by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Don’t start SEO until you’ve addressed the basics

mistake signToday’s blog is prompted by a recent conversation with a dentist who was looking for an SEO provider to boost his search rankings. On the face of it, this was an excellent opportunity to sell our services and use our skills to help get his website prominent in Google, but actually it didn’t play out like that at all. Indeed we advised against commencing an SEO campaign.

The reason we couldn’t actually make an offer to help with his optimisation and digital marketing was that his website was very poor, albeit less than a year old. Without having a good platform in place, it simply isn’t worth starting SEO, which is exactly what we advised the rather shocked business owner.

When we researched his website in detail, here is what we found:

  • the website was built on a free WordPress template which looked very poor and with limited “conversion” potential – any visitors would be unlikely to be engaged and make contact
  • the website had not been maintained for 8 months and the WordPress version was insecure
  • the website could not be easily maintained as the theme and plugins which had been used were no longer compatible with the latest WordPress core files (big problem!)
  • there was no on-site SEO – so no keywords, page titles etc. All of the fundamentals were missing
  • loads speeds were terrible, indeed some the pages timed out before they displayed. This was either down to poor web coding or perhaps cheap, overcrowded hosting

This is quite a difficult scenario as there are numerous fundamental issues with the website which render it almost beyond repair. You then try to have a discussion with a business owner who invested money in a new website several months ago which isn’t fit for purpose and actually needs re-building. But in a case like this, honesty is always the best policy, so here’s what we recommended:

3 step recovery to a viable website

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Maintenance-intensive WordPress and the need for ‘TLC’

WordPress hack riskPerhaps one of the most frustrating things we encounter on the web is where a WordPress dental website has been neglected and eventually breaks. Not only is this unprofessional for the business concerned, but also unprofessional on the part of many a web agency who were being paid to look after the site but actually hadn’t bothered.

Sometimes this is down to apathy; other times it’s because they built the website using a cheap template which couldn’t be updated due to incompatibility as the WordPress core files themselves updated. Either way, it’s not a good outcome.

As we’ve covered elsewhere in this blog, WordPress has pros and cons when it comes to using it as a platform for web publishing. As a blog platform it works well and isn’t reliant on numerous “plugins” to extend its functionality. Conversely, when it is used for dentists websites, the weaknesses become much more apparent. For example, the reliance on plugins increases and security issues seem to crop up far too regularly.

So whilst WordPress is undoubtedly popular, you have to be aware of the maintenance issues required to keep it working and secure – sometimes this isn’t trivial. Of course you don’t have to choose WordPress as your content management system and there are several robust alternatives which are arguably better for business critical applications. So consider this and don’t be swayed if your designer pushes you down the WordPress route – remember that it may be easier and cheaper for them, but could result in you being locked into an expensive service contract with a website which is not intuitive to use and still potentially insecure.

What to look out for if you do run a dental WordPress website?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in seo

Take care of ‘under-the-bonnet’ technicalities to preserve Google ranking

confused website userQuite often we get inquiries asking for help after a dentist has updated their website only to be met with a significant and unexpected fall in their visitor numbers and Google ranking positions. This is clearly not a good scenario, particularly where the dentist expected their new site to bring lots of new patient enquiries. So what is going on there to cause the fall back in web traffic and drop away in those all important search engine positions?

You might expect that a new website with updated information is going to be well-received by Google and improved search rankings will result? However, often this isn’t the case and there are a number of technical considerations to manage as well as simply designing a new website.

Making the difference

Web designers who churn out cheap and cheerful designs using pre-built WordPress templates or similar, generally aren’t really concerned about your search engine positions or indeed how well the website will work for you’ve after they’ve handed it over. Many simply want to move on to the next job and relieve themselves of any additional responsibility, other than perhaps for some periodic content updates and an annual hosting fee.

On the other hand, good designers who are also well-versed in digital marketing including SEO, know that it’s critically important to ensure that a website not only looks good, but works well in search engines too. Building the correct website structure is essential to achieve this, for completely new websites but also for upgrades too.

For the upgrade scenario, here is an overview of the technical considerations your web designer should have in hand – please check that they do. Many web design companies, indeed not just those who are out to make a quick buck, ignore these important elements and in doing so, contribute to the ranking drops which all too often follow.

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by AdminPosted on Posted in social

On-line faux pas can come back to haunt you.

Facebook logoLast night an old dental business friend called me in a somewhat distraught state. He advised that one of his Facebook posts had been picked up by the local press and printed in a recent news article, along with more information they’d dug up about him and his business. And not in a good way.

As background, the gentlemen concerned has recently taken to Facebook and started to use it to express his views on a variety of subjects, some of it fairly “robust” in nature. Whilst you might applaud him for standing by his principles, unfortunately his stance on some topics would not necessarily appeal to everyone. It is this which seems to have “undone” him somewhat.

The incident concerned relates to anti-social behaviour in a neighbourhood near to his home whereby “youths” were driving their cars in a rather carefree and seemingly inconsiderate fashion. This had become the subject of a Facebook post which had spread broadly across the area where he lives and further afield – such is the power of Facebook! He had picked up on the post and commented, not just to disparage the reckless driving activities, but also to comment rather flippantly, that the area where it was happening was now like the “Wild West” in his opinion.

What happened next?

Unfortunately for the gentlemen concerned, the local press picked up on his post and used it without his knowledge or consent in the local paper. As with many of these things, the thrust of his original comment appears to have been somewhat skewed and the newspaper article implied that he was denigrating the inhabitants of the local area just as much as the “boy racers”. This was all published together with personal references about him and his business. Not good!

And then the ‘phone calls started! Initially it was friends tipping him off to advise that he was on the front page but then the calls started to arrive from occupants in the nearby community, some of them quite threatening apparently. The poor guy is currently sat wondering about being accosted in the street as well as any potential collateral damage to his business. That and also considering challenging the local newspaper legally. Quite a mess and all precipitated by a simple Facebook post!

Lessons

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Why you need to avoid bland, generic design

website design and updatesThere is a good deal of nonsense spoken in the world of dental websites and marketing and trends come and go quite quickly when they are shown to add little value to a dentist’s business.

However, one very positive trend over the last couple of years has been the drive in the UK market towards “personalisation” of websites. So what does this mean and why is it important when it comes to designing high performance websites for dentists?

Engagement

This is another term which is used very regularly in the web design field. In its broadest sense, it refers to how well a website holds a user’s attention and encourages them to make contact with you. So the critical first steps in recruiting a new patient from the web and a key deliverable for a new website. Our data (and numerous independent studies) show that engagement rates are significantly improved where websites are personalised versus where they are bland and generic. Better engagement means a better chance of generating new enquiries; it’s as simple as that.

Personalising your website

This is not rocket science and is fairly self-explanatory. It essentially covers various techniques for delivering the “personal touch” via your web pages which will give your users the confidence they need to join your practice. Here are some of the main methods:

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Hosting

What is https and what does it mean for your practice website?

Over the last couple of years, data encryption has become a much bigger issue for websites, not just those which take card payments for ecommerce transactions but for general sites too. This is being driven in large part by Google who are keen to see all website interactions encrypted, not just those of a sensitive nature.

In line with this, Google is starting to push progress with encryption by offering incentives for those who comply and penalties for those who don’t. This basically means that websites published using encryption can rank slightly better than those which aren’t. Equally important is where users have to enter data to log in to a website or submit data – here Google is showing an “insecure” warning for users who use the Chrome browser. Whilst this can be very misleading as much of that data will not actually be sensitive, it is still very off-putting for users who don’t actually understand the full implications.

What is https?

This is a communication protocol which behaves very similarly to the traditional http protocol but where the data is encrypted. So before data leaves your browser and travels up to a web server, it is “scrambled” so it cannot be read. Decryption occurs at the server side when the data arrives. Similarly, for websites using encryption, your browser is actually decrypting the information that comes down to you from the server. The idea is that if anyone intercepts the data on route, it will be unreadable and useless to them.

Should you use https for your website?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in social

Where to begin with social media for your dental practice

facebook and twitter iconsThis article is aimed at providing a concise introduction to social media marketing for dentists – why it’s worth doing, how to get set up and, importantly, what to avoid.

Social media for dentists – is it worth it?

The short answer to this is “yes”, but if you do start, then it needs to be done professionally and consistently. The benefits of social media are covered in detail elsewhere in this blog, but to recap, it can bring new patient enquiries, help to spread your brand and influence in the local community, act as a broad-reaching platform for advertising and help with your search engine optimisation. So you should make every effort to incorporate social media into your marketing strategies if possible.

“Done for you” social media marketing – best avoided?

A number of dental marketing companies offer to run your social media as a fully-outsourced service, but is this really worthwhile? The short answer here is probably “no”. If you take a look at the output of these services you’ll see fairly generic material being regurgitated to multiple different accounts, often processed automatically. To be frank, none of this type of material is in the least engaging and typically won’t stimulate any useful enquiries. At best, it keeps you social media accounts active but not much else. Remember that one of the core principles of social media is personal interaction – and you don’t get much of that if your posts are generic and automated. So think twice before subscribing to such services.

Setting up your social accounts

Again we’ve covered the mechanics of this elsewhere in our blog and this is your first step on the way to getting your social campaigns moving. Most practices tend to use Facebook, Twitter and also professional profiles for key team members on LinkedIn. If time allows, you can also publish to the likes of Instagram and Pinterest, however, don’t spread yourself too thinly. It’s much better to manage a couple of profiles well than several done badly.

Setting up is usually quite easy but you can always ask your web designer for help. One key thing to remember is consistency of information and brand – so keep your colour scheme, logos, web, ‘phone and postal addresses completely consistent across all of the profiles.

Resourcing

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Be sure what you are purchasing when it comes to your new practice website

mistake signEarlier this week I came across a couple of questionable selling techniques in use by well-known dental website marketing companies. In the interests of those dentists who are investigating a new website for their practice, it seems appropriate to raise awareness as to what these tricks are so that you can make an informed decision before jumping in.

Use of third-party website building tools

Whilst this may be a valid option for DIYers  and maybe even suitable for those who understand it and accept the pitfalls and limitations, the use of third-party platforms for building websites isn’t ideal. As we’ve covered elsewhere in this blog, hosted website building tools such as those you may have seen advertised on TV, may well get you on line cheaply, but what you get may not be exactly what you expected. For example, your site will not be portable in that it’s restricted to the hosting of the provider and simply can’t be moved elsewhere if you need to move supplier.

From a design perspective, chances are you will get a generic template which is made to look “dental” but is in no way truly bespoke. There are other downsides too, for example the facilities for SEO may well be much better than they once were, but still not ideal. Want to integrate a good blog? Well, you’ll likely struggle.

So there are quite a number of significant disadvantages of these DIY web builders when compared to professionally coded websites. It would be fine if these were made clear by the companies selling them, but unfortunately they aren’t. What you’ll actually find is companies pitching them as bespoke builds with all the features of pro websites, where in reality there are a number of significant downsides.

The advantage for the companies using these systems is that they actually don’t need a great deal of skill to develop – so you will often find print design companies deploying them at what seem like cost-effective rates. But when you understand the limitations, the value-for-money is highly questionable. We actually have a couple of recent new clients who fell into this trap and then subsequently had to jump ship several months later when they realised what they’d purchased.

So before you purchase your new website, be sure to understand what it’s built with, if it is really bespoke and just how portable it is.

Bargain practice package websites!

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by AdminPosted on Posted in seo

The top four most important areas to prioritise.

Cheap SEO doesn't workWhilst Google advises that there are over 200 signals they measure to work out where websites are placed in the search results, consensus in the SEO community suggests that there are four key factors which move the dial more than the others.

So it probably makes good sense to prioritise those when it comes to working on your own optimisation campaign. Let’s take a closer look at what they are and how you might work them into your own strategies.

Content

Over the last few years, Google appears to have focused more intently on the quality and depth of content contained within a website. The days of being able to compensate for poor on-site quality with lots of off-site SEO, e.g. back-links, have largely passed. Indeed a simple inspection of the search results for various topics, tends to show websites with lots of high-quality, detailed information at or near the top. There are exceptions of course, but in general we can say that websites with lots of useful, engaging content tend to work better in search engines than those with more minimal content.

Perhaps the main thing to acknowledge here is that a website is not a “done deal” once it has been built and launched. If you want it to succeed, both for your visitors and in the search engines, then you should plan to update and add new content regularly.

Back-links

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by AdminPosted on Posted in seo

7 questions and answers to help address your concerns

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is not a new concept and most dental business owners who understand the power of the web for delivering new patient enquiries will understand its importance.

Indeed, without SEO, a website is very likely not going to rank well in the organic (free) Google search results and without that, web visits and consequently new enquiries, simply won’t happen. Of course you could set a big budget to use the AdWords pay-per-click system as an alternative, but longer term, a prominent organic ranking position is undeniably very valuable and more sustainable.

The bottom line is that SEO is usually necessary to establish and maintain great search engine results, and a key initiative for any business looking to harness the web to help grow their dental business.

With the reasons (and rewards) for doing SEO really very clear, why don’t more dentists pursue it for their own websites? The reasons for this are varied and very often misplaced, resulting in huge benefits being missed, simply through the lack of a clear understanding of the subject. With that in mind, here are seven concerns which we often hear expressed by dentists who are considering SEO, together with answers which will hopefully allay their fears.

It’s a scam

To be frank, there is a huge amount of nonsense talked in the world of SEO, some of it just wild speculation, some of it deliberately designed to confuse the unsuspecting and to leach their cash. Indeed, many dental business owners will have been at the wrong end of this type of activity, paying out for months and realising few returns. Unfortunately there are numerous examples involving well-known names in the UK dental marketing community; for example, claiming that comprehensive optimisation is delivered as part of glorified, expensive monthly maintenance contracts, where in reality, the SEO component is minimal.

So the “scam” reputation is understandable, however there are also lots of examples where SEO has been done diligently and delivered exceptional results. So the key is to understand what needs to be done and then find the right partner you can trust to carry it out.

It’s too expensive

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