How to Use Your Facebook Personal/Professional Profile in Dental Marketing

A Livonia dentist who’s near and dear to my heart recently asked Jill how his business Facebook page could like or recommend another business, or photo, or person, or anything. Her answer was, options are very limited. You’ll have a lot more opportunity doing these things as a human, but as a professional. Here’s my advice for MDPM dental website clients – and any dentist who wants to make his mark on Facebook.

Don’t Let College Joe Ruin Joseph Q. Doe, DDS’ Reputation

I’ve seen both sides of the spectrum: dentists who like to post shirtless beach photos of themselves on Facebook, and those who think Facebook is the devil. Both profiles, and dentists who fall in between, need to create a human, or personal, Facebook page, dedicated exclusively to professional interactions. So, if you don’t have a Facebook profile, create one under your professional name. If you do have a profile you use for personal stuff, create another one dedicated to the professional you.

What to Post as a Professional

Relevance. That’s what it’s all about. You must relate to your professional connections on a personal level. That’s what social networking is – sharing information as a human, and participating in the lives and ideas of others. Do not use your professional Facebook profile for ads and special offers about your practice. Leave those posts for your business page. Instead, share some of your tasteful family photos, discuss community events, the school district’s success, and congratulate specific patients on promotions, new babies, marriages, and anniversaries. Be real, but be professional.

Step By Step

  1. First, log out of Facebook. Read More

Social Networking Not Working for Your SEO Rankings?

When Hummingbird, Google’s last big algorithm update, rolled out in the last quarter of 2013, businesses that were doing social media right finally received some well-deserved credit. The problem is, most businesses don’t do it right, or don’t do it at all.

A Short History on SEO Fools

Since the inception of Facebook Business Pages, perhaps before then, many business owners and marketing professionals have tried to fool the system. Humans crave the get rich quick opportunity. Many people selected SEO companies based on their results, and those SEOs that successfully tricked the system were the leaders. Google’s reputation as a great source of relevant, high-quality, information was at stake as irrelevant content moved to page one of search results, and Google’s gurus had to find a way to filter out irrelevant or low-quality information.

A good example of Google’s quality issue can be seen in how the company dealt with duplicate content. Until Google became hardcore about ranking sites with duplicate content lower than those with original text, online marketers tried all kinds of quick-fixes, like keyword stuffing—adding pages of gibberish with keywords to a website—and stealing text from competitors (which is also copyright infringement). Another sneaky, now outlawed, practice was to place keywords on a website in the same color font as the background, so they weren’t visible to consumers, but search spiders saw the words as relevant for indexing and ranking a webpage.

These tactics became known as black hat tactics. Just like the bad guys in the old west, SEO villains who stole rankings from honest businesses with integrity-based SEO strategies were deemed “the bad guys.” We, “the good guys” are the white-hat cowboys, who stand for justice, honesty, and all things good and beautiful—even in our business dealings, when profits are on the line. Ultimately, the good guys win. Read More

3 Website Tests for 2014 SEO Success

Is Your Website Build to Be Found in 2014?

“Page one of Google” is a moving target with changing factors. Smart businessmen and women are looking at their 2013 numbers and expenses, trying to determine what to change for the coming year. What tactics will improve profitability, patient numbers or number of customers, and visibility? Of course, we all want to be on page one of Google, but for what keywords? A solid SEO strategy requires time and effort. It also requires looking at what Google considers important. In today’s blog post, I’ll give you three things Google considers high priority, and I’ll explain how to tell if you’re compliant, what these things really mean for your business, and what they mean to Google. 

Compatibility with all screen sizes.

Two people. According to studies, one shops for services and products on his smartphone.

Is your website built to rank high in online search?

If you aren’t sure, test it out here: Responsive Site Tool.

  • What it means to your business: With half of your potential new patient base searching for your services online, you cannot afford to go another month without a responsive website design. MDPM Consulting builds all of our custom websites on a WordPress content management system, with completely responsive capabilities. Our designers actually build out the site design according to how it should look on desktops, tablets, and smartphones, prior to site development.
  • What it means to Google: When Google’s algorithm indexes your website’s code, it can determine whether your site is responsive. Those sites that are responsive get more credit in mobile search, because the site owners are providing Google’s search clients with what they need. Read More

Website Support Turn-Around Time

One of the most frustrating situations we hear about is when clients don’t see requested changes implemented on their website. Equally frustrating is when a site isn’t updated, and it slowly begins to not function properly across all devices. At MDPM, we don’t often hear these kinds of comments, because the procedures we follow are intended to streamline support, while maximizing website function.

What is Support?

After your website goes live on your domain, in addition to monitoring and making adjustments for search engine optimization, and also in addition to keeping the site live 24/7, you probably pay for “support.” The term “website support” refers to making changes to a site when they’re requested by the client. Support may involve adding a page to the website, removing old photos or adding new ones, or writing and posting biographical profiles for new employees. Support does not include changing design elements, like colors and fonts. It also doesn’t involve creating videos or new slideshows, or managing SEO. The latter tasks may involve an additional fee at the time service is rendered or a monthly fee, as is usually the case for SEO.

Why isn’t Design Included in Support?

A website is much different than a brochure. To edit the border and text area in a brochure, a designer simply clicks, adjusts, and voila! Done! On a website, the design and development process are very different. In fact, most designers are not great developers, and developers usually aren’t astute designers. The graphic designer, or artist, creates the look of a website in an art composition, long before the website is built. A program like Photoshop is often used for website design. During the design phase, the graphic designer can click and change all elements of the project. Once a client is pleased with the design, that artwork goes to a website developer, which you should think of as a website engineer. This skilled professional is more of a structural engineer – not an artist. Read More

Does Your Dental Website Wear Platform Shoes?

Websites age faster than cats. In fact, a three-year-old website can make potential patients believe that you’re still wearing a butterfly collar and platform shoes, and you believe lasers are science fiction. Every two years or so, dentists should budget for a website makeover. This means, every other year, you need to make sure that your marketing budget can accommodate website overhaul.

Trends in design, technological advances, and SEO changes can completely change in just 24 months, and to compete online, dentists must plan accordingly. The following list identifies 12 key reasons a dental website needs a makeover:

  • Your Site Looks Old – From color selection to layout, certain design elements can make a site look extremely dated. In turn, the image you’re sending to potential patients is that your office is dated – perhaps even your dentistry!
  • Your Site Contains Flash Files (instead of jQuery or HTML5) – Elements of motion look great on a website, and I suggest you use them. However, if your website has Flash files for motion, it needs to be rebuilt. Flash is bad for SEO and won’t render on any Apple device.
  • Text is Image-based, Not Live – When text is in images, Google and Bing can’t read it, therefore your website won’t get the SEO credit it should. The result is lower-than-desired rankings and traffic. Read More

Yelp Keeps Calling Me! What Do I Do?

First of all, do you have any idea what Yelp is selling?

In 2012, Yelp became a publicly traded company on the US stock market, so revenue is more important than ever. Today, about 70% of Yelp’s profit comes from paid advertisements, like those the company solicits you for by phone. Your listing at Yelp is free, so what do you need to pay for? Yelp offers local advertising on search engine results pages for a business’ location. The company can also add your information to your competitors’ Yelp listing (not search engines) and remove their advertisement from your Yelp listing. In addition, the paid services can include a slide show, call to action button, and video on your Yelp listing. Packages start at $300 and go up to about $1000 per month, according to Yelp’s advertising page.

Does your dental office need Yelp’s paid service?
As of January 2013, Yelp had over 100 million visitors per month, and about a third came from mobile searches. This sounds huge, right? Well, Google was pulling in 100 billion searches per month in late 2012. In July 2013, Bing claims to have had over 19 billion searches, and Bing is second to Google in the search market, so there’s no one in between. Yelp, however, is not a search engine – it’s a review site, like CitySearch. Google has a review site, Google+ Local, and then there’s Yelp. There are also industry-related review sites, like the government-based HealthGrades.com, and paid review sites like Demandforce and Rate a Dentist. Angie’s List also comes to mind. There is no unbiased research to tell us how many people search for dentists on any particular review site, so we have to make informed decisions based on our best judgement. Enter the statistics… Read More

Google Alerts: Look Who’s Talking

Have you ever wondered who’s talking about you, and your dental practice, online? You might have googled your name to see where and how often you show up in search results. Oftentimes, however, dentists aren’t aware of being mentioned by a patient, in a social media post or online review. While it isn’t foolproof, Google Alerts is a tool that can let you know who’s talking about you on the Internet.

How Alerts Work

Google Alerts will send you an email, in real time, daily, or weekly, with links to where your name was mentioned online. If your name is posted on any page that’s indexed by Google, you should receive an email alert. Like I said, it’s not foolproof, and not everything online is followed by Google’s robots. For instance, pages with a “no follow” tag in the code are not indexed.

How to Get Alerts

First, you need a fee GMail account. If you don’t have one, get one now. The logins you use for your Gmail account will allow you access to Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, Google+, YouTube, and all other Google-owned applications. Once you’re inside your Gmail dashboard, click “More” on the top of the page, in the navigation. From the dropdown list, choose “Even More.” You’ll land on a page with all of Google’s cool applications. Scroll down to the category “Specialized Search,” and select the bell icon next to “Alerts.” Read More

10 Tips for Promoting Your Dental Office

Since the big bang of cosmetic dentistry has begun to falter, many dentists are left in a marketing void. How can a cosmetic dentist transfer back into doing a lot of bread-and-butter, general dentistry? Perhaps you’ve invested a lot of time and money into marketing cosmetics, only to find that the trend became commonplace. While you may have extensive training and a great before-and-after gallery, most consumers believe that all dentistry should be cosmetic these days. The upper middle class public is well versed in the top cosmetic dental procedures, like teeth whitening, veneers, and invisible orthodontics. Now, your cosmetic practice has to compete with other cosmetic dentists, as well as all general dentists. Don’t worry. I have 10 tips that, if you follow them, will keep the calls coming, the chairs filled, and the bills paid.

  1. Branding & Signage: If your sign says “cosmetic dentist,” that’s exactly what people think you are. Add “and general” to your description, and consider including “family dentist,” if the term applies. See more about dental logos here. 
  2. Website: Your website should reflect your image and appeal to your target market. A template site without a strategy won’t do much good. You need a website that sets you apart from other dentists, and that site should be well optimized for search and mobile compatible. Learn more about dental websites here. 
  3. Blog: Google’s experts say that there’s no excuse for a business not blogging. Today, blogs are an essential component of competitive online marketing and search engine optimization. Read about dental blogs here.
  4. Social Media: All businesses need a presence on Facebook. Not only will it help with SEO, but a Facebook profile makes a dentist seem more technically up to date. Image is important! Find out more about social media marketing here. 
  5. Articles & PR: Articles and press releases about your practice, services, events, and new employees can become a strategic part of an online marketing campaign. Gone are the days when press releases had to be peddled to newspapers and radio stations. Today, articles and press releases help with SEO. Read about content marketing here. 
  6. Eblasts/Newsletters: Keeping a patient costs a lot less than replacing one. In addition, word-of-mouth (or word-of-mouse) marketing is the most economical and rewarding type of advertising. A monthly e-blast or newsletter will allow your brand to remain in your patients’ minds between their visits. Electronic reminders also provide a digital tool for quick and easy word-of-mouse marketing. Eblasts can be emailed or posted to Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn with the click of a button. We create newsletters and eblasts – learn more here.
  7. Ask for Referrals: Don’t forget to ask your patients for referrals. Find the phrasing that you feel comfortable using, and start telling your returning patients that you want to take care of their friends, family, and coworkers.
  8. Testimonials: In the past, a written note card of thanks from a patient made staff and dentist feel like they did a good job. Today, online testimonials, like those posted on Yelp and Google+ Local, can significantly help SEO and rankings. If you don’t have a plan in place to acquire patient testimonials, it’s worth your time to create one. A few good reviews could score you page-one rankings.
  9. Videos: Videos are a great way to show off your office, staff, technology, and personality. Video patient testimonials are also impressive. But if you take the time to create videos, don’t forget to optimize them so that they show up in Google search results. Videos need a keyword-rich script behind them so that they can become an active part of your SEO strategy.
  10. Photos: A picture’s worth a thousand words, they say. With dentistry, it’s true. Before-and-after photos, smiling patients, happy staff, and a clean, welcoming office can all be conveyed in photos. Make sure that your website, blog, and Facebook page are well peppered with your original photographs – not just stock images. Technology is great, but the heart of dentistry is personal – it’s about people. Photos can convey that you still believe, people come first.

To learn more about building a thriving practice in a waning market, call MDPM Consulting today for a free marketing analysis. Jill, our CEO and  seasoned dental marketing consultant, will be happy to answer all of your questions. Our team will analyze your online presence, interview you about your current and past marketing, as well as your target market, then create a practical success plan with measurable goals. Call today: 972-781-8861, or email info@moderndentalmarketing.com.

Social Media and SEO in Dental Marketing

While MDPM Consulting does condone the use of social media in dental marketing, and we even offer an ebook on the topic, we don’t believe that social media should be the focus of a dental marketing strategy. Much like printing a brochure or running ads in a publication, social media marketing is just one element that can be integrated into a larger, full-scale dental marketing program.

If you’re interested in learning the latest about social media marketing, I recommend you subscribe to www.socialmediaexaminer.com. If you listen to the podcasts and read the blog, you’ll learn how to engage with your potential and current patients through social forums, like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. Read More

How to Get More Patient Testimonials

Inspirational speaker Zig Ziglar said, “When obstacles arise, you change your direction to reach your goal; you do not change your decision to get there.” Though his hay day was during the 90s, Zig’s words still ring true. Dentists in private practice are also business owners, and marketing is an essential part of their success.

Keep an Eye on Your Reviews

Yellow Pages advertisements and direct mail are no longer the leaders in dental practice marketing. We now have Internet marketing and search engine optimization to understand. Even more recent, online reviews (aka patient testimonials) have entered the picture. Many dentists are shocked to find negative online reviews, sometimes from people they never saw or treated. I have seen defamatory reviews that refer to a dentist as a “mouth rapist,” and others posted by people who didn’t like the way the office phone was answered. Disgruntled patients sometimes don’t want to pay their dental bill, so they vent frustrations in a scathing online review.

Studies tell us, 70% of web users believe what they read online from other consumers,

so your online reputation is important.

Rarely can a dentist get a negative review removed by a patient — or the website on which the review is published. In fact, many dentists have lost lawsuits trying to clear their name and regain their good online reputation. If you find a negative online review, the best way to address it is to first post a level-headed reply, backed by facts and steeped in compassion. If you are not a talented writer, enlist the assistance of a professional writer. Read More