It happens at every one of my seminars"a chiropractor will come up to me and talk endlessly about the benefits of pay per click advertising on Google or Yahoo, and every time I have to smile to myself. Chiropractors who are new to marketing or any new businessperson who starts paying to advertise online are always excited. They pat themselves on the back for finally marketing their business online. Thats not to say that a good Adwords campaign isnt worth anything, but you can seriously waste thousands of dollars with pay per click, and potentially with no returns.



Im heralded as the social media expert of the chiropractic marketing world"I dont mean to toot my own horn. Im also called the YouTube chiropractor, social networking expert, and video marketing authority. I use these powerful labels to give back to chiropractors and teach them the secrets that I know about using free websites to drive-in new patients and create other streams of income. However, theres something I need to confess to you.

I need to confess that for a very long time I was running pay per click marketing. I was using it, as well as starting amazing campaigns that raked-in nearly 15 new patients each month. Was this success instantaneous? No! I dished-out $10,000 on this type of marketing before I found what was really cost effective. I luckily had the money to lose that allowed me to learn these tips and tricks, but if you dont have money to loose, I say stay away from pay per click like the plague.

Now, how do you get enough of a return on your money to make your marketing lucrative in this financial crisis? Im no martyr, but my struggles have taught me valuable lessons about using free mediums online for whopping chiropractic advertising success. Imagine beginning a huge internet marketing campaign for your chiropractic practice that is completely free! You heard me---- FREE! When you use the free resources provided by web 2.0 sites such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube, youre telling the world about your chiropractic practice, and theres no cost upfront. That means nothing to lose.

What better way is there to meet people with similar interests from your community and share your insights about the chiropractic field and so much more? The highly targeted friends that you make on these social media sharing sites will all become potential patients as you share your abilities and successfully brand yourself in your community. Pretty soon, your chiropractic message will reach thousands of people, and continue to spread 24/7.

Video marketing is also going to stomp the search engines like Google and Yahoo in 2009 so be prepared. Over 50% of all online content at this moment is video and it will continue to dominate the organic search results for years to come. People get a chance to see and know you before ever walking into your chiropractic office. This is great PR and and has been shown to be the best virtual medium for acquiring new chiropractic patients on the planet!

If you choose to utilize pay per click (PPC) for your chiropractic marketing and advertising, make sure to set a daily spending limit. This was a rookie mistake that I made about 5 years ago when I dove in. You can literally specify that you only want to shell-out $20 dollars a day and Google will run your ads sporadically and dispersed so you will still get exposure. I didn't set a limit originally and I unintentionally spent about $130 my first day!

PPC is by no means worthless, but there is an appropriate time and a place to use it. Whether you can get 40 new patients a month out like some chiropractors claim is up in the air. Make sure you are willing to pay $1-5 dollars per click, too. Depending on your area, this may very well be more or sometimes less costly. It is also best to put a specific condition in the headline like "back pain." Many times I see chiropractors use their personal or practice name which is a bad idea. Put your ego aside and focus on the patient and what condition they are seeking relief from. This will assure you a higher return on your investment and better response.