Marketing Strategy

How Long Does Dental SEO Take to Produce Results

December 19, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

Many dentists have unrealistic expectations from SEO which often leaves them disappointed when they do not see immediate improvement in their website traffic. This is partly down to lack of SEO knowledge and partly due to false advertising by some SEO companies that guarantee to rank your website in X days. In this post we attempt to answer one of the most common SEO questions posed by dentists – How long will it take to see results from SEO?

Unrealistic SEO Results

SEO produces a nonlinear improvement in search traffic over time as illustrated in the diagram above. It is unrealistic to expect continuous improvement in website traffic starting from day 1 of your SEO campaign. SEO is a long term investment into your website and therefore you must set your expectations accordingly. If you need new patients quickly, SEO is the wrong choice and you should look into PPC advertising.

Why are SEO Results Nonlinear

It is important for dentists to understand how a typical SEO campaign progresses and why it produces nonlinear results.

SEO Work Takes Effect Only After Google Updates its Index

Any onsite changes, new pages published, inbound links built do not improve your website’s ranking till Google has crawled those pages and updated their index. Nobody can control the crawl rate, depth and frequency of their website and back-links pointing to it as Google explains on their search console help

“Our crawl process is algorithmic; computer programs determine which sites to crawl, how often, and how many pages to fetch from each site.”

This means that after making SEO improvements you have to wait until those changes have been indexed before you see any improvement in ranking and traffic. This is why it takes 1-3 months of SEO work before you can see any improvement traffic.

Click Through Rate of Organic Listings is Nonlinear

Most people who search on google do not go past the first page and click a result or ad on the first page. In fact majority of traffic goes to the top 5 spots. A 2014 study done by Advanced Web Ranking revealed that on average, 71.33% of searches result in a page one organic click. Page two and three get only 5.59% of the clicks. On the first page alone, the first 5 results account for 67.60% of all the clicks and the results from 6 to 10 account for only 3.73%.

This means that improving your website ranking from page 10 to page 2 will not give any traffic increase even though it takes up a lot of SEO work and sweat. At the same time, just moving your website from 3rd spot to 1st spot in organic results will triple your traffic from that keywords. This explains why SEO traffic improves very slowly (as your website moves up to page 1) and then experience a sudden increase (as your website moves up from bottom of page 1 to the top).

Conclusion

I hope this post has helped you understand the dynamics of SEO and why you cannot expect immediate, continuous improvement in organic search traffic. If you have any questions or want to discuss SEO for your dental office, please request a free consultation.

How to Create a Killer Discount Offer for Your Dental Office

December 13, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

Discount offers are a great way to attract new patients to your dental practice but most dentists do not give enough thought when creating a discount offer. The aim for any discount coupon is to get a higher volume of patients visiting your office. This means your special offer must be attractive enough to compel prospective patients to make an appointment. In this post we discuss some ways to make your special offers more effective.

Limited Time

An easy way to get people to take action is to limit your discount for a specific time like a certain date or number of days. This means that prospective patients who do not take immediate action risk losing the discount forever and which is exactly why this technique is so effective in getting more people to book an appointment. By not binding the offer to a specific date or time you are saying that the discount is will be available for the foreseeable future leaving no incentive for a potential patient to take immediate action.

Limited Number

Similar to limited time offers, you can limit your discount offer to the first 10/20/30 patients. This again creates a sense of urgency among prospective patients because if they hesitate somebody else could claim the offer in their place. The great thing about this offer is that you do not have to specify any time frame and so the coupon/offer can be reused over and over again.

Packages/Bundles

Packaging or bundling related treatment procedures together with a discount can be very effective in getting patients to make an appointment. The most common of these offers is “$X for Dental Exam, X-ray and Cleaning” which every other dentist is offering nowadays. Similarly, you can combine other procedures together to create more offers e.g. crown + implant or Invisalign + teeth whitening.

Minimum Spend

A percentage discount on minimum spend works on group discount situations like families and group of friends/colleagues. This offer encourages people to spend a minimum amount at your dental office and get a fixed percentage off. This would be a very attractive offer for a family with 3 kids all of whom need some work done before the school reopens or holidays begin etc.

The next time you are creating a discount coupon for your dental office, consider using one of the above techniques to make your special offer more effective.

3 Online Marketing Ideas to Get New Dental Patients Fast!

December 12, 2015 by admin 1 Comment

Are you in a hurry to increase your patient base? Are you fed up of being lied to about dental marketing? If the answer is yes, then this post is jut for you. Online advertising is one of the fastest ways to get more dental patients. Unlike offline advertising like radio, TV or direct mail, online advertising offers a better ROI in a shorter period of time. Another great thing about advertising on the we is that most ad networks will charge per click and therefore it is often called pay per click or ppc advertising. In this post we describe how you can utilize 3 of the biggest online PPC advertising networks to get new dental patients fast.

Google Adwords

Google is by far the most popular search engine and also has the biggest online advertising platform called Google Adwords. It offers both search and display advertising options. If you want new dental patients quickly, you must try search advertising and ignore display advertising – at least in the beginning. Search advertising is one of the most effective ways of generating dental appointments by showing your ad to local residents searching for dentists on Google.

Using the free Google keyword tool you can quickly check how many people searched for dentists and dental procedures during the past 12 months which will give you an idea if there is enough demand for your dental service in your local area. Try searching for a ‘dentist [insert your city/town name]’ and look at the search results. If you see ads from other dentists then it is a clear indication they are getting dental patients from Google Adwords. Therefore you should also start advertising to get your ad up there to start attracting new dental patients.

Bing Ads

Similar to Google, Bing has its own advertising platform called Bing Ads. It serves ads on both Bing and Yahoo search results helping Bing Ads reach approximately 1/3 rd of all searchers in USA. While this may not sound like a lot, you can still get enough search volume for your dental services specially if your office is located in a densely populated area. You can easily check the estimated monthly search volume (number of searches made in a give period) for the dental procedures and treatments you offer using the bing ads keyword research tool. If you find there is enough search volume then go ahead and launch a search advertising campaign in Bing Ads to show your ad to prospective dental patients.

Facebook Ads

Facebook is one of the most popular websites in the world and over 70% of online adults use facebook. This offers a huge opportunity to get your message across to users who might be interested in dental work. In Facebook ads you do not have keywords to tell you who is looking for dentist but instead you have to use likes, interests and demographic data to target audiences that may be most interested in getting a dental procedure done. In addition you have to create an offer to grab attention of the users and compel them to take action since most users on Facebook are there to have fun and don’t want ads distracting them. For e.g. you could target single moms who have liked the facebook page for Dental Dental (or another insurance your dental office accepts) with an offer of discounted teeth whitening. By testing different offers with different audiences you can quickly find a few winning combinations before scaling them up to generate new patient appointments consistently.

If you are interested online PPC advertising with any or all of the above platforms and need expert advice and assistance, don’t forget to request a free consultation!

13 Discount Offer Ideas to Promote Your Dental Office

December 3, 2015 by admin 1 Comment

Special offers are a great way of attracting new dental patients. However, in order to stand out from the crowd you must come up with something different from the other dentist specials in your area. In this post we discuss 15 special offers you can use to acquire more dental patients and increase production.

Free Consultation

A free case evaluation or consultation is a simple but very effective offer. If you are a start-up dental practice and have more time than money, then start offering free consultations to get more new patients. You can also combine this offer with high value procedures like Invisalign braces.

Free Teeth Whiting

This is the most popular discount offer and virtually every other dentist offers some kind of heavily discounted teeth whitening. Some dentists even offer free whitening for life with high value procedures like dental implants. In fact, this offer is best used as a free add-on.

Discount Dental Exam, Cleaning and X-Ray

This is another overused discount offer that has lost it’s effectiveness simply because every other dentists is offering it. If you are just starting your dental office, you may want to join the crowd but do not expect to get much traction.

Promotional Discount on Specific Procedures

If you want to grow your patient base for a certain type of treatment procedures eg. emergencies, implants, braces, dentures etc. then you can try offering a discount on specific procedure. This will attract patients who have already been diagnosed and recommended a specific procedure and are now comparison shopping for the best price.

Patient Referral Discount

Every dental office should have a patient referral program. In order to get more referrals from your existing patients, you can reward them a nice discount on their next dental appointment.

Group/Family Discount

Similar to patient referrals, you can give discounts to patients that visit your office in a group. That could be a group of college friends or work colleagues. You can also extend this discount offer to attract families with children.

Back To School Discounts

If you run a kids dentistry or accept pediatric cases then January and August present a great opportunity to attract more families kids to your dental practice by offering a back to school offer like free exam and discounted cleaning. This offer will give your office production a nice boost at least twice a year.

Student Discount

Is your dental office located near a school, college or university? If the answer is yes then you must test some student discount offers. These offers can be done in collaboration with the school/college or you could create a group discount for students.

Senior Discount

If your office is located in a retirement destination or a neighborhood dominated by seniors, you can introduce a senior discount aimed at attracting older patients.

Veterans Discount

Is your dental office located near a military base or a neighborhood dominated by retired veterans? You can take advantage of this situation by offering discounts to military vets.

Advance Payment Discount

Cash flow can be difficult to manage sometimes so what better then encouraging your patients to pay upfront. You can do exactly that by offering a discount on upfront payments. While this may not bring many new patients, it will help improve your cash-flow.

Loyalty Discount offers

Good dental practice management demands that you reward existing patients regularly to improve patient retention. A loyalty discount offer or card is a great way to improve patient retention and encourage repeat visits from long time patients.

Dental Plan Discounts

Another way to improve cash-flow of your dental practice is to introduce an in-house dental plan. In order to encourage more patients to buy your annual dental plan, you can offer large discounts on expensive dental treatments to make them more affordable for your dental plan members.

As you can see from the list above, creating special offers is not rocket science. Just a little bit of creativity goes a long way in making your discount offer stand out from the crowd and grab the attention of prospective dental patients. I hope this list will help your imagination going and so you can come up with a great offer to attract more patients to your dental practice.

Dental Practice Marketing: DIY vs Professional Help

November 28, 2015 by admin Leave a Comment

As a dentist you need new patients to grow your practice and to get new patients you have to promote your dental services to the local residents. You can manage your marketing campaigns in-house or hire a dental marketing company. You can also manage only some aspects of the campaign yourself and outsource other aspects to freelance designers and marketing consultants. All 3 approaches have their benefits and drawbacks so lets discuss each of the 3 in detail.

Do-It-Yourself

This is the most straight forward method and also the cheapest if you know what you are doing. Most dentists do not have any formal marketing education so there is an issue of lack of expertise as well. If you want to market your dental office yourself, the first thing you should do is take some courses on dental marketing and practice management. This will help you avoid rookie advertising and sales mistakes and so you can make better use of your marketing budget to grow your dental practice.

The main advantage of doing your own marketing is that you are in control of all aspects of your campaign. Nobody knows your patients and treatment procedures better than yourself and therefore you have a distinct advantage over marketing companies and consultants. However, most DIY marketing are still not very successful because dentists are too busy with their patients to give due time and attention to their marketing campaigns. Another major reason for failure is the lack of marketing education and expertise among dentists. Consequently they fail to track, analyze and optimize the ROI of their advertising and promotional campaigns like a professional agency would.

Hiring a Dental Marketing Company

Since most dentists do not have the time or expertise to handle their own marketing, they usually turn to dental marketing firms for help. There many dental marketing companies out there offering a range of different service including, online, SEO, direct mail, billboard and full service marketing. It is better to hire a marketing company that specializes in a particular type of marketing like dental SEO or dental post card as they will be able to offer better rates and usually a better marketing ROI than a do-it-all agency.

The benefit of having a marketing company promote your dental office, is that you save time and have experts handling your marketing. You just have to monitor their ROI, and if the company doesn’t provide satisfactory ROI you just fire them and find a better one. Make sure you do not sign a long term contract with any agency until they have proven mettle by providing consistently good results over several months.

Using Freelance Consultants

You can look at this option as a combination of the 2 options above. As a dentist running your own practice you meet and talk to patients every day. You know their issues, fears and desires better than any marketing person. Therefore, you are in the best position to create and manage an effective marketing campaign. However, you don’t have the time nor the technical expertise to execute your marketing strategy. This is where freelance designers, developers, copywriters, videographers and SEOs come in. Let’s say you have researched and shortlisted 10 keywords you want to rank for. You find an SEO to do it for you and monitor their progress. Or you have surveyed your patients and come up with a special discount on dental implants. You hire a freelance designer and copywriter to design a postcard for this offer. Then you simple get them printed in the required quantity and use Fedex to deliver these postcards in your target zip codes.

In short, you create your in-house marketing department comprised of contract based workers who provide on demand services if and when you need them. You can even hire a marketing consultant to discuss various marketing strategies and create a marketing plan for you dental office. You can then review it every few months to make sure you are executing the plan correctly and improve it if necessary.

Depending on your budget, marketing expertise and time availability, you can select one of the above approaches to promote your dental office. In case you decide to hire a dental marketing company, please do not hesitate to contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation.

29 Dental Office Amenities to Attract More Patients

November 27, 2015 by admin 1 Comment

Most people are not fond of dental offices and only visit a dentist because of necessity. Dental office amenities are an easy way to attract more patients to your practice by distinguishing it from other dentists in your neighbourhood. They also improve patient comfort and satisfaction encouraging more repeat visits and higher patient retention. In that sense, dental amenities are an important aspect of good dental practice management. Given below is a list of amenities you can add to your dental office.

Snacks

Snacks help patients refuel after a long commute or hectic work day while they wait for they wait for their appointment. Many patients skip breakfast/lunch to make the visit, specially on weekdays and a free snack would be a very welcome addition for them.

Cookies
Chewing Gum
Chew Mints

Dental Office Snack Bar — Snack Bar at Fieldman Smiles Othodontics

Drinks

Drinks help patients replenish and relax on a hot afternoon while they wait for they wait for their appointment. Water is a must have but you can change the selection of drinks based on the season.

Bottled water
Coffee Bar
Juice Bar

Comfort

Patient comfort is the top most priority of any dental office and the following amenities will help your dental patients relax before, during and after the treatment.

Aromatherapy
Paraffin Wax Treatment
Hot Towel
Lip Balm
Soft Blanket
Eye Pilows
Neck Pilows
Sun Glasses
Warm, Inviting Waiting Room

Reading Material

Reading is one of the best ways to use your spare time productively. Reading material would be a welcome addition in the waiting room for patients who are not very technology savvy and prefer books over TV.

Magazines
Catalogues
Newspapers

Entertainment

Entertainment is one of the best ways for patients to kill time and anxiety in the waiting room. There are many options to choose form and some of the most popular ones are given below

Personal Music Stations
Personal DVD Players
Internet WiFi
Radio
TV
Netflix
Headphones

Kids

Kids can be difficult to pacify but an interactive video game can keep the naughtiest of little ones quiet – both in the treatment chair and in the waiting room.

Video Game Consoles
Treasure Chest
Toys

Depending on your location and patient demographic you can pick and choose the facilities you want to offer to your dental patients. If we missed anything, please comment below to add to the list above.

Convenience

Facilitate your dental patients as much as possible by removing any complaints they could have about visiting your dental office.

Ample adjacent parking
Attractive restrooms