PT Marketing Unleashed » physical therapy business

My Physical Therapy Marketing Predictions For 2011

Samuel — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 15:42:35 +0000

2011 will be a great year for physical therapists in private practice if they go beyond their usual ways of marketing and advertising. When I say “Usual Ways” I’m referring to relying on yellow page ads, newspaper ads, radio advertising and other traditional means of marketing. These mediums are slowly becoming less effective in reaching the audience you want to target. Hopefully in 2010 you were able to avoid some of the physical therapy marketing mistakes that could have prevented you from seeing healthy profits last year in your business.

Moving forward into 2011 as my reader, I don’t want you to become one dimensional in your marketing efforts. An example would be to heavily rely on physician referral marketing as your only marketing strategy. What if the physician that refers to you one day decides to refer to another clinic? Do you have other marketing streams in place you can tap into? Hopefully you see where I am going with this and stick around to see where I want to take you.

In 2010 many physical therapy private practice owners have discovered new ways of marketing to potential patients using the internet. Some have obtained new patient referrals through their website using effective search engine optimization strategies that I teach on this blog. Others have done it using social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. One thing is certain is that using the internet as a way to obtain new patients and clients for your private practice will be something you cannot ignore moving forward into 2011.

How you market your physical therapy private practice in 2011 will determine the outcome of your future revenues and your overall profits. So below I have a few marketing predictions I feel will emerge in 2011 and that can position your physical therapy practice to receive some healthy profits in the future.

1. Mobile Marketing – Statistics have shown more people own a mobile phone than they do computers. People use their mobile phones as location devices, to receive text messages, search for local services in their area, and much more. What better way to get in front of your audience then through the device they use everyday! As a private practice owner you can send appointment reminders via text message, mobile coupons for cash based services, and create a mobile version of your website for those seeking out your services locally. This is only scratching the surface! There are a lot of things you can do with mobile devices in terms of marketing that can really help impact the growth of your private practice. More to come on this hot topic in future blog posts!

2. Online Reviews – More users are looking to online review sites like Google Places and Yelp to read what other patients have to say about their physical therapist. This is why it’s important to get your patients to write raving reviews about the PT services you offer. Good reviews written by your current patients will help build immediate trust between you and that potential patient who’s searching for a physical therapist. When a potential patient sees that other patients you’ve helped were very happy with the services you provided, they’ll trust that you can help them too.

3. Better Website Content – It is important that your website have quality content that provides the right information for your patients and to the public. Providing resourceful articles and informative videos helps potential website visitors view you as a trusted source of information and an expert in your field. The information you provide on your website could be a major pivotal point for a local website visitor to pick up the phone and call your office for an appointment.

4. Local Marketing – Optimizing your website for local keyword search terms will be vital to how people find you online. For instance, if your practice focuses on pediatrics and you are based in Marietta Georgia, then you want to make sure your website is optimized for the keyword phrase “Pediatric Physical Therapist in Marietta Georgia”. Placing your website in the local online directories also increases your visibility to the local community about your services.

5. Ebook Style Newsletters and Exercises Sheets – If you haven’t noticed, the sales of the Barnes and Noble Nook Reader and Amazon Kindle were a hot seller this past Christmas. This is a strong indication that users will soon choose these devices to consume books, magazines, and web content. I see plenty of opportunity here for you, the private practice practitioner, to create content like newsletters or exercise sheets for your patients to be viewed on these devices. Why not go with them when they are on the move? Creating content for them to use in these “on the go” devices is a great way to brand your physical therapy practice and stay in front of your existing patients that use your services. You will also get a lot of cool points for being on the cutting edge of technology.

6. Better Strategic Use of Social Media – Social Media is probably one of the best free marketing and advertising tools online you can use to promote your physical therapy services. It is the most simplest and cost effective way to introduce your services to a mass market without squashing your marketing budget for the year. Strategic use of sites like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter can really help you to reach out to more people and spread the word about your physical therapy services. Just keep in mind it takes time to see a return from using social media. Most of your time will be spent building relationships and providing value to your existing patients and those who inquire about your services. If you view it more as a communication tool vs a sales tool then you will have better expectations about the time spent using it and the returns it can provide to your private practice in the future.

Those are my marketing predictions for 2011. I will expand more on some of these topics in future blog posts. If you have any predictions of your own or want to share what your physical therapy business will be doing different this year, please share your comments below. Would love to hear from you!

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The Advantages Of Listing Your Physical Therapy Practice With Online Business Directories

Samuel — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 16:39:42 +0000

Are you still using the Yellow Pages to promote your physical therapy clinic or private practice? It is a known fact that physical therapy clinics and private practices have been listing their services in the Yellow Pages business directory for decades now. But very few people use the Yellow Pages these days. Now everyone Googles the things they are looking for or need. So it is safe to say now the majority of search for services take place online. That’s why in previous blog posts I have stressed the importance of creating an online presence for your physical therapy business.

Having an online presence and listing your physical therapy business in online directories should be considered part of your physical therapy marketing strategy. It is a natural movement to a medium that is more relevant today and what majority of people are using.

I will outline some of my top reasons why you should list your physical therapy business in an online directory:

1. Exposure on search engines: Most people use Google to search for services and very often if you are searching for something local, Google shows the local listings as part of the results ( see image example on left ). If you list on Google Places, then your listings will be shown if Google thinks they are relevant to what the user is searching. I took Google’s example, but this will work with any search engine. Listing your services in a business directory increases your chances of putting yourself in front of potential patient referrals or clients for your PT practice.

2. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) benefits: Listing on directories gives you valuable links back to your business and increases your online presence. This will help boost your website search engine rankings. There is also a greater chance of your business appearing on search engine result pages because most online directories are viewed as high authority sites in the eyes of the search engines.

3. Inexpensive: Listing on online business directories is quite inexpensive and in some cases it is absolutely free. So there is every reason to get your business listed in these directories today. There are not to many free advertising mediums that can offer a good return like online business listings. Can you think of any?

4. User reviews: There are a few directories that let users review your business based on their experiences with you. This can be a really great asset for someone who has built a good reputation and has people willing to write reviews for them. I know when I am searching for a service and come across a few business listings, I look at the reviews to see what feedback people have left. It has a tremendous impact on deciding whether or not to use the service I am reviewing.

So when you create a listing, you want to get a few people to write reviews for you. In time you will have a number of reviews for your physical therapy business for users to look through. If you have several reviews on your business listing it naturally attracts people to your listing because it shows social proof of others experience with your physical therapy clinic or private practice.

Now that I’ve told you some benefits of listing on a online business directory, let me list some you can get started creating your physical therapy business listing with today.

1. Google Places
2. Yahoo Local
3. Bing Local
4. Yelp
5. Yellow Pages
6. City Search
7. Ask City Business Listings

I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’ll leave you with just 7 top directories. There are many more that you can take advantage of once you are done listing your business in the ones above.

So my advice would be to devote an hour or two a day to create a listing for your physical therapy practice or clinic. Then you can reap the benefits of your business listing for a long time to come.

If you have some thoughts or suggestions on online business listings that have worked well for you, please share them with the rest of the readers here in the comments below.

If you found this post helpful in any way, please help me to re-tweet to your Twitter followers or share with your friends and colleaues on Facebook. Many thanks!Similar Posts:

Free Online Resource Helps Physical Therapists Go Virtual

Samuel — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:21:14 +0000

I have a fairly large number of computers that I use regularly. I have a work PC, a home PC, laptop, and then a smartphone which I use when I’m on the go.

Having so many devices has become a must for me because of the nature of my business. I’m sure a lot of you have more than one computer that you use in the clinic, the office and at home.

The problem with this kind of setup is that you have to keep track of which files were created on which computer and then email them to yourself if you want to access it from another computer. It was a process I had to do in order to get access to files on computers I was working on. It was a time waster and sometimes killed my productivity.

For a long time I used portable USB drives to transport and transfer my media files from computer to computer. The problem with this was I would forget the USB drive at home or would have to worry about structural damage from drops. I was more terrified of losing data from constantly transporting the USB device everywhere.

I also tried to use Google Docs to overcome this problem but realized that they have a long way to go as far as functionality is concerned. All of this was a real pain until I discovered a neat little service called Dropbox.

This service allows you to create and sync folders with all the computers you use at work and at home with each other. You can save and transfer all kinds of files like word docs, power point presentations, video, audio, etc. The highlight of the Dropbox service is knowing that what you saved in one computer is accessible from another. Your files are also accessible over the internet and works with both MACs and PCs. This makes you 100% virtual! You can basically be anywhere with an internet connection and access your files on all of your synced computers.

The service is easy to use and you can get started as soon as you sign up with them. All you have to do is create folders on your Dropbox account. Then drop your files in that folder and Dropbox will do the rest for you. It detects every time there is a change in the folder and does its magic.

With Dropbox you can also create shared folders for access among your staff or team members. For example, if I have a Powerpoint presentation that I want to share with my colleagues, I can drop the file into my Dropbox folder then send all team members an email notification. Once the email notification is received they will be prompted by Dropbox to visit the website for downloading instructions. It’s that quick and easy!

They offer you 2 GB space for free and so far this has been enough for my needs. Here are some other great features of this service:

1. Ease of use: The service is really easy to use. Once you have it configured, all you need to do is drop your files in the folders and you will be able to access your files from all your synced computers and devices.

2. Works on multiple platforms: The service works on Windows, Mac and Linux, smartphones and syncs any type of file.

3. Collaboration: This service allows multiple people to collaborate because they can work on files from a common location and are able to see each other’s changes in real time.

4. Creates Photo Galleries: It creates photo galleries from photos in your Dropbox.

5. Online backup: Your data is backed up online on their servers and you will be able to restore previous versions of the file.

6. Web Access: You can access your files from the internet and the interface allows you to manipulate files like editing, deleting or renaming them.

The Dropbox service is really efficient and because it is free for up to 2 GBs there is every reason for you to try it out today! You can try it out using —> my referral link and let me know what you think about the service.Similar Posts:

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How To Know What People Think About Your Physical Therapy Business Using Google Alerts

Samuel — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 07:03:39 +0000

If you have a physical therapy private practice, continuing education course or a physical therapy product, Google Alerts will notify you when there are conversations about your business happening on the web. These alerts are triggered by keywords or keyword phrases you enter into the Google Alerts service.

Once these keywords or keyword phrases appear in a blog post, online article, Twitter conversation, press release, video , or any other online content, you will be sent an email of the alert and the corresponding website.

Google alerts makes it easy to know what is being said about your physical therapy company so you can effectively monitor your brand image.Similar Posts:

How To Add A Picture ( Gravatar ) To Your Physical Therapy Blog Comments

How To Manage All Of Your Physical Therapy Social Media Profiles In One Place

Samuel — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:51:36 +0000

If you are promoting your physical therapy business using social media then you will likely have multiple social media profiles across many different social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn and a few others. The problem becomes when you have to manage all of those profiles individually on each social network site and keep them updated regularly. This could be time consuming and take you away from focusing on other high leverage activities needed to grow your physical therapy business.

In the video above, I offer a solution that I have been using to manage all of my physical therapy social media profiles from one place. It’s called Hootsuite and it is a web-based social media dashboard that you use to update all of your social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others from one platform.

This site will save you a lot of time as you manage all of your social media profiles on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others all from one place. Before finding this site I was going insane trying to keep up with all the updates on all of my profiles. It started to become a time suck and I knew I had to find and easier way of doing it. So when I found Hootsuite it was great because I could manage and track everything from one website.

Social media is going to be an important part of your physical therapy marketing. That’s why it is important to have good tools like Hootsuite to help you manage, update and track what your doing across all of your social media networks.

If you would like to learn more about how to use social media to attract patients to your physical therapy private practice or generate customers for your physical therapy product visit the PT Marketing Academy .

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5 Reasons To Start A Physical Therapy Blog That Attracts Patient Referrals Than To Have A Boring Static Website

Samuel — Sat, 29 May 2010 06:09:29 +0000

If you haven’t noticed or payed any attention to the latest trends in the tech world, blogging has evolved quite a lot in the last few years. It has become a key part of Web 2.0. In fact, if you’re a super geek like me you probably are familiar with the more popular blogs like the Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Gizmodo, that have a huge user base, and are much larger than most websites. If not maybe you noticed sites in our own industry, like Advance For Physical Therapy starting to use blogs to manage more of their own content.

Why all the blog talk you ask? Well if your planning on building a website anytime soon for your physical therapy business, you may want to think about which direction you should be headed in.

With that said, I want to give you 5 reasons why you should consider starting a blog that can potentially generate patient referrals for your physical therapy practice versus having a boring static website. This can also be applied to those that have a physical therapy product and want to generate more buyers or if you have a physical therapy continuing education course and are trying to increase attendee enrollment.

So here are the 5 reasons to ditch your boring static website and get going with a new blog:

1. A blog is a more personal medium than a website: When your patients read your blog posts, they feel as if they are listening to your voice. They form a much deeper connection with you as they read more about what you write and learn more about you. The content on a static website can sometimes feel like it has no “voice”. It can come off like canned jargon with no personality. In my opinion static websites are dry, boring and can lose its appeal with your visitors.

2. Search engines like blogs: This is a known fact in the blogging community! By their very nature, blogs are updated frequently with new content, and search engines love websites with new content. Search engines, like Google, devour them like a slab of roast beef. Keep the content coming and you will have no problem having your content picked up by the major search engines.

You also have a lot of latitude about what you can write about, and can often leverage your patient’s common interests. I recently did a podcast interview with Monique Serpas, a physical therapist who blogs about injury prevention, conditions treated by physical therapists, descriptions of treatment techniques, and other helpful information mostly catering to the patients she treats in the clinic.

If you listen to the podcast, she mentions that she provides preventative tips, she references earlier blog posts she has written and uses the right keywords that is relevant to the search engines and her patients. Monique was able to do this all while providing valuable content to her readers. It’s a great combination that attracts patients and the search engines like bees to honey!

3. Interaction and community: Blogs are a lot better for interaction because they have a comments area below each post where people can leave comments. As a reader you can then respond to these comments and leave your opinion about the topic being discussed in the post. People are usually motivated to leave comments when they read something that strikes a chord with them. You as the blogger can respond to these comments and slowly build a community of loyal followers who will begin to like know and trust you based off of the interaction you have with your readers.

4. Blogging technology has come a long way: You can build a very professional looking blog with the technology that is around these days. I actually prefer using WordPress which has many benefits over the other blog software I have come across. In fact, you can achieve all the features of a static website using a WordPress blog. I have seen a lot of websites that look like static websites but were actually built using WordPress. So if you don’t like the blog look, you can build a “static-like” site using the powerful features of WordPress and still get all the search engine benefits that comes with having a blog.

5. Repeat Visitors: If your blog content is compelling and provides value to your readers, they will come back hungry for more. This is great because it increases your traffic and gives you a higher chance of converting your reader into a patient referral, a buyer for your physical therapy product or having them become an attendee for your CEU course.

Providing quality posts and content is a recipe for repeat visitors and website traffic. It’s very hard to get repeat visitors with a static website because there is no real reason to go back and visit. The blog content, interacting through comments, and the relationship readers have with the blogger is what drives blog readers back to a site. This can be a powerful physical therapy marketing strategy and what you ultimately want to achieve if you have a blog online.

Hopefully I have given you a reason to ditch the thought of creating a static website and move towards creating a blog. As I mentioned before, a blog will help you drive a lot more traffic to your physical therapy business and this could translate into increased revenues and growth in your private practice, physical therapy product or CEU courses.

If you want to create a strong presence for your physical therapy business online, getting started with a blog is a move in the right direction. I cover a lot of how to set one up and promote it in the PT Marketing Academy. I will even host it for free! You can go here now to enroll and get started.

If you have a blog or a website for your physical therapy business and would like to share your thoughts on this topic, leave your comments below to share with everyone else.Similar Posts:

6 Reasons Why Your Physical Therapy Business Should Be In Google’s Local Business Search Directory

Samuel — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:29:38 +0000

Local search is one of the least talked about features of Google but it is one that is gaining popularity very rapidly.

Local search is catching on because search engines are getting very good in recognizing when people are searching for something locally. In most cases these local business listings are shown on top of the other search results. Do a search for “physical therapy rehab and (put your zip code)” and see for yourself which are the search results that Google will serve you on the front page. Is your physical therapy business listed there? If not keep reading on!

Local search is also catching on because of its ease of use, large number of results served, a Google map of the local listing being searched and the ability to read reviews about that local listing.

Do you remember the last time you opened up the Yellow Pages to look for a local business? Most people will tell you they are using phone books in their home as step stools to get into hard to reach areas. Everyone is using Google for search. This is a known fact. People are looking for all types of services online from haircuts to auto mechanics and of course physical therapists.

It is in your best interest to have a Google Business listing for your physical therapy business so that you appear on top when people search for such services. If done correctly, this can mean a large number of potential patient referrals, clients or customers without ever having to pay the typical cost associated with using traditional advertising .

Let me take you through six powerful benefits of listing your physical therapy business on Google’s local business search listings:

1. People are searching for your physical therapy business online: This is so basic it goes without saying but I need to say it anyway. A large percentage of searches on Google pertain to local search and out of these searches a good number of them can translate into new referrals, clients or customers for your business . If you are not present on Google’s local business search listings, you are missing out on a lot of new patient referrals, clients and customers. Think about that.

2. Results are near the top of the page: Study after study of search engine users show that they scan a triangular area which includes the area of the first result and then gradually diminishes as you go down the page. Most people never go beyond the first half of the first page. Putting your business listing into Google’s local business directory ensures that your listing will show up in the area where people have the maximum chance of noticing it.

3. Easier than getting on the first page of Google: In most cases getting a business listed in the directory and appearing on the first page for a local business search term is easier than paying high fees to an SEO consultant to have your website appear on the first page for a general search term. When you have your listing listed through Google’s local business search directory you still enjoy the benefit of a large number of views without having to go through the struggle of getting on the first page for your website and paying high fees to an SEO consultant to do it.

1. Google Provides A Map Of Your Business Location: Google will show a map of your business location to web users and even provide them with directions to get to your doorstep. Now that’s powerful! Your front office secretary can focus on coding and billing while Google handles the directions to potential new patient referrals and clients.

2. Google’s local search Listing is free: You don’t have to pay anything to get listed in Google’s business listing. There is absolutely no investment involved and the listing is working for you 24hrs a day all year long. This is a no brainer for anyone with a tight marketing budget.

3. Reach a large number of potential referrals or clients locally: The best part about this is people who engage in local search obviously have a need that has to be met. So when someone calls your physical therapy business through a Google business listing , there is a high chance that person contacting you needs your service and is ready to come through your door almost immediately.

If you take action on including your physical therapy business into Google’s local business search listings, you will enjoy the benefits of getting targeted local patient referrals and potential clients. Most importantly you will have done this simple inclusion of your physical therapy business into Google’s listings at no cost to you. This is a great marketing strategy for your physical therapy business and something you should consider doing soon.Similar Posts:

Podcast: Physical Therapist Monique Serpas Reveals How She Uses Her Blog And Social Media To Connect With Her Patients

Samuel — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 11:15:13 +0000

Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link and choose save as or save link.

Monique Serpas is a physical therapist practicing in a general outpatient setting. She also writes for her blog called “Geaux To Physical Therapy” which serves as a platform to educate her current patients or anyone who would like to learn more about physical therapy.

She writes mostly about injury prevention, conditions treated by physical therapists, descriptions of treatment techniques, and other helpful information her patients and readers may find beneficial.

I was very excited to have found her and wanted to share her story with other PT’s who maybe considering taking the plunge into blogging and social media. Especially since blogging and social media will be one of the ways you will need to market your physical therapy business online today. Show Notes

Monique shares what encouraged her to start her blogand how she embraced the technical challenges to get it started.
We learn the benefits of her blog to her patients and her online readers that seek out her information.
Monique explains how she leveraged social mediato connect more with her patients, readers, PT’s and other healthcare professionals.
We learn what impact blogging has had since she got started and the attention she is receiving in the online world and in the clinic.
Monique breaks down why blogging should be part of your marketing strategyif you want to get noticed and brand yourself in your area of expertise.
She shares her thoughts on the impact blogging and social media will have on the physical therapy profession and for PT’s who are in business for themselves.

Click Here to Download the MP3 [ 38 Minutes - 17 MB] Similar Posts:

The Benefits Of A Facebook Fan Page For Your Physical Therapy Business And How To Create One

Samuel — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:33:06 +0000

If you didn’t know already Facebook is one of the top social networks in the world. They average over half a million new members joining every single day and currently have over 400 million members. Those numbers are amazing! That is enough members to populate a country the size of the United States don’t you think? Imagine the connections that are being made on a daily basis.

Facebook has helped many people reunite with family members, old friends, colleagues, and even business associates. What’s even more interesting is that very few physical therapist are not taking advantage of Facebook’s popularity to grow their physical therapy businesses. Well that is going to change because I’m here to share with you the benefits of having a Facebook Fan page and the steps you need to do to create one today. Let me break down some interesting statistics for you about the average Facebook user:

Currently there are more than 400 million active users.
50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day.
The average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook.
More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) are shared each week.
More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook.
More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day. ( That is a lot of fans!)
Average user becomes a fan of 4 Pages each month. (One of those pages could be yours.)
Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans. (Some of those fans could be yours.)

These Facebook statistics should not be ignored. Facebook offers many ways for your physical therapy business to interact with your local online community and the best way to do it is by creating a Facebook Fan page. I will take you step by step on how to create a Facebook Fan page for your physical therapy business but first let me highlight the benefits of having one:

1. Explain You’re Business: People join your fan page because they want to know more about your physical therapy business. This is the place where you can highlight what your company is about and how it can serve them. Do this by posting quality content articles on your fan page wall that is relevant to your physical therapy business. Add photos of your staff and place of business for fans to see. Post the expertise level of your staff in specialized areas of physical therapy. Send out informative and funny physical therapy videos so fans can connect with you more. Most importantly hold discussions on your fan page to engage in conversation with your fan members.

2. Announce Events And Updates To Your Fans: One of the greatest features of fan pages is you can send updates or announce events whenever you have something planned. For example, if you are having a learning event at your clinic or announcing a new product soon to be released then you can announce it on your fan page. It is a great way of building a list of interested users for your product or potential referrals for your private practice.

3. Interaction: When your fan page reaches a critical mass of fans you will find that they are interacting with each other and giving you great feedback and word of mouth advertising. This is invaluable and although it takes a little time to build, once done it is the greatest asset you can have.

Now that you know the benefits of creating a Facebook Fan page let us look at the step by step tutorial below to create your own.

1. Visit the Facebook Fan page website and select “Create Page” http://www.facebook.com/pages/

2. Enter your business category and the name of your fan page.

3. Enter your Facebook Account Information. If you don’t have an account you will need to create a new one.

4. Congratulations! Your Facebook Fan page is created. Now it’s time to customize it.

5. Start entering information about your physical therapy business to share with your fans.

That’s about it folks. Real simple steps to create your own Facebook Fan page. If you would like more in depth training on creating and promoting your Facebook Fan page, you can enroll in the PT Marketing Academy. We have live online workshops that show you how to create and promote your Facebook Fan page for your physical therapy business. Please leave your comments below if you have any questions about this tutorial. Re-tweets on Twitter and social bookmarking are always appreciated.

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How To Select An Unforgettable Domain Name For Your Physical Therapy Business

Samuel — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 08:58:44 +0000

Picking a domain name is the first step to creating your online presence. It is also what you will need to tell your patients, clients, & customers how to find you on the web. In this video tutorial I will give you some tips on how to choose a domain name your patients, clients & customers will remember even when telling their friends. You can watch the video above or view the slide presentation below.

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