Tag: best dentist website

Dentist Marketing SEO Piece by Piece

Part 2: METADATA for DENTISTS

Please note: We do not look like the nerds in this photo. We are much cooler.

This is part two in our series on dental marketing SEO.

Another important factor is metadata, thought it’s not quite as important as dental website content and blogs. There are three primary components to metadata: title tag, description, and keywords. You’ll hear some techies say that keywords are not important, and to Google, they aren’t. However, keywords are important to Yahoo and Bing. Sure, Google has 65% of the search engine market, but if you can please all the search engines all the time, why not?

What is a title tag? This is like a page title.

In the code, it looks something like this: <title>Modern Dental Practice Marketing</title>.

Your title tag should have your main business name and location, if you provide local service (which most dentists do).

What is a meta description? A description is the text that shows up in a search engine results page. Read More

Rule #1: Everyone’s time is important, not just yours!

No Time to Say Hello, Goodbye, I’m Late, I’m Late, I’m Late!!!

Do you ever feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland?

We all have busy schedules, and sometimes we wake up early, go to bed late, and fill every free minute with work. It’s all part of investing yourself in your business. Today, communication is “easier” than ever; we have smart phones with email and texting; we have instant messenger; and we have social networking. While these tools make communicating more convenient, they can be a mixed blessing. If it’s easy for your patients, colleagues, contractors, employees, family, and friends to get in touch with you, you’re going to have a lot of people expecting your response.

When it comes to customer service, empathy for the client or patient is imperative. While your time is invaluable to you, theirs is also to them. Here are a few tips to help you stay on top of communication and keep everyone feeling special, without sacrificing all of your precious time:

On your website, don’t include your personal phone number or email address. Funnel calls through your office line. Hire an after-hours service so that a human handles calls when you are not in the office, or you can invest in an office cell phone and pay employees an on-call wage for answering calls after hours. If a caller has an emergency, the person answering the phone can use their best judgement for offering your cell phone number. As for emails, funnel them through a main office account. I recommend you set up a Google email account for the office, since Google never fails. Domain-based email can be a real headache. Read More

Focus on ROI: Internet Marketing that Works… and Doesn’t

Just like you keep up with dental technology, research, and techniques by reading industry journals, I make a point to read the latest information about Internet marketing, dental marketing, and marketing trends. For a long time now, I’ve blogged about social networking having poor return on investment (ROI). Sure, subscriptions and participation are free, but time is money, and to build a successful social networking presence, you must invest time. By successful, I mean a presence that has a following – not financial ROI.

In Entrepreneur Magazine online, an article titled “Finding Customers” tells us that social media is not bringing retailers many customers. A report by Forrester Research, “The State of Retailing Online 2011: Marketing, Social & Mobile” shows that retailers are not happy with the results of investing in social marketing, like Facebook and Twitter. Now I know dentists aren’t online retailers, but there is something to learn here. The benefits to social marketing are wrapped around improving brand awareness.

Just this week, I advised a wonderful client of mine that a custom Facebook page will look great, but it will not improve ROI. It may not bring any new patients to the practice. This does not mean that a custom Facebook page is a poor investment. You have to consider your goals. For a high-end cosmetic dental spa, brand awareness and perceived value of services is essential to maintaining high profits. In this case, a custom Facebook page may be well worth the monetary investment.

But if you’re looking for hard, cold cash as a return on your marketing investment, according to the aforementioned report, “A whopping 90 percent of online retailers said search-engine marketing was the most effective source used to acquire customers last year…” Well, that’s great news for dentists! Read More