Online search has become integral to our lives. Want to know where the nearest coffee shop is? Google it. Looking for Sunday brunch but don’t know which restaurant serves the best mimosas? Look it up on Yelp.
The same goes for prospective patients who are looking for your practice. They’re looking for the best dentist in their area by searching online. That’s why it’s important to prioritize your dental website’s online visibility.
Here are five dental marketing ideas that your practice can implement to improve its online visibility and attract new patients.
1. Write blog posts. Publishing blog posts on your dental website serves two purposes:
(1) It provides fresh content that search engine crawlers evaluate to determine relevancy and authority. The more relevant you appear to people searching for a new dentist, the more likely you are to show up for searches by prospective patients. And (2) blog posts help you gain credibility and showcase your expertise on a specific topic. When people see that you care enough to talk through a procedure or answer common FAQs they will immediately feel a greater sense of trust with you because it shows that you care.
2. Collect positive patient reviews. Did you know that 80% of people would trust an online review as much as a personal recommendation? Therefore, your practice needs positive online reviews to stand out among patients who are comparing you to other dentists in your town. And, having more reviews can help you stand out and rank higher on sites like Google Maps and other major online directories.
3. Claim and verify online business listings. Confirm your practice’s identity on various directories online such as Google Maps or Yelp. It doesn’t take much time (15 minutes per directory) but can have an amazing positive impact on your practice’s visibility. Plus, verifying your listing provides you with access to a dashboard that allows you to edit your information such as your practice name, address, and phone number which are critical components in ranking within the Google snack pack.
Verifying your listing also allows you to respond to reviews, list business hours, let’s prospective patients call you directly from search results, and provides driving directions through GPS.
4. Advertise through paid search. The first three to four search engine results are paid ads. Paid ads are used by dental practices to target prospective patients at the exact moment they search for services they offer. This is much more effective than traditional advertising where you’re typically interrupting someone. And, since search ads always appear at the top of results pages, they have maximum visibility to your target audience. Because of their design, users don’t always identify an ad and may think it’s an organic result.
Paid Search Result
Organic Search Result
Paid search ads are cost-effective when managed well, can improve your dental website’s online visibility within days, and provide easy-to-track analytics to help you understand your return on investment.
5. Remarket through paid search. Remarketing refers to ads that are shown to people who have previously visited your website. Visitors are identified by placing cookies (tracking code) in their search history which then triggers your ad to appear while that visitor searches for other services online.
Remarketing is useful because allows you to engage visitors that didn’t take a desired action on your site (e.g. contacting you and filling out a form). Additionally, remarketing is more cost effective because you’re targeting people who have already interacted with your practice in some way, shape or form – instead of targeting people who have never heard of your practice yet.
Using these 5 tactics can help improve your website’s online visibility to attract and convert new patients. For more ideas on how to improve your online presence, download How to Attract New Dental Patients Through Search Marketing by filling out the form below.
