Art of Dental Marketing Blog

How Google Ask Maps Will Change How You Attract Patients

Thu, 23 Jan 2025 00:13:31 GMT

Google’s new Ask Maps feature is a game changer for dental practices. As the AI-powered replacement for the outdated Google Q&A tool, Ask Maps allows patients to ask specific questions about your practice and receive instant, accurate responses. This isn’t just an update, it’s an opportunity for dentists to connect with more patients and build trust in a highly competitive market.

What Is Ask Maps?

Ask Maps is a feature in Google Maps that uses artificial intelligence to provide answers based on trusted data. It pulls information from your Google Business Profile, reviews, website, and other reliable sources to respond to user questions. Examples of what patients might ask include:

Do they offer Invisalign?
How do I book an appointment?
What do their reviews say about their cosmetic dentistry services?

The AI responds with detailed, accurate answers tailored to your practice, eliminating outdated user-generated responses.

Why Dentists Should Care About Ask Maps

Patients often decide on a provider based on the information they find online. Ask Maps ensures they receive accurate, engaging answers about your services, helping you stand out from the competition. An optimized presence on Ask Maps can result in higher trust, increased patient inquiries, and more appointments booked.

How Ask Maps Works

Ask Maps gathers data from:

Google Business Profile : Details like your services, operating hours, and photos.
Reviews : Google reviews and those from third-party platforms.
Your Website : Key content about your practice, team, and services.
Social Media : Profiles such as Facebook and LinkedIn are also considered if other data sources are insufficient.

If your online presence isn’t robust, Ask Maps may fail to provide answers, potentially costing you opportunities.

How to Maximize Your Practice’s Presence on Ask Maps

Here are actionable steps you can take to optimize your online presence:

1. Optimize Your Google Business Profile

Ensure all practice information is accurate, including hours, services, and contact details.
Regularly update high-quality photos of your office, team, and equipment.

2. Enhance Your Website

Provide detailed answers to common patient questions like “What does a root canal involve?” or “How do I know if I need braces?”
Include professional images, videos, and clear calls to action to improve engagement.

3. Encourage Reviews

Ask satisfied patients to leave Google reviews.
Respond to all reviews (positive or negative) to show professionalism and care.

4. Maintain Social Media Profiles

Keep platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn updated with accurate and consistent information.
Use these channels to share patient success stories, team introductions, and practice updates.

5. Regularly Update Photos

Upload fresh, high-quality images to your Google Business Profile and website to maintain relevance and engagement.

Why Story-Based Marketing is the Key to Success

At The Art of Dental Marketing, we understand that facts alone don’t drive patient decisions, stories do. That’s why we developed the StoryBuilt™ Engine , which combines advanced SEO with story-based marketing to help your practice connect emotionally with patients while ranking higher in search results.

SEO That Converts : Our strategies ensure that patients find your practice when they search for services in your area.

Story-Based Content That Resonates : Patients want to feel understood. By using stories, we help you build trust and loyalty with your audience.

Story-based marketing enhances how tools like Ask Maps present your practice, ensuring your message is emotionally compelling and highly visible.

Take the Next Step

Ask Maps is just the beginning of AI’s impact on patient engagement. Ensure your practice is positioned for success by leveraging this new tool alongside proven marketing strategies.

Schedule a call with our CEO, Sean, today to learn how we can optimize your online presence, attract more patients, and help your practice thrive. Let’s tell your story and grow your practice together.

How to Move Your Website Without Losing SEO

Wed, 22 Jan 2025 02:06:40 GMT

Website migration is a critical step for dental practices looking to switch marketing providers or improve their online presence. However, a poorly executed migration can lead to lost search engine rankings, reduced traffic, and patient confusion. Most dentists want better marketing without the hassle of building a new website. By understanding the key aspects of website migration, you can guide your marketing team to protect your online visibility and ensure a smooth transition.

Why Website Migration Matters for Dentists

A website migration involves moving your website to a new provider, hosting platform, or content management system. This process often comes with goals like improving site speed, security, or user experience. While these improvements are valuable, mishandling the migration process can cause significant issues.

When search engines can’t find your pages due to broken links or missing redirects, your rankings drop. This makes it harder for patients to find you online. Traffic decreases, and potential patients may visit competitors instead. Revenue can be affected if these issues persist.

What to Ask Your Marketing Team Before Migrating

To safeguard your practice during a website migration, it’s essential to ask your marketing team key questions:

Are you backing up the current website?

A full backup of all content, images, and settings ensures nothing is permanently lost if issues arise during migration.

Will you implement 301 redirects?

Redirects are crucial for maintaining your search engine rankings. They ensure patients and search engines are directed to the correct pages on the new site.

Are you auditing the current site’s content and performance?

Identify high-value pages with the most traffic, backlinks, or conversions. These pages need special attention to protect their rankings and visibility.

How will you protect SEO elements?

Your marketing team should carefully review and update metadata, internal links, and header tags to preserve your search engine performance.

Is there a testing process before launch?

A staging environment allows your marketers to check for broken links, missing content, and technical issues before the new site goes live.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid During Migration

Mistakes during migration can harm your online presence. Broken links frustrate visitors and lead to lost traffic. Missing pages cause confusion for patients and damage your credibility. Slow load times hurt your user experience and can negatively impact your search engine rankings.

Introducing BYOW: Bring Your Own Website

At The Art of Dental Marketing, we understand that dentists want better marketing without starting from scratch. That’s why we offer BYOW... Bring Your Own Website. You can come to ADM with your existing website and still take full advantage of our Storybuilt™ Marketing Engine.

Our process is designed to make transitions seamless. We protect your SEO, handle the technical details, and transform your website into a powerful marketing tool that creates emotional connections with patients and drives real growth for your practice.

How The Art of Dental Marketing Can Help

Unlike other agencies, we don’t require you to build a new website to work with us. Our team ensures your SEO is protected during the migration, handles the technical aspects, and makes the process quick and stress-free. With our Storybuilt™ Marketing Engine, we amplify your website’s impact, making it a tool for meaningful patient engagement and practice growth.

How to Move Forward

If you’re considering switching marketing providers but want to avoid the hassle of building a new website, The Art of Dental Marketing is here to help. With BYOW, you bring what you’ve got, and we’ll handle the rest.

Contact us today to learn how we can make your website transition easy and effective. Protect your practice’s online presence and keep attracting patients with a seamless migration.

Why Your Dental Practice Isn't Ranking in Local SEO

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 13:30:34 GMT

Why Your Dental Page Isn't Ranking in Local SEO

Struggling to elevate your dental practice in search engine rankings? At Art of Dental Marketing (ADM), we specialize in dentist SEO and local SEO strategies tailored specifically for dental practices. Our expert team is adept at diagnosing and remedying the common SEO pitfalls that may be keeping your practice from achieving optimal online visibility. By leveraging the latest in SEO techniques and insights, we aim to place your practice at the forefront of potential patients' searches.

Navigating SEO Challenges for Dental Practices

Understanding the root cause of your SEO challenges is essential. Whether your practice's website isn't showing up in search results or isn't ranking as highly as you'd like, our approach begins with a thorough evaluation using tools such as Google Search Console. This initial step is crucial for developing a personalized strategy to boost both your dentist SEO and local SEO for dentists.

Technical SEO: Building a Strong Foundation

Crawl Accessibility: Ensuring Google can easily access and index your website is the first step towards visibility.

Page Indexing: Utilize Google Search Console to confirm your site's pages are indexed and visible to your audience.

Internal Linking: A strategic internal linking plan not only strengthens your site's SEO but also enhances user navigation.

Speed & User Experience: Optimize your website’s loading times and overall user experience, focusing on Core Web Vitals to keep both Google and your visitors satisfied.

Content Rendering: Verify that Googlebot can accurately render your website, ensuring your valuable content is fully accessible.

Content Is King: Optimizing for Your Audience

Unique Content Strategy: Avoid content overlap and ensure each page targets specific, relevant keywords to attract the right audience.

Aligning with Searcher Intent: Craft content that directly addresses the queries and needs of potential patients, incorporating engaging multimedia elements to stand out.

Competitive Content Enhancement: Regularly assess and improve your content to surpass the quality and depth of your competitors, establishing your site as a leading source of dental information.

Holistic Optimization: Beyond keyword integration, fine-tune your website to demonstrate its relevance and authority clearly to search engines and users alike.

Beyond Content: Credibility and User Experience

Strengthening Link Profiles: Secure high-quality backlinks from authoritative sources within the dental industry to boost your site's trustworthiness and ranking potential.

Showcasing E-E-A-T: Demonstrating your expertise, authority, and trustworthiness is especially critical for dental practices, influencing both SEO performance and patient trust.

Stay Ahead of Algorithm Changes

Keep abreast of Google’s algorithm updates to understand their impact on your site's SEO. While it's easy to blame ranking challenges on these changes, a comprehensive review and tailored adjustments can significantly improve your site's visibility and performance.

Unlock Your Practice’s Potential with ADM

Identifying and addressing the unique SEO barriers facing your dental practice is just the beginning. At Art of Dental Marketing, we offer a complimentary ground marketing strategy session to unlock your local area and catalyze true growth for your practice. By combining our expertise in dentist SEO and local SEO for dentists with a tailored ground marketing approach, we're ready to transform your online presence and drive tangible results.

Ready to revolutionize your dental practice’s online visibility and patient acquisition? Contact ADM today for your free ground marketing strategy session. Let’s embark on a comprehensive journey to grow your practice and connect with your local community like never before.

Elevating Your Dental Practice with Google’s New Social Media Integration

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 19:03:00 GMT

Elevating Your Dental Practice with Google’s New Social Media Integration

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital marketing, Google has introduced a groundbreaking feature that is set to transform how dental practices showcase their online presence. The tech giant's latest update, integrating social media posts directly into Google Business Profiles, promises to revolutionize dental marketing by offering a more holistic and dynamic view of a practice's activities across various social platforms.

A New Horizon for Dental Practices on Google

Google Business Profiles have become an essential tool for dental practices looking to enhance their online visibility. With the new integration feature, posts from social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter), and YouTube can now be displayed directly on a dental practice's Google Business Profile. This innovation allows potential patients to gain a comprehensive view of the practice's services, promotions, patient testimonials, and more, all from the convenience of Google's search results.

Streamlining Social Media Management

For dental practices, maintaining an active and engaging social media presence is crucial for attracting new patients and building a strong online reputation. Google's update simplifies this process by allowing practices to connect one account per social media platform to their Google Business Profile. This ensures that the most active or relevant content is always front and center, enhancing the practice's visibility and engagement with potential patients.

Managing social media links is straightforward. Dental practices can easily add, edit, or remove their social media profiles by navigating to their Google Business Profile, selecting "Edit profile," then "Business information," and finally "Contact." Google has specified formats for these links to guarantee seamless integration, ensuring that the social media profiles blend perfectly into the Business Profile.

Leveraging Social Media for Dental Marketing

The integration of social media posts into Google Business Profiles marks a significant advancement in dental marketing. By showcasing real-time updates, patient testimonials, and engaging content directly on Google, dental practices can:

Enhance their online visibility: This feature increases the chances of being noticed by potential patients searching for dental services.

Build trust and credibility: Sharing patient testimonials and educational content can help establish the practice as a trustworthy and knowledgeable provider.

Engage with the community: Highlighting community involvement and events on social media can enhance the practice's local presence.

Conclusion

As Google continues to roll out this feature to more regions, dental practices have a unique opportunity to capitalize on this new avenue for increased exposure. The integration of social media posts into Google Business Profiles encourages dental practices to maintain an active social media presence, thereby enriching their online narrative and connecting with potential patients in meaningful ways.

In the competitive field of dental marketing, embracing Google's latest feature can set your practice apart, allowing you to showcase the best of what you offer directly on the world's most popular search engine. It's time to harness the power of social media and Google's vast reach to elevate your dental practice to new heights.

Unleash The Purpose In Your Practice : How to Implement Your “Why”

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 15:25:17 GMT

Unleash The Purpose In Your Practice :

How to Implement Your “Why”

As a dentist, your journey is more than just fixing teeth; it's about making a lasting impact on people's lives. Standing out requires more than clinical skills—it demands a deep understanding of your purpose, or as Simon Sinek puts it, your "why."

Understanding the "Why"

Simon Sinek's golden circle—Why, How, What—provides a framework for businesses to communicate their unique value. Your "why" is the core belief that inspires you to do what you do. It's the reason you became a dentist in the first place. It’s the reason you sacrificed years of your life for school, stress, a host of heavy financial commitments, not to mention the physical toll it takes on your body.

For a dentist, the "why" might be rooted in a passion for transforming smiles, enhancing overall health, or creating a positive impact on patients' lives. Take a moment to reflect on what drives you beyond the daily routines of your dental practice.

Connecting with Your Patients

Your "why" is not just a personal mission statement; it's a powerful tool for connecting with your patients on a deeper level. When people sense your genuine passion and commitment to a purpose beyond mere dentistry, they are more likely to trust and resonate with your practice. Not to mention, that connection to who you are as a person will make the fear of you the clinician lessen more and more. It’s hard to have “white-coat syndrome” with someone you feel like you know, connect with, and share common interests and experiences.

Share your story with your patients. Let them know why you chose this profession and what makes your approach unique. Remember, the average patient is buying the experience of being your patient. They don’t know if you're the best clinician nor do they know how to tell in the first place. A dentist driven by a purposeful "why" fosters a sense of trust, comfort, and loyalty among patients.

Differentiation in a Crowded Market

In a competitive dental landscape, technical skills alone may not set you apart. Your "why" becomes your competitive advantage. It's the unique flavor that distinguishes your practice from others. Embrace your purpose, and let it shine in every aspect of your dental services.

Whether it's through community outreach, patient education, or the ambiance of your practice, align everything with your "why." This alignment creates a memorable and distinctive experience for your patients, making them more likely to choose your practice over others.

Building a Purpose-Driven Team

Your "why" isn't just for you; it's a rallying point for your team. When your staff understands and shares your purpose, they become ambassadors of your practice's mission. A purpose-driven team is more engaged, motivated, and invested in providing exceptional patient care.

Encourage your team to explore their individual "whys" within the context of the practice's overarching purpose. This collective alignment fosters a positive and collaborative work environment, ultimately enhancing the overall patient experience.

Conclusion

As a dentist, finding your "why" isn't just a philosophical exercise—it's a strategic move that can transform your practice. Embrace your purpose, connect with your patients, stand out in the market, and build a team that shares your passion. Your "why" isn't just a statement; it's a journey that adds depth and meaning to your role as a dentist.

In the pursuit of your "why," you're not just fixing teeth; you're shaping smiles, transforming lives, and leaving a lasting impact. At Art of Dental Marketing, we are expert storytellers and have helped hundreds of doctors uncover their story and infuse it in their communities and marketing messages for incredible results!

Spatialize Your Dental Marketing: Spatial Computing & Your Dental Practice

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 16:58:22 GMT

Spatialize Your Dental Marketing: Exploring the Potential of spatial computing & dental practice marketing.

Let's talk about what Apple unveiled yesterday... If you didn't catch it, they launched their new VisionPro technology.

This tech is, "Where digital content meets your physical space." This isn't another Apple device, this will be an ENTIRE NEW category.

Guess what? I already have some tips on how dentists can leverage spatial computing in their future marketing strategy. Spatial computing, which encompasses technologies like augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), presents unique opportunities to engage with patients and differentiate your dental practice from competitors.

Here are some forecasted but key strategies to effectively market your dental practice in the spatial computing space:

Understand the Target Audience: Begin by identifying your target audience within the spatial computing space. Consider whether you are targeting tech-savvy individuals, early adopters, or those seeking a unique dental experience. Understanding your audience's preferences and motivations will help tailor your marketing efforts.

Showcase Spatial Dental Experiences: Leverage spatial computing technologies to create interactive and immersive dental experiences. Develop dental-themed AR or VR applications that allow users to explore your practice (virtually), experience virtual consultations like never before, or even play educational games with you and your staff. These experiences can be used in promotional campaigns, trade shows, or shared through social media channels to generate interest and engagement.

Collaborate with Influencers and Industry Experts: Partner with influencers or industry experts in the spatial computing space who can promote your dental practice.

Remember, effective marketing in the spatial computing space requires a balance between technological innovation and personalized patient care. By leveraging spatial technologies, engaging with your target audience, and highlighting the unique experiences your dental practice offers, you can successfully market your dental practice in this cutting-edge space.

Ted Lasso's Lessons for Dentists as Entrepreneurs

Mon, 05 Jun 2023 15:49:20 GMT

Ted Lasso's Lessons for Dentists as Entrepreneurs

Just finished the last season of Ted Lasso. I really enjoy the writing, especially those related to the principles of success, self-motivation, and self-mastery.

The show’s unique blend of positivity, leadership, and team spirit can indeed provide valuable lessons.

Now I’m just spitballing’ here, but, here’s what I think Ted Lasso would say to a room full of the best smile shapers, grin gurus, cavity crusaders, and mouth maestros on the planet… it’s the Richmond Way for dentists.

1. Embrace optimism:

Unwavering optimism can be a powerful asset for dental entrepreneurs. In the face of challenges and setbacks, maintain a positive mindset and believe in your vision. This attitude will help you navigate the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and inspire your team.

2. Build a strong team:

Understand the importance of assembling a supportive and cohesive team. As a dentist and entrepreneur, surround yourself with people who share your passion and vision for your practice. Skills can be trained. Attitude can not. Foster a collaborative work environment where everyone feels valued and motivated to contribute their best.

3. Communicate effectively:

Your ability to connect with people is essential. As a dentist, clear and empathetic communication is vital with both your team and your patients. Effective communication builds trust, fosters relationships, and ensures everyone is aligned toward your goals.

4. Prioritize relationships:

Value personal connections and put relationships first. Similarly, as a dentist, nurturing strong relationships with your patients is crucial. Focus on providing personalized care, building trust, and creating a positive dental experience that keeps patients coming back and referring others.

5. Be adaptable and embrace change:

A willingness to adapt and learn can guide dentists in entrepreneurship. Embrace change and be proactive in implementing innovative solutions and technology. Never stop learning and never stop chasing your goals. Change is never easy, so when things get tough, use that 10-second memory. Be a goldfish!

6. Find joy in the journey:

Finding joy in your work is important. Embrace your passion for dentistry and entrepreneurship, celebrate small victories, and appreciate the journey. Enjoying the process will keep you motivated during the inevitable challenges of building a business.

7. Lead with integrity and empathy:

Chose to be rooted in integrity and empathy. Apply these qualities in your entrepreneurial journey as a dentist. Lead by example, make ethical decisions, and prioritize the well-being of your team and patients. A compassionate and ethical approach will set you apart and build a solid foundation for success.

Embrace optimism, nurture relationships, communicate effectively, and lead with integrity to create a thriving dental practice that makes a positive impact on both your team and patients.

7 Ways to Use ChatGPT for Dental Local SEO

Thu, 09 Mar 2023 18:31:00 GMT

7 Ways to Use ChatGPT for Dental Local SEO

By now you have likely heard of ChatGPT. This new AI tool has gained widespread attention for its remarkable language generation capabilities, which have been likened to the performance of a human writer. ChatGPT has its benefits but also its limitations. While the technology is evolving, it can provide some serious potential benefits for your dental practice. One being Local SEO.

As a language model, ChatGPT can provide information and insights related to local SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Here are some ways you can use ChatGPT for local SEO:

Google Business Profile Dominance & Competitor Analysis: ChatGPT can help you analyze your local competitors and their SEO strategies. You can ask ChatGPT to find out which keywords your competitors are ranking for, their backlink profile, and their content strategy. This information can help you optimize your website and content to stay ahead of your competitors. Open ChatGPT and type, “I am opening a dental practice in city, state. Can you list other dental practices nearby?”.

Content creation: ChatGPT can help you generate ideas for local SEO content. By asking questions related to your industry and location, you can get suggestions for topics that are relevant to your business and your target audience.

Keyword research: ChatGPT can assist you in finding local keywords that are important for your business. You can ask ChatGPT about the best local keywords for your niche and location, and it can provide you with a list of relevant keywords that you can use in your website's content.

Local directory listings: ChatGPT can assist you in identifying the best local directories to list your business on. You can ask ChatGPT about the most popular local directories in your area, and it can provide you with a list of directories that are relevant to your business.

Customer engagement: ChatGPT can help you engage with your customers by answering their queries related to your business and location. By providing helpful and relevant information to your customers, you can improve your local SEO and build trust and credibility with your target audience.

Video & FAQ creation: If you need content ideas, ask ChatGPT to give you relevant questions for an FAQ section of Q&A content piece. Ask ChatGPT, “Create a list of FAQ’s someone may have about my dental practice that I can answer in a Q and A and put on my Google Business Profile listing.”

Location Pages: Ask ChatGPT to make a list of towns surround the city and location where your practice is located. Then, add content, relevant search terms, and expand your location pages in your sitemap to dominate your local area.

Overall, ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for local SEO by providing you with insights and information that can help you optimize your website, content, and online presence for local search.

More About Google Local Service Ads for Dentists

sdhgpg@gmail.com (Sean Hamel) — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 15:23:21 GMT

More About Google Local Service Ads for Dentists

Google Local Service Ads (LSAs) are a powerful tool for dentists to connect with potential patients in their local area. In this post, we'll explain what LSAs are, how they work, and how dentists can use them to grow their practice.

What are Google Local Service Ads?

Local Service Ads are a type of advertising that appears at the top of Google search results when someone searches for a local service. These ads are designed to connect customers with local businesses that can provide the services they need.

For dentists, this means that when someone in your area searches for a "dentist near me" or a specific dental service like "teeth cleaning," your practice could appear at the top of the search results, above the traditional Google Ads.

How do Local Service Ads work?

To get started with LSAs, dentists need to create a profile in Google My Business and apply for verification. Once your profile is verified, you can create ads and start running campaigns. Your ad will appear when someone in your area searches for dental services that match your specialties.

When someone clicks on your ad, they'll be taken to your Google My Business profile, where they can learn more about your practice, read reviews, and book an appointment directly through Google.

What are the benefits of using Local Service Ads?

There are several benefits to using LSAs as a dentist:

Increased visibility: Local Service Ads appear at the top of Google search results, giving you greater visibility and exposure to potential patients in your area.

Trust and credibility: LSAs display your Google My Business rating and reviews, which can help build trust and credibility with potential patients.

High-quality leads: Because LSAs are triggered by specific service-related searches, the leads generated by these ads are often more qualified and likely to convert into patients.

Cost-effective: Local Service Ads are pay-per-lead, which means you only pay when someone contacts you through your ad. This can be a more cost-effective way to generate leads compared to traditional Google Ads.

In conclusion, Local Service Ads can be a valuable tool for dentists looking to connect with potential patients in their local area.

By creating a profile, running campaigns, and leveraging the benefits of LSAs, dentists can increase visibility, build trust, generate high-quality leads, and grow their practice.

Simplifying Google Local Service Ads for Dentists

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 23:21:06 GMT

Simplifying Google Local Service Ads for Dentists

Google Local Service Ads are paid ads that allow dentists to promote their services to potential customers in their geographic area. To be eligible to advertise on Local Service Ads (LSAs), dentists will need to complete a Google verification process to verify their credentials and ensure they meet Google's standards.

The Difference Between Google AdWords and Local Service Ads

Google Ads, also known as Google AdWords, is a pay-per-click (PPC) advertising platform where you pay every time someone clicks on your ad, regardless of whether or not they take any further action. Local Service Ads (LSAs) are a specific type of Google Ads that are designed for local service providers, such as dentists. With LSAs, you pay by the lead instead of the click, meaning you're only charged when a prospective customer contacts you via the ad. This allows you to more effectively control your advertising costs and only pay for leads that are most likely to convert into paying customers.

Google's “Verified By Google’ program helps convey trust and credibility to prospective patients by allowing dental practices to earn a Google Badge of Trust. Local Service Ads (LSAs) are designed to address the needs of local service providers and their customers. With LSAs, local service providers can promote their services to potential customers in their area through ads that appear at the top of local search results. This makes it more likely that searchers looking for a local service will find a trusted provider in their own neighborhood quickly.

This program is unique as it is a pay-per-lead program that has been shown to generate quality results while also conveying trust and credibility to prospective patients online. Once verified, dentists can create ads that will appear at the top of local search results when people search for dentists in their area. These ads can include information such as the dentist's location, hours of operation, contact information, as well as ratings and reviews from previous patrons. Dentists can become a "Google Screened", promoting extra credibility and should, in theory, give searchers more confidence to engage. Having trust and credibility is crucial to attract and retain patients.

Benefits of Local Service Ads

One of the key benefits of LSAs is that they allow local service providers to be more visible in search results, which can help increase their chances of converting potential customers into paying customers. Additionally, because LSAs are pay-per-lead rather than pay-per-click, local service providers only pay when a prospective customer contacts them through the ad, which can help them better control their advertising costs. Overall, LSAs can be a valuable tool for local service providers to increase visibility and convert leads into patients.

Local Service Ads are a great supplement to a local SEO strategy for dentists. When a searcher enters a local search query, they may see several trusted professionals in their area positioned right above the traditional paid search ads. These new ads show a business number, hours, ratings, and reviews, allowing the searcher to easily identify the right service provider for their needs.

LSAs will display on desktop, tablet, and mobile searches and will have reach beyond traditional search ads. They will also be featured in the Google Assistant's response to relevant voice search queries. The Google Assistant will even inquire about the searcher's job type and location to ensure a good fit for both parties. Another benefit of Local Service Ads is that advertisers pay per lead, not per click. This can help prevent the problem of paying for clicks that don't convert into paying customers, which is a common issue with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

Costs of LSAs Versus AdWords

The cost per lead for LSAs can vary depending on the job and the market, but typically falls within the range of $106 - $120ish per lead (Google’s estimates). Advertisers can also dispute charges for leads that are fraudulent, spam, or a poor match and receive credit.

LSAs are also included in voice search responses, which is especially valuable as over 20% of all searches come from voice search. This allows advertisers to make sure that they're found on the 400 million devices powered by Google Assistant. Another advantage is that LSAs don't require keyword research and ad testing, unlike traditional paid search ads, it will automatically trigger when a customer searches for relevant search terms, broad or specific.

Conclusion

Whew, that was a lot to cover quickly. As Local Service Ads continue to evolve, the team at Art of Dental Marketing is focused on the success of every dental professional. We want offices to be found in search, easily, and be connected with the quality potential patients they are hoping to treat. If you’d like to discuss your practice marketing and the specifics of Google advertising as it relates to you, schedule a no-obligation call with Sean, our Managing Partner, by visiting www.artofdentalmarketing.com!

How To Tell Your Brand Story

Mon, 01 Nov 2021 19:09:32 GMT

How to Tell Your Brand Story

What’s a brand story and do you need one? The truth is you already have one whether you like it or not. Your focus should be controlling the story being told by providing incredible experiences to your patients and support to your community. Is your brand story working for you?

What is a Brand Story?

A brand story may seem complicated and a bit elusive. While in fact every company already has one. A brand story can be thought of as an impression. Just the same as when you make a connection with a person, an impression is inevitably made.

The impressions and opinions others form about us we don’t have complete control over, but we can influence their perceptions of us. Just like the outfit we chose this morning can create an impression about us. If we dressed in slouchy comfortable clothes we might be perceived as laid back or unorganized. While a tailored suit conveys confidence, importance, and structure. One is not more correct than the other, what matters is it is true to you. Because the story you are portraying will attract those with similar beliefs and values. So be sure you are putting out there what you want to attract.

A brand story goes much deeper than listing off services you provide and your about page. A brand story that works for you will convey your values, mission, beliefs, appeal to your ideal demographic, and be relatable. A purposeful authentic brand story builds a strong loyal clientele advocating for you.

Just as our clothes, speech, stories, and how we carry ourselves all influence the perceptions others make about us. A brand story is essentially the same. The look and language used on your promotional materials from your website to social media posts, your office atmosphere, chair-side manner, and so forth all are interwoven into your brand story.

Therefore, a brand story can’t be faked, it must be true. It’s your defining qualities and individuality setting you apart. The better you become at expressing your story the more you will draw in loyal patients.

Why You Need a Brand Story

An authentic purposeful brand story, peaks interest, increases conversions from traffic to patient, and patient to advocate. An advocate is loyal and tells all their friends and family about you.
A purposeful brand story builds loyalty, brings clarity and decisiveness to your marketing strategy. It even has the potential to bring more peace to your career as you attract patients more deeply appreciative of you and your work.

How to Shape Your Brand Story

Foremost it needs to be true to you. Your brand story includes all impressions you and your staff make in-person and online. Your communication and interaction whether in person or digitally should be authentic, relatable, comforting, and memorable.

A great place to begin, according to entrepreneur Simon Sinek, is to Start with Why.1 Why did you become a dentist? Why do you practice as you do? Why do you believe in dentistry? Become familiar with your why so you can better communicate your values, beliefs, and story to others. This creates emotional bonds increasing patient loyalty, and grabs the attention of potential new patients.

Emotion drives decisions and logic justifies them. If you can create an emotional connection you build trust and loyalty. More commonly Why is not where people start, most start with What.

What is logical and Why is emotional . A What would be a description of services you provide. This is common on dental websites. Try to stay clear of clinical sterile language and descriptions. In contrast, a Why , is sharing why they will benefit from your services. A shared Why is uniting and memorable, and What is forgettable.

Weave your beliefs and stories into your interactions, from web pages to social media posts. Second, know your ideal patient and use language comfortable to them. Be relatable, convey your values, and share your unique individuality. Even something as simple as letting people know you fish or golf is humanizing and will create a small connection to those that enjoy the same. Not everyone will be attracted to your story and that’s okay. An authentic brand story builds loyalty because it attracts those who share your beliefs and resonates with your Why .

Share Your Why

A brand story is relatable authentic content that is true to your mission. It targets the demographic you hope to attract, it aligns with your values and is a part of your story. Everything from your website to staff makes up your brand story. The better you refine your brand story the more you will attract the patients you enjoy serving. Without a purposeful story, it is easy to be lost in the shuffle. A brand story sets you apart, adds value, intrigue, peaks curiosity, and generates customer loyalty.

References

Sinek, S. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. New York: Portfolio; 2009.

3 Dental Marketing Lessons From Netflix's Tiger King

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Fri, 10 Apr 2020 03:51:24 GMT

3 Dental Marketing Lessons

From Netflix's Tiger King

You have likely heard or seen a notorious new Netflix documentary called Tiger King all over your social media feeds. While the series is heavy on the crazy, guns, gore, violence, murder, mystery, and more, it's also got a few (very few) redeeming qualities. Love him or hate him, Joe Exotic and his merry band of tiger totin' weirdos get a few things right along the way. You can take these nuggets of positivity and put them to work in your practice marketing right now. Let's get started.

Be authentically you

If you’ve watched Tiger King, you know that Joe Exotic and his band of merry, tiger touting misfits all had one common trait among them. They were real. No matter what anyone says, does, or thinks, they are who they are. Authentic. Raw. And quite crazy.

Joe, Carol, and the rest of the tiger elite didn’t change who they were. If anything they fully embraced it, Joe, to an obvious fault. Your dental practice is an extension of you.

It’s not about the dentistry you sell, it’s about the story you tell. Don’t be so focused on the clinical aspects of dentistry. Honestly, most patients won’t know if you’re a good clinician or not. It won’t factor in their buying decision. But your brand will.

You build your brand through your Google reviews, social media, website, and the experience you give every one of your patients. You build your brand through your relationships. Create relationships by giving your patients insight into who you are. Your hobbies. Your passions. Why you became a dentist. What motivates you and why should you be the dentist they choose?

Give your patients the opportunity to get to know the real you. Let them know what you stand for and what your brand is built on. People respond to that.

Don’t focus on your competitors

Joe Exotic was so focused on Carol that it consumed him, his marketing, his messaging and his life. Lesson learned here, don’t worry about your competitors. While being authentic, transparent, and unique… keep focused on your patients. Not your competitors.

A commonly discussed example of this is Blockbuster Video. The company was in fierce competition with Hollywood Video for years. The two were so focused on each other that they completely missed the dark horse that would eventually wipe them both out. That’s right, Netflix.

If your practice is struggling to grow, don’t worry about the DSO that just moved in down the street or the new practice with all the fancy new equipment nearby. Most offices panic and start discounting services or throwing a bunch of money at marketing, hoping for a silver bullet. Focus on your patients, the problems you can solve for them, the message you think they need to hear and why they should choose you. Then create content around that. Connect with people. Make them feel safe, special, cared about and appreciated.

Never lose sight of why you started

Toward the end of the documentary, one of Joe’s ex-staffers talks about how he lost sight of his first love. The animals he was caring for. Have you gotten wrapped up in your practice, numbers, growth, and profit? Are you churning and burning patients as fast as possible? Are you spending thousands on marketing services to generate massive numbers of new patients, but those patients are leaving and not coming back or accepting treatment?

What good does that do you? Remember why you started. Remember that dentistry is a relational business. It’s really that simple. Most of the population has anxiety when it comes to dentistry. They want to feel safe, that you aren’t going to hurt them and that they’re going to get quality care.

Maybe you haven’t lost sight of your patients, and that’s great. If you have, use this time to hit the reset button and get your focus back where it needs to be.

Conclusion

Joe Exotic and the Tiger King documentary is an absolute mess. The entire situation is almost unbelievable. The notoriety and negativity around the series have been widespread. I wanted to spin some positivity out of the chaos and I hope it provided some value to you in reading it.

It’s a tough time right now. Patients are going to be even more nervous and worried when you get the all-clear to re-open. I’m sure you understand that, but try to play to those emotions by making people feel as safe and relaxed.

You do not have to spend thousands of dollars on frivolous marketing. Be intentional and remember that relationships and systems and processes are what make dental practice succeed. You are what people are buying. The experience of being your patient, your team, how people speak about your practice when you’re not around, and how your website, social media, and Google My Business profile convey your practice to the world are the main things that need to sit on that foundation.

Have questions or concerns about your practice marketing? Want to speak to a dental marketing expert? Schedule a free consults today with a dental marketing expert. Click in the top right corner to get started today!

ADA COMPLIANCE: IS YOUR DENTAL WEBSITE PUTTING YOU AT RISK?

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 18:25:00 GMT

Let’s talk about the Federal Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA became law in 1990. It’s a civil rights law aimed at stopping discrimination of those with disabilities in all areas of their public life. The law requires some businesses to make certain accommodations. Yes, this includes accessibility at a physical location for service animals, wheelchairs, and the use of braille. This compliance also reaches into the digital world. ADA compliance is necessary for your dental practice website.

A Real Issue for Dentists

You may have heard about several dentists near Austin, Texas, who received official letters because their websites were not compliant. Yes, it does happen. Your dental practice is vulnerable to legal action if your website does not comply with the ADA. Talk about a stressful situation that could cost thousands and thousands of dollars!

This is a serious and dangerous situation for you as a business owner. It’s important to remember that the 50 million or so Americans who live with disabilities, including our great veterans, still have teeth and require (and deserve) an incredible patient experience. An accessible website ensures anyone who is deaf, blind, or suffering from other physical impairment can still engage your website in a meaningful way.

This blog will provide some guidelines for your practice so you can be more inclusive and show that you’ve made a good faith effort to comply.

*I would encourage you to speak with a disability lawyer if you have any specific legal concerns. This post is not legally binding, nor is it legal advice. Per J. Craig Busey, ADA general counsel, it is advised that dentists check with their respective state dental society for a white paper about the issue of ADA compliance.*

How to Get Started

Here is some ugly truth… Just because you hired a web designer or marketing company to create your website does not mean it is ADA compliant. Dental practices can be susceptible to lawsuits. Your practice is, unfortunately, a prime target as you typically have high collections but not the deep corporate pockets to fight your case over the long haul.

While the guidelines of ADA compliance aren’t fully set in stone, under Title III of the ADA, healthcare professionals and businesses that provide a “place of public accommodation”, need to be ADA compliant. A dental practice will, most likely, fall into these categories.

Listed below are some steps you can take toward ADA compliance for your dental website:

Text: Text must be changeable with regard to size and contrast mode. Contrast adjustment makes it easier for those with visual impairment to see and read the content.
Audio, Images & Videos: Add Alt tags which allow a user to hear alternative descriptors of content they may not be able to view. Include text transcripts and subtitles for video content as well.
Text Only Version: Some users will only be able to navigate your site with a keyboard interface. Technology like screen readers needs to be able to navigate your website. Alexa and Siri, too!
Forms: Any forms that are downloadable from your site need to meet ADA standards. They must be accessible to everyone.
Layout: Links, Menus, and buttons should be designed so they are clearly separate from one another and easily recognizable on your site.

ADA compliance is great for SEO as well. The added steps and additional descriptors on various pieces of content make it easier for search engines to crawl, index and understand your website, pushing it up the organic search results and getting your site in front of more users.

Non-Compliance Woes

There are many downsides to non-compliance. Aside from the risk of legal action, you are missing out on revenue. Those disabled in your community still have teeth and still deserve to be cared for. Your competitors are probably not focused on ADA compliance. That means those disabled patients nearby can’t use their website. Give those patients the opportunity to use yours.

Summary

We talk a lot about branding and building relationships at GPG. This is a fantastic way to do that while also protecting your practice from real risk. Give ALL patients the opportunity to engage and become loyal brand advocates who will refer and promote your practice. Everyone deserves an amazing patient experience.

We believe your website is more than just a static digital placeholder. Every website we create at Grow Practice Grow is ADA compliant and responsive. Nothing is canned or template. Nothing is stock.

The best way to ensure your practice is safe is to speak to our team of Dental Marketing Experts. Right now you can get a free, no-obligation digital marketing audit. This free audit is an in-depth reporting of your current Website and SEO presence, presented in an easy to read A-F scaled breakdown.

You want a beautiful, custom website that everyone can access. You want to serve all members of your community. You want to protect your business from unnecessary legal risk. Let us help you!

Consult a disability lawyer with specific questions regarding the law. Our marketing firm does not provide legal advice nor does this blog constitute as legal advice.

HOW TO USE OTHER PEOPLE’S CONTENT TO GET MORE WEBSITE TRAFFIC

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 18:24:57 GMT

Getting more traffic to your dental practice website, blog, and/or social media channels is a want of every dentist. In the modern digital age, it’s harmful not to have a strong online presence. Sadly, there is no “silver bullet” for increasing traffic.

Your content strategy and approach need to be FSCP. Focused. Strategic. Consistent. Patient. Those are the ingredients to success. I see practices that are doing a good job initially, but after a couple of weeks they abandon their strategy because it didn’t “do anything”. You have to commit and persevere in content marketing. There is a lot of noise out there and it will take time to cut through.

In this blog, I am going to show you a quick, easy way to get more traffic without spending more money. Who doesn’t love that?

Getting More Traffic to Your Dental Practice’s Website

Let’s face it, sharing curated content is much easier than creating content. Start by thinking about how you, your friends, and family use the internet. You read and share articles, right? We all do (and we spend WAY too much time doing it).

I want to introduce you to Snip.ly.

Snip.ly is an incredible tool that allows you to use content curation to drive traffic to your website. What’s better? It’s free!

Every time you share an article, on any social network, you will share the Snip.ly link versus the original link. The Snip.ly version appears the same as the original, only it includes a call to action at the bottom of the page. This allows the reader to go straight to your website or landing page.

You can always include credit to the article’s source. It is a great way to build relationships with influencers and engage their audience, but it is not required.

Get started with Snip.ly

Here is an easy, step-by-step guide to get going.

Go to snip.ly and sign up for a free account. Yes, you just type “snip.ly” into your browser.
You will need to create a practice account with an email.
Setup your brand profile. You are going to want to upload your logo and decide on where you want to drive traffic.
I would advise you have a dedicated page to send traffic to. Do not just drop them on your home page. Send them to your Contact page or to a landing page for the service you are promoting (whitening, Invisalign, CEREC, etc.).

Once your brand profile is set up, find an article you want to share.

Copy/Paste the URL of the article into Snip.ly.
A box will appear where you will customize your CTA. Choose what you want to readers to see as a message, customize your CTA button, and input the URL of where you want your web traffic to go.
Click “Create” and you will see the new URL you’ve just created. It will be shorter and should start with http://snip.ly/.
That’s it! You just created your first snip! Copy the Snip.ly URL and head over to your social media accounts and start sharing using the new link.

*Additional Dental Marketing Tip – Install the Snip.ly Chrome extension. It will make snipping much easier! Any time you come across a great article, you can immediately “snip” that content in your browser.

Powerful Content Marketing

There are various levels of Snip.ly pricing. As stated, the free version allows up to 1,000 clicks per month. Paid versions give more customization options for logos, buttons, etc. It’s fully customizable! Create multiple CTA’s for various services, different seasonal drive times, different types of content, or for more than one office location.

Every Snip.ly account includes some really helpful analytics and tracking information, too. Your dashboard will give you data such as the number of snips you’ve created, clicks, average time on your pages, etc. This is powerful for your dental practice as it allows you to gauge what content worked and what did not work in generating traffic.

Tracking your marketing ROI shouldn’t just be about money. You need to spend and track your time intentionally, too. Stop wasting valuable time on things that aren’t working.

Conclusion

Snip.ly is powerful and awesome. It will allow you to use influencer content to drive traffic to your website. It allows you to share relevant, engaging content with your audience and continue to build those important relationships that keep your brand strong and your patients referring.

If you want to build strong relationships and get your patient referral network running like a well-oiled machine, we are here to help!

THE BIG MARKETING SECRET: GENERATING MORE PROFIT BY FOCUSING ON EXISTING PATIENTS INSTEAD OF CHASING NEW PATIENTS.

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 22:24:46 GMT

You have likely heard the old adage, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” It’s better to value and appreciate what you already have. It’s cheaper, too. A lot of dental practices have no idea what their cost-per-patient acquisition is. Have you calculated your costs for every new butt in your chair?

More Time Not More Money

Dentists, and a lot of marketers for that matter, almost completely ignore the profit potential sitting idle within their existing patient base. If you’ve read any of my blogs, you’ve likely heard me promoting the idea that dentists and their teams need to spend more time on their marketing, not more money.

You don’t have to discount dentistry or constantly chase higher new patient numbers. The truth is, there is likely a mountain of profitability right where you are.

The Power of Storytelling In Your Marketing

It all starts with storytelling. You have a story. Your practice has a story. Your patients have a story. Dentistry is unique in that there is a high-level of intimacy between you and your patients, plus a pretty universal anxiety/fear attached to your relationship. Understanding and expressing empathy is a great starting point for building a valuable connection.

Maximizing your patient experience is where I always recommend dentists start. Are you packing as much into your schedule as humanly possible? What do you think that is doing to your patient experience? Could case acceptance increase if you or a member of the hygiene team spent a little more time chairside? I don’t mean to play Devil’s advocate, but I always encourage practices to think about the experience, start to finish, as honestly as possible.

Next, all elements of the brand need to be reviewed and synergized. Your website, social media, SEO strategy, and reviews and testimonials all need to work together to promote integrity, trust, professionalism, cleanliness, etc. Consumers put a lot of emphasis on the experience of others even after a referral from a trusted friend or family member. Analyzing, optimizing and executing a cohesive marketing and branding strategy is no easy feat.

I know many, if not all of you, are already actively asking for reviews. What are you doing with those reviews after you have them? Are you just leaving them on Google or Facebook? Are you posting them on social media, along with photos and video of other happy patients? You need to be. Your existing patients wield the most power of persuasion for potential new patients. Not stock photography models.

Your Dental Practice Sales Approach

Aside from just reviews and a strong social media following, you should review your sales process. What happens once a patient confirms their appointment? Stop chasing sales after the appointment. Sell in the lead-up time to the appointment.

Over the years, I’ve had the honor of spending time with Revenuewell founder, Alex Nudel. Alex is a huge proponent for preemptive selling to patients once they confirm their appointment. It really works and it can change the profitability of your practice.

All you need to do is send a quick video message promoting products and services, like whitening for example, on the front end of hygiene visits. Most people want white teeth. Give them the option to add it before their visit. They can know and adjust their schedule for the added time during the appointment.

Most people say “no” chairside because:

They don’t feel connected to you. You haven’t gained their trust.

They haven’t been presented financing options beforehand.

They don’t fully understand the value of the treatment

They simply don’t have time.

Spend a little extra time and send this information and their options ahead of the appointment. Use video! It’s powerful and will get much more engagement than standard text.

You’ll be surprised how many people say yes!

Conclusion

I’m not saying new patients aren’t important. They are. However, focusing on existing patients will always provide tremendous upside for the practice. With a little extra time and care you will connect and build a bond that promotes loyalty and case-acceptance. Each member of your tribe will likely promote you to their family and friends, leave you great reviews, engage with you on social media, and stay with you for the long-term.

Start marketing products and services in the lead-up to appointments, not after the fact. Understand that patients are busy and need to “pencil you in”, to their lives, too. Maybe they would love to accept professional whitening after a cleaning, they can’t because they didn’t plan the extra time. This is a silly reason to lose revenue. Give options for treatment and products before. Shoot quick videos and add them to your confirmation, reminder and reactivation email sequences. Have your team text or call. You have options!

This marketing approach is slower. It’s not flashy or sexy. It will take more time and effort. But the ROI is there. Understanding human behavior and maximizing the relationship with each patient can and does lead to strong, steady growth.

Look at your patient experience and overall marketing presence. Give it an honest review. You can chat with a Dental Marketing Expert on our homepage anytime, too. Stop by today for a risk-free, zero-obligation audit of your existing website and SEO strategy.

USE FACEBOOK MESSENGER TO MARKET YOUR DENTAL PRACTICE

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 22:15:38 GMT

Have you considered using Facebook Messenger in your marketing strategy?

A retargeting strategy will go a long way in promoting your practice to site traffic and those already familiar with your brand. Using Messenger can provide even better ROI.

Facebook Messenger ads give you the ability to engage patients and potential patients without actually having to “engage”.

Here is how it works: When a prospect clicks on your ad it starts a “conversation” with your practice… No matter what kind of device your prospect is using! Cool huh?

You can use Messenger ads in a few different ways. You can:

– Promote an offer or service.

– Offer a discount on the products you sell.

– Request likes and follows on social media.

Add a warm greeting and a clickable graphic to start engaging with potential new patients in a fun, unique way! It’s a great way to get a relationship started without a phone call or the need for a visit. That means more productivity for you and your team – focusing on dentistry versus prospecting.

Messenger Ads have a lot of potential from a customer service and sales perspective… and this feature is still very much in its infant stage. By adding this to your Facebook strategy, you will be able to start telling your story, building relationships, and creating a personalized, intimate patient experience your competition won’t come close to.

3 STEPS TO ABSOLUTELY OWN LOCAL SEARCH

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 22:14:13 GMT

Are you paying over $500 per month for an SEO strategy that isn’t producing new patients? As a dentist, you are a local specialty service provider. A complex and expensive SEO strategy isn’t needed to drive local new patients to your office. Even if you practice in multiple locations, local search needs to be set up, effectively, for each market. Google estimates around 73% of all, yes all, online activity are from customers looking for local businesses in their area. This is advantageous for your dental practice and should be a cornerstone of your new patient strategy. The best part… you can do this yourself. Here’s what you need to know to get new patients in your practice.

Own Your Google Business Listing

Optimize your Google Business listing. I mean really knock it out of the park. First, claim your listing. Verify it. Next, go through and thoroughly complete your Google Business Listing. This will serve two purposes:

It will help patients find you.

Google will rank you higher if your listing is complete versus one that is incomplete. *Make sure that you select specific categories for your business.

Own Targeted Local PPC

If your plans for your practice include global conquest, that’s great. Most likely though, your ads don’t need to be seen by everyone all over the world. By setting up targeting, your ads will only display in a certain location or set of locations as specified. We recommend a 5-mile radius around the practice location. However, in more rural/urban locations, the radius may fluctuate.

Own Call Tracking

Your practice needs a solution to track and measure phone calls. Setup a call tracking phone number for every new patient source like Facebook, Google, radio, etc. This will help you to see which sources are producing new patients and which are not. Thus, you can optimize your advertising budget to profitable channels and make your marketing dollars much more intentional. This call tracking number needs to be connected to your Google Business Listing so that AdWords will pull the number into ads through it’s “location extension” feature. This allows more phone calls to generate on local searches and improve your AdWords quality score.

Conclusion

That’s it! That’s the “secret sauce” of effective local search. Sounds easy right? Not necessarily. You can do this yourself. However, we can make it easy by providing solutions to create, implement and manage all of the above for you. All you have to do is sit back and enjoy the stream of new patients.

SEO CLARITY FOR DENTISTS

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 22:05:01 GMT

You Deserve More

As a dentist, you deserve more. You deserve more than overpriced services and the confusion, frustration, even fear that can come with any marketing agency’s pitch. There are a lot of fancy words floating around out there like SEO, PPC, keywords, ranking, etc. I’ve heard them all as I am sure you have, too. The truth is, SEO is important. However, it should not cost you an arm and a leg.

Common SEO Problems

Many dental practices are struggling in the same areas of SEO, so I put together a new e-book all about the 5 most common SEO mistakes that dental practices make. You can pick up a free copy here, but first, I want to talk about your brand. You see, SEO and PPC and a website that costs thousands aren’t the Pandora’s box that unlocks the riches of modern dentistry for you. It’s all important, but the fact is, your patient is buying you. Most consumers don’t care to know the details of a procedure, how expensive your tech is, how much granite you’ve had installed or the number of flat screen TVs you’ve got. Those aspects tie into an awesome patient experience no-doubt, but in the end, they are buying you. People want a dentist they like, know, and trust. Think about it, how many of you have that office in town that’s been there forever, they do little to no marketing, and they are still killing it in the production department? No matter what promo or discounts you run or what you give away, the majority of those patients will not leave. Ringing any bells?

Stop Wasting Marketing Dollars

The fact is, you can spend a ton of money on marketing. I have been in dental marketing for years and I have seen no fiscal investment outweigh a dentist who is willing to invest time in their community and social media. Referrals will always be your strongest marketing pipeline. When I say strongest, I mean those patients that stay with you for years, that make their recall appointments, that accept treatment and that pay their debts. Quality patients. That is the bread and butter of profitable dentistry.

Will quality patients walk-in off the street, too? Absolutely. But, delighting your existing patient base will work wonders for your bottom line versus trying to win over cold leads. Invest in your practice, in your team, and in your patients. Connect with the community. Start a blog. Branding is where I’ve seen dental practices really take their marketing to the next level, and I have tried it all.

In the coming months, I’m going to be sharing a lot of content that I hope you enjoy and that can help you and your colleagues see real growth. I look forward to the journey together.

WHY A DENTIST NEEDS A BLOG

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 21:59:20 GMT

We’ve discussed the importance of content before [Read more about how Content is KING here]. For most new patients, the internet is the first place they look for a dentist. Referrals are important. Having a family or friend refer a medical professional carries a LOT of weight. However, choosing a dentist usually comes down to two factors. Location and insurance acceptance. From there, it’s up to YOU to differentiate yourself and your dental practice from the rest of the dental crowd.

If you have a website, you’ve created a landing page where searchers can find your business and read about your practice. If you have a blog, you take a giant step forward in establishing value and building credibility, as well as extending your reach beyond Google searches.

Why Sharing Your Expertise Matters

A known and trusted commodity is a preferred choice. If you demonstrate that you are an expert in your field, that patient care is most important and that you genuinely want to connect and help the community you practice in, clients will choose you over a dentist they know nothing about. When you solve your reader’s problems by answering questions or providing information, you become a resource they return to, talk about, link to, forward and share. Blogging serves the dual purpose of gaining client trust and increasing web traffic to the contact page of your website.

How Blogs Extend Your Reach

Increased website traffic translates to more new patients, and blogs can help facilitate this. Each post that you publish remains online as an additional searchable web page that links to your homepage and continues to drive traffic there. The more blog posts you have, the more content readers can link to and share across other platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Blog posts increase the scope of your web presence, improving your chances of being noticed. You need to be posting at least 6 times per month and no more than 8 times per month. Any less than 6 and you’re getting lost in the crowd or forgotten. Any more than 8 can be considered self-serving or even annoying. Plus, the ROI on posting more than 8 times per month isn’t there. Web traffic doesn’t change much when posting 12 or 15 times versus just 6. Make your information valuable and effective. Quality over quantity is a definite virtue in effective blogging.

What You Should Blog About

Your content should give your readers answers they seek regarding dental issues, as well as relevant information they may not have searched for but find interesting. Avoid posts that are advertisements for your practice or overtly self-promotional. A share-worthy post is something informative, such as the benefits of using dental floss, but is not one that is promotional and tries to convince the reader to come to your location. Provide information to parents with regard to their children’s health. Explain, as simple as you can, some of the procedures that usually strike fear to the heart of your average patient. What is a root canal? What do I do if I lose a crown or chip a tooth? These can be educational and extremely helpful to a potential patient who is using Google before, during, and after a dental emergency.

How to Post Effectively

How you post makes a difference. Be concise: Use short sentences and paragraphs with white space in between to make your content easy to scan. Post regularly, at least six times each month, so your readers return in anticipation of new content. Learn about keywords, search engine optimization and metadata. If time is an issue for you, hire someone to create dental marketing content on your behalf. Be prepared to wait for a return on your investment as increasing your online influence can take time. An online presence is vital in business today, and your website is your foundation. Extend your internet influence even further by entering the world of dental blogging, and watch your practice reap HUGE benefits.

HOW TO BOOST YOUR PRACTICE SEARCH RANKINGS WITHIN THE NEXT HOUR

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 21:57:33 GMT

How is your dental practice’s digital strategy working out? Are you paying a premium each month for SEO? It’s no surprise that time and hard work are required to reach the number one spot in search rankings, but you can boost your practice’s search presence right now! Here’s what you need to do:

Sign Up for Google My Business

Google My Business is Google’s free online directory. To see how it helps, do a Google search for dentist.

At the top of the page, you should see a few paid ads; below will be a map showing the dentists near you.

Google My Business is how Google receives updated information about the businesses on the map, including their website and phone number.

Get on Social Media

A social media presence boosts your search rankings. This increase comes from links you put on social media and from when your followers start sharing your links.

You only need a few minutes to set up a Twitter account and Facebook page, and you don’t need to invest much time maintaining them. Just make at least one post each day giving a piece of advice, announcing your new blog post or linking to a relevant news article.

Connect to Google Webmaster Tools

Google Webmaster Tools is a free online application that tells you what to do next to boost your search rankings. When you sign up and submit your website, you will receive details about anything that prevents search engines from reading it and how to fix the issue.

Over time, Google Webmaster Tools will tell you which keywords searchers are using to find your website. If the application discovers a keyword that’s missing or not doing well, it will suggest that you focus your SEO efforts on that keyword.

Next Steps

Reaching near the top of search rankings is easy, but taking over the number one spot, or even being at the top of page, is highly competitive. Many businesses know that searchers are almost 10 times more likely to click the number one result than the results on the bottom half of the page.

CURATING DENTAL CONTENT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE HARD

sean@artofdentalmarketing.com (Sean Hamel) — Wed, 13 Nov 2019 20:53:14 GMT

Today we discuss content curation. CURATION folks, different from content CREATION. Content curation is the process of finding, reading and pushing out information that is relevant to your audience–complementing and supplementing the content that you are creating on your own. Sounds like a lot of work, eh? Stay with me…

The good news!

Content curation is a great way to expand your offering and provide information that may not be your area of expertise–but is certainly relevant—to your customers. It may even provide that extra layer of credibility for a service you are providing!

Think about it this way: Suppose you follow a bank on social media. They create lots of great custom content, which is fantastic. Creative (and way cute) checklists, detailed service overviews, and snazzy mortgage calculators. But at the end of the day, it is all from that bank. Created, developed, and paid for by that bank. If mixed into that custom content flow were also third-party articles that were helpful to you, as a bank customer, but not promotional or biased, perhaps even offering ideas/services outside of what the bank offers, wouldn’t that establish some serious street cred for that bank?

I am always impressed when I walk into a store, and the manager tells me that they can’t help me with exactly what I need, but they know the store on the other side of town that can! What!? They are seriously more interested in my benefit then theirs as a store!? They may lose the sale today, but I am definitely going to remember that and 1) come back and 2) tell that story to my friends and get them to that store! Same thing is true for your patients. I am not saying send them to other dental practices. I am simply suggesting that giving them the resources necessary to make the right decision for themselves can work wonders! It proves you truly care about them and are out for their best interest. Often curated content can help you show that.

Now the bad news…

The bad thing about content curation? It’s quite time consuming. Although it is super interesting—because trust me, you can learn a lot—it also means you gotta read it all and ensure what you are posting is something that 1) resonates with your patients and 2) you are alright with reflecting as your opinion. So, as easy as that sounds, it does take some serious time on your part. But….

BACK TO GOOD NEWS! There are tools to help!

Here are a few tools to help you find exactly the content you need, and quickly. Plus a bonus tip…

TWITTER: This is my all time fave, because I am already on it every day! Twitter is full of influencers pushing out awesome content ALL THE TIME! But you have to know how to quickly find it and sort through the chatter. Twitter searches and Twitter lists are your best bet to find exactly what you need! (Then you can use another favorite tool, BUFFER, and queue it up to be posted!)

POCKET: This is somewhat like a nifty bookmarking tool. You like? It is fantastic for content curation. When you find something you like, simply put it in your pocket. Then when you are ready to load up some curated stuff into your social media stream, just go to your ongoing list and, VOILA! Posts galore!

FEEDLY: Basically a fancy RSS feed, Feedly allows you to narrow down subject and source lists to pull together all relevant content for you in one nice spot. You can also SAVE FOR LATER, which is a great thing when you find stuff you like on the fly but aren’t wearing your content-loading hat at the moment.

BONUS SNIPLY:

Now, here is your bonus tip, for those still with me. Sniply! Sniply allows you to create a small banner ad that will layover any third-party site you send folks too. This is A-MAZ-ING! It is like free advertising. Sending your patients to the ADA’s website to learn about a root canal? At the bottom of that page, you can have a call-to-action with your logo that says “SCHEDULE YOUR APPOINTMENT NOW!”, and it links right back to your page. BOOM! No more lost patients.

You’ve got this!

So, content curation. Beneficial–yes. A little time consuming–yes. But with the right tools, you can maximize your time and reap the benefits! It is important to remember that content curation does not work on its own. It is a value-add to establish credibility and resourcefulness to your own content and service offering. You don’t want to only push out other people’s stuff all day long; then you lose your street cred since you aren’t offering an opinion or value of your own. Creation and curation. Milk and cookies. Peanut butter and jelly…ok, you get it.

How An Aging Website Destroys Your Organic Search Ranking

Wed, 13 Nov 2019 20:47:04 GMT

Were you one of the first to jump on the dental website bandwagon? Do you have a website that’s 20, 10, or even just five years old? Did you shop for the lowest bidder and then accept your current design without fully understanding digital marketing strategy? If so, what was once a great move to improve your visibility may now actually be hiding you from potential patients. Here are three previous best practices that could be hurting your local SEO today.

1. Frames

The way individual web pages are created has changed drastically over the years. Today, you can use a main template and central administrator settings to change page titles, menus and background images across all of your pages. Previously, each individual web page needed to be created by hand. If you wanted to change your menu, you had to adjust every page. To get around this, developers started using frames. Each page might have two or more frames. You’d have the main content frame, a side menu frame, possibly a header frame and maybe even a footer frame. The problem was that search engines couldn’t put the frames together and saw them as separate web pages that didn’t have enough content to rank. If your website has frames, you need to upgrade it ASAP.

2. Image Header

Many websites had, and some still use, a nice image at the top of each page with the company’s name and logo in fancy font. The problem is search engines can’t read images. If your company name is in an image, a search engine can’t figure out who you are. If you want to come up in searches for your dentist’s names, your practice name should be included in text.

3. Fixed Layouts

As website designs got more sophisticated, developers needed new ways to control the layouts. One way was by assigning fixed widths and heights to web pages as a whole, as well as individual items within each web page. This worked when web pages were only viewed on computer monitors that were all roughly the same size. Today, your website needs to look good on a big desktop computer, a small laptop, and most importantly as a mobile site for a phone. Because so many searches are now done on mobile devices, search engines push you down in the rankings if your website doesn’t work well on them. Do yourself and your practice a favor and build a new website that is designed and optimized for mobile devices. Make sure your local registry information is correct and accurate.

If you need a dental website, content, blogging or video, mailers or other dental marketing assistance we have solutions for you! We know dentistry and we know dental marketing. Contact Grow Practice Grow today and talk to a dental marketing expert!