These days, more and more people are conducting research into businesses online, and that includes senior citizens. If you own or manage a senior living facility, you need to have a strong online presence. Without it, you run the risk of losing potential residents to other facilities that do appear online. Here are some tips to help your community stand out from the rest:

Focus on SEO 

One of the first things you need to do is to set up your website. As you do this, you’ll want to pay attention to search engine optimization (SEO). After all, prospective residents will be searching for your business online, and SEO will make it easy to find. This means including common keywords they are likely to be searching for, like “senior living in [your city]” or “active senior community”. Choose the terms that best apply to your facility and be sure you use them throughout the site. Try not to go overboard on the keywords, though, as this can raise a red flag with the search engines. Aim to make your content sound as natural as possible.

Choose an Experienced Online Marketing Firm 

If you don’t have the time to learn more about SEO and online marketing, that’s totally fine. You’ve got a lot on your plate already with managing your community and caring for your residents. Entrusting your web design and content marketing to an outside organization ensures that you get the job done right while freeing you up to focus on the day-to-day aspects of managing your business.

A reputable firm will be willing to take the time to sit down with you to discuss the details of your particular organization; it should not offer a cookie-cutter approach, giving you a standard website that could work for a wide variety of businesses. You want your website and content to be uniquely tailored to your specific community so your firm’s personality and culture comes through on the web page.

Build a Visual Showcase

The images that you include on your website are just as, if not more, important than the words. Prospective residents will be looking at your photos to determine if they could really see themselves being happy in your community. Although nothing can replace a personal tour in making this crucial decision, the photos on your website can make the difference between a prospective resident visiting for a tour in the first place.

When choosing your images, aim to cover all of the most important areas of your community, including the residents’ rooms or homes, the common areas, healthcare facilities, outdoor surroundings, and anything else of interest to future residents. Try to put yourself in their shoes, and think about what you would be looking for in evaluating a place to live.

Know Your Audience

Keep in mind that your audience is not solely senior citizens. In many cases, their adult children are doing the research for them, so your content and images also need to speak to these people. They may be the ones providing the funding for their loved one, so you need to prove to them that their money will be well spent.

This is not to say that you should be ignoring your potential residents themselves with your content. You need to provide a mix of content that appeals to both audiences.

Get Started Today 

While it may be tempting to wait until you have done more research into online marketing before you get started on your website, that is a mistake. The longer you wait, the more prospective residents you miss. It is better to get your website up and running as quickly as possible. You can always make modifications later as you become more confident in your web design abilities.

As far as your blog content goes, get started posting on topics that will be of interest to your readers. They can be related to upcoming events in your community, health advice, current events and more.