by AdminPosted on Posted in Tools

The dental web marketing cycle explained

In another of my “back to basics” articles, I will explain how marketing your practice via Internet channels will help new patients to find you, encourage them to join your web community, facilitate engagement and then provide opportunities to convert them into clients.

For most dentists, a website is the tool which generates most new patient enquiries; significantly more than traditional methods like practice brochures and local newspaper advertisements. However, we also know that a website is just the starting point when it comes to acquiring new patients from the web. Whilst the dental practice website is the “hub” for all online marketing activity, several other channels interact with it in the overall cycle of new patient acquisition.

How internet marketing channels interact

 How dental marketing works on the internet

(Process flow inspiration courtesy of Portent)

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by AdminPosted on Posted in responsive

Why “responsive” is the way to go for new websites

It’s easy to forget that some of the latest web terminology, for example “responsive web design”, will likely go over the heads of many. I realised this earlier this week following discussion with potential clients who understood “responsive” to mean that their website simply shrinks to fit on mobile devices. A logical and easy mistake to make but actually quite dangerous in that it could be used to their disadvantage by an unscrupulous vendor. So please remember to check what is actually meant by a vendor who claims that their websites are “compatible with tablet and mobile” as this usually doesn’t mean *optimised* for tablet and mobile.

Before we dive in to the subject of mobile websites versus responsive design, here are a couple of definitions to clarify:

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by AdminPosted on Posted in seo

8 tips for writing content that ranks – SEO copywriting for dental websites and blogs

When writing copy for the web, what are the key elements to consider when trying make your content as search engine friendly a possible?

Just before we delve into this topic, it is worth a quick reminder about the increasing sophistication of Google and how it is more adept than ever at identifying attempts to spam the results index. Clumsy attempts to outfox Google simply aren’t worth it and invariably result in penalties. This can mean that your website is demoted in the search results by 10 pages or more, often for a number of months. In some cases, sites never recover.  So web and blog copy must be of high quality and not contravene any of the Google web publishing guidelines. With that established, let’s take a closer look at how to optimise our web and blog copy ethically and in an SEO friendly fashion….

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Content Management

….but maybe not for your dental website

WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) and it is undoubtedly excellent as a dental blogging platform. But is it as good as other CMS for website publishing? Many seasoned web professionals think not. Here are some of the areas where WordPress comes unstuck and where other systems offer a better alternative for managing website content….

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Advice

Why is the range of costs bandied around the business so wide?

I was prompted to write this after reading and commenting on one of Chris Barrow’s recent blogs. Chris posed the question “what should I be advising my clients about web marketing costs” – he genuinely seemed confused, like so many, by the huge range of costs being bandied around the industry.

If guys who are as close to the industry as Chris Barrow are confused, then what chance does the principal dentist or practice manager have when trying to decide the best route for promoting their practice?

So why is there such a huge divergence in the costs quoted for web marketing and what is actually realistic? I may get a little contentious here but please read on and bear with me….

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Positioning your practice online

There might have been a time when dental professionals could get away without a strong online presence, but those days are long gone. Nowadays, the dental industry is just as reliant on the web as any other sector when it comes to securing business and it of course doesn’t help that competition is rocketing by the day. Nevertheless, there are still hundreds of dental practices across the UK who are wondering why on Earth they seem to be haemorrhaging their client bases despite having put barely a foot wrong…at least in terms of their practice. So why is this happening?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in blogging

Use your team or outsource to maintain momentum

Web savvy dentists are beginning to understand the importance of blogging and social media as key components of an effective on-line marketing strategy. The days of improving Google ranking just by building website links in bulk are over and new, complementary techniques are needed to help build a broad on-line footprint and propel a site forward in the search rankings.

Two of the main techniques are blogging, to add new relevant content to a site and social media, to broadcast your content, seek engagement and build the “social signals” that Google is building into its ranking algorithm. Whilst link acquisition is still extremely important, website owners who neglect “social” and blogging should expect their Google positions to decay over time.

However, many dentists, even the ones who understand the importance of these techniques, don’t have sufficient time to manage the process. In fact I discussed with a guy last week who advised that he “didn’t have the time, inclination or motivation” to get involved with social and blogging! This is understandable but given the importance, what options are available to get the process running and then maintain the momentum?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Differentiate your dental website from the competition

Have you noticed that a lot of modern dental websites are all starting to look quite similar? I’m mainly talking about the use of very similar “stock” images of smiling faces which, whilst very “nice” don’t really personalise a website or help to make it stand out from the crowd. Frankly there are lots of sites out there that, whilst reasonably professional and sporting decent content, don’t really establish a level of empathy with the user.

So what can you do to help your dental website grab the attention of users?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

What are the key features of professional hosting and what does it cost?

Building a great website and then publishing it on low quality hosting would be akin to fitting a lawnmower engine in a Ferrari. However, lots of dentists are still confused about what constitutes a robust and appropriate hosting environment for their website. Many fall foul of ridiculous overcharging whilst others find the cheapest solution they can. Of course, neither is appropriate.

So what do you need to ensure that your website is looked after correctly?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Advice

Why your dental web marketing strategy must be tailored to your specific requirements

I’ve noted previously that the world of dental marketing is chock full of poor advice and strewn with pit-falls for the unsuspecting. One of the key issues we see is where a dentist has been advised to build a website but with no supporting web infrastructure i.e. no blog, no social media, no SEO etc. Unsurprisingly the website sits on page 3 (or worse) and the practice fails to attract any new patient enquiries.

Whilst a stand-alone website is probably quite sufficient for a dental practice in a small village with limited competition, for many others, it certainly isn’t.

The other extreme also applies, i.e. small practices that have been up-sold extravagant web marketing tools when they don’t need them.

So what’s going wrong?

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