The news from Google that they will not post 3rd party reviews (only links to them) has created concern for many dental practices that rely on local internet marketing. For some time now, we have always recommended having patient reviews directly in the search engines as well as using third party review sites. Now that these third party reviews have disappeared from Google Places (other than to have a link to them), it is important to have a strategy to get reviews posted directly in Google. During the past few weeks, we have discussed a variety of approaches with dental practices. Here are some strategies to consider.
• Some patient reminder systems for dental practices such as SmileReminder and DemandForce can automatically invite your patients to go into the search engines and write reviews after an office visit. This is a great way to keep a steady flow of reviews coming into the search engines, but there is a monthly cost.
• Send your own e-mails out to your patients with a link to your local listing. We can help you format an e-mail with links directly to your local listings where they can write a review. Give them some help with instructions. Contact us if you would like to some help formatting these e-mails.
• Use QR codes to help direct patients to your local listings using their smart phones. It will make it easy for them to find you, and they can use their smart phone to write a review and share their experience with others.
• Consider a simple reminder such as a business card with the address of your local listing on it that your patients can take home with them. Make is convenient.
Reviews are gaining more and more attention from consumers, and it is important to pay attention to this area of your marketing.