Broaden Your Dental Business Footprint On The Web – The Role Of Great Content

Here are the key content platforms dentists need to nurture and their use in dental marketing

In times gone by, before the advent of the internet, dental practice promotion was a fairly simplistic affair. Some personal networking, an entry in the local Yellow Pages and some prominent practice signage was pretty much all it took to get noticed in the local neighbourhood.

However, in today’s online world and with the whole of the internet shrunk into our pockets via our mobile ‘phones, marketing a dental practice is a much more complex affair with multiple facets and features. Add to this the increased competition and a plethora of digital marketing agencies all claiming to be the next “best thing”, and then it’s understandable why a dentist might be confused as to where to begin.

In today’s blog we’ll attempt to alleviate some of that confusion by illustrating where you need to have an active online presence and what material (content) you need to generate to make that presence prominent and attractive to potential new patients. In some ways, successful modern dental practices need to be “content generators” or “mini media production companies” in order to engage patients with attractive new material as they scroll their social media feeds or search on Google.

Why web content is so important

Bottom line is that a large majority of people now use the web to research businesses and services – dentistry included. Even those who are recommended via word-of-mouth still tend to reference the practice website and social media channels to validate the recommendation before making an enquiry.

It used to be that the practice website was sufficient and whilst that is still extremely important, other channels and features now also play a key role. Let’s take a look then at the main web channels and features dentists need to maintain to grow their patient list in the modern online world.

The practice website

It shouldn’t really need saying that the dental practice website is the cornerstone of all promotional activity. A high-quality, Google optimised website is essential for dentists in the same way as any business looking to exploit the huge potential of the web.

Dental website design is very competitive and the standard has increased markedly in the last five years. Dentists who appreciate the potential of the web are refreshing their sites every 3 – 4 years (full re-design) so a sensible budget is needed to facilitate this. Making sure that the site is kept up-to-date with new content is also best practice and helpful for Google rankings too.

In terms of pay-back there is little better than a good quality, high performing website and you can easily make a full return on your investment in as little as 4 or 5 months.

Google Business Profile and Reviews

Google allocates each business its own small corner of the web independent of the practice website. This used to be called the “Google My Business” page but is now known as the slightly slicker “Google Business Profile”. This is the boxed section of information you see at the top right of Google when you search a business by name and it contains useful information such as address, ‘phone number etc. You can even add images of your business and small snippets of information to update those viewing the profile.

This is an extremely important asset and one that every dentist should own and complete. Not only is it another important cornerstone on the web but it also provides the portal for the collection of patient reviews, a key factor in gaining a prominent ranking in the Google local/map results.

Once your Google Business Profile is set up and optimised, including the all-important link to your website, you can then start the process of gathering patient reviews. This is covered in much more depth elsewhere in this blog, but for this article suffice to say that it is extremely important not just for demonstrating your capability to those checking your services, but for Google ranking issues too.

Social media posts and ad content

Not only will new patients view your website and reviews, many will also hop onto your social media channels to see what’s happening there. If there is no business Facebook page and more recently, Instagram too, then it’s going to create the impression that the practice isn’t a modern business and unwilling to engage through popular social channels. Many new patients contact dentists directly from social media e.g. Facebook Messenger, so be prepared to activate and use these systems.

To target certain patient demographics and get quick promotion of new services, open days etc, you will likely need to investigate advertising on Facebook and Instagram too. When competition is strong and you need to differentiate with more than just your website and Google reviews, producing excellent content for a paid ads campaign can be very rewarding and another excellent weapon in the promotional arsenal.

The dental blog

Running a practice blog is an excellent way to publish engaging content consistently – great for patients and for assisting search engine optimisation too.

Typically a practice will generate two main types of content – the factual, descriptive treatment type (including case studies) for patients who are looking for information over and above that provided in the main website. Then the practice “news” where subjects can vary from staff profiles through to announcement of events, charity initiatives and so on. All of this material will help to improve the overall web domain footprint, improve search rankings and help to engage new patients.

Summary

A modern dental practice needs to make full use of the web; not just with a website but with an optimised Google Business Profile page, patient reviews, blog and use of social media too.

Generating high-quality content to populate these channels is not fire-and-forget and will need appropriate investment in time and budget; however the results are easy to show and hugely rewarding. If you don’t do it, you can be sure that the web savvy competitors in your area will be!

If you need advice and help getting started with your own web initiatives, please get in touch with the Dental Media team on 01332 672548 or via the website contact form if you prefer. We’ll get you underway and then help you to maintain and progress moving forwards.