It’s not just about looking good….

Over the last 18 months, web design has progressed more quickly than at any other time. Complex animations, drop-down menus and other stylish features are now available and in the hands of an experienced designer, actually quite easy to implement. This advancement is very apparent in the world of dental design where dentists who are fully aware of the marketing power of the internet, are requesting stylish designs in an attempt to differentiate in an increasingly competitive market.

So what makes a great dental website home page?

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How much resource do I need to allocate to my dental social media marketing?

With customers now expecting to interact with brands via social channels like Facebook and Twitter and blogs being used as a primary mechanism for content marketing, there are clear and compelling reasons for dentists to incorporate these channels into their web marketing strategies.

So how much does it cost to set up and how much time do you to need to allocate to it to ensure it’s successful?

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Increasing use of Twitter and Facebook but other opportunities missed

The latest statistics on social media usage by small businesses suggest that over 90% are using Facebook, 70% are on Twitter but with much smaller, single digit percentages using other platforms like Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest. This survey was actually for small businesses in America but with UK typically around 8 months behind, the trend is still relevant and predicts where we will be mid way through 2013.

What is even more surprising is the time that small businesses are allocating to their online social media marketing….

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Six ideas to help your dental blogging

We’ve recently covered in some depth, exactly why an active blog is a key component of the dental marketing tool-kit – to summarise:

  • a source of fresh new content to build your web foot-print – Google favours new, relevant content in its search results
  • to provide new and interesting material for your readers and to increase your visibility with existing and potential new patients
  • to provide a cornerstone and reference point for your social media campaign – broadcasting your blog articles to social channels not only provides a “hook” to encourage users to visit your blog but also gives you a source of information for your tweets and posts etc.
  • for SEO – to target keywords and to provide links back to your main headline pages. Also to encourage external links back to your own posts
  • to build reputation – interesting and authoritative articles will help reinforce your profile with your peer group and your patients

From an SEO perspective alone, we usually see better search results for sites that incorporate an active blog and social campaign compared to those that do not.

Having established why it makes very good sense to blog, the big question that still remains is “what should I blog about?” So to help get the ball rolling, here are 6 useful ideas for dental blogging topics:

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A broad web footprint, under-pinned by content marketing is the key to success online

What is content marketing?

Content marketing is the generation, publication and sharing of information designed to promote ideas, stimulate engagement and prompt your target audience to take action i.e. use your services and recommend you to others.

Over the last 2 to 3 years, it has become clear that a stand-alone website is no longer sufficient to generate leads on the web. For a really comprehensive and successful dental marketing campaign, particularly where competition is fierce, the website has to be prominent in Google and under-pinned by a complementary set of tools like blogs, social channels, e-newsletters, mobile websites, YouTube video etc. So how does this work?

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Whilst not directly measurable, social media certainly does offer huge ROI potential

Even the most ‘tech’ and web shy individuals will have heard about the main social media channels like Twitter, Facebook, Google+ etc. However, even within the enlightened core of dentists who have realised that the web is their first priority for marketing, there is still some scepticism about the actual benefits of social media. Often we hear the question “if you can’t measure the ROI, why should I be involved” – which is entirely reasonable if not a little short-sighted. So let’s take a closer look at why social media makes sense for dentists…….

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Why your dental website is a priority marketing investment

As a dental practice does your business really need a website? Your service cannot be sold online so the need for a website is low, right? Well, no, every business whether large, small, retail or service needs a web presence….

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Why a great dental website is the main hub for your practice marketing.

With dental patients having more choice than ever before over managing their dental care, dentists are having to become more proactive in terms of marketing themselves. Years ago patients had little choice over who their dentist was and were typically tied to the practice nearest to them. With a growing number of private practices, increased mobility and greater service demands from patients the dental industry is now very competitive.

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Was your dental website penalised due to a poor back-link strategy?

Back in late April of 2012, Google unleashed a punitive update of the algorithm it uses to rank websites designed to demote websites that had pursued an over-aggressive back-link strategy. Many websites, including those in the very competitive dental marketing sector were hit and hit hard. For those affected, new patient patient acquisition from their websites reduced significantly over-night. The Google “Penguin” update was significant and really shifted the goalposts for the SEO industry.

Why was I hit and what can I do about it?

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What benefit do I get from paid subscription to Yell and other online directories? Will this generate new patient enquiries?

This is a question we are often asked and one which has a fairly clear answer – “no!” The rates charged for “premium” listings in web directories run by Yell and similar are generally quite high and frankly offer very poor value. Much better ROI can be had by directing these resources to alternative, proven dental marketing methods like professional SEO to improve your natural position in Google. So why are we so sure that such subscriptions are of limited value…..?

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