The world of marketing for dentists is quite progressive, with more and more companies entering the space over the last five years or so. As new companies come along, the pressure to introduce \u201cshiny new features\u201d to promote websites and marketing initiatives increases. Consequently we\u2019re seen lots of new gizmos and initiatives appear, not all of them good!<\/p>\n
This competition is healthy and helps to drive everyone forwards, however not all of the \u201cmust haves\u201d sold to dentists over the years, have proven to be all that was made out when they were originally introduced. Let\u2019s take a look then, at some of those items which once were all the rage but now have been shown to add limited or no value.<\/p>\n
The dental app came to the fore six or seven years ago and to the uninitiated, seemed like a good idea. What better than having your dentist\u2019s app on your \u2018phone for making an appointment or to seek guidance \u2013 or at least that\u2019s what was suggested. As such, many dentists bought into the idea of their own app and spent lots of cash having them developed. Unfortunately, what actually transpired is that very few people actually downloaded those apps, let alone used them.<\/p>\n
For those of us \u201cin the know\u201d the idea of a dental app was never really sustainable simply because the idea that people would want a dental app on their \u2018phone was somewhat wide of the mark. This became even more tenuous with the advent of mobile optimised, high-performing websites<\/a> which could be accessed with just a couple of clicks.<\/p>\n As you\u2019ll have guessed, no-one really develops or tries to sell dental apps these days.<\/p>\n Do you remember when these were popular? Lots of lurid treatment animations showing how your dentist goes about their work. Not only did they generally not look very nice, they also slowed down your website if you weren\u2019t very careful about how you used them. We actually received feedback from three or four dentists who\u2019d surveyed their patients to check the popularity of the animations on their websites \u2013 all of them said that they were hardly used and at best were a distraction.<\/p>\n Over the last few years dentists have realised that those expensive animation packages aren\u2019t really adding much value and have dispensed with them \u2013 you hardly see them at all on modern websites now.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The single page website became \u201ctrendy\u201d when big brands started doing it and some dental coaches began to encourage their clients to follow suit. Unfortunately this was pretty catastrophic from a search engine and usability perspective with patients being deprived of critical information and Google casting such websites aside as they simply weren\u2019t proving any real benefit for searchers. Unfortunately you still see these sites around, but fortunately they\u2019re far less popular as the dental community catches on to what works and what doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n This is another \u201cgotcha\u201d unwittingly proliferated by the same dental coaches who advocated minimalism and single-page websites. Whilst their intention to only offer concise information for users is, on the face of it, reasonable, it\u2019s also way too superficial for a couple of good reasons.<\/p>\n Firstly, Google does not really like minimalist content, particularly if you are not a big brand and can\u2019t compensate with other \u201coff-site\u201d SEO factors to help boost your search ranking. The result being that the minimalist website might look pretty but doesn\u2019t answer user\u2019s questions comprehensively and consequently gets relegated in the search results; not quite as bad as the single-page websites discussed above, but similar.<\/p>\n Secondly, whilst we know that many website users are only interested in headlines, lots are still seeking much more thorough information before they move forward to treatment. Websites which don\u2019t provide that information are typically dismissed by the more conscientious user.<\/p>\n \u201cMysterious\u201d websites with non-intuitive navigation structures were, believe it or not, in vogue 8 or 9 years ago. To this day I don\u2019t really know why as anything that isn\u2019t immediately obvious on a website, isn\u2019t a good thing! Unless of course you asked your designer to try to obfuscate the link to your complaints policy. It happens.<\/p>\n I always remember a prominent dental circuit speaker who had a website built by an industry leader some years ago which used the technique of \u201cmystery navigation\u201d, only to receive lots of complaints from users that they couldn\u2019t find what they needed. Shortly afterwards, lots of \u201cclick here\u201d notices were added to the site which made it all even sillier.<\/p>\n Fortunately this fad is long gone and now most professional websites are built with clear and prominent navigation systems.<\/p>\n A personal \u201cfavourite\u201d of mine was the \u201cfunky\u201d photo shoot where the client\u2019s photographer recommended that the team did lots of weird stuff to make it look appealing. I\u2019ve seen dental teams in fancy dress, pretending to be the cast of a 007 movie and more. Then you\u2019d be asked to add the photos all over the new website but still \u201censure that it look professional and sophisticated\u201d. Tricky one that.<\/p>\n Fortunately the funky photo shoot is rapidly becoming a thing of the past, but we still do get the odd quirky one where it\u2019s not under the control of our production team. Please don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n Sadly this is still quite popular and clung onto by dentists who thing that branding still has to show teeth to be effective \u2013 it doesn\u2019t, not even something which looks a bit like a tooth. If you want your brand identity to be contemporary and sophisticated, probably better to drop the tooth references if you can.<\/p>\n Back 12 or 15 years ago, it was relatively easy to get really good Google results simply by piling up loads of back-links to your website. Quantity definitely outweighed quality back then and many agencies partnered with cheap companies overseas to offshore this type of work and sold the idea to lots of dentists. However, not long after, Google clamped down hard on this type of activity and penalised websites where egregious, unnatural SEO was taking place. Overnight, thousands of previously prominent dentist\u2019s websites disappeared off the face of Google, many never to recover.<\/p>\n It has long been established that this type of cheap and cheerful SEO is extremely harmful and most have move away from it \u2013 however not all unfortunately. So you really do need to know who is doing your dental website SEO<\/a> and are they trustworthy.<\/p>\n This is a much more recent one which we covered in detail a few months ago in a dedicated blog. This was (and to some degree still is) quite popular as it sounds too good to be true for a dentist. However, what you don\u2019t realise when signing up, is that you will be asked to provide a very heavy monthly click budget (non refundable) to secure that number of leads. Worse is that there is no guarantee as to the quality of the leads and very often they\u2019re just rubbish and don\u2019t lead to treatment.<\/p>\n Fortunately these types of schemes are being seen through and poor experiences are quickly discussed via various forums, so fewer dentists are being caught out.<\/p>\n This is just a selection of the more obvious fads which have come and gone in the world of dental marketing, but there are lots more which I\u2019ll collate and review in a future blog. I guess the golden rule is to avoid the fads that are so common in the dental website and marketing sector \u2013 if in doubt, ask.<\/p>\n In the interim, if you have any concerns about anything you are being pushed to purchase, either to add to your website or to subscribe to as part of a marketing proposal, please get in touch for a second opinion. You can reach the team at Dental Media on 01332 672548<\/strong> for considered and impartial advice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Which of these fads did you invest in but perhaps now regret? The world of marketing for dentists is quite progressive, with more and more companies entering the space over the last five years or so. As new companies come …<\/p>\nWebsite treatment animations<\/h3>\n
Single page websites<\/h3>\n
Minimalist website content<\/h3>\n
Mystery navigation<\/h3>\n
Funky photo-shoots<\/h3>\n
Tooth logos<\/h3>\n
SEO managed by unknown third-parties<\/h3>\n
30 Invisalign enquiries per month or you don\u2019t pay!<\/h3>\n
Summary<\/h3>\n