As with any profession in the 21st century, having a successful online marketing strategy is imperative. Dentist internet marketing presents its own unique challenges. At Crystal Clear Digital Marketing, our team has experience with a number of medical professions. Today we’ve compiled some of the keys to successful dentist internet marketing. Although some of these suggestions apply to everyone, we’ll show you how to maximize them for your dental practice.
The Keys to Successful Dentist Internet Marketing
Dentistry is a unique field within the larger medical industry. Unfortunately, the idea of going to the dentist can be a frightening one, even for some adults. This is the one medical office many try to avoid as much as possible.
That’s why you need to take a few extra steps to attract people to your practice. Key to dentist internet marketing is overcoming people’s natural fear of the dentist and enticing them to your office. Let’s start close to home with local search engine optimization, or local SEO.
Local SEO for Dentists
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is all about making your business more visible online when people search for things related to your work. However, if you work in Florida, you probably aren’t too interested in getting clicks from Sacramento. Local SEO helps you to get views and clicks from the area surrounding your business.
Local SEO is triggered by certain keywords in a person’s search. For example, if someone were to search “Dentist near me”, a local search would appear as opposed to a general search about dentists. The same is true when people add their city’s name to the search. Searches conducted through Google Maps use local results by default. This is the fastest-growing search method. To get an edge on local searches, you’ll want to use two applications.
Using Google My Business
Google My Business is a must for any business. For dentistry, it’s especially true. Surveys have shown that nearly four out of five dentistry patients travel less than 10 miles to see their dentist. Only about 20% are willing to travel further than 10 miles, and many of those do so out of necessity.
This means that proximity matters. When someone searches for a dentist, they are likely to use a local search. Google My Business will help you to be more visible in this regard. Make sure your information is up to date! Your phone, address, and operating hours should always be accurate. In addition, you’ll want to add photos of the front of the business to help people find it as they drive.
Evaluating Local SEO
To see how well your local SEO is performing, try a local SEO checker like Georanker or Brightlocal. There are many other tools like this. You can pretend to search from various locations to see how well your business ranks. If another business nearby is crowding you out of the search results, use some of the other tips here to raise your ranking and take over the neighborhood.
Using Nextdoor
Speaking of the neighborhood, you should absolutely use the Nextdoor app to expand your local outreach. In fact, the app’s website mentions using it to find a dentist! Nextdoor is a hyper-local application that only shows you results within a small geographical radius from your home or workplace.
The idea with Nextdoor is that you can hire services from the people closest to your location. Supporting your neighbors directly is likely to lead to them supporting you. By using this app, you’ll develop stronger local connections and drum up more business.
Social Media for Dentists
Nextdoor is a great segue into social media in general. Social media for dentists can be a bit more challenging than it is for other fields. Nevertheless, you can put it to good use.
Perhaps the most challenging thing about dentist internet marketing with social media is that you must consider your audience. Most patients that a dentist sees are going to be children and teens. This adds another layer of complexity, but if you are willing to rise up to the challenge, the results can be outstanding.
Using Instagram
These days, an Instagram account is a must for any business. As a dentist, you’ll want to post pictures of your office and those beautiful smiles that you’ve helped to create. Office décor is also extremely important for a dentist. Studies show that a well-decorated office reduces patient stress and anxiety. It also improves patient opinions of the office.
Appealing to Parents
Couple your Instagram account with your business’s Facebook page. To appeal to parents, you should try to show images of actual patients in your clinical setting. Parents want to know what they can expect from your practice before they walk in.
Highlight members of your staff at work. Parents are also wary of strangers around their children, and for good reason. Show them that the people you employ are trustworthy and professional. Once you’ve won parents over with your pictures and stories, it’s time to think about children.
Appealing to Children
Having a few pictures of toys or games in the waiting room can help parents to draw their children to your office. Convincing a child to go peacefully to the dentist can be difficult, so help parents out by giving them some fun photos. If your practice serves a mix of adults and children, you may want to specialize a couple of your rooms for children. Remember, your décor matters. Adorning the walls of one room with posters of cartoon characters and popular images can completely change how young people perceive your practice.
If you really want to be the coolest dentist in the world, consider downloading TikTok. This app has taken the youth by storm and is now one of the most-used social media applications among people under the age of 18. A dentist that makes TikTok videos will have no problem getting kids to take a seat.
Improving Your Website
With your local SEO and social media strategy figured out, it’s time to take dentist internet marketing to the place where it all started: your website. Crystal Clear Digital Marketing can analyze your website and tell you if it is really delivering what you need.
Your site was probably one of the first things you made when you started your business. If it hasn’t been updated and redesigned since, it’s also likely what is holding you back from success. An old website, like an old car, isn’t going to get you where you need to go.
Creating Product Pages
A good strategy for dentists is to create a page for each service that you offer. We call these product pages, but they apply to services too. People often search for more specific terms than just “dentistry.”
For example, parents may search for sealants, fillings, tooth pulling, and other terms. Having a page for each of these will increase the odds of someone finding your website. Consider using more common terms alongside the medical ones. Few people will search “tooth extraction” even though that may be the proper term for the procedure.
Blogging Strategy Tips
Blogging might not seem relevant to medicine, but the truth is it can go a long way towards pulling in new clients. You can add a blog to your website and add posts that address people’s common concerns. People often wonder how much a service might cost, how long it will take, and how much pain to expect.
A blog is a great place to answer those questions. People searching for those questions may find your page as an answer, as well. You can also use a friendlier tone, which is helpful in an industry that has to overcome fear. Crystal Clear Digital Marketing has blogging experts on staff that can help you to design a blog that fits your needs. If you’re not a particularly fluent writer, don’t worry. Blog posts can be quite short and don’t require fancy language.
Use Your Website to Enhance Local SEO
Another useful technique is to use your website to improve your local SEO. You should have at least one page that uses the name of your town or neighborhood as a keyword. By doing this, people who search for a dentist in your city are more likely to find your business.
Talk about the community and what it means to you. Especially if you have been in practice for a long time, show some appreciation for the community and its citizens. Americans love to support their local business, and they’ll be even more likely to do so when they feel supported by you.
Revamp Your Marketing Strategy Now
Dentist internet marketing is a must, but it doesn’t have to be complicated. If you aren’t sure where to begin, or what you need, just contact Crystal Clear Digital Marketing today. Our team can assess your situation and craft an internet marketing plan to fit your needs. You don’t have to be an expert on digital marketing to have digital marketing success: leave that to us!
