It\u2019s likely that a lot of dentists who don\u2019t update their old, failing websites secretly know that it\u2019s costing them money. Perhaps what they don\u2019t realise however, is just how much it\u2019s costing them and the key reasons why. In today\u2019s blog I\u2019ll list the main reasons why old websites are a drain on your budget as well as failing to convert web visitors into useful treatment enquiries. I\u2019ll also illustrate why your old website is very likely pushing potential new patients across to your competitors.<\/p>\n
In this fickle world we live in, increasing numbers of people are shopping around when seeking out dental treatments, particularly where those treatments require a significant level of investment such as orthodontics and dental implants. It can\u2019t be stressed enough that \u201cfirst impressions count\u201d and a potential new patient\u2019s first port of call will often be your website.<\/p>\n
Consider then, what happens next? Will the patient be engaged and impressed by your dated website that doesn\u2019t showcase your facilities, skills and patient successes appropriately and professionally. Or will they more likely enquire at the local competitor practice with the new, professional dental website<\/a> which shows off the practice and services to best effect? The answer is clear and also backed-up by the huge amount of statistical data we see from the numerous marketing campaigns we manage.<\/p>\n Missing out on a few high value treatment cases because patients were enticed to look elsewhere means a lot of lost revenue on a recurring basis, funds that could easily have covered the cost of a new website and much more to boot. It\u2019s really easy to demonstrate this but unfortunately a lot of dentists still ignore the advice and subsequently miss out.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is another classic \u201cfail\u201d and one we see far too many times. When the dentist and\/or practice manager finally realises that the practice has been forking out hundreds of pounds per month to support a failing website, a substantial sum has already been wasted. Most dental website companies charge onerous monthly retainer fees which they\u2019ll keep taking irrespective of how well your website is performing. You can consider an old, failing website a bit of a \u201cmoney pit\u201d in this regard. It\u2019s much better to cut your losses as quickly as possible and invest in a new high-performing website and preferably using a long-standing company like Dental Media which doesn\u2019t charge onerous monthly fees. The performance of the website will improve markedly and you\u2019ll save a lot of money ongoing too.<\/p>\n Google ranking positions are so important for dental businesses as many new enquiries come directly from people searching on the web. Those enquiries tend to be \u201cwell-qualified\u201d too i.e. not just a speculative enquiry from an ad on a social feed for example. Bottom line is that you can\u2019t afford to ignore Google.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, Google has introduced numerous ranking updates over the last few years which focus on the technical aspects of a website, for example how fast pages load and how easy is it to navigate the site. These technical issues have also become ranking factors and Google is increasingly rewarding those sites which perform well compared to those sites which do not. While there are other important factors in play as well, e.g. how well does the website answer a user\u2019s question, what we are seeing is that modern websites which meet Google\u2019s latest technical guidelines are starting to perform better in search rankings<\/a> than older websites.<\/p>\n Whilst an excellent new website doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that you will make a jump up Google, an outmoded website could mean your rankings start slipping away. This, combined with presenting something old-fashioned for users, generally means that your new patient enquiries from the web quickly start reducing; not a situation you want to find yourself in!<\/p>\n This is very important and relatively straightforward to determine, although it\u2019s not something which many dentists or practice managers appear to track. There are a few main indicators:<\/p>\n Persisting with an outdated, poorly-performing dental practice website really is false economy. Not only are you losing out on new patient enquiries, you\u2019re likely giving the wrong impression to existing patients too. Additionally you\u2019re compromising your Google rankings as your website slowly gets demoted in favour of ones that perform better.<\/p>\n Whilst a new website is an investment, it\u2019s a very sensible one and typically pays back very quickly indeed. Plus it doesn\u2019t need to cost the earth and certainly not the \u00a38 – \u00a312k that some UK dental website designers seem to believe is a fair price.<\/p>\n If your website is past its sell-by date and perhaps you\u2019re still spending silly monthly fees on it, please give the team at Dental Media a call on 01332 6725458<\/strong> to see how we can get you back on track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here\u2019s why persevering with an outmoded website is a big mistake. It\u2019s likely that a lot of dentists who don\u2019t update their old, failing websites secretly know that it\u2019s costing them money. Perhaps what they don\u2019t realise however, is just …<\/p>\nYou\u2019re likely still paying your existing web designer over the odds for looking after an underperforming website<\/h3>\n
Your old dental website is progressively failing in Google<\/h3>\n
How do you really know when your dental website starts to fail?<\/h3>\n
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Summary<\/h3>\n