South Denver Cardiology Case Study

Client Overview

South Denver Cardiology is a Denver-based cardiac specialty clinic. Established in 1973, South Denver Cardiology has been at the forefront of bringing advanced cardiac care to the local community and today continues to pioneer advanced treatments and therapies for those dealing with heart conditions. With over 30 cardiologists and 21 nurse practitioners, South Denver Cardiology is the largest private practice cardiology group in Colorado. Their main campus is focused on Healing and Wellness. It includes not only traditional offices, labs, and testing, but also gyms, lecture halls, areas for cooking demonstrations, and more to help people live full and healthy lifestyles.

South Denver Cardiology has been a long-standing client of Webolutions. We are honored to have helped them grow in stature and overall reputation in the local and international community. Recently, we updated the website’s design, transitioning from an older design to a more modern look and feel, and added additional functionality.

Client Goals

Create an established digital and online presence to increase stature and visibility regionally and nationally
Increase search engine visibility and rankings
Create a system to add events and classes to the website and facilitate easy enrollment
Increase online reputation
Update overall brand look and feel

Challenges

The existing website, while functional, had an older design that was not mobile responsive
The existing website programming was unable to be optimized to adapt to updated Search algorithms, resulting in dwindling search engine rankings
New, local cardiology-centric competition in the immediate area
Comparatively few online reviews.

Our Approach

Market Positioning Action Plan™

The first thing we did was revisit our exclusive Marketing Positioning Action Plan™ and make valuable updates.

Through this process, we updated:

Personas and their Unique Selling Proposition
Keyword Research to identify additional search engine ranking opportunities
Competitive Research and Analysis to determine the market’s competitiveness and critical differentiation messages, particularly around new, local competitors.

This process, research, and analysis resulted in updating South Denver Cardiology’s unique core branding themes:

Offering: Compassionate, Individualized, Expert Care Empowering Better Lives
Experience: Our Family Helping You Enjoy a More Fulfilled Life

Brand Platform

Utilizing and building from elements of the refreshed Market Positioning Action Plan™, we created and updated the Brand Platform. The Brand Platform included the creation of:

Purpose
Core Values
Unique Vocabulary
Content Strategy
Messaging Hierarchy
Unique Imagery
Overall Brand Story

The new Brand Platform culminated in the unique positioning, messaging, and imagery aligned to South Denver Cardiology’s key brand themes.

Website Design – UX and UI

Using our exclusive Websites Right Methodology™, we developed South Denver Cardiology’s new website UX and UI based on their personas and opportunities revealed through Keyword Research and competitive analysis. This methodology included:

Adopting findings and opportunities uncovered in their Marketing Positioning Action Plan™ to reverse engineer the website navigation and URL structure to create better opportunities to rank for critical services.
Simplified user experience, allowing users to quickly locate critical information, such as Schedule Appointment, Pay My Bill, and Patient Portal.
Create clear calls to action that provide patients with accessible pathways to either call or schedule appointments.
Showcase educational events and featured classes that patients and the community may enroll in.
Promote educational content on heart health.
Feature leading-edge heart health services and clinics at South Denver Cardiology.

Additionally, the overall brand/look and feel was updated through the website redesign, including the logo and colors. While we still maintained a similar logo, as it was very familiar and recognized, we modernized it while keeping the same warmth and compassionate care angle.

Also, to promote the personal approach to care, the website uses South Denver Cardiology’s photography. We showcase their stunning heart and wellness center on the homepage to capture attention. Other photos include their team of cardiologists and practitioners delivering care, interacting with patients, and participating in community events, and team involvement.

Website Development – Scope and Programming

The website was created using our industry-leading, custom-designed Enhanced WordPress Platform and following our proven Websites Right Methodology™. Highlights of this methodology include:

Clear documentation of website goals – allowing us to measure success.
Collaborative planning of the website homepage is critical to defining the story.
Creation of detailed website mockups to ensure everyone on the team loved the new site design.
Detailed functional requirements documentation to ensure alignment and understanding as to how the specific functionality of the website will be displayed and managed.
The creation of a complete project plan and timeline with a visual Gantt chart.
Detailed weekly status touch-base emails and updates.
The incorporation of third-party tools to enhance website functionality.
Custom programming and development of advanced website functionality.
Comprehensive website testing for different browsers and devices (mobile & tablet).
Tactical content leadership is needed to communicate the story effectively.
The incorporation of proven SEO best practices for better search engine rankings.
Post-launch testing and ongoing analysis to ensure the website’s success.

The website features a full events calendar. This calendar allows for easy entry of new events/classes and enrollment. Additionally, it can accommodate recurrent and standalone events. Within the calendar, users can view events and sign up using a simple form.

Also, we had to easily allow South Denver Cardiology to create team profile pages while allowing for easy addition of new staff. Staff bios and information can then be used in specific content blocks as needed throughout the website, creating well-organized and designed pages.

Lastly, South Denver Cardiology has many patient resources. From articles to PDF/Guides, all this information has to be displayed in a clear and intuitive fashion. To accomplish this, we created content blocks specifically designed to handle and showcase different types of content, including downloadable PDFs, videos, and Frequently Asked Questions.

Ongoing Marketing Program

Search Engine Optimization and Backlink Building

As part of the website development process, we identified and organized targeted keywords to guide optimization. Although the site was built with these terms in mind, ongoing SEO efforts were essential to maintain search visibility and competitiveness.

Using a comprehensive suite of tools, our team conducted monthly audits to monitor rankings, traffic, user engagement, and identify content gaps. We implemented on-page SEO updates as needed and collaborated with our content team to ensure all new content was properly optimized.

To boost domain authority and improve rankings, we also built high-quality backlinks from relevant, authoritative websites. Each month, we secured keyword-rich backlinks from 10+ reputable domains, directing them to key pages we aimed to rank in search results.

Tactical Content Strategy and Implementation

In collaboration with South Denver Cardiology and our SEO team, we developed an ongoing content strategy focused on improving search engine visibility. As our SEO specialists identified keywords and topics that required additional content support, our content team crafted and executed a plan to address those gaps.

This included creating and enhancing key service pages, along with supporting blog articles and press releases. The blog content served a dual purpose: improving rankings for cardiology-related search terms, especially for searches tied to Colorado, and establishing South Denver Cardiology as a trusted thought leader. Articles covered popular heart health topics like "calcium heart score," "heart palpitations," and other frequently searched heart-related conditions, helping to expand South Denver Cardiology’s reach and reputation on a national level.

Reputation Management

One key challenge for South Denver Cardiology was growing online reviews. Working with their team, we created a HIPAA-compliant process for delivering a quick Net Promoter survey to patients, asking them to score how likely they would be to recommend South Denver Cardiology to friends or family. If they scored high, they were asked to leave a review. If they scored low, South Denver Cardiology was able to follow up directly.

This process not only grew positive reviews but also allowed South Denver Cardiology to get ahead of people who may otherwise leave less-than-positive reviews. As such, it was an opportunity to turn negative experiences into positive ones.

Burst eMail and CRM

We set up a system to enable ongoing ePublication of "A Healthier, Happier You" using a HIPAA-compliant platform. This publication is sent monthly to patients who have opted in to receive communications. The articles feature everything from recipes and nutrition to exercise and other heart-healthy habits, in addition to information on the latest news and classes being offered at South Denver Cardiology.

In addition, we segmented the CRM to include physicians and their offices. This enables teams to enter contact notes and information on practices and send communications to referring Doctors, including invitations to special events that help them fulfill continuing education requirements.

Results

We continue to achieve excellent results with South Denver Cardiology. Some highlights include:

Within a year of the updated website launch, Search Engine Traffic increased 280%

Within two years, nearly a million users visited the website, 89% of whom were from organic search

For many search queries, out-ranking the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic, and even the American Heart Association, appearing #1 nationally and internationally in both organic listings as well as featured positions and AI results

Locally, rank #1 for "Cardiology" and "Cardiologist" related terms with both organic and local listings

Colorado-specific traffic continues to grow, most recently up 20% over the previous year

Online reviews grew 69%

Average ePublication open rates at over 40% with click-through rate at over 20% – well exceeding industry averages

South Denver Cardiology continues to add upwards of 1,000 new patients monthly

"I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. I am always confident that [Webolutions] will provide the best possible final product." – R. Cupps, marketing and Business Development Manager, South Denver Cardiology