New to dental marketing? Start simple….
With a plethora of practice marketing ideas available, where should you start?
The world of dental web marketing has become an increasingly crowded space, particularly so in the last 2 – 3 years as new companies try to enter. Alongside this, the number of marketing channels and applications have also increased – but are they all really worthwhile and where exactly should they sit on your priority list?
I recently wrote about two dentists who contacted us to enquire about apps for their practices – and yet, on closer inspection I found that their websites were horribly outdated. Whilst apps certainly have a place, I don’t think anyone would place them above a modern, mobile-optimised website in terms of priority.
What I’m trying to illustrate is that it is extremely important to make sure that you understand which dental web marketing tools will deliver the best return on your investment and which service providers have the experience and track-record to make a real difference.
Building the basic web marketing infrastructure
Forget apps for the time being and let’s get back to basics. The first and most important element in the web marketing tool-kit is the practice website. This should incorporate the following feature-set:
- a minimum of 15 pages of good quality content, optimised for users and for search engines. Try to ensure that your head-line treatments each have their own page which can be optimised for SEO and as pay-per-click landing pages
- engaging features and calls-to-action – consider bespoke photographs and, where budget allows, video
- patient testimonials and a gallery
- clear contact details so it is simple for potential patients to get in touch
- a “responsive” design – this ensures that your website will be optimised for the 30% + of all users who are now accessing sites using ‘phones and tablets. You will also avoid having to pay for and maintain a separate mobile website
- effective on and off-site SEO to ensure prominent ranking in Google
- consider a content management system (CMS) if you wish to make your own updates
Complement your website with a practice blog – this should be updated at least once a week and is ideal for improving user engagement and for SEO purposes too.
Your social channels are also important, not simply of the user engagement but now to support SEO too. Tools are available to make the management of several social channels efficient.
Your email newsletter is probably your most potent tool for maintaining contact with and marketing to, your existing patient list and is extremely valuable. Cultivate, nurture and use this effectively to get great results. The “conversion” level from targeted e-newsletters (i.e. new treatment uptake) is very good and much better than most other channels.
Pay-per-click and SEO – unless you are in an environment with very little competition, it is likely that you will need some degree of web promotion to enhance your rankings. This can be done using paid advertising (e.g. AdWords) and/or organic SEO.
How do I manage the website, blog and social channels?
There are three options here:
- fully managed – we do it all for you
- partially managed – we do some and, after training, your team look after other elements
- in-house management – we train your team and provide remote mentoring and guidance
Getting moving
If you search Google you will see page one filled with the websites of dentists who realise the potential of web marketing and are proactively pursuing it. The three or four guys at the top of page one are actually getting over 70% of all the new patient enquiries – and hence why you need to be there too.
Don’t be distracted by new marketing techniques before you’ve established the basics and avoid companies who can’t demonstrate a suitable track record or want to charge you unrealistic fees.
Dental Media has over 13 years of experience helping dentists establish and manage their web marketing campaigns. Please call us on 01332 672548 for free advice about getting your web marketing moving.