0.02 Does your practice need to be online ?

For the moment you don't actually need to be online.

Vets are not an internet business
The care and treatment of animals at the core of veterinary practice doesn't translate into an internet based business in the same way as, say, the sale of books. If it did you would already be in competition with the veterinary equivalent of Amazon.com. People would be posting their Kitty to vet central, probably in Milton Keynes. Kitty would be couriered back the next day, fully serviced and minus all the reproductive bits.

Marketing
Being online is peripheral to your core veterinary provision. Having a web site is part of your marketing strategy. Using e-mail provides an alternative to your phone and fax.
Why do you advertise in Yellow Pages? Because that is where people look for you.
Why do you have a telephone? Because that is how your clients expect to contact you.

Change
The situation is changing. More than half of your clients have internet access from home, or work, or both. They are using e-mail, in many cases more often than they use the phone. They are looking for you online. They would probably like to e-mail you rather than phone.

Be there
To remain competitive then, quite soon, your practice details will need to be easily found when clients look for your practice online. To stay in touch you will shortly need to integrate e-mail and other new means of communication into your daily routine as intimately as you currently embrace the telephone.

For the moment
So. For the moment you don't need to be online. Soon though, if your clients can't find you and can't talk to you online, you will start to lose out to other practices that have adopted the new technologies more effectively.

We welcome your comments, criticism and questions. Click here to e-mail us.