by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

What makes a good website? Not just the visuals….

Whilst the number changes every minute, it is currently estimated that there are over 640 million websites in the world today. It seems everyone and everything has its own web presence. Of course, some sites are more successful than others, with some driving sales or requests for information forward for a business, while other sites actually turn potential customers off; leaving them irritated by what is, in effect, a poorly designed site.

Irrespective of the business, whether a dentist or a dress makers, the principles of good website design remain the same.

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by AdminPosted on Posted in seo

The layperson’s guide to search engine optimisation

I’m prompted to write this article following discussions with dentists who are seeking to improve their search engine positions, primarily in Google which continues to dominate UK search. It became clear that there is still an awful lot of confusion as to what SEO actually is and virtually no understanding of how SEO is being redefined following huge changes made by Google in 2011 and 2012. So I will set out a few basic definitions and guidelines which will hopefully act as a useful reference for those wondering about the best ways to optimise their dental website.

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Boosting your on-line presence with a website and complementary web marketing tools

Technology is changing all the time and if a business is to succeed in the competitive online market they need to keep up. For any business having a robust digital strategy in place is essential to having a successful online presence. Changes in technology, along with the popularity of mobile devices, (it is estimated that around 58% of the UK population has an internet-ready phone), means that browsing the internet is quick and easy to do, something many people do while idling away time. When looking for information or a product, for many the starting point is an internet search.

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Tools

Targeted strategies to help buck the recession

The UK dental industry generates around £5.7 billion to the UK’s economy with the market rising by around 90% in the past decade. This rise is due in part to a relaxing of restrictions on corporate dentistry along with a growing demand for cosmetic dental procedures. In fact the demand for cosmetic dentistry has almost doubled since 2000 and now accounts for around £2.4 billion in spend each year.

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by AdminPosted on Posted in seo

A sobering tale of how *not* to choose your SEO partner

This morning we were approached by a dentist who explained that his practice website had fallen off the face of Google and he couldn’t understand why. A quick check showed that the site was languishing back beyond page 10 whereas previously he had enjoyed several page one positions.

Following deeper discussion and some searching questions, it became apparent that the guy had tried to save money on his SEO by switching service to an off-shore provider who had cold mailed him with what looked like a great offer. He forwarded the original mail to us and the link-building offer went something like this:

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Announcements

Plan Administration & Marketing for the 21st Century

Dental Media are pleased to announce a dynamic new partnership with Patient Plan Direct (PPD), the UK’s fastest growing dental plan provider.

Why the partnership?

At Dental Media we strive to deliver excellent marketing services at affordable and realistic prices. Everything we do, from the provision of high-class websites on reliable business class hosting platforms through to secure dental referral management systems, is designed to improve the productivity and profitability of our clients. By keeping these principles at heart, we prosper and so do our clients.

Patient Plan Direct demonstrate very similar principles with numerous synergies between our businesses. Plan provision by PPD, coupled with first-class marketing from Dental Media can markedly improve the efficiency and profitability of a dental practice.

How does this work?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Website

Your website is your number 1 marketing tool – keep it fresh!

It is widely accepted that a professionally produced and Google optimised website is the number one tool in the dental marketing armoury. However, take a look around at the dental websites that are out there and like me, you may be amazed to see that the large majority of dental practices either have a poor website or, worse still, none at all!

Websites now generate over 60% of all new patient enquiries so it is difficult to understand why a practice would not want to maximise the potential of this most effective asset – and yet so many fail to do so. Given that a first-class website can be produced for significantly less than £2k, even in a financially challenging climate, it would seem remiss to neglect the clear opportunities that a professional website delivers.

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by AdminPosted on Posted in seo

Do back-links still add value following Google’s recent updates?

Following significant changes to Google’s ranking algorithm in 2012, many SEO practitioners have started to question the overall value of back-links and if they still represent a strong ranking signal. The answer to this is an unequivocal “yes” although much more consideration needs to be given to the source of the link and how the link is configured. Do this shabbily and stand-by for Google ranking penalties….

A quick recap on the history of link-building

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Tools

Ensure a good user experience to boost website enquiries

How often do you see a dental website that is confusing to use or worse still, doesn’t work at all in the browser you are using? Perhaps the designer got distracted by trying to implement the flashiest javascript image changer or funky navigation system and forgot about one of the priority factors in the design process i.e. ensuring a great user experience.

Earlier today I viewed a new dental website that was completely broken in a popular browser. Another website that claimed to be responsive failed miserably on one of the most popular mobile platforms. These were two great examples of a lack of testing which resulted in awful user experience.

What is “user experience”?

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by AdminPosted on Posted in Financial

Creative ways to free up cash to fund your marketing strategy

A potential dilemma facing dentists in 2013 is how to fund their marketing strategy in the face of mounting costs and diminishing income. Business growth for many dental professionals is at best static with a large number actually reporting a decline as the general public draw back on expenditure for “non-essential” items; in particular some of the more complex cosmetic treatments.

Whilst it is clear that professional, well-targeted dental marketing will help to counter this downturn by generating more business, the dilemma of freeing up cash to boost marketing efforts remains.

Here’s how one of our dental clients is planning to achieve this by saving on his running costs, in particular his dental payment plan provision and then reallocating funds….

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