When you visit any online review site you’ll find reviews for every type of business, from plumbers to dry cleaners.
You’ll find lots of dentists and doctors, too. Health care providers are among the most-reviewed businesses on the Internet.
Online reviews relate directly to the success of a practice, because most patients or would-be patients decide whether to try one based on the reviews they find. A practice with lots of good reviews will always be the first choice. Studies have shown, time and again, that most people give as much weight to online reviews as they do to personal recommendations.
The reviews your practice gets, and that includes any star ratings, affect your website’s click-through rate (CTR). Click-through-rate is a measure of how many people click on the link to your website when it comes up in search results. More people visiting your site means more of them becoming your patients.
Good reviews and multiple stars equal high CTRs. Research has shown that businesses that improve their star ratings get a big boost in clicks – up to twenty-five percent more when they go from three-star to five-star ratings.
Another study compared the reviews and star ratings for dental practices during periods when they were not using reputation management, against periods when they were. Positive reviews and overall star ratings increased significantly during the time that practices used reputation management.
Manage Your Reputation
A critical step in managing your practice’s online reputation is establishing an account on online review sites and local online directories. This is known as a local business listing.
A local business listing is how potential patients in your area find you. Among other things it includes the physical address of your practice, a phone number, and its location on a map.
There are certain healthcare-specific review sites where your practice must be listed, such as Vitals and HealthGrades. Other important sites include Google My Business and Yelp.
Professional guidance will always get you the best results. ProspectaMarketing is an Internet marketing firm that specializes in helping dental practices reach their audience. 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.