4 Days
96 hours
5760 minutes
345600 seconds
That is how much time my website was down but it honestly felt like an eternity. I was so excited that day too, I was ready to publish my blog post on Whether your doctor is a good leader and I hit the submit button and got an error message that I had never seen. I was in disbelief so when I tried to submit it again not only could I not submit the post but I couldn't even see my website at all. I called my service provider bluehost and what was supposed to taken care of in a few hours ended up being 4 days later.
I learned a lot of over the those 4 days.
- One I did not realize how much I actually used my website. As a blogger/podcaster/vlogger everything funnels back to the website so when my site went down I had to direct people to my other avenues whether it be Facebook/Youtube/Podcast Apps
- I didn't realize you could have too much stuff on your website. When talking with my service provider the problem that caused the website to go down was that I actually ran out of space. When I first started out and all I was doing was blogging there wasn't much concern about the amount of space my website took but once I started racking up the videos & posting almost 2-3x a week it took it to another level. Thankfully I was able to just purchase some more space without the risk of losing it all
- My website needs an update. Again when I first launched drpierresblog.com it was strictly a health & wellness education blog but popular demand has turned it to this small little niche media outlet for those who want to educate themselves and because of this I have to adjust with it
- Last but not least after 4 days of not having a website I just thought to myself how on earth are physicians walking around with no online presence what so ever??!?!?
I have always been pretty involved with the power of social media so I knew even when I was a medical student that it was something that I had to be involved in because my future patients were more likely going to be involved in it. That is why its so telling to me when I see physicians who went I go to google them all I see is these health grading websites. As physicians we have become conditioned to believe that the only way we can get patients is when an insurance company assigns them to you. And after the insurance company gives you a list of patients you put your best foot forward & hope that they tell a friend to come see you as well. From a business standpoint to put that much power in an insurance company is absolutely insane.
In 2017 if your physician doesn't even bother to have a free Facebook page than I have to question how much they actually care about yours & their well being. There is no excuse for it, I don't care how old or established your physician is you need to be out here marketing yourself for the better or don't complain when your reimburse rates get cut and you have to see more patients in less time.
I don't expect all physicians to just start blogging, podcasting & vlogging their day to day activities but I at least expect you to have some type of online presence because we are living in a time where if your patient's can't find anything you have done online than you don't exist. And that is the question you need to answer, when I go to google you what do i find.
