Med Spa website design is a vital component of successful marketing. Last week, we discussed the right elements every med spa website should have in our blog in the article Does Your Med Spa's Website Have the Right Elements?  We will now expand on that topic and focus on some details that, unfortunately, some med spa websites still miss. When listing various medications and procedures on your med spa's site, be aware that there are two important things you need to get right: 1) spelling and 2) using the proper "rights" symbol for the medication or procedure. Correct spelling of medications and procedures ensures that you will be picked up by search engines while also maintaining your business's professional image.

Search engines have auto-correct features, so even if the searcher is a bad speller and searches for "botux," for example, Google will then say, "Showing results for botox" and display the appropriate links. You can use this feature too when you're in the process of writing the copies for your website and you're just not sure if it's spelled "Juvederm" or "Juvaderm." Your favorite search engine is like a spelling bee champ, and it's a free resource, so there's almost no excuse to get the spellings wrong. As far as your med spa's professional image is concerned, misspellings diminish your credibility on the misspelled subject. How would it be if your patients couldn't trust you to spell, let alone administer "botux," "juvaderm," or "lazer hair removal?" Now that you have the spellings correct, take it a step further and use the proper "rights" symbol associated with the product or procedure. Let's take a look at a few examples:

• BOTOX®
• Juvederm®
• Cutera CoolGlide® Laser
• CoolSculpting®, Fear No Mirror®
• ThermiRF™

These rights symbols are easily found on their respective websites. All of the examples except for the last one are "registered" trademarks, meaning they have been officially registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and merit the ® symbol after the product name. Take note of a few things: BOTOX® spells their product in all capital letters and uses the registered symbol. The CoolGlide laser used in laser hair removal should be properly listed as "Cutera CoolGlide® Laser," and CoolSculpting's slogan "Fear No Mirror®" is also a registered trademark and should include the registered symbol. By acknowledging these seemingly minute details and incorporating them into your website, you are showing respect for the company and displaying a very high level of professionalism for yours. ThermiRF™ uses the trademark symbol because they did not file with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, although they are laying claim to that brand name. Regardless, if your med spa offers their product, list it properly as the company wants it. So, how do you actually add the registered and trademark symbols? Here are the codes for them:

• Registered symbol = alt + 0174; Option + R
• Trademark symbol = alt + 0153; Option + 2

"Alt + 0174" means that you hold the "alt" key while typing "0174" then let go of the alt key to get the registered symbol (hold down the Option key, type R, then let go for Mac users).

Coming up next: How to Properly Describe Procedures.