membership
in The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic
Stress, you can now work with professional web
developers to create a custom web site at substantially
discounted rates! This article explains terminology
and gives some examples of how an Internet presence
can be a tremendous boon for your practice.
Introduction
Have you considered the visibility
you could obtain through the Internet? The Internet,
commonly referred to as "The Net,"
the "World Wide Web" or simply "The
Web," is quickly becoming the place to
do business. But there is much more to business
on the Net than simply buying and selling products.
We are entering the age of
electronic commerce and it is becoming increasingly
common to buy and sell products through a computer
connected to the Internet. But electronic commerce
also refers to the advertising, marketing, merchandising,
customer support services and information resources
available on-line that ultimately tie back to
sales. Not just product sales, but sales of
your services. If you do not promote yourself
and your practice on the Internet now, you will
by necessity in the near future.
The Academy has set up a web
site to promote its activities and its membership.
The National Registry of The American Academy
of Experts in Traumatic StressT is available
to the world! As a member of the Academy your
name is listed in the Registry and you are on
the Internet. Anyone on the Internet can use
the National Registry to search for a member
of the Academy based on a number of criteria:
names, specialties, locations (limited to city
and state), and telephone numbers.
What is a home page?
Many professionals now have
home pages or web sites to promote themselves
and their practices. But what is a home page
and how is that different from a web site? A
home page is analogous to one page of information.
However, a page can be longer than an 81/2"
x 11" piece of paper because on the computer
it can be "scrollable." So even though
the entire page does not appear on the computer
screen at once, the user can scroll up and down
the page to view it.
A home page can have "links"
or pointers to other pages. A person reading
a page can use the mouse to "click"
on a link. This means that the mouse is moved
so that the on-screen pointer is on the link
and then the mouse button is pressed. This action
causes the computer to change the screen to
the page referenced by the link. As an example,
consider a home page where you mention that
your office is centrally located and easy to
find. You might then include a sentence like
this: "Click here for directions."
The reader of this page could click on that
highlighted phrase which is a link to another
page. The screen would change to your "Directions
to My Office" page.
What is a web site
and what can be put on it?
A web site is simply a collection
of linked pages. You could have information
about yourself including your vita on-line.
You can specify office hours and locations.
You can present information pertaining to your
specialty. All of this information can be presented
on several linked pages that comprise your web
site.
The types of information on
your web site can be varied. Some of this information
is what you would give someone over the phone
when they call for the first time. The advantage
is that the information can be much more elaborate
than what you can explain in a time-limited
phone conversation. In effect, you can use your
site to educate your reader about your background,
experience, specialty or any other subject.
Some people put up the same
information they have in their brochures. Others
put up a picture of themselves along with their
vita. Your site can include all this, and more,
by linking several pages. Links can even be
set up to point to other web sites. For example,
your vita will list your affiliation with the
Academy. A link can be set up to point to the
Academy's home page.
A Practical Example
As an example, consider the
pediatric surgeon who has a web site. This surgeon
has a specific specialty dealing with infants
and small children who have nasal passage deformities.
As you might imagine, he spends a lot of time
answering the same questions over and over again.
With the web site, he now provides detailed
information on the types of deformities that
he deals with, what surgery can accomplish,
how the surgery is done along with accompanying
diagrams, complications that can arise, details
on the recovery period and much more
People can send electronic
mail to this doctor and get a timely response.
Of course this doctor also meets with the parents,
whether or not they have access to the Internet.
A lot of time is still spent on the phone. But
he now saves time as more and more of his potential
patients parents visit his web site. The parents
are better prepared to make an informed decision
regarding surgery and whether to use this surgeon.
They are also more aware of what can be expected.
How does someone find
my home page or web site?
You might be wondering how
people will know about your web site and whether
many people will "visit" it. A web
site can be registered with Internet search
engines. These are other web sites that serve
as giant indexes of web pages. Someone might
be looking for the keywords "traumatic
stress," "children," and "disease"
to pull up a list of pages which mention all
of these. If these keywords were used on one
of your pages, a link to your page would appear
on the resulting list. The person searching
for information could click on the link to your
page to visit your site.
Of course you can also advertise
your site by putting the address of the site
on your business cards and stationery. You can
put the address in any papers you publish. Other
organizations with which you are affiliated
may be able to create links to your site.
Remember the pediatric surgeon
whose site is described above? People using
the search engines for information on nasal
passage deformities, or specifically for a surgeon
with this specialty, are likely to find this
doctor's site. This could lead to many visitors
to the site. Obviously, there is tremendous
potential for exposure, additional clientele
and development of a reputation through improved
visibility.
You can also have your name
in the National Registry linked to your home
page. Thus, if a person searches the National
Registry and your name appears on the resulting
list, it will be highlighted indicating that
a link exists. Clicking on your name will bring
up your home page.
Will many people visit
my site?
The question is, " How
much exposure am I going to get as a result
of having my own home page or web site?"
Perhaps you are wondering how many referrals
you are going to get. This all depends on the
type of information your have on your page(s),
how you promote your site (beyond registration
with the search engines) and the type of practice
you are promoting. Obviously, a site promoting
a highly specialized practice is likely to have
a small audience. Although some sites generate
substantial traffic, you should not look to
the Internet as the sole source of new referrals.
But that is certainly changing quickly as more
people and organizations are browsing the Internet
and putting up web sites.
How do I put up my
site?
So what do you have to do to
put up your site? You have two options: do it
yourself or work with a professional web site
builder. To do it yourself, first you will need
to select software to generate web pages and
links. If you are good with the computer, you
can probably learn to use the software fairly
quickly. Next, you must find an Internet Service
Provider who will "host" your site.
This means that you need to find an organization
that will rent space on their web server, a
specially configured computer connected to the
Internet. Finally, you will need to learn how
to transfer your web pages onto the host computer.
Members of the Academy can
now work with professional web developers to
create a custom home page or web site at substantially
discounted rates. Although you might be able
to do it all yourself, it is likely to take
many days or evenings to get it accomplished.
It takes a lot of experience to develop a professional
looking site.
What are the costs
for professional site development?
You may choose to work with
a professional. The Academy has arranged for
discounts of 25%-35% off standard billing rates
with Learning Lane Software, the developer of
the Academy's site. The setup fee is $150. This
includes up to two hours of site configuration
and telephone consultation. Usually, a home
page can be set up in this time. If your information
is typed and on disk, this can speed the process
along. Additional site setup time is billed
at $60 per hour. The fee for hosting your home
page or site is $120 for a year. The fee may
be slightly more for large home pages or sites,
or for sites with many graphics and pictures.
Alternatively, you can have an existing site
linked to your name in the National Registry
for $20 per year.
For more information on these
services, contact Mitch Adler of Learning Lane
Software at (908) 548-7171, or send electronic
mail to webmaster@aaets.org.
©1997 by
The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic
Stress, Inc. |
