What are keywords and why are they important for SEO?

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Every business which wants to increase its web presence must select the right keywords. The keywords are also important as they can drive web traffic to your business. Several companies like the xxxxxxxxxxxxx have set some words and phrases as their keywords so that it gets ranked for skyrocket your business and increase your sales online.

Keywords are simply the words which anyone uses to search for any services in search engine such as Google, Bing. In this way, if someone is searching for keywords which match your company website, then your website may get displayed and its ranking may also increase. The searches depend upon the keyword competition too. Some high trafficked keywords are very competitive as many businesses are trying to get referrals and traffic from users.

If content is king then the keyword is queen in search engine optimization.

Keyword is the phrase or a search query typed by the user in Google. When a user searches something by entering the search query in Google. It gives the result with top 10 website links.

Google consider 200 factors before giving search results. Keyword is the base of Google search. Search engine optimization starts with keywords. You need to choose the right keywords for ON page and OFF page optimization.

Keyword is the most critical element in SEO.

THE 4 “R”s TO GROW YOUR PRACTICE

Reputation

What are people saying about your business online? 72% of U.S. consumers said they research companies through social channels before making purchases

Good reviews can fuel positive word of mouth and generate referral traffic like you’ve never seen!

We can help you repair existing damages, clear your reputation, safeguard against negative comments and protect your brand / business

When it comes to managing and protecting our customers reputations we are second to none in the industry.

Don’t leave your reputation to chance.

79% of consumers place equal weight on both online reviews and personal recommendations – Bright Local

79%

85% of consumers use the internet for research before making a purchasing decision – Yelp

85%

Reach

Where do you show up? 95.91% of all clicks occur on page 1 of Google, and the top three positions deliver 58.4% of traffic

Local Search is used by 85% of consumers to find your business or your competitors.

Everyone who has access to the Internet uses a search engine to find relevant and useful information, and according to Google’s own data, 97 percent of consumers search for local businesses online.

We can help your services and products get found when it counts – when customer are looking for you.

Search optimization is a science we have mastered and can help you with today.

75% of users don’t scroll past the first page of a google search – hitslink.com

75%

85% of consumers search online for local services – searchengineland

85%

Resell

Are you maximizing the value of your existing customer base? On average it cost 5 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to sell new services to an existing customer.

http://www.merchenta.com/retargeting/what-is-retargeting/

Referral

Do you have a program to systematically gain quality referrals from current customers? FACT: Referrals spend more, convert better and shop faster

Customer rely on online reviews as much as a recommendation from their close friend or mother… think about that.

It is not enough to provide a great product or service and hope for positive online reviews.

We can automate the process of asking for and gathering customer feedback and turning it into 5-star reviews online.

Then, we’ll show you how to automatically post all of your positive reviews to the web.

What are “backlinks” and “social impressions”? Why are these important?

These are important if you’re trying to get more visitors (hits) and conversions on your website.

When a lot of people consider a website to be an authority in its niche or a popular website, they naturally link to it. When someone links to your website, that is known as a “backlink”, and the more backlinks you have, the better it is for your Google search rank. If you get a ton of bogus backlinks from crappy people or get a robot to do them, Google may penalize you and even practically ban you from showing up on Google search all together. If government (.gov) and education (.edu) websites are talking about you (these are considered more important people), then it will boost your search ranking significantly more than just some random Joe posting a backlink. So, quality definitely matters, and so does quantity.

Social impressions are very basic… you want more people to see your stuff, right? An impression is every time your stuff appears in front of their eyes, on their screen.

When a few .gov websites linked to my website Fantasy Couch, it tremendously helped our Google rankings.

Backlinks are important for establishing Domain Authority DA is important for page ranking. (Not always but it definitely helps) With a high rank you receive more traffic. The first page of any google search result gets 91% of the traffic. 35% goes purely to the #1 rank. That’s why SEO is a market because it can bring traffic. While some argue that Social Impressions do not drive SEO results one thing Social Impressions definitely do is drive traffic which is the end all goal of any SEO campaign.

Which are the new techniques in SEO?

Alexander De Ridder, Co-Founder and CTO at Edgy Labs (2016-present)

Updated 30 Apr

You should be equipped with enough SEO knowledge to support your journey to the top of the ranking game. Below are some of the latest SEO techniques that you can apply to your website.

Modern Effective Techniques for SEO

1. Mobile Friendly Website

Make sure that your site is mobile friendly. More people are relying on these devices and use them to have access to the web. Always remember that search engines like Google put more priority on mobile friendly websites.

2. Mobile Users

The mobile device industry is one of the leading industries in the world. This is because people are inclined to invest in the convenience of smartphones. Seven out ten people today own a smartphone. This only means that you should also target mobile users. Make your website interactive, responsive, and optimized to be viewed on different screens.

3. Utilize Social Media

While social media platforms do not affect site rankings, they are considered to be powerful tools to boost your SEO. Social media platforms can help you cover a wider audience and increase your site’s traffic. It can also increase your online visibility. Social media can give you a glimpse of what web content is engaging to your target audience and help you adjust your topics.

4. Know the Importance of Head and Long Tail Keywords

Head keywords are keywords that are one or two words and capture the main meaning (mostly between 0 to 15 characters long). For example: “insurance agent”. They are terms that are said to produce more traffic volume, but they are also vague because it’s difficult to pinpoint the user’s intent. In the case of our example, are they looking for a job as an insurance agent, or to hire one?

On the other hand, long tail keywords are keywords that have more words in them and are more specific. For example: “best insurance agent in Boston.” They are usually composed of phrases that are geared to produce profit rather than traffic, since long tail keywords are very specific and it is easy to optimize pages against them because the user intent is known.

Look at the image below:

Photo: “Head vs. Long Tail Keywords Analyzed: Impressions, Clicks. Conversions, and Profitability” by Search Engine Watch

The graph clearly shows the power of long tail keywords. There are a steady increase in click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate, and conversions per 1000 impressions as the length of the keywords increase.

You can see that the most efficient keyword has a length between 31 to 35 characters. Therefore, it is safe to say that long tail keywords can produce more profit than the head keywords.

Now look at the next image:

Photo: “Head vs. Long Tail Keywords Analyzed: Impressions, Clicks. Conversions, and Profitability” by Search Engine Watch

The keywords with the length between 11 to 15 are head keywords. The data shows the volume of impressions, clicks, and conversions that these keywords produce are significantly higher than the rest.

Using these two different keywords strategically within your web content is an effective move to gain visitors and boost your business profit.

5. Never Forget Other Search Engines

Remember that there are other search engines aside from Google. Yahoo and Bing are just two of them. Do not focus on improving your rank on just one. Optimize your site to cover all search engines.

These tips are modern techniques to help you with your site’s SEO. However, it is still highly advisable and important to apply the basic SEO strategies like:

  • Optimizing your title tags.
  • Create compelling meta descriptions that can trigger the interest of your target audience.
  • Create sitemaps to help the indexing program of search engines (spiders) index your website.
  • Update your website regularly.

With the help of these powerful techniques, your site will become more competitive and may get a better SERP ranking.

Dental Websites & Online Marketing

If your dental website is not producing new patients every month, then it is time to find a new website provider. Your website ought to be the number one tool in your marketing plan. The best part about your website, is that it should generally run on autopilot. Whichever dental marketing company you choose to go with, make sure they are constantly updating your site with fresh content.

Today dental website marketing has become the most powerful and cost effective tool for producing new patients. There are also a few things you should know about dental websites:

  • All traffic from search results will go to the top 5 or 6 positions in search results. Around 40% will go to the website in the #1 position. You need to be in the top few positions to make it worthwhile. Anything else is a waste of time and money.
  • Your website is there to generate new patients, not to educate them. Many potential patients can actually be turned off by information overload. Make sure your website has clear call to actions and that you pick a company with websites designed to generate new patients.
  • You will need to spend some money on SEO or search engine optimization. Unless you want to spend a ton of hours learning & practicing SEO, it’s just not possible to rank at the top without professional help.

Spend some time on the phone with your website provider. Test their knowledge and make sure they do the work themselves. Overseas development can be seedy, often leading to Google penalties for bad development & bad SEO.

If you are serious about your web presence and want an awesome website, the team at Elevate DDS – Dental Websites & Marketing is here to help.


Search Engine Marketing –

Both SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay per click) advertising are referred to as search engine marketing or SEM for short. SEO results within Google, Yahoo and Bing are not bought, but rather earned through hours of hard work. This is why dentists who want to rank well will need to hire a professional to perform SEO on an ongoing basis.

Pay per click advertising can be done across a number of search engines, website networks and social platforms. A “pay per click” or cost per click (CPC) model is exactly what it sounds like, meaning you only pay when someone clicks on your ad. Most PPC models allow you to set the amount you are willing to spend by day, week or month. This is referred to as your “budget.” PPC campaigns will typically run until funds in the budget are depleted, in which case there is the option to refill the budget.

Pay per click advertising is a great way for dentists to target multiple cities or surrounding locations, as it is very hard to rank in Google organic results without a physical address in that area. PPC can also be used to target specific keywords that dentists website does not currently rank for. Keywords in a PPC campaign can also be matched to the specific verbiage surrounding any marketing plan.


Display Advertising & Remarketing –

Display and remarketing (or retargeting) advertising generally works on a cost per impression (CPM) model. The cost per impression is generally minimal and averages between $15-30 per 1,000 impressions. Display ads are richer than pay per click ads, as they can be graphical as opposed to plain text. Display ads however, tend to have very low click through rates as opposed to PPC ads. Display ad campaigns are usually more expensive than PPC campaigns because of the lower click through rates. Good creative and specific targeting of networks can help cut down on costs and the visual appeal of the ads can help to increase brand awareness.

Remarketing or ad retargeting can be a very effective tool to show an ad to someone who has already shown interest in your practice. This is generally done by placing a cookie on their browser while they visit your website. Once they leave your site and visit another website within your advertiser’s network, they can be shown your display advertisement.

My personal opinion is that both of these mediums are overkill for dental marketing efforts. Unless you’re practice specializes in facial reconstruction or surgery that is very specialized, targeting potential patients with these types of ads might not be worth the time and costs.


Social Media Marketing –

Creating and maintaining a social media presence is almost as important as having a website. Social media marketing is a fantastic way to stay in touch with your current patients, without being in their faces too much. The bad thing about social media is that if patients haven’t liked your Facebook page or followed you on Twitter, they won’t see your posts or updates. This basically leaves two ways in which you can use social media to market your business. The first way is to keep in touch with current patients who have liked your page. I mentioned this above and I think practices should absolutely be using Facebook and other social media networks in this way. Social media should be updated often with unique and custom content that helps to build your brand and awareness.

The second way is to create ads that can target both followers as well as people who have not yet liked your page. When using paid ads on social networks, you have the ability to use the ad space on the right hand side of Facebook pages, or you can do what are called “Promoted Posts.” Each of these can probably produce some results for new patient acquisition if done extremely well. Both can also be used to acquire new fans and followers of your page, which could pay dividends down the road. The problem here is that you’re not guaranteed followers that live anywhere near your office location.

In general social media channels need to be set up and optimized for SEO purposes and updated frequently. That part is a must for search engines. From a patient acquisition standpoint, paid social media advertising can be hit or miss. However, this still may be a better solution to try than radio or TV.


Video Marketing –

This form of marketing can be extremely effective and an important part of your marketing plan & strategy. Years ago, video marketing would have been super expensive to shoot and produce. In today’s high tech world, HD cameras are extremely cheap and video editing can be done at minimal cost. Cameras that can shoot full HD cost less than $100 and can be purchased from hundreds of online marketplaces.

Your website and all social networks are a great place to feature your videos. YouTube also offers a video marketing platform that can integrate into retargeting campaigns as well. So feel free to set aside some budget for video advertising into your marketing plan.

At Elevate DDS we offer full HD video marketing and video editing as a part of every marketing package. Feel free to ask us any questions on how we can help and what kinds of videos we produce.


Measure Your Results Using an Analytics Platform

So now you’ve written out your marketing plan, decided on which strategies to use, and set aside some budget to get started. The final step is to make sure that you can measure the successes and failures of your marketing efforts. I would personally recommend going with a platform such as Google Analytics. It’s a free solution and offers invaluable insights into your marketing campaigns. The best thing about using Google Analytics, is it integrates with Google Adwords (Google’s PPC advertising platform), YouTube, Webmaster Tools and other Google software.

There are also a slew of other features within Universal Analytics which can help you measure offline advertising efforts. Meaning it can actually help you track and measure the success of advertising that isn’t done online!


Final Thoughts on Dental Marketing

I’ve personally put together marketing plans in a variety of industries and used every one of the above strategies. In my opinion, nothing drives optimal results and allows for as much tracking and customization as internet marketing. This is why I started Elevate DDS – Dental Websites & Marketing and why I have a passion for this business. That’s not to say that you can’t have great results using one method or strategy specifically. And best results will be achieved when using every single marketing strategy. But when businesses don’t have the budget of a General Motors, internet marketing is the absolute best way to go.

At Elevate DDS we are here to help. I feel we have put together a marketing and website package that offers more value than any other company on the market.

Please feel free to call us anytime to talk about any of the above plan and strategies. The team at Elevate DDS – Dental Websites & Marketing is here to help!

Why Your Practice Needs a Results Driven SEO Campaign

  • Take away the pain of managing it yourself
  • Get you reports on performance fast
  • Include landing pages and strategies
  • Make content updates easy
  • Get you the best keywords
  • Promote your business effectively
  • Increase your website visibility
  • Increase website traffic
  • Deliver qualified visitors
  • Increase credibility
  • Increase conversion rates
  • Increase sales

How Social Media Marketing Can Help Your Practice Thrive

Social media have become an important tool to promote a business and to succeed a business. Social media marketing is important for any business. In the present day, more and more people are spending their more time in social media. Hence, when you promote your business via social media platforms, you can indeed take your business to extensive audience. You can promote your business or website through social media marketing sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Social media platforms help your business and products to reach to wider customers. Social media sites including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest etc. stands as a platform in order to engage with your customers, managing customer service issues, and promoting your business.

Since social media marketing has become a big thing in the modern days’ business field, let’s have a look at how social media marketing can help business thrive:

Exposure to Diverse Clients

Social media marketing helps your business to get exposure to diverse clients. The success of every business depends on its exposure or visibility to diverse targeted clients. By means of social media, your business will get a good exposure from the social media users around the globe. When you share contents about your business or products in Facebook or Google+, it leads a lot of people to get through your contents and understand precisely what is your business. Social media, mainly Facebook YouTube, and Twitter, lets your company to distinctively target certain customers and business professionals. Social media sites like Google+ and LinkedIn helps you to find business professionals and solicit their support and tips from them to flourish your business.

Earn Some Beneficial Clients

Social media marketing will help your business to thrive by means earning some beneficial clients. Since more and more people spend their majority of time in social media sites, a good number of people happen to see your business and you can get some beneficial clients like these ways. Social media marketing has developed into a great technique for businesses to get to a target market. Obviously, social platforms have incorporated some effective tactics to aid businesses to arrive at their audiences. Today, it is believed that social media marketing is important as advertisements that we see in television and newspapers. Social media marketing helps a business and its services to reach a huge amount of people in an economical manner.

Online Reputation

Social media marketing will help a business to thrive by giving it online reputation. Today, a lot of people are seeking to buy their desired and needed products online rather than going to a shop. So, a good number of shoppers these days will get through different companies online before making a purchase. Consumers are interested in online companies or businesses that have better online reputation. Keep in mind that online reputation can tell the customer everything about the company. Therefore, online reputation is where a lot of companies have the most impact from customers and Social media marketing can help the companies to achieve it.

See also: Easy Tips to improve Traffic through Social Media

Drive Traffic to Your Website

Social media marketing will help every business by driving traffic to their website. Social media helps you to engage with a vast target audience and it will finally help you to increase traffic to your website. The more traffic you get to your website, the greater will be the success of your business. When you share a post and other contents shared on Facebook and other social media platforms, there is a huge chance to drive traffic to your website. The main reason is that people are more possible to purchase from a business firm that is more active on social media. Creating social profiles, developing a social presence and constantly sharing contents can drive traffic to your website. Social engagement and other features add to a person’s choice to make purchase.

Listening to Your Audience 

In every business listening your audience or clients needs and demands are important. All victorious businesses have effectively understood their audiences. The advantage of social media is that it guides you to know your audience easier, faster and effectively. Social media platforms allow you to understand your clients’ needs and demands. It can assist you to make changes and improvements to your business so that you can increase your business’s success. You can find customer reviews and their remarks about your business. It will help you to understand how the clients are seeing your business and what changes you have got to make in order to invite more clients. Social media guides you to better target your audience and also to identify with the specific needs of your customer demands.

Must Read: 64 Tips You Must Follow to Achieve Success in Blogging

Inexpensive and Powerful Marketing Tool                                                              

Social media marketing can be the most inexpensive and powerful marketing tool for the small and big business. Using advertisements in media to promote your business is costly and there is only a less chance to develop your business via this sort of promotion. As nearly all profiles on social media sites are free, engaging with possible consumers has no cost. When you post great contents, it guides people to share your posted contents which will extend your audience to a sphere of new possible fans, followers, and customers. Social media marketing helps you to build the trust and authority in the best possible ways amid huge customers which leads explicitly to develop your business.

Dental Marketing Plan & Strategies

March 1, 2017

How to Create an Awesome Dental Marketing Plan

Every small business owner tends to struggle with creating their first marketing plan. I think the main reason for this is that most business owners tend to focus on the outcome and end campaigns, while often overlooking the strategy, planning and execution phases. Unless you’ve gone to school for marketing or business, you probably haven’t been trained to create a strong marketing plan. Doctor’s that we work with here at Elevate DDS have many years of school under their belts, but not many of them studied any sort of marketing during their time in college. This is why we thought it would be a good idea to outline what a dental marketing plan should look like, from inception to campaign completion.


Getting Started on Your Marketing Plan

Each dental office or dental practitioner should have many marketing plans for different campaigns. For an overall “general office marketing plan” we recommend taking a look at the resources from the American Dental Association here. This will help you establish appointment setting systems and things like a CRM or Client Relationship Management program. These are basic general office needs for creating appointments and managing client relationships.

For this article, we are going to assume you have these systems in place and are ready to move on to more advanced marketing plans. So without further ado, we’ll jump right into creating your first (more advanced) dental marketing plan and campaign(s).


Define Your Goal –

The first step in creating a marketing plan or campaign is to define what the end goal will be. Are you seeking general new patient acquisition or are you looking to sell a specific service such as invisalign? How much revenue are you looking to generate from starting a new campaign? Are you looking to educate existing patients for an “up-sell” or are you looking to acquire all new patients with a specific service? These are some of the questions that should be answered when determining your goal.


Decide Which Services to Market –

When creating a marketing plan or individual marketing campaigns, it’s definitely a good idea to start by picking a service on which to focus. Campaigns can definitely be more general if the overall goal is say, new patient acquisition for general dentistry. However, if you can narrow a campaign down to focus on something more specific, the outcomes will generally be more successful. The strategies and demographics will vary drastically by service, so you will want to create a separate plan, strategy and campaigns for each service or end goal.


Establish a Unique Value Proposition –

After you’ve mapped out your goals and which services you want to market, you should identify your Unique Value (or Selling) Proposition. You need to understand what separates your dental practice from your competitors. Is it friendly service or location options? Years of unique experience? Maybe it’s a combination of a knowledgeable and friendly staff, pricing and payment options? If you’re having trouble identifying what your unique value proposition is, try asking your patients why they prefer coming to your practice over others in your area. Once identified, this should be the focal point of your marketing efforts moving forward.


Identify Demographics & Target Market –

Demographics is the term that generally describes things like age group, gender, income level, geographic location and education level to name a few. Obviously the demographics and target market of your campaign will vary by which services you are choosing to market. Marketing dentures to a younger audience would not have quite the same impact as they would on a much older demographic. The same could possibly be said for dental implants, where this procedure might appeal more to an older male audience. Identifying a target market for each campaign will be critical for online marketing success, and targeting potential patients in social media marketing campaigns or pay per click advertising.


Set a Budget –

Once you have everything in place, you can set a monthly or yearly budget that your practice can afford. It’s good to have a monthly budget in mind, then read through the following strategies. After you’ve read through all the marketing strategies, revisit your budget to make sure that all goals, budget and strategies align.


Determine Your Marketing Campaign Strategy

The next step in fulfilling your marketing plan is to determine the strategies or types of marketing you will use to complete your goals. There are a large number of marketing strategies you can use in each campaign. Learning more about each strategy and determining which methods are best to use for hitting your goals is critical to success.


In-Office Flyers –

Internal or in-office marketing is one of the oldest, easiest and probably cheapest way to market your practice and services. The only problem with this method, is you first have to have the existing patients to market to. If you have a large patient base that comes in for regular check-ups and cleanings, you can always create handouts that focus on cosmetic dental services. Most patients might not know how easy it is to straighten their teeth with Invisalign® or brighten their smile with in-office whitening. The best part about flyers and handouts, is companies like Invisalign®, Lumineers®, Zoom®, etc. usually have these flyers available for you to use for free! Getting these in front of existing patients is a great way to up-sell cosmetic dentistry services.


Direct Mail –

Direct mail campaigns can be hit or miss depending on execution. But when direct mail works well, it can really change your practice. One thing to consider with direct mail however, is that it can be extremely hard to measure results. This varies drastically from online marketing, in which you can track nearly every action.

There are a few different approaches that practices can take with direct mail. Postcards should have a very specific message to them that addresses your practices value proposition. It is extremely rare that anyone would actually call a practice solely from a piece of direct mail in today’s internet savvy world. Most people who take any action will usually check out your reviews and online reputation. So rather than focusing your call to action (CTA) on a telephone number or email address, focus your CTA on a custom website landing page that is tailored to your campaign. Not only can you focus this page around your value proposition, you can also measure the results by the number of web hits received. Also consider buying a short domain (URL) to act as a “vanity URL” that is very easy to type into a mobile phone or tablet. This vanity URL would then redirect to the landing page on your dental website.


Print Advertising –

Much like direct mail pieces, print advertisements should be well thought out and executed. Print ads can be extremely hit or miss and can be pretty expensive depending on the publication. In my opinion, if you have the money to invest in print advertising, then make it big. Don’t settle for a small square somewhere in the middle of the publication.

In my experience, advertisements that have run on the front page of newspapers and publications are the only ads worth running. Occasionally I have found a full back page ad to be semi successful, but the content of that ad has to be really spectacular. Focusing your ads content on an emotional reaction from your audience will generally grab a bigger response rate.

Overall however, I would shy away from print advertising as a dental practitioner unless your creative is extremely good. For the amount of money you could spend here, other online marketing tactics will usually produce 3x the results.


Email Marketing –

Email marketing is a tactic that has been completely over used and executed poorly by most industries. Think about how many newsletters you actually read and why you actually read them. For me, I might read 1-2 a week about the marketing & dental industries because that is how I make my living. Rarely would I ever read email newsletters from publications outside of my interests.

Patients are not going to waste the time reading stock or canned email newsletters anymore. If you want your email newsletter’s to be effective, then they will have to include valuable content that was given serious thought. Personalization is key to email marketing, just as it is key to your website presence as a whole. Including promotions and specials will also help make your newsletters more effective. This is one tactic that is tough to take shortcuts with. If you want it to be effective, you will probably have to roll up your sleeves and invest the time in creating them personally.


Radio Advertising –

In my opinion, radio advertising in the dental field is a huge waste of money. It’s rare that anyone who hears a 30 second spot on the radio will retain the information long enough to take any action. It may help to improve awareness of a certain dental product or service in your area, but will prove extremely tough to brand your practice without boat loads of money to throw at it. The problem with radio is that most listening occurs in the car. People can’t visit a website while driving so the only good call to action is a phone number. It can be tough to get people to make a phone call without some really good creative advertising.

Much like TV, typical radio advertising comes with bigger price tag and longer time commitments that don’t prove effective.


Television Advertising –

If there is one positive aspect about both radio and television ads, it is that you can create awareness in areas outside of your local reach. Meaning that if your practice is based in a rural area, but close to an urban population, you can extend your potential patient reach with TV and radio. By running ads on the urban or city networks, you can create some brand awareness for your practice in a nearby town. This may be one of the only positives however, as TV ads are also very expensive. And the longer your TV spot (90–120 seconds) the more the cost goes up.

Using TV advertising to get your message across is generally not effective. But if you can invest the money in longer ads that invoke an emotional response from the viewer, it may work better than shorter 15-30 second spots.


How to Prepare for a Successful Photo-shoot Lights, Camera, Action!

We were recently hired for a photo shoot at a newly renovated dental practice. It looked well designed, and structured, however there was still some work to do because it was not photo ready, nor patient ready!

The site still had construction debris that was not cleaned up, dust on counter tops and light bulbs missing for ambience in some spots.  There were also some construction tools left out, and there were no flowers or staging decorations in place to make it feel welcoming.

The site was still work in progress and needed a few final finishing touches, however when so much work goes into designing a beautiful dental practice, sometimes the small details and final touches makes the difference in creating a welcoming and ambient environment.

In addition to hiring a professional photographer, there is some preparation work that you should do to get the most out of the photo shoot and your investment.

Here are some basic tips:

1. Clean Your Rooms

Ensure that floors, windows, and glass doors are clean and free from smudges.  Vacuum, sweep or mop the floors, and keep them clutter free.  High resolution photographs or high definition videos can capture a lot of detail. Photographers can capture views from floor to ceiling, and can edit some items out, but their time is better focused on other editing processes such as exposure, composition and color.

2. Remove any Clutter

Keep the rooms and areas that patients visit, and those that you want to photograph, clutter free. Consider removing items like personal photos and letters, posters, paperwork, confidential information, items with dates and years on them, magazines, cleaning supplies, files and boxes, bathroom items, and the likes hidden out of sight.


3. Check your lighting

Check all light bulbs and make sure that they all work. Replace any burnt out light-bulbs.  In darker areas, consider using lamps and even colored bulbs for ambience. 


4. Stage it

A staged clinic, practice or facility photographs better and is more welcoming. Having an ambient environment makes it easier to capture from a photographer’s perspective.  Consider items like fresh flowers, welcoming pictures, seating location, etc.  Put yourself in your patient’s shoes and imagine that you are looking at the space for the first time…would it be inviting enough to attract you to it?  Consider where your TV’s and computer screens are located, and what they display.  TV’s could display a corporate logo, while screens inside ops could display treatment images of an educational nature.  Make it look professional and carry the image you are trying to portray to your patients.

5. Prepare your team.

If you are preparing a photo shoot that includes headshots and team pictures, communicate with the team about the date, the expectations and the importance of this process.  This helps your team to prepare themselves, cut and style their hair, and do their make-up, dress appropriately, and present the practice in the best light.  Note that Google Street View specific 3D Tours and shots should not be displayed with people within the shots as this is against their terms.

6. Selecting the right photographer.

Using the internet and search engines, it’s easy to find photographers in most areas.  ArcPro Media works with a select team of the best professional and experienced Google certified photographers who are licenced to provide Google Street View 3D tours and photos that assure high quality results.

When we’re on site, we’ll do a walk through to ensure that things are in good shape before filming.  After the shoot, the photographer will provide the ordered videos and stills in a format your web team can utilize. 

If you need help with designing your website, SEO, Social Media, Review Marketing and Management, or Patient Education and Case Acceptance Solutions, feel free to contact us to see how we can help.

We look forward to meeting you soon at the shoot location!

Internet Marketing for Dentists

To be successful, dental practices need a steady number of new patients. But reaching them can be challenging. This is especially true if your practice is in a highly competitive area where your potential patients have other dental options.

The best way to stand out is to focus your efforts where people are already looking: Online.

Keep reading to learn why Internet marketing is important for dentists and a few strategies you can use to reach new patients.

Why does Internet Marketing Matter for Dentists?

Most consumers today turn to the Internet to research their options for just about everything, including dentists.

In most cases, people who are looking for a new dentist will begin by searching “dentists in [city]” on a search engine like Google. They’ll scroll through their options, click through to the sites that appear to meet their needs, and look for additional information to determine which is the best option.

Internet marketing is the best way to make sure that your dental practice is the one they call.

What Internet marketing strategies should dentists use?

Internet marketing is a broad term that describes many different online strategies, all of which can benefit your business. These five strategies are some of the most effective and a great starting point for any dental practice.

Web Design

Your website is your dental practice’s home online, and it’s often your first chance to make an impression on a potential patient. This means that your site needs to accurately reflect the quality of your practice.

If your site doesn’t look professional or if it’s difficult for visitors to find the information they want, those visitors will return to the search results and choose another option – most likely one of your competitors.

There are a few best practices to keep in mind when designing a website for your dental practice, but when it comes down to it, your site serves one primary function: Show visitors that you’re the right dentist for them.

 

 

SEO – Search Engine Optimization

Once you have an informative, well-designed site, you need to make sure that your potential patients can find it. The best way to do this is with search engine optimization, or SEO.

As we mentioned above, many people find dentists on search engines like Google. SEO for dentists involves optimizing your website for the words and phrases people search so that your practice’s site appears in the results and ranks higher than your competitors.

SEO also involves boosting your site’s reputation online by building relationships with news sites, industry blogs, and other credible publications. Search engines want to provide their users with the best possible results, and building links from authoritative sites shows that you’re equally dependable.

 

Content Marketing

Your site needs to provide visitors with basic information, like your address, contact information, and services.

But beyond that, you can also use content marketing to turn your site into a helpful resource for potential patients. Many people have questions about dental care, and as an expert on the topic, you can write articles, blog posts, and other online content to answer those questions and address common concerns.

This shows visitors that you’re a trustworthy source of information. Plus, when you optimize your content for search engines, it can also bring new visitors to your site. And if these visitors need a new dentist, providing them with useful information is a great way to show them that you’re the right dentist for them.

 

 

Email Marketing

Not all of your site visitors will be ready to make an appointment the first time they visit. But if you encourage them to sign up for an email newsletter, you can stay in contact with them until they are.

Sending helpful newsletters on a regular basis ensures that your potential patients won’t forget about your practice. Then, when the time comes for them to schedule a checkup, they’ll already know who to call.

Email marketing is also useful for reminding your current patients to schedule appointments. Setting automated reminders is a great way to make sure they don’t forget, and including links to your contact information makes the process quick and easy.

 

Social Media Marketing

Although many dental practices aren’t active on social media, social media marketing for dentists is extremely effective. Platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow you to connect with your audience on a more personal level.

You can use them to share helpful tips, company news, and photos of your team. Even better yet, you can interact with your followers and build relationships with them to encourage new and repeat patients.

Want to reach more dental patients with Internet marketing?

Your potential patients turn to the Internet when they want to find a new dentist, and Internet marketing is the best way to make sure they can easily find your practice. If you’re interested in creating an online marketing strategy for your business, ArcPro Media can help.

We’ve worked with several dental industry clients and created successful Internet marketing strategies for all of them – and we’ll do the same for you.

Contact us today to speak with a strategist and learn more about how your practice can reach more patients online.

Find out how ArcPro Media can create an effective Internet marketing strategy for your website. Call 855-927-2776  or contact us online today for a free evaluation.