| 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. |
