A lot of dental practice websites are changing. They are moving away from dark backgrounds and static content into mobile-ready formats with changing promotions, news briefs and images. A growing number have WordPress blogs associated with them, and dentists are using these blogs and their website pages to showcase knowledge, opinions, explainer videos, personality, and achievements in an increasing variety of styles.
Why? Dentist Practices want to stand out as individuals and attract clients who want them, not just any local dentist. Personally, I think they have always wanted to do this but didn’t always have the time, means or sense of social acceptance. Now they have the tools and services at their disposal…affordable designers, copywriters, AdWords and SEO experts who are also trending towards highly customized content.
Because dentists and their marketing service providers must customize to compete and flourish, everyone is getting better at communications that make a genuine statement and fulfill a genuine need. We are all getting better at helping those consumers who are reaching out to find the type of health providers they seek. It was seeking innovative and more effective ways to help new patients find their clients that brought the Dentist Profit Systems team together in the first place.
Amol Nirgudkar and Mike Speissbach were on the cutting edge of learning what was happening inside Google and on the Internet. They were also on the cutting edge of tracking analytics for their clients that demonstrated what worked and what didn’t. I happened to be a dentist ghostwriter who came on their radar a year ago and has been joyfully working on highly customized content honed by their analytic feedback.
I can say first hand that when the websites you help create are really doing what they are designed to do, the satisfaction is enormous…but I have digressed.
HOW TO POINTERS for attracting and engaging patients with your DENTIST WEBSITE:
Be Mobile Ready — Your dental website must be designed for excellent viewing on mobile devices. Key messages need to pop at the top. You are crafting for briefer, smaller viewing and text that flows without hard line breaks.
Use Your Landing Page for Branding & Directing Traffic — On small viewing displays, provide clearly visible links to your primary/most-trafficked pages. The landing page links can be images, paragraphs, or short descriptive phrases that are immediately meaningful to the viewer. On your home landing page, you will, of course, provide menus to biographical information, services, new patient information, practice forms, and your contact information, but focus this page on a key messages, images and links that speaks volumes about you, the services your neighbors seek most, and the expertise for which you want to be known as the “go to” dentist.
Invest in Stand Out Images — Images speak volumes. Strategically they are worth the investment. Get them right and link every one of them to content inside your website. Your website graphics, logo, practice signage, etc., need to be congruent, and sometimes refreshed. If you have to pay for new designs and stock images to get the right look, do not shy away from this. Because images engage, use images liberally. Some studies indicate that short captions written boldly on top of images, engage the reader best. We intuit that and love that ourselves, don’t we? That’s why all of us receive a steady flow of message images from Facebook friends. If you are marketing smile makeovers, dental implants, orthodontics and/or exquisite restorations, then provide many samples of restored smiles and close-ups.
Know Yourself — On which services do you want to focus? Where do you excel? What words and images do your community members associate with these services and skills? Make sure these are showcased and search engines will find them.
Know Your Community — Based on local demographics, what will most new patients be seeking? What do they care about most? What questions do they want answered? What words will they be using when they seek information? Use their phrases and answer their queries not only so search engines find you, but also so you engage these prospective patients.
Consumers Like Video — Use video to present yourself and your team so prospective clients feel they know you and that you are approachable before they call. Use explainer videos to make patients who are interested in higher value procedures such as dental implants and smile makeovers realize how doable they are. Video helps them envision how these services will improve quality of life. The majority of dental patients want to know about procedures. Your website is a start, and face-to-face conversations will continue their education. Video not only helps validate your expertise but also the consumer’s desire for treatment.
Consumers Seek Value — Make statements that demonstrate you provide value. These should be values that both you and the patients you want feel good about. Which should pop out to brand your practice? Improved health and quality of life… personal integrity… compassion… successful long-term results… personalized attention… affordable quality… demonstrated expertise… long-term relationships of trust… respect for time… problem resolution… ?
Consumers Seek Personal Attention – You can engage interest with adjectives that indicate you care about your patients as individuals and spend personal time with them. Later you can re-engage them again and again by delivering on that promise.
Put Spotlight on Incentives — Do not be afraid to put promotions for services you know are in top demand at the top of the page. They want it… you’ve got it.
Optimize for Search Engines — Unless someone is looking for you by name, your content needs to be optimized for search engines to put you at the top of the list. Today’s search engine algorithms funnel online consumers based on the type of inquiry and phrases they use. This means you want to stand out but you also want to use the same phraseology and answer the questions your local community of consumers has a great tendency to ask when searching online. Professional dentist marketers like Mike Speissbach have dedicated their careers to excelling in this and can tie AdWords Campaigns with your website to boost your traffic.
Include a Blog – Why not be newsworthy and interesting? When I advocate being newsworthy, I don’t mean the news always has to be about you. Sure, an occasional press release is nice to brand your reputation as a community-involved and leading dentist, but news can take a different twist. Via your blog, you can be an advocate for health and provide op-ed content that links to health related articles in the wider Science and News media. Continuously add interesting information — an article or two every month, and let your patients of record know you are blogging. I’m an advocate for opinion pieces that reveal your deepest concerns and make you stand out. Why not blog about why you want to partner with your patients to improve their health? Why not blog about what is most meaningful to you in your life as a dentist?
Moderate Technical Detail – You may be an expert and mentor to colleagues, but don’t go overboard with highly technical details when describing your services and answering frequently asked questions. When patients are in your presence you should take time to explain what you are doing or proposing to do with their permission, even simple procedures, because they truly are interested. It’s in that personal context that you can gauge the best ways to communicate with each person as an individual. On your website, be cautious about lengthy clinical descriptions that can fatigue the reader and imagery that can create emotional obstacles to treatment. Sometimes less is more. Sometimes the medium ground is best. It depends on the question being answered and the audience you are strategically targeting.
ADVICE FOR DENTISTS RE-EVALUATING THEIR WEBSITES
Your “Dentist Website” is just one medium you have to attract new business and re-engage clients, but it is an important one. We prefer the term “dentist website” over “dental website” because your website brands YOU as a standout dentist more than any other digital presence.
Because technology is always changing, there are reasons why dentists need to update their websites and stay ahead of the pack when it comes to reputation branding and standing out. Don’t be afraid of Google Analytics. You’ll learn important information about your website traffic and where visitors are spending time reading. A website audit every years is a good idea.
Don’t be overwhelmed if it seems you need a total website refresh every two years. Just as dental technology, materials and methods are always improving, consumer research technology and marketing expectations are ever changing. There are experts who can help you stand out and engage the patients you want.
Members of your community are seeking your services every day, and they do it online, from just about any location and on just about every digital device. They expect professional practices to showcase their services, location, core values, and distinguishing attributes. They want answers to whatever burning questions are on their minds. Those questions could be in reaction to experiences they had elsewhere. They could be related to a diagnosed or suspected condition. They could be related to the healthcare needs of their entire family. The potential is vast.
This means you have many angles from which to attract new patients and re-engage existing ones. You can be innovative and unique in how you present yourself. My final advice is twofold:
1. Showcase the values and services that are most pleasing to you so the online consumers that match you best will have opportunities to find you.
2. Employ a strategic dentist marketing partner who knows how to create a website that will show up and stand out on any digital device, every time a consumer in your community is seeking your attributes, services, values and expertise.
Dentist Profit Systems will be happy to provide a free audit of your website, online competition and community demographics. Just go to Why Contact Us on our website and reach out. Dentist Profit Systems will be happy to talk about how to revitalize and brand your uniquely special dentist website.
Please visit our blog continually for more posts on dental practice websites, view dental website examples in our portfolio, and view our custom dental website design services.
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