Websites and Forums (relevant to Obstetricians and Gynecologists)

If it weren't for PageRank (and seeking links) it would still be a good strategy to reach the largest potential audience. One of the ways of doing this online is to list your business in online directories. I've mentioned some of these before. Below is a list I've been compiling that is relevant to Australian gynaecologists or obstetricians.

The basic consideration in compiling the list (and the search terms to find the sites) is "where may my potential customers spend time online and what content will attract them". This is relevant to you in any industry. The more specific the location to a condition/need the more "valuable" leads coming from that source will be but they will be fewer. When I say valuable I mean the more likely they will actually need what you are advertising - ie convert to customers. If the website you are listing in is less relevant (eg a highly trafficked general website) you can expect more traffic but it may be less valuable.

This is obviously a general principle and reality is more complex than these two dimensions.

Here are a few websites that I have found that are relevant to our industry that you could advertise/list in:

www.essentialbaby.com.au (No category for listing doctors. Forum)
www.babycenter.com.au (seems to be clone of US J&J site - no category for listing doctors)
www.virtualmedicalcentre.com.au (offers advertising but doesn't seem to have any free listing. Forum)
www.ninemonths.com.au (no directory, hardly visited forum)
www.pregnancy.com.au (no directory, no forum)
www.birthnet.com.au = www.birth.com.au (directory - not much there.
Say free listing. Detailed forum (largest))
www.doctors-4u.com, (Free listing)
www.menstruation.com.au (More of an online shop - no directory/forum)
www.bellybelly.com.au (lots of articles, popular forum)
www.healthengine.com.au (new directory)

Tell me if I've missed anyone.

One of the exercises I think could be quite useful is to compare the performance of these directories over time. The methodology of this benchmarking activity would involve listing yourself (either free or paid) in each directory and comparing the generated traffic over time. The position of your listing on each is important and may skew results. For example, if you can pay to be on page 1 and that has a high PageRank or be listed on page 15 with a low PageRank guess which listing is more likely to generate traffic? This also shows how online directories can have the same characteristics as traditional directories - position is important as human behaviour comes into play and people simply are more inclined to work through the options from the beginning until they find an answer.

The other (less expensive/time consuming) way I thought of performing this value for money analysis would be to look at the claimed reach (PageRank/visitors per month) against the cost and plot this on a graph. I'll make a start on this and see if I can collect enough data. If you have any data points (eg if you run a directory relevant to medical practitioners) just post it or email me.