In today’s digital age, simply being the best local business in town isn’t enough. You also need to ensure that search engines, particularly Google, recognize your superiority. To achieve this, relying solely on your Google Business Profile (GBP) won’t suffice. Fortunately, we have identified seven crucial local search factors that can significantly impact your rankings and help you stand out from the competition.
#1—Primary GBP category: The Most Important Factor
When it comes to local search rankings, selecting the appropriate primary category for your Google Business Profile (GBP) is an absolute game-changer. This factor holds immense significance in outperforming your competitors and securing a top spot in search results. Thankfully, finding this option is a breeze—simply navigate to the Business category within your profile’s business information section. By accurately categorizing your business, you enhance its visibility and increase the chances of appearing prominently when users search for relevant services or products in your area. A well-chosen primary category serves as a powerful signal to search engines, helping them understand the nature of your business and connect you with potential customers more effectively.
#2—Keywords in GBP Title: A Simple yet Effective Technique
While aesthetics are important, don’t underestimate the impact of incorporating keywords into your GBP title. Even if it may not always appear visually pleasing, this technique has been proven to yield positive results more often than not. Including relevant keywords strategically in your title can significantly boost your search rankings. However, it’s crucial to strike the right balance and avoid falling into the trap of keyword stuffing. The search algorithm recognizes and rewards businesses that judiciously include keywords that accurately represent their offerings and align with user search intent. So, don’t shy away from leveraging this simple yet effective technique to optimize your GBP title and improve your visibility in local search results.
#3—Proximity of Address to the Point of Search: Location Matters
In the ever-evolving world of local search, the location of a person’s phone plays a pivotal role in Google’s recommendation algorithm for nearby businesses. This means that optimizing your address information with specific terms related to your location can significantly enhance your chances of being included in the search results when users are looking for local businesses. Take advantage of this factor by considering local landmarks, neighborhoods, or specific districts when optimizing your address details. By aligning your business with the geographical context, you maximize your visibility to potential customers in your area. Whether it’s a neighborhood-specific product or a service catering to a particular district, tailoring your address information to reflect these details can give you a competitive edge and help you stand out from the crowd.
#4—Physical Address within the City of Search: Stay within the Bounds
Sometimes, a store’s physical location might be situated just outside of what Google perceives as the city’s borders. Unfortunately, this can negatively impact your rankings. To ensure optimal visibility within your target city, it’s crucial to have your business’s physical address within its recognized boundaries.
#5—Combating Spam Listings: Protect Your Legitimate Listing
Have you noticed the presence of “phantom” or non-existent local stores competing with your legitimate listing? These spam listings can harm your rankings and confuse potential customers. To address this issue, you should promptly report these fraudulent listings by completing a business redressal form. By taking action against such practices, you safeguard your business’s reputation and improve its search rankings.
#6—High Google Ratings: Earn Trust and Visibility
Authentic, positive customer ratings in substantial quantities are not only a defining ranking factor but also a key driver of conversions. Studies indicate that 50% of users will only consider a business if it has a minimum 4-star rating. Encourage satisfied customers to leave reviews, respond promptly to feedback, and prioritize customer satisfaction to build a strong online reputation that can significantly boost your search rankings.
#7—Leverage Additional GBP Categories: Broaden Your Reach
In addition to selecting a primary category, you have the opportunity to choose up to nine secondary categories for your GBP. Take advantage of this feature to enhance your visibility among users searching for specific services or products. Keep an eye on your competitors’ categories and consider adding relevant secondary categories that align with your offerings. This strategy can help you capture a wider audience and improve your overall search rankings.
With these seven local search factors in mind, you are now equipped to optimize your business’s online presence and put yourself on the map—both figuratively and literally. By implementing these strategies, you’ll increase your chances of ranking higher in local search results and attracting more customers to your doorstep.
Interested in more articles related to local search? Here are a few curated reads for you.
Establish a clear and concise brand message that differentiates you from other dentists
Dental marketing experts will tell you that one of the most important things you can do to differentiate your dental practice from others in your area is to establish a clear and concise brand message. Your brand message should be included in all of your dental marketing materials, from your website to your dental blog posts. It should be clear and easy for your prospective patients to understand, and it should accurately reflect the unique strengths of your dental practice.
By taking the time to develop a strong brand message, you can ensure that your dental practice stands out from the competition and attracts dental patients.
Establish your target audience
Before you can create an effective marketing campaign, you need to understand who your core audience is. This can be tricky, especially if you’re a dentist who offers a wide range of services. Do you want to focus on families? Seniors? People with dental anxiety?
Once you’ve established your audience, you can start to create marketing materials that speak to their needs and interests. For example, if you’re marketing to families, you might want to focus on the convenience of your location and your family-friendly atmosphere. On the other hand, if you’re marketing to seniors, you might want to emphasize your experience and expertise.
The key is to tailor your marketing efforts to appeal to your core audience. By doing so, you’ll be more likely to attract more patients and grow your practice.
Develop an online presence. In today’s digital world, it’s essential for dentists to have an online presence. Your website is often the first impression patients will have of your practice, so it’s important to make sure it’s well-designed and informative. In addition to your website, you should also consider creating a blog or social media accounts.
These platforms can be used to share useful dental tips, promote special offers, and connect with prospective patients. By establishing an online presence, you can reach a larger audience and attract more patients to your practice.
Know what services you offer and focus on these services
As a dentist, you offer a wide range of services to your patients. However, marketing your dental practice can be challenging if you try to promote all of your services at once. Instead, it’s important to focus on the services that you offer that are most in demand.
For example, if you offer cosmetic dentistry, marketing towards people who are looking for ways to improve their smile is more likely to be successful than marketing to people who are simply looking for a new dentist. By focusing your marketing efforts on your most popular services, you can attract new business and grow your dental practice.
Offer specials and promotions. Another great way to attract patients is to offer specials and promotions. This can include anything from discounts on dental services to free teeth whitening kits.
By offering these types of incentives, you can encourage patients to visit your practice. And once they’ve visited your practice, they’re more likely to become long-term patients.
Make sure your marketing efforts are consistent. Finally, it’s important to make sure that your marketing efforts are consistent. This means using the same branding across all of your marketing materials, from your website to your business cards. It also means being active on social media and regularly updating your blog.
By being consistent with your marketing, you can ensure that potential patients have a positive impression of your practice. And that can lead to more business for your practice.
Creating an effective marketing campaign is essential for any dentist who wants to attract new patients and grow their practice. By following these tips, you can ensure that your dental practice stands out from the competition and attracts dental patients.
Create a strong online presence
Anyone who wants to build a strong online presence needs to understand digital marketing. This involves creating and sharing content that will interest and engage your audience.
It’s important to consider what kind of content will be most useful or entertaining to them, and to post regularly. You also need to make sure that your website is easy to find and navigate, and that it looks professional. Creating a strong online presence takes time and effort, but it’s well worth it if you want to reach a larger audience.
By following these tips, you can attract new patients to your dental practice. By tailoring your marketing efforts to your audience and focusing on your most popular services, you can grow your business and achieve success. And by creating a strong online presence, you can reach a larger audience and build a solid reputation for your practice.
Use social media to reach new patients
Digital marketing experts say that dental practices should take advantage of social media to reach patients. Active and engaging social media accounts can help dental practices to connect with potential customers who may not be aware of the practice. In addition, social media can be used to promote dental services and specials, and to answer frequently asked questions about dental care. While some practices may be hesitant to use social media, dental marketing experts say that it is an essential tool for reaching new dental patients. When used effectively, social media can help businesses to grow their patient base and achieve their goals.
Video marketing is another great way to reach prospective patients. Dental videos can be used to introduce the dental practice, show off the facilities, and explain the services that are offered. Videos can also be used to answer frequently asked questions about dental care. By using video marketing, dental practices can engage with patients and give them the information they need to make an informed decision about their dental care. Video marketing is an effective way to reach a wide audience, and it can help dental practices to grow their patient base.
Dental practices should focus on their core audience when planning their marketing efforts. By catering their content marketing to the needs of their audience, dental practices can attract new customers and achieve success.
Invest in quality dental marketing materials
There’s no question that data visualization is one of the most important tools for marketing in the dental industry. The ability to quickly and easily see patterns and trends can help you make more informed decisions about where to focus your marketing efforts. But data visualization is only as effective as the data it’s based on. That’s why it’s important to invest in quality dental marketing data. Reliable data sources will give you the information you need to create accurate and insightful visualizations. In turn, these visualizations can help you attract more patients, improve your retention rate, and increase your bottom line. So if you’re serious about dental marketing, make sure you invest in quality data. It will be worth it in the long run.
Make sure your website is user-friendly
A user-friendly website is important for any business, but it is especially crucial for marketing a dentist. People looking for a new dentist are often nervous and uncertain, and a well-designed website can help to put them at ease.
First and foremost, your website should be easy to navigate. Customers should be able to find the information they need quickly and without any confusion. The design should be clean and simple, with a clear hierarchy of information. In addition, your website should be mobile-friendly, as more and more people are using their phones and tablets to search for businesses online.
Finally, make sure to include clear calls to action, such as contact information and appointment scheduling. By following these tips, you can ensure that your website is user-friendly and responsive, two essential qualities in marketing a dentist.
If you follow these six dental marketing tips, you will be well on your way to growing your dental practice. Keep in mind who your core audience is and focus on the services that you offer that meet their needs. Create a strong online presence and use social media as one method to reach patients. In order to create an effective website, invest in quality dental marketing materials and make sure that your site is user-friendly. By following these steps, you will see an increase in patients.
Are you ready to get started? Email us today at info@harrisandward.com!
3 Bonus Dental Marketing tips for your website:
1. Use attractive visuals: People are visual creatures, and an attractive website will help to draw them in. Be sure to include high-quality photos and videos that showcase your dental practice in a positive light.
2. Use clear and concise language: When it comes to your website, less is more. Use clear and concise language to communicate what you do and why someone should choose your dental practice.
3. Focus on SEO: Search engine optimization is crucial for any website, but it’s especially important for dental marketing. Make sure to use relevant keywords throughout your site so that new customers can find you easily online.
Now, What Questions Should You Have about Marketing for a Dentist?
1. How do I find my target audience?
The key to finding your audience is to first identify your ideal patient. Once you know who your ideal patient is, you can then begin to reach out to them through various marketing channels. There are a number of ways to find your target audience, including online research, surveys, and focus groups.
2. How do I create an effective website?
As we mentioned before, an effective website is crucial for marketing a dentist. When designing your site, be sure to keep the following things in mind: ease of navigation, mobile-friendliness, clear calls to action, and attractive visuals.
3. What other marketing channels should I be using?
There are a number of different marketing channels that you can use to reach prospective patients. Don’t try to do it all yourself.
Partner with a leading dental marketing company. Their dental marketing services will create the lead generation needed to grow your dental practice. Dental marketing is a unique healthcare skill set and your agency should already have a solid baseline for your industry.
4. How can I reach new patients?
There are a number of ways to reach new customers, including online dental advertising, direct mail, and social media. The key is to find the right mix of channels that work for your business.
5. How much should I budget for marketing ?
The amount you budget for digital marketing will depend on a number of factors, including the size of your practice and your marketing goals. Generally speaking, you should allocate around 2-5% of your overall revenue towards marketing. A great place to start is with Google search. Google Ads can jumpstart your website traffic while a comprehensive search engine optimization (SEO) campaign will play the longterm foundation for your new patient growth.
6. What are some common dental marketing mistakes?
Some common dental marketing mistakes include: not having a clear audience, failing to track results, and not investing enough in quality dental marketing materials. By avoiding these mistakes, you can set your practice up for success.
If you’re ready to get started with marketing your practice, we can help. Harris and Ward is a full-service dental marketing agency that specializes in helping dentists reach their marketing goals. Contact us today to learn more about our services or schedule a free consultation.
When it comes to marketing a dentist, there are a few key things to keep in mind. First, it’s important to identify your core audience and focus on the services that you offer that meet their needs. Next, create a strong online presence and use social media as one method to reach new customers. Lastly, invest in quality dental marketing materials and make sure that your website is user-friendly. By following these steps,
7. What are some effective dental marketing strategies?
There are a number of different dental marketing strategies that you can use to reach patients. Some common strategies include online advertising, direct mail, and social media. The key is to find the right mix of channels that work for your practice.
8. What are some common dental marketing myths?
Some common dental marketing myths include: “I don’t need to market my business because I’m already busy”, “I can’t afford to market my practice”, and “marketing is a waste of time”. In reality, each of these statements is false. Marketing your dental practice is essential for long-term success and there are a number of affordable marketing options available.
9. How can I measure the success of my dental marketing efforts?
There are a number of ways to measure the success of your dental marketing efforts, including: website traffic, new patient inquiries, and patient referrals. By tracking these metrics, you can adjust your dental marketing strategy as needed to ensure that you’re reaching your audience. Be sure to track new and existing patients alike.
10. What’s the best way to market my dental practice online?
The best way to market your practice online is to create a strong web presence. This can be done by creating a user-friendly website, optimizing your site for search engines, and using social media to reach new customers. Additionally, it’s important to partner with a leading
11. What’s the best way to market my dental practice on social media?
The best way to market your small business on social media is to post high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience. Additionally, it’s important to be active on social media and engage with prospective patients. By following these tips, you can reach more people with your dental marketing efforts.
12. What are some other effective dental marketing channels?
In addition to online and social media marketing, other effective dental marketing channels include direct mail, print advertising, and patient referrals. By using a mix of different channels, you can reach prospective patients and grow your practice.
Google Ads are a terrific way to kickstart lead generation efforts. Another cost-effective method is to use targeted Facebook advertising. You can also use print materials such as postcards and brochures, which can be distributed in the local community. Finally, patient referrals are always a valuable way to gain new business.
13. What’s the best time to start digital marketing?
The best time to start marketing your practice is now! By getting started today, you can begin reaching more patients and growing your business. There’s no better time than the present to invest in dental marketing.
14. How often should I update my dental marketing materials?
Your dental marketing materials should be updated on a regular basis to ensure that they are accurate and relevant. Additionally, it’s important to keep
15. What’s the best time to market my dental practice?
The best time to market your dental practice is when you have something new or exciting to promote. This could be a new service, a special offer, or an event. By promoting something new, you can generate buzz and attract potential patients to your practice.
16. How often should I market my dental practice?
How often you market your dental practice will depend on your budget and your goals. However, it’s generally recommended that you market your dental practice on a regular basis in order to maintain a strong presence and reach more potential patients.
17. What’s the difference between inbound and outbound marketing?
Inbound marketing is a type of marketing that focuses on attracting potential patients to your practice. This can be done through SEO, content marketing, and social media. Outbound digital marketing, on the other hand, is a type of marketing that involves actively reaching out to potential patients. This can be done through print advertising, direct mail, and telemarketing.
18. What’s the best way to generate new patient leads?
There are a number of ways to generate new patient leads, including: online advertising, direct mail, and patient referrals. By using a mix of different channels, you can reach more people and increase the chances that they’ll become new patients at your practice.
19. How can I improve my dental practice’s online reviews?
There are a few things you can do to improve your dental practice’s online reviews, including: monitoring sites like Yelp and Google, responding to negative reviews, and offering incentives for patients to leave positive reviews. By taking these steps, you can improve your practice’s reputation and attract more potential patients.
20. What are some common dental marketing mistakes?
Some common dental marketing mistakes include: not having a clear marketing strategy, not tracking results, and not staying up-to-date with changes in the industry. By avoiding these mistakes, you can improve your chances of success with your dental marketing efforts.
21. What are some dentist marketing services to try?
There are a number of different marketing services you can try, including: online advertising, direct mail, print advertising, and patient referrals. By using a mix of different channels, you can reach more potential patients and grow your practice.
22. How much should I be spending in Google Ads? And how do other dentists spend?
There is no set amount that you should spend on Google Ads, as it will depend on your budget and your goals. However, most practices spend between $500 and $5,000 per month on Google Ads. Additionally, it’s important to track your results so that you can see what’s working and adjust your campaign accordingly.
23. How do I make a great dental website with patient reviews?
Hire Harris & Ward! We’re a full-service dental marketing agency that can help you create a great dental website, generate patient reviews, and much more. To learn more about our services, contact us today.
24. How do I make sure my direct mail campaign is successful?
There are a few things you can do to ensure that your direct mail campaign is successful, including: personalizing your messages, targeting your audience, and using a call to action. By following these tips, you can improve your chances of reaching your target patients and generating new business for your business.
25. How important is SEO for dental marketing?
Dental SEO is a important for marketing because it helps your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERP). This, in turn, makes it more likely that potential customers will find your website and become new patients. Thus, investing in SEO can help you reach your dental marketing goals. Search engines are a crucial element of any digital marketing plan. Your content marketing efforts should start with Google (organic and paid) as customers are showing high search intent, which will lead to more qualified traffic than other avenues.
If you’ve heard of any of the hottest marketing trends in recent years, you’ve undoubtedly heard of SEO, which has quickly become one of the most popular marketing tools in the world.
At least, so we’re told. Even today, 70% of businesses still have no SEO strategy.
For your practice, that’s great news. It means there’s less competition standing in your way, especially at the local level. Let’s talk about the importance of SEO for dentists and how to use it for your dental practice!
What Is SEO?
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing your website’s content for Google and other search engines, allowing you to rank higher for various searches. The higher you rank, the more traffic you’ll receive!
SEO is an attempt to rank higher in the organic results, which users tend to trust more than search ads. In many cases, this can lead to greater trust and higher conversion rates.
Also, the SEO process is completely different from paid ads. Instead of buying space at the top, you simply attempt to prove to Google’s algorithm that you have the most comprehensive, engaging, relevant, and user-friendly content for users.
How Does SEO Work?
Google and other search engines use software known as crawlers that index and rank hundreds of billions of pages on the web. They do this using a sophisticated algorithm that attempts to match the best content with users based on keywords and search intent.
This is why when you search for “dry cleaners” on Google while you’re in Maine, you don’t get results for dry cleaners in Virginia. Google understands that your search intent was likely to find dry cleaners near you, so it used your location as a factor in your search results.
Because of this, organizations and websites are constantly trying to compete with one another to rank ahead on various keywords and searches. To do this, they need to optimize their websites, content, and even off-page ranking factors. These are the three “pillars” of an SEO strategy.
Google wants to match the best content with users, but they need to understand a site’s credibility and usability before promoting its content. For this reason, Google uses over 200 ranking factors to determine the quality of a website. Most importantly, you should focus on page loading times, mobile-friendliness, and UX design.
To establish a site’s authority (credibility) on a topic, they rely on other websites to “vote” in their favor by linking to their content. These are called backlinks, and the more you have, the easier it will be to rank ahead of the competition in your given niche. From there, strong content that’s engaging and informative for users is all you need for SEO success!
How to Use Local SEO for Dental Practice
Now that you know how SEO works, you can see why it’s become such a popular dental marketing strategy. It’s great for driving organic traffic, but only if you know how to use it! Let’s talk about how to use local SEO for dentists.
Keyword Research
When we discussed matching keywords for searches, what was the first one that came to mind for your industry? Was it “dentist” or “dentist near me”? These are two of the most likely searches users would use if they are looking for a dentist in their area.
However, it’s best to diversify your keyword strategy. If your entire competition is trying to rank for these short-tail keywords, then it may be challenging to rank ahead of them, especially in the short term. For that reason, try adding long-tail keywords into your strategy for more immediate results!
Keywords like “dental practices in Boston, MA” or “root canal near me” are going to have less search volume than “dentist.” However, the people who search for these keywords are more relevant to your niche and more likely to convert into paying patients. Therefore, you should use a healthy mix of these keywords in your strategy.
Using your favorite online keyword research tool, find related keywords to your industry. You can also analyze your competitor sites on these tools to see which keywords they’re ranking for. This can help you diversify, generate new topic ideas, and more.
Don’t just go with the obvious ones. Use as many as possible that have decent search volume (use Google Trends to compare) and low competition. Once they’re on your website, there’s no limit to how much they can offer!
Update Your Website
It would reflect poorly on Google’s service if they were constantly promoting low-quality sites to their users, so their crawlers are constantly testing usability. Most importantly, they look for:
Page loading times
Mobile-friendly design
Clean navigation system
Proper page structure
Internal and external linking structure
Image optimization
Metadata
The list goes on, but optimizing these site wide will go a long way toward improving your SEO campaigns. Without a strong website, you’re building a house on a broken foundation.
There are SEO tools available online to test these, and you should compare yours to your competitors to see what needs improvement. However, a lot of these tools will lead you down rabbit holes that are entirely unnecessary, so proceed with caution. If you want expert insights, always choose a professional SEO audit for the best results.
Build a Content Marketing Strategy
Dental marketing doesn’t have to be too tricky. You already have the industry knowledge that you need, allowing you to create or outline content, which can save you plenty of money by taking on some of the work yourself.
The easiest way to get started with content marketing is to start a blog. You can answer regular questions that your patients have and position your services as the solution. For example, you could have topics like:
“Why do my teeth hurt? Common causes of tooth pain.”
“Does a root canal hurt? The procedure explained.”
“Dental implant vs bridge: What’s the difference?”
The list goes on. These are great ways to draw relevant traffic to your website. From there, you can answer their questions and let them know at the end about your services and how you can help with their problems.
Always end your posts with strong calls to action (CTAs), encouraging users to contact you or seek out your services. Just remember that you’re writing for potential patients, not search engines. Keep your content engaging and informative, and always try to eliminate fluff or filler content.
It’s good to have long-form, comprehensive posts that engage readers, but only if the content is clear and concise. Try breaking up walls of text, reducing wordy sentences, and always having something to say!
Off-Page SEO
Building backlinks isn’t too important for a local dental practice, but you do still need to worry about your off-page ranking factors. If you have local affiliates that can offer backlinks, they could give you an edge over the competition, but don’t stress too much about them. Instead, focus more on what’s in your control.
First, you should claim and optimize your listing on Google My Business. This could be the first thing users see when searching for dentists in your area. Answer all of the prompts on your profile and try to engage with users whenever possible.
Next, get listed on other local business listings or dentistry-specific listings, and keep all of your information consistent. Remember to update all of them if anything changes. All of this will help confirm to Google that you are who you say you are, but only if the information is accurate and consistent.
Also, because you have an official office, don’t forget to list your dental practice on Google Maps and other popular GPS systems. This can help in similar ways to Google My Business, but it will also help draw new users looking for dentists near them on the map. Google Maps may also show up as the first result when users search “dentists near me,”so make sure your practice is seen!
Start Ranking Your Practice Today
Now that you know how to use SEO for your dental practice, put these tips to use and get the most out of your strategy today. SEO takes time to come to fruition, so the sooner you start building your strategy, the sooner you’ll see long-lasting results. Read more about SEO FOR ORTHODONTISTS AND DENTISTS here.
Stay up to date with our latest digital marketing news for your practice and feel free to contact us with any questions or for help with your SEO strategy!
Do you have the right digital marketing plan in place? A system that drives new patient phone calls and increased search volume. Every dental practice needs the right tailored plan. Let’s explore dental ppc advertising.
PPC advertising differs from SEO in that it is much quicker to see results from. While SEO can take several months to show any measurable results, PPC can be set up almost immediately to bring visitors to a site.
This guide is for you if you’re looking to learn about PPC for Dentists and how to get started on a successful campaign. We’ll introduce you to the basics of PPC and its benefits, so you can make the most of this marketing tool.
Google Ads for Dentists
Dental PPC advertising is an affordable solution that could bring you more attention online. You’re only charged for the advertisement when someone clicks on it, so it’s uniquely affordable.
PPC ads can help your dental office market your services by reaching more prospective patients online. Here are the top 6 reasons PPC advertising can help:
Increased visibility – PPC advertising is the quickest way to appear at the top of search engine results pages. Paid ads will place your website at the top of the results almost immediately, rather than waiting weeks for organic ranking.
Beat the competition – Reaching the top of the search engine results can be difficult, especially if your website is new. Paying for top placement with PPC ads can give you exposure above your competitors.
Targeted website traffic – Studies show that only 5% of searchers click paid advertisements, but that 5% is also much more motivated to enlist services than the average Internet user. If you’re running ads for a term searched at least 400 times per month, this highly interested 5% could equate to at least 20 new patients each month.
Control over spending – When running PPC ads, you set your maximum daily budget, so you never spend more than you want. You can also stop the ads immediately if you determine they aren’t as lucrative as you hoped.
Keyword management – When creating an advertising campaign, you can select which keywords you want to target. This makes onsite optimization easier and allows you to control which terms you want to be known for.
Trackable success – PPC ads have a clear ROI, unlike traditional SEO. With SEO, you have to wait for search engines to index your site, and even then tracking results can be difficult. With PPC, your entire campaign is tracked, so you can see exactly how it impacts your web traffic and marketing efforts.
Dental PPC Pros & Cons
There are pros and cons to every method. Before you make any decisions you should know them.
PROS
Immediate Visibility – PPC ads offer immediate visibility when you choose your keywords well. They appear on the top and next to organic results, on the first page of search results, so your audience can see them without having to scroll down. Organic SEO can take up to months to generate traffic to your site, while PPC ads can offer fast results for timely offers.
Qualified Target Audience – PPC ads give you the ability to target specific individuals who are interested in finding a dentist or getting a dental procedure within a certain location. With PPC, you can geo-target your ad based on a certain radius, which is important if you’re pulling in patients from several towns. It is very hard to optimize your website for a town other than the one your practice is located in, so PPC is a great solution to capitalize on business from surrounding towns.
Budget Conscious –PPC ads allow you to target potential customers interested in dental services near you. Geo-targeting lets you show ads to people within a certain radius of your practice, making it easier to attract patients from several nearby towns.
CONS
PPC ads can be expensive if you don’t know what you’re doing. Smart Insights recently did a study that found PPC conversion rates averaged around 3%. If you pay for 100 clicks at $50 per click, you could end up spending $5000 with only a 3% conversion rate.
Campaign Management – It’s not enough to just make a PPC ad and hope for the best – someone needs to manage them effectively in order to see results. This means testing keywords, messaging and target preferences, and being able to quickly analyze and adjust the ads for maximum impact.
Lack of Conversions – Ad clicks don’t necessarily mean conversions. Someone clicking your ad may not necessarily result in a call to your practice. Having great ad copy that drives searchers to a landing page on your website is extremely important. Qualified internet marketing companies will review and create landing pages when developing your PPC marketing strategy, which is a key factor in making a successful PPC campaign.
Internet users have become accustomed to seeing ads in various forms, such as banner ads, remarketing messages, and PPC placement in search results. Therefore, it is important to carefully select keywords, messaging, and testing in order to grab your audience’s attention. Each internet marketing channel works in conjunction with the others, so it can be difficult to find the right combination of channels and messages if you are busy running your own practice.
Interested in learning more? Harris & Ward is a leading dental ppc agency. Let’s talk!
Do you want more dental patients? Investing in search engine optimization (SEO) and digital marketing can make a world of difference and help you get them! Like compound interest, gains can be exponential.
The keys to successful SEO for dentists are consistency, creativity, and patience. If you stick to a plan and pay attention to keyword blogging, Google My Business, web design, backlinking, and online reviews, you are guaranteed to improve your pool of prospective patients.
If you’re unsure about any of the jargon associated with SEO, don’t worry. We’ve explained all the key concepts that dentists need to know in order to create a successful digital marketing campaign that will attract patients. Good SEO companies will use these strategies.
Before We Start, Let’s Establish Some Definitions
On-Site and Off-Site SEO
There are two main types of online marketing techniques: on-site and off-site SEO. On-site SEO refers to things that can be done on your website, while off-site SEO involves the actions of other websites.
On-site SEO includes optimizing your website for search engines through techniques like internal linking, metadata maintenance, and blogging. Off-site SEO involves promoting your website through activities like guest posting, article syndication, and backlinking.
SERPs
SERPs are the lists of results that search engines return when someone types in a query. The goal of all SEO efforts is to get as close to the top of the SERPs as possible.
Keywords
Keywords are the words and phrases that people type into search engines. They help to establish what the person is looking for, or the intent of their search. Popular keywords for dentists include:
Dentist in [insert area]
Benefits of dental care
Can a dentist help with pain?
Teeth whitening
Dental practices near me
SEO for Dentists: Building an SEO-Friendly Website
A website is essential for any online marketing campaign. It provides a place to promote and link to your products or services. However, it’s important to consider what your website says, how many pages it has, and how it balances user experience with search engine rankings.
Must Be Responsive
An SEO-friendly website must be responsive, meaning it must look good on any size screen, from a small phone to a large wall tv screen.
Home and Landing Pages
At a minimum, dentists should have five core pages on their websites.
Homepage
About page
Services page
Blog homepage
Contact page
It’s crucial to have a separate landing page for each service, with at least 500 words (though 1,000 or 2,000 is even better). For example, if you offer dental cleaning, teeth-whitening, cosmetic, and dental implant services, make sure you have a landing page for each one.
In our experience, dental websites with over 20 pages and weekly blog posts perform the best.
Custom Design and WordPress Development
Custom WordPress websites are ideal since the platform is well-supported and easy to use. By using WordPress, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. And, after a bit of instruction, most people can publish blog posts without help.
Building a website on WordPress has increased security advantages. WordPress is a popular platform that is constantly updated to keep users safe from cyber attacks. There are also several trusted security plugins available.
Every dentist should claim their business on search engines, industry websites, and map directories when launching an online marketing campaign.
Claim Your Search Engine Business Accounts
Google My Business is the first account you should set up for your business. Google is the most-used search engine in the United States, processing an estimated 5.6 billion searches a day. By claiming your territory on the platform, you can ensure that your business is visible to potential customers.
There are many benefits to optimizing your website for local search, including appearing higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords.
Remember, though, that while Google may be the biggest game in town, it’s not the only one. So claim your business accounts on other platforms like Bing and Yahoo!
Get Yourself on Directories
There are thousands of online directories, but not all of them are legitimate or helpful. Sign up for the ones that are relevant to your industry and will actually be beneficial for you.
You can use Yext and Synup to find good medical and dental directories, but both programs cost money to access fully. Harris & Ward is a professional online marketing team that maintains memberships with such services.
SEO for Dentists: Content Wins
Content creation is essential for any SEO campaign. The more articles, landing pages, and digital media you produce and publish, the more online visibility you will gain. This in turn will attract more links and traffic.
Service and Landing Pages
Your website should have a main landing page (homepage), a contact page, blog, and specific landing pages for each service offered. Each service page should be at least 500 words, but more is better, and well written.
Develop a Blogging Strategy
Blogging can help improve your website’s SEO. Fresh, weekly content is pleasing to search engine bots, and the more content you have, the more questions and issues you can address. In most cases, websites with more content tend to do better in search engine results, providing more opportunities to build your online presence.
Developing a blogging strategy can help you write relevant posts and publish them regularly. Most businesses with effective blogs use content calendars. Using one can help you save time.
As long as your writing relates to dental care or your practice, you should be fine. It can also be helpful to pick topics that conform to potential clients’ search intent. However, be sure to optimize your writing for conversions, or you’ll miss out on an opportunity.
When blogging, you should never:
Blog about religion or politics topics
Blog too often about terms unrelated to dental care
Write about your patients without gaining their permission
Badmouth other dentists or treatment methods
If you want to write your own dental blog posts, make sure you know how to use keywords and other SEO techniques like metadata, title tags, h1-h2 tags, and alt image text.
Article Syndication
Article syndication can help you get backlinks and name recognition, but be careful – if it’s not done correctly, it can harm your SERP ranking.
This is a process of publishing articles written by someone else under your name. Getting your name and practice out there online is great, but be careful of which websites you publish on. Algorithms may penalize you for duplicate content if not done correctly, which could negatively impact your ranking.
Guest Posts
Posting articles on your blog and guest posting on other blogs has three core benefits:
Expands your digital marketing footprint
Gives you brand name exposure
Provides quality backlinks to your businesses website
Working with a professional online marketing team that has already established a network of publications is the easiest way to secure guest posts. If you’re doing it alone, a good place to start is with affiliated professional organizations. For example, ask if your dentist’s association or local Chamber of Commerce has a publication that accepts articles from members. Also, dentists who aren’t competing for the same patients will sometimes collaborate on guest posting projects.
SEO for Dentists: Links Matter
To secure top spots on SERPs for desired keywords, you need to build a link portfolio. Without one, it is nearly impossible to land those coveted spots. So the question becomes: what types of links do you need to cultivate?
Foundational Backlinks
The value of a website’s backlinks depends on the website’s reputation. The more respected and established a website is, the more valuable its backlinks are.
Websites with .edu and .gov top-level domain suffixes offer the most valuable links. Links If you can get backlinks from established websites like Wikipedia and .org sites, do it! The same goes for .com backlinks from top industry sites.
Strategic internal links are a great way to link to other pages on your website. For example, this is an internal link to our blog post about the advantages of using WordPress. They are easy to implement and help both users and algorithm bots.
Backlinks and Mentions
Foundational backlinks come from websites with low authority, but they can provide a lot of “link juice” if you have enough of them. Guest post backlinks from high-authority websites are much more effective and can help improve your rankings quickly if done correctly. Mentioning your website on a local newspaper’s website is another good way to boost your local SEO.
Social media is essential for businesses today. Many people in their 20s and 30s rarely use search engines, instead relying on social media to find products and services. Therefore, it is important to have active accounts on multiple platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
In terms of social media content, every week you should:
Post links to any new blog entries and guest blog spots
Post links to evergreen landing pages
Highlight industry news
Comment on accounts that potential patients may also follow
Avoid controversial topics on social media, as you would when blogging. You want to attract clients, not drive them away.
Dentist SEO: Tools You Can Use
If you want to super-charge your SEO efforts like the pros, you’ll need a couple of tools.
Yoast: The Apple of WordPress SEO plugins, the free version of Yoast is fine for beginners, but if you want to unlock the plugin’s potential, you should upgrade to the premium version.
SEMrush and Ahrefs: The two leading standalone SEO platforms are SEMrush and Ahrefs. They both have dynamic keyword and backlink features that give account holders an edge.
SEO for Dentists: Good Reviews
Google, Facebook, and Yelp reviews can be very effective. For the best results, it is most important to establish a consistent flow of Google reviews. Positive Yelp posts can also be very helpful, and adding Facebook mentions often does the trick.
Paying for reviews can be considered unfair and deceptive marketing, which is punishable by the Federal Trade Commission. It may be better to hire a professional marketer to get testimonials and reviews.
Do not use a cookie-cutter dental digital marketing company. Your investment will be cannibalized if you do because the content and designs will be the same as your competitors.
To stand out, you need to cover similar topics and themes as other dentists, but in a way that is fresh and new. Algorithms and people are both drawn to what is new and different, so if you can find a way to stand out, you will be more successful.
Connect with a Digital Marketer
Harris & Ward is a digital marketing team that can help you attract more clients. We have a track record for helping dentists rank highly on search engines, so you can be sure we know what we’re doing. If you’re ready to get more clients, contact us and we’ll get started.
We tailor our online marketing and promotional services to each individual client, ensuring that they stand out from the competition. We don’t use generic templates – every client is unique to us. Follow us on social media and check out our blog for more tips on seo for dentists.
A poorly designed website can lead to a negative user experience in which the user clicks off your page. Not only might they go to your competitors, but these potential customers now have a negative impression of your company.
So no matter how good your content is, you need to focus just as much on the elements of web design so your site is easy to use and is pleasing to the eye.
To help you, we’ve compiled the top 6 elements that every well-designed website should include. Keep reading to learn everything you need to know to create a website your customers will love.
1. Bold colors and images
Your color palette is a vital component of making sure your business materials are cohesive and on-brand.
Think about what primary and secondary colors you’d like to use on your website. Then, think about whether they represent your brand. You can use the principles of color psychology to help you.
You can also use what’s called a hero image on your main page. A hero image is located at the top of your main page and acts as an oversized banner.
The hero image should be high resolution, add value, and reflect your company’s unique selling point (USP). The hero image can also be a short video.
Since all of the images of your website should reflect your brand, it’s a good idea to take your own photos instead of relying on stock images.
2. Clean and Eye-catching Typography
While you may love that new elegant, handwritten font you found, this type of font isn’t the best option for use on your entire website.
Think about the title/logo fonts of social media sites like Instagram and Twitter. Not only is their font easy to read, but you’d recognize it as their brand even without the logo.
Good web design uses fonts that are easy to read, catch your viewer’s eye, and also help establish your brand identity.
Some best practices when choosing your font are:
Black or gray typography
Text larger than 16 pixels
Enough space between the lines
Fonts that are standard for the web
If you want to add a handwritten font to add a more personalized and friendly touch to your site, use it sparingly. Make sure it fits with your brand story and use it in places like captions or when emphasizing certain words.
3. Search Bar
You might think that a search bar isn’t necessary if your menus are well-organized, but it’s a vital part of good web design.
While a potential customer may not need the search bar if they have no problems finding your contact information, they might need it when looking for a specific product, blog post, or any older information.
You also want to reduce the number of clicks that users need to make to get the information they’re looking for. This reduces the chances that they’ll click off your website and go to a competitor’s website instead.
The best design for a search bar is that it’s easy to use and find on the page without interfering with your content. You can add a magnifying glass icon to make the search bar even easier to find.
4. Mobile-Friendly
Over 2 billion people use their smartphones to access the Internet, and this number is only expected to grow.
So if your website looks bad on mobile, is difficult to navigate, or doesn’t load at all, you can expect that your viewers will click off the page and go to your competitors instead.
Since creating a mobile-friendly website is very difficult if you’re not a web developer, you’ll want to get a web design SEO agency to help you.
Don’t forget to test site speed both on mobile and desktop, as a slow website will only make users click off the page and be unlikely to return.
5. Powerful Calls to Action
If you don’t have a call to action, you’re missing out on sales and making it difficult for website visitors to contact you.
A call to action (CTA) is text that prompts your website viewer, customer or lead to take action. A few examples of common CTAs include:
Buy now!
Subscribe to our newsletter for 15% off
Learn more
Contact us
To create the right CTA for your website, first determine the purpose of your site. Then, create an easy-to-see action button that would make sense for your website.
For example, if you’re an e-commerce store, include a button for customers to sign up to your email list. If you’re a local mechanic, an essential CTA is a “contact me now” button.
6. Simple and Intuitive Navigation
Your website visitors shouldn’t have to click all around to find what they’re looking for, nor should they be confused when using your website.
One way to make your website navigation simple is to use minimal navigation menus. You also want to use a drop-down menu at the top of your website to reduce visual clutter.
The must-haves for navigation include:
Showing users where they are on your site
A “home” button
Directions or prompts, if needed
The best good website design examples are ones that let the user find what they are looking for without help.
If you’re not sure how usable your website is, think about conducting a usability test to see how users are navigating your website in real-time.
Include These Vital Elements of Web Design
Effective and clear web design not only makes it easy for users to navigate your site but builds trust by creating a positive impression of your brand.
Whether you have a website already or are looking to build one, include these important elements of web design to create a beautiful site that users will love.
Still have questions? Harris & Ward can help. Our skilled team of digital creatives specializes in seamless web design that facilitates growth for your brand and business.
Ready to create an eye-catching and easy-to-navigate website? Contact us today to get started.
