What is Dental SEO and Local Search?
Dental search engine marketing or Local SEO is the process of helping your practice achieve rankings and increased visibility in specific geographical locations using geographically related keywords and keyword phrases. A large part of Local SEO involves ranking in the Local algorithms as well as in the organic results for local keywords. In order to achieve the best results, the proper research must be done and the right foundation laid.
Why is this so important to you and your business? In a WebVisable/Nielsen study, 82% of respondents said that they’ve used the Internet to find local businesses; 80% say they’ve researched a product or service online before buying it locally. Yet, only 44% of small businesses even have a website. That means more than half of local businesses are missing out on opportunities to acquire new customers and increase profits. Your dental practice website is more important than ever before in acquiring new patients from your local area. Not having a winning web presence is hurting you and your practice.
Dental Search Engine Marketing and SEO is not some kind of magic or manipulation but rather a strategic effort to bring you and your business to the top of the search results utilizing consistent work across several platforms. It is creating content that positions you and your practice as the experts in your area and engages your potential customer. That content is distributed in the form of text, video, and audio on your website, on social media platforms, in directories, blogs, podcast and more. Education is the new selling and if your website becomes and educational resource to your community, the patients will follow. The fact is your dental practice can increase its reach and gain credibility in its community by becoming more visible online. Your online visibility can create trust in the minds of those who are looking for your services, treatment options and even products.
What Does Dental SEO and Local Marketing Involve?
It all begins with a good website that is not only pleasing to the eye but also optimized correctly and takes in to account various conversion strategies to turn website visitors into patients. Many website owners only think of the visual aspect of their website but don’t pay any attention to usability, patient experience, calls to action and other conversion strategies that get people to take action. That is why one of our services is not just building a website but building websites that convert.
The next thing you need to do is claim your listings with all the local directory services such as Google Local Plus, Yahoo business, Bing Business, Best of the Web and several others that will aid in you being found. There are many of these directories and some are more important than others especially those that help get you quality reviews. It is important that these are setup correctly and that there is consistency between all of them. This can be a daunting task when you try to do it yourself considering there are literally hundreds of these directories and each have differences in the way they are done and some require confirmation. Turn Key Dental Marketing know how to get the most mileage out of your directory listings and will guarantee that they will be consistent and setup properly.
Thirdly; you need to be utilizing and harnessing the power of video. By using video on your website it has a 53% better chance of ranking on the first page of Google than a website does. There are several video sharing sites but the 800 pound gorilla on the block of course is YouTube. It is imperative these days that you have a highly optimized YouTube channel but you also need your videos optimized individually in order to appear in the most targeted search results. Turn Key Dental Marketing consistently ranks videos for our clients on the first page of Google and the other search engines giving them maximum exposure and engagement. Video has proven to have higher conversion rates and is a medium of marketing that your potential patients are already consuming on regular basis.
Fourth; your dental practice needs to get social. By this we mean Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Pintrest, Foursquare and other social networks where potential patients are gathering. Some studies have shown that as high as 74% of people buy based on the recommendation of people they know. This makes social media the ultimate in referral-based marketing. There are several dental practices that have built a successful online presence who started out with social media before they even had a practice website. When they established their dental practice websites, they already had a huge following of fans ready to descend on it. I don’t think this is the best strategy but works never the less.
Fifth; it’s time to get mobile. This includes iphone, android and web based apps that can be viewed on a phone or tablet. It also includes mobile friendly versions of your website. A recent report came out showing that those who search the Internet from their phones or tablets has now surpassed those using a desktop computer or laptop. If your website is not mobile responsive, chances are you are losing patients as many searches are being conducted on a mobile device. Our analytics have shown as much as have those visiting a our clients sites do so from a mobile device. So having your dental practice go mobile is a must in today’s market.
The secret to success online is being found everywhere a potential patient can be found.
If your dental practice is going to succeed, it must have a strong internet marketing strategy. Those who are not aggressive in the market will fall behind and it will be much harder to catch up. Call us today at 337-446-2765 for a consultation about your dental marketing strategy.
