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.

Keep It Fresh: Your Dental Website

July 1, 2019
internet dental marketing, Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Websites

The Internet has steadily evolved over the years, and still is evolving. And like the Internet, the tools we use to access it are contantly changing. That’s one of the main reasons why most businesses, including dental practices, redesign their websites from time to time.

There is no industry standard for when a site needs an upgrade. That said, a rule of thumb has emerged: commercial websites are typically redesigned every two to three years.

Redesigning a website may not be a very appealing idea. A lot of work goes into it. But it’s an important part of staying competitive. The simple fact is that many dental practice websites, if you’ll pardon the pun, tend to get a little long in the tooth.

Is It Time?

A website redesign may involve anything from updating some of its elements, to building an entirely new site from scratch. How do you know when the time has come?

If you have noticed any decline in new patients to your practice, your website may be underperforming. Or maybe your site is just plain old and stale-looking.

  • New Patients. The most important function of your site is bringing new patients in to your office. That means your site must give you high visibility. Potential new patients find you through search engines like Google, so the entire site must have content that is fully optimized for SEO, search engine optimization.
  • Easy Navigation. Your site must be well-designed, so that visitors can easily find their way around. They may be looking for some specific piece of information, and you want them to be able to find it. If you’ve got something people are looking for, like your experience with dental implants or teeth whitening, visitors should be able to find that in one or two clicks. If they can’t, your site does not have an effective design. Time to fix it.
  • Up-to-Date. Websites have plenty of links. Does yours have any that are obsolete? No one wants to click on something only to get a 404 page, or one that cannot be accessed on a mobile device.

Your website is the public face of your dental practice; in many ways, its heart and soul. Is yours doing what it should?

ProspectaMarketing is an experienced Internet marketing firm that specializes in dental practices. We use all of 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.

Video Content and Your Website

January 1, 2019
Dental marketing, Video, Websites

There is no denying the importance of video content on your website to raise its profile, and awareness of your dental practice among potential patients. A picture, after all, is worth a thousand words.

The simple fact is that most website visitors prefer video content over reading. It’s easier to consume, so it keeps people in their comfort zone. But it also builds trust, and resonates with them in ways that text cannot, evoking a greater emotional response by presenting human attributes like facial expressions and tone of voice.

Videos on digital platforms are expected to harness eighty percent of online traffic over the next year. YouTube is the second most popular social network after Facebook, and statistics that emerged about it in 2018 are remarkable. Consider:

  • Every month, six million hours of YouTube videos are watched
  • YouTube receives one billion unique visits monthly
  • Nearly one hundred hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute

There is no escaping the fact that video content is emerging as a dominant factor in digital marketing, for everything from dental practices to donut shops.

The tools for creating unique video content are probably within your reach at this very moment: that smartphone in your pocket. You can use it to create simple but informative videos to draw in new patients.

You don’t have a background in video production? Not to worry. Your site’s visitors are not as demanding as you might think, when it comes to the quality of your video. Sure, most like decent production values – but research shows they care more about the content of a website’s videos.

How much do they care about video content? Three of every four users who watched a website video explaining a product or service went on to try it. Explainer videos on your website’s landing page can significantly boost your conversion rates by helping visitors make informed decisions. That alone should be enough to convince anyone that video belongs in their marketing plan.

Integrating video content into your website may seem like a daunting challenge, but expert help is available. 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.

Keep It Fresh: Your Dental Website

November 1, 2018
Websites

You’ve long since established a website for your dental practice, and it does everything you need it to do. It introduces you to potential patients, showcases your skills and the procedures you offer, has your location and contact information, and has a blog and social media component.

You’re good to go, right?

Yes – and no.

Your site does what it needs to do, but is it producing results? Is it generating interest in your practice? Is that interest, measured by site traffic, bringing in new patients?

If the answer to either of these questions is no (or “I don’t know”), then it may be time to upgrade your site.

There are certain things that visitors expect from your website. Its appearance should be up-to-date. It should be easy to navigate. And perhaps most important, it should be mobile-friendly.

  • Appearance. Your site doesn’t need to be ground-breaking or trend-setting, but it should be modern. To put it plainly, if it looks old or outdated, visitors will assume that it is. An up-to-date appearance will gain their confidence.
  • Easy to navigate. Visitors should be able to see, at a glance, how they can find the information they seek. You’ve got a grace period of about five seconds. If visitors are unable to figure out where they need to go in that brief period, they’re going to lose interest and leave.
  • Mobile-friendly. People visit websites using everything from desktop computers to smart phones. As we have stressed before on this blog, the trend toward mobile is growing steadily, so your dental practice site has to look good and function properly on mobile devices. (It’s a strategy called mobile first.) If you haven’t designed your site for mobile devices, put that at very the top of your to-do list.

Content

Your website may meet all the above criteria. But is its content effective? If your site isn’t generating enough interest in your practice – too few leads, in marketing terms – improving its content with rewritten copy is often enough to correct that. In particular, better calls to action can address this issue. Get visitors to ask a question or make an appointment.

Are you giving it fresh content on a regular basis? This is a must. Search engines love fresh content. Fresh content, like a regularly updated blog, attracts them. Your site will be crawled and indexed more frequently, which helps to improve your search ranking.

Search engines may love fresh content, but your website, at least ostensibly, is meant for users. And guess what? Users love new content, too. It keeps them coming back. And the more they come back, the more likely they are to convert from site visitors to new patients, and the more likely they are to recommend your site – and your practice – to friends and family.

None of this is easy, but you don’t have to figure it all out yourself. ProspectaMarketing is an Internet marketing firm that helps 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.

Video Content And Your Website

July 13, 2018
Blogs, Dental marketing, internet dental marketing, Internet Marketing, Websites

News flash: no one uses the Yellow Pages anymore.

All right, so that isn’t exactly news. Those heavy old phone company listings have long since gone the way of the dinosaur. To find information about virtually anything, including local dental practices, everyone turns to search engines like Google. And that means the online presence of your dental practice is more important than ever before. In fact, it can make or break you.

The centerpiece of your online presence is your dental practice website. This is where you strut your stuff: you describe yourself and your team, the services your offer, and provide your office hours and location.

It is also where you share useful content that site visitors can access for free. This content is important, and it comes in several forms. One is your blog. If a site visitor finds something free and useful via your blog, you just might get a new patient.

Just as important as your blog, and maybe more so, is video. In fact, it can be integrated into your blog. Video is, across the board, the most popular form of content on the Internet. Studies show that website visitors spent up to 88% more time on a site if it contains video, and increases organic traffic from search engines by more than 150%.

What kind of videos can you incorporate for your own website? Draw on your expertise. You can go on camera to answer questions about dentistry, or about your staff and office. You can ask patients to describe some of the procedures they have undergone in your office, and their successful outcomes. Videos like this, inserted strategically throughout your site, are a compelling way to deliver your message.

They don’t need to be fancy, either. You don’t have to hire a movie crew – you can shoot them with your smartphone. Upload the finished videos to YouTube and embed them on your site. It won’t cost you a dime, and has great potential for bringing in new patients.

And who knows? Your video just might go viral!

You can keep up with these and other trends in dentistry with ProspectaMarketeing.  We specialize in using the Internet to find new patients for dental practices with a unique and thorough approach that provides visibility, financial accountability and ongoing refinement and improvement. To find out more, contact 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.

Finding Your Practice: Dentistry And Search Engines

March 30, 2018
Blogs, Dental Advertising, Dental marketing, Internet Marketing, Local Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Websites

The numbers are staggering: forty thousand times per second, three and a half billion times each day, 1.2 trillion times a year. That’s how often people navigate to Google and types in search terms.

More and more of these searches ask about local businesses: show me the auto mechanics in my town. Show me a tree pruning service. All the pizza places.

This is as true for health care as it is for everything else. Eighty-five percent of Internet users turn to search engines when they’re looking for dentists and doctors. An online presence is critical for any practice.

Search Engines Are Essential!

Your practice has a website, right? A practice website is one of the most vital marketing tools available, because potential new patients read them. If you don’t have one, they may never find you.

Your practice website must be user-friendly, and engaging to visitors. The goal is to convert them into new patients.

It also needs to be mobile device-friendly. Mobile devices – smart phones in particular – are the device of choice for many Internet users, especially younger ones. As recounted here in February, mobile devices were being used in more than 60% of dental searches by the end of 2017, and that is only likely to grow.

Optimize, Optimize

Moreover, your site must be properly optimized. Internet users tend to scan, whether they’re looking at Facebook or your practice’s website. And they prefer tiny bites. The content on your site should be broken into short paragraphs with headings and bullet points, with plenty of images.

Another thing about that content: with any Internet experience, people like to feel they’re getting something from it. Your site should have informative content that is free of jargon, and makes a connection with visitors.

Where Are You?

So how do Internet users find you online? The short answer is via search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. Your practice can have a unique listing on local search engine sites. Listings include basic contact information, and also a map showing your location.

There are step-by-step instructions for getting your practice listed on Google My Business, Yahoo Local, and Bing Local.

Properly marketing your dental practice is critical to any practice. It is also a discipline in and of itself. Prospecta Marketing specializes in using the Internet to find new patients for dental practices. To find out what Prospecta Marketing can do for you, contact 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 Importance Of Mobile Responsive Sites

We’ve all seen the websites. The ones you open on your phone and need to scroll over to finish reading a block of text. Or you need to zoom in to see small details. Or where some pictures just won’t work. Is your website mobile responsive?

Google made a change in their mobile ranking algorithm in April 2015 that penalizes websites that are not mobile responsive. Google also reported in October of 2015 that mobile search has now surpassed desktop search worldwide. In dental seMake Your Site Mobile Friendlyarches that are not quite as extensive as the overall average, that total is still growing rapidly and is often in the 35 – 45% range of the total traffic. By ensuring that your website is mobile responsive, it makes a world of difference for mobile users who want to find information on your site. Larger, easier to navigate text and easy to find contact information on your website can make the difference in a prospective patient selecting your practice rather than one down the street.

Whatever condition your practice’s website is in, get in touch with us and learn what we can do to help you grow your business. In addition to making your website’s SEO rich and mobile friendly, we have a host of tools available to track, report and maximize your data to help you have the best returns. Don’t let your website go the way of the dinosaurs. Talk to us today.

Site Speed a Factor in SEO at Google

April 21, 2010
, , , internet dental marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Websites

Google has announced that the speed with which the website loads has now officially become a factor in their rankings.  This is not a great surprise, nor is it likely to be a major factor right now for most websites.  They have been talking about it for some time.  However, it is now official.  Good to ensure that your website is loading quickly and allowing visitors to move around easily.  It has always been a good idea to make your website a good experience by ensuring that the site loads quickly.  Now it is even more important.

For more information, here is some insight from Matt Cutts at Google.  If you feel you might need a site tune-up, please contact us.

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