Social Media, Social Practice

March 2, 2020
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Social Media

Your patients are already using social media: in today’s world, that is a given. If your dental practice is not leveraging the power of social media to communicate with patients, you are overlooking at powerful tool.

shutterstock_1020407980_resizedAlmost everyone spends at least part of their day on social media. Eighty percent of Americans have at least one social profile, and for most people, especially younger ones, social media is baked into their daily routine. Some people reach for their phones to check their feeds as soon as they wake up every morning. Sound familiar?

Furthermore, social media apps are the most-used applications on mobile devices. Social media has tremendous value to your practice. You can use it to:

  • Let patients book appointments
  • Send out reminders
  • Ask questions
  • Ask for help

And that’s just for starters. Social media is already important for marketing your practice, and its importance is only going to increase in the years ahead.

Your practice should have someone whose job description includes monitoring your social media channels every day, looking for any comments and requests.

Being Social

Remember  to keep  the “social” in social media, too. Your practice should be active on the major sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. You can share dental health tips with users, and be active in online community groups.

Ephemeral content remains popular, too, and will continue to do so. Ephemeral content is content has a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t quality, like what you see on Snapchat and Instagram. It takes advantage of the way people consume content, and a phenomenon called “FOMO.” That stands for Fear of Missing Out. When new content vanishes quickly, users are likely to check in to the app on a regular basis.

It can be a complex strategy, but ProspectaMarketing can help. We are an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Mobile or Desktop?

December 16, 2019
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization

It has long been an article of faith that consumers turn to their mobile devices first, when they do local online searches. Whether it’s a dental practice or a dry cleaner, we use smart phones and tablets to find them. But a new study is calling this conventional wisdom into question.

Woman Using ComputerThe study by Ignite Visibility, a digital marketing agency, said that fifty-nine percent of their respondents still prefer searching on their desktop computers over a mobile device. Only 17.9 percent would rather tap on their phones.

Those numbers drop even more when it comes to using a voice search, like Siri or Google Assistant. Ignite Visiblity reports that a scant six percent use that feature.

These are surprising numbers, since the use of mobile devices in organic search engine visits has risen steadily since at least 2013. Voice search, too, continues to grow in popularity. Why is the Ignite Visiblity study showing a preference for desktop search? The answer may be in its demographics.

About five hundred people took part their survey. Of those, about ninety percent  were over fifty-five. “Less than 2% of respondents [in the Ignite Visibility study] were under age 35,” reports SearchEngineLand, which reviewed the survey. “It’s safe to say there are material differences between user behaviors of different generations.”

The importance of mobile devices to local search and purchases remains strong. Local businesses, including dental practices, must create websites that are optimized for smartphones and tablets. This should not be considered a luxury.

Voice search, too, continues to improve and has growing influence.

The digital marketplace is complex and ever-changing. ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Responding to Negative Reviews

November 1, 2019
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Online Reviews

Dentist wearing mask holding medical equipmentA negative online review can seem like a real slap in the face. You are a consumate professional committed to excellence, yet there it is for all the world to see: an unhappy patient griping about a bad experience while in your chair.

You might be tempted to shrug it off. You can’t please everyone, after all. But no one likes unfavorable comments, no matter how mild. Worse, negative reviews have the potential to damage your online reputation. They must not be ignored.

The New Word of Mouth

Online reviews have never been more important to the success of your practice, or to any small business, for that matter. They are the new word of mouth: most people turn to review sites before deciding how to part with their hard-earned dollars, and dental practices are not exempt.

Reputation management experts say that it’s important to reply to every online review you get. Needless to say, that can be very time-consuming, but you must consider the risk of not doing so.

Prompt Reply

Responding to online reviews shows your patients and potential patients that you are concerned, and that the experiences of your patients in your care matter. Replies do not need to be detailed: a simple thank-you to a positive comment is enough.

Negative reivews, on the other hand, need a little more thought. A prompt, reasoned reply to a harsh comment shows a willingness to address an issue. You can invite the reviewer to follow up with a private message, or even a phone call.

As we have said elsewhere on this blog, there can be benefits to negative reivews. Always keep in mind that your replies are there for anyone to see. Never take any negative review personally, and never respond in kind!

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ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Benefits to Bad Online Reviews?

October 14, 2019
Dental marketing, internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Online Reviews

The vast majority of people use online review sites when they’re looking for a new dentist, so it follows that the reviews they find carry a lot of weight. You might think  that positive reviews and five-star ratings are critical, and you wouldn’t be wrong. But you wouldn’te be entirely right, either.

Happy senior citizen having a casual small talk with the friendly doctor

Yes, when people go to Yelp, Google My Business, and similar review sites, they read the positive things your patients have to say. But they’re probably looking for negative reviews, too. Believe it or not, there are benefits to bad reviews.

Don’t Freak Out

If someone is checking you out online but doesn’t find any bad reviews in your profiles, it can be a real red flag. They are likely to wonder if all those good reviews genuine. We all know you can’t please everybody, and seeing a few bad reviews among the good ones presents a realistic overview.

It should be needless to say that you want good reviews to outweigh the bad ones. But a few bad reviews among the mostly favorable present a realistic, well-rounded image.

To put it another way: don’t freak out if you get a few negative online reviews!

Responding

It’s always tempting to respond to a negative review by telling the writer just how wrong he or she is. Do your best to avoid a shoot-from-the-hip response.

People actually like it when they see a reasoned response to a bad review: one that acknowledges the feedback and shows a desire to improve. A calm and thoughtful reply not only shows respect for the writer, it demonstrates your integrity.

None of this is easy, but you don’t have to go it alone. ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Your Online Presence

October 1, 2019
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing

For a dental practice, as for any small business, nothing can ever replace an in-person meeting with a patient or potential patient. Establishing a personal, face-to-face connection cannot be beat.

dentist-evaluate-smileBut the world doesn’t always work that way. Most people rely on the Internet when they look for a dentist. Your website is the face of your practice, the first impression that anyone will see of what your have to offer.

In a digital economy, you need to drive as much new traffic to your site as possible. More website traffic means better local search engine results, and that means more patients.

It wasn’t so long ago that a commercial website wasn’t much different than an online flier. They had the name of a practice, location, contact information, and maybe a list of services.

Today, a website is much more than that. They are a networking tool, and the means by which you entrench your practice in your community. Your patients can get directions, schedule an appointment, interact with your office via instant messaging, and even call you from the Google Knowledge Panel.

That means your online presence is essential for business growth. Patients and would-be patients give great credence to online reviews and testimonials, as well as search engine rankings. These combine to form your online reputation.

You need to engage your target audience, and the principal means of doing that is through your dental practice website. It is where you present a refined marketing message that answers their needs.

It isn’t easy, but there is always help. ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

What To Do With Negative Reviews

September 16, 2019
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Online Reviews

Good reviews from your patients can really help the profitability of your practice, and the more you have, the merrier. Unfortunately, it’s the dissatisfied patients who, for whatever reason, are the most likely to jump online and write a bad review.

Dentist Male_01Undoing the damage of negative reviews can be an uphill battle. Studies show that it takes about forty positive reviews to counteract a just one negative review!

Online Vendetta

There are known cases of orchestrated online attacks, in which a single user leaves a series of bad reviews in an effort to damage the online reputation of a business.

A writer described, on the SEMrush.com website, how he uncovered one such case. Using multiple profiles, this one user posted eighteen one-star Google My Business reviews of the same small business, all on the very same day.

For a while, it had the desired effect: within two weeks, the business’s GMB rating fell from a 4.5 rating to 2.8.

What To Do?

This was not an unprecedented situation, and if it happens to you there are ways of dealing with it.

In the case outlined above, the profiles and links to each negative review were documented and sent along to GMB Support. The names of the offending reviewers, links to profiles, and a note describing why it was being reported were included.

A GMB Product Expert looks at the negative reviews and determines whether further action is necessary. The entire process can take time and you’ll need to be patient. But persistence pays off, and fake negative reviews can successfully be removed.

It may be tempting to reply to negative reviews, but it isn’t a good idea. Chances are, replying would just escalate things. You’re much better off following procedure by flagging and reporting the fake reviews.

Need some help? ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

More Pictures!

September 2, 2019
internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Social Media

A picture, we have always been told, is worth a thousand words. But new research is telling us that lots of pictures, posted to your Google My Business profile, are worth even more.

apple-diet-healthy-eating-41282A study by BrightLocal, an SEO and local citation company, found that the more images a business has on its GMB profile – not just photographs, but any images – result in that business attracing many more prospects than it would have with fewer images.

The study looked at the GMB Insights of 45,000 businesses in three dozen industries and four countries. “It’s clear,” wrote BrightLocal’s Jamie Pitman, “that it’s more important than ever to look your absolute best when consumers are searching for businesses like yours.”

In other words, don’t just tell ’em what you’ve got – show them.

The study found that businesses with more than 100 GMB images get:

  • 520% more calls than the average business
  • 1,065% more website clicks
  • 2,717% more directions requests

The authors of the study concede that their research does not necessarily indicate a cause-and-effect between GMB profile images and new business. But they stress that GMB images do have an influence on customer behavior. The more images there are suggests the greater likelihood of taking customers “from discovery to conversion.”

The study recommends finding creative ways to encourage patients to post their own pictures. One suggestion is to create an “Instagram wall.” By that, they mean an area in your office that clients would find irresistable for using in selfies, like a model or mural.

The takeaway? Post lots and lots of great pictures of your practice to your GMB profile! That includes pictures that your customers are willing to share.

Need some help? ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Get It Right: Your Dental Website

August 2, 2019
internet dental marketing, Internet Marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Websites

Your dental website is a reflection of your practice, and serves several important functions. It’s a showcase of your services, and tells people how to find you. It also allows you to share your expertise. But above all, your website is how you convert visitors into new patients.

Creating the best possible site is essential to the success of your practice, so it’s critical that you get it right. How do you create an effective dental website?

Keep It Simple

Generally speaking, simple things are easier to understand. That is as true for websites as it is for anything else.

What do we mean by simple? In the case of your dental website, it should have a simple design and be easy to navigate. Its menu should be clear and concise. Remember this important fact: most site visitors decide whether they will use a site’s services within the first ten seconds of landing there.

Content

Website content is any text, photograph, and the audio and video files published there: the stuff your site visitors are looking for.

The content on your dental website should be clean and well-organized – in short, user friendly.

  • Clear headings and sub-headings. Headings and sub-headings make site content stand out, and tells visitors that something is important.
  • Well-defined categories. Don’t clutter your site with excessive information; you’re likely to lose visitors (i.e. potential new patients) if you do. Make it easy for them to find the information they’re looking for.
  • Organized. There is no need to re-invent the wheel, or the website. Have a standard placement for titles, menus, buttons, and links. Use sans serif fonts – a type of font that doesn’t use little ornaments (serifs) at the ends of certain characters. Sans serif fonts like Helvetic and Arial are easier to read than serif fonts like Times New Roman and Palatino, especially on a website.
  • Optimized for SEO. SEO, or search engine optimization, is how Internet users find you. Optimizing site content is a strategy to drive traffic to your webiste by using certain words (keywords) and title tags, to name just two, that attract search engines.

Visibility and Improvment

Your dental website should be simple, but it should also reflect the personality of your practice. That’s how you convince visitors to use what you have to offer.

ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm specializing in dental practices. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to help you reach key prospects who are looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

Bad Strategy: Review Manipulation

December 1, 2018
Dental marketing, internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Online Reviews

Whether you’re a dry cleaner or a dentist, you need positive online reviews from people who have used and liked your goods and services. The more of them you get, the better off you are: they help drive new business, and help you rank in Google search results.

The quest for more and better online reviews has led some businesses to try to manipulate the process: engaging in shady practices that, in the long run, do more harm than good. These practices include paying for positive reviews, offering incentives to customers, and recruiting friends or family members to leave you glowing reviews.

Bad ideas, one and all. Trying to influence online reviews with contests or other incentives is against Google’s Terms of Service. When any business does it, it is almost guaranteed to result in Google deleting the reviews. They could also be fined by the Federal Trade Commission.

It’s tempting to think Google won’t find out, but the chances are they will. Someone will turn you in. It might be an unhappy customer, a former employee, or one of your competitors. But someone is probably going to notice, understand it’s against the rules, and notify Google. It happens all the time.

Strategies that run afoul of Google policy include:

  • Review contests. This strategy enters reviewers into a contest. Google explicitly prohibits offering incentives – products, money, or other prizes – in exchange for reviews.
  • Offering free or discounted services. Google forbids businesses from offering reviewers discounts or free services for their reviews, even if it’s something inexpensive.
  • Review-gating. With this practice, a business takes customer reviews, but only the positive ones are posted online.
  • Review swaps. You review my business, I’ll review yours: that’s the basic idea. It may not be a deal with the devil, but it too is against Google’s TOS, which says clearly that reviews should reflect a genuine customer experience.

Each of these practices will result in some kind of penalty from Google, usually the deletion of the reviews in question.

Google, as a search engine, loves fresh content. This is one of important things about reviews, and why you should be seeking new and positive ones. It just needs to be done within the guidelines. As we described in a previous blog post, there are simple, effective techniques you can use to boost the quality and quantity of your Google reviews.

Getting your practice noticed by potential customers is an ongoing challenge, but you don’t have to do it alone. ProspectaMarketing is an Internet marketing firm specializing in helping dental practices reach their audience. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to reach key prospects looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

The Growing Importance of Google Reviews

November 15, 2018
Dental marketing, internet dental marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Online Reviews

When all is said and done, a dental practice is a business. Patients are really customers, and they want to find the best dentist they can.

How does anyone find a local business these days? You Google it and check out reviews. As it turns out, dental practices are among the businesses most likely to have a review on Google.

Google reviews is a feature that allows users to write their own reviews of local businesses. They appear, along with a star rating, in Google search results. Maybe it’s because everyone needs to see the dentist, but dental practices get more reviews than plumbers, more reviews than real estate agents, and more than lawyers. That’s according to a recent study by BrightLocal, the SEO and local citation platform.

Google is by far the most-used search engine on the Internet. That means the Google reviews your patients write, and the stars they award, are extremely powerful; they make a big difference in driving new traffic to your practice.

BrightLocal says that review signals are more important to local search rankings than ever before. “Review signals” is an umbrella term describing different aspects of a company’s review profile. The more positive reviews a business has, the better.

Most of us do at least some online shopping. Think about it: before  anything goes into your shopping cart, you read the reviews of other customers, or at very least check how many stars a product has. They can be the deciding factor whether you buy something or don’t.

It’s the same with Google reviews. They’re a modern word-of-mouth. The experience others have with local businesses has a big influence on spending habits. A restaurant with poor reviews, and only one or two stars, means you’ll probably dine somewhere else.

It all begs the question, what can a dental practice do to encourage more, and better, Google reviews?

Ask for them. The direct approach can work wonders. It’s okay to ask your patients to review your practice.

But you don’t want to ask a patient (whose mouth may be numb) for a review right after an appointment. Instead, send an email a few days later, thanking the patient for choosing your practice. Include a polite, no-pressure request for a Google review.

Show them how. Some of your patients may need a pointer or two on how to leave a Google review. It’s really quite simple. All they need to do is:

  • Log into their Google account.
  • Google your practice.
  • Click on “Write a review.” Write the review, select a star rating, and click the Submit link.

That’s all there is to it!

Remind them. After the initial request, it’s okay to remind someone to leave a review. Don’t do it right away. Give them a week or two, and send a follow-up reminder.

There is one very big caveat to asking patients for Google reviews: never offer them any incentives. For one thing, it isn’t ethical. More to the point, it’s against Google policy.

Getting your practice in front of potential customers isn’t easy, but you don’t have to do it on your own. ProspectaMarketing is an Internet marketing firm specializing in helping dental practices reach their audience. We use the tools of Internet search marketing to reach key prospects looking for what your practice has to offer. Our unique and thorough approach provides visibility, financial accountability, and ongoing refinement and improvement. You can find out more by contacting Lane Anderson toll-free at 1-877-322-4440 Ext 101, by email using the form on our Contact Us page, or online at ProspectaMarketing.com.

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See the BrightLocal report

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