Get the most out of Internet Dental Marketing
If you are a dentist (GP or Specialist), you might have noticed by now that the number of patients checking Yellow Pages and calling you afterwards has drastically dropped. There are a few exceptions such as places with limited access to Internet.
Instead, it has been replaced by on-line channels such as Google, Yahoo, Yelp or other specialty directories. But what happens when patients go on-line and look for a dentist? How do they select the provider of their choice and how do they book an appointment? The following dental marketing tips will help you get a better grasp of the on-line behavior of patients:
- First and foremost, you need a website! But the era of just having something up and running is over. Besides having a beautiful, informative and engaging dental website that adds value to your patients, you need to make sure it will be viewed by enough prospective patients.
- You need engaging and reliable content on your website to educate your patients, before and after their treatment.
- You need to be at the top of the search engine results. When someone looks online, they rarely go beyond first page of Google, and most of the time they select one of the first three results. You need to be among them. SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is a series of techniques including on-page optimization, link building, setting up the proper analytic and submission tools such as Webmaster Tools, etc that help you improve your rank in search engines. The better Dental SEO you have, the more visitors you will have to your website.
- You need a Google Places Page. You have to build it and manage it constantly. In local searches, Google shows the results from Google Places and they are becoming more important every day.
- Build and manage your on-line listings on Yelp, Super Pages, Online Yellow Pages and other specialty directories. Patients check your reputation on-line in those channels.
- Build your reputation. You might want to ask your patients to spread the word.
- Sometimes there are negative reviews on-line; you might want to check on-line reputation management solutions.
- Engage in social media! Your patients are on Facebook; they use Twitter and LinkedIn and watch on-line videos. Be in those channels, be active and add value to them.
- Set up a blog and engage your patients with new updates on the practice, the area or the industry.
- Have an on-line newsletter and send it to your patients regularly. They deserve to be informed.
- Make videos and educational material and put them up on the internet and your YouTube Channel. You can ask Video Marketing experts to spread the word.
Being a dentist, your time is probably limited. You might need to have your front desk take care of some of these tasks or ask for professional help. The good thing about professionals is that they know their job and won’t waste your valuable time.
At “DDS Strategy” we help you with different dental practice marketing strategies to increase your patient base. Select Dental Online Marketing campaigns include Search Engine Optimization, Pay per Click Advertising, Email Marketing, Video Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Dental Blog posting and marketing and last but not least, Social Media Marketing and Management for Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Contact us today for more information on services and a free consultation session.
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