Offline marketing methods like business directory listings and word of mouth play an important role in the success of dental clinics. Many people will simply choose a dentist surgery because their family uses it, or because they found it in the yellow pages and it’s nearby.
That only accounts for a percentage of your potential customer base though and if you want a steady influx of new patients it’s important to boost your online presence. This is because many people today do their research online – they search yell.com, check out recommendations on Facebook, and trust Google to find a suitable clinic for them.
The way we find businesses are changing and companies like dental clinics need to realize this shift in searching habits to remain competitive. Below we take you through five simple things you can do to boost the online presence of your dental clinic and make sure you are visible to those who search for your services on the web.
1. Create a Google Business Profile Listing
Google Business Profile is a brilliant starting point and this will improve your online visibility and also make your dental clinic look more professional.
A Google Business Profile is free to create and it gives your dental surgery a swanky business box when people search for you on Google or find your location on Google Maps. You know the one – on Google search pages it typically shows on the right-hand side and you can usually see a small map, photos of the business, and other important info like reviews and services provided.
Create a free Google Business Profile and make it as detailed as possible and this should do wonders for your online presence.
2. Register With Local Business Directories
Physical business directories are becoming a thing of the past unfortunately but there are many online business directories you should use instead.
Popular examples that you need to list your business on include yell.com, LinkedIn Company Directory, Apple Maps, Bing, Super Pagers, and YellowBook.com.
It is also a great idea to do some research and see if there are any local online business directories. These are often created by the community and boost your online presence specifically for the area your clinic is located in.
3. Implement SEO for Your Dentist Website
Search Engine Optimization is a key practice that helps your website get ranked higher on search engines like Google and Bing.
You are essentially improving your website content and optimizing it for keywords that relate to your business. These are keywords that you expect people to search for when trying to find your dental surgery or the services you provide.
The keywords are incorporated into your web content and then you make other improvements like page loading speeds, optimized images, and creating a link portfolio. All of these steps basically allow search engine crawlers to find and index your website easier which then helps with ranking higher for search terms that your patients may use.
Dentist SEO marketing is incredibly important and if you can rank high on Google for a range of search terms you should be able to increase your website traffic which in turn boosts your online presence.
4. Create Helpful Content for Your Patients
Today it’s not enough to merely optimize your website and have impeccable SEO – you must also try to provide useful information and content that your patients can benefit from.
The simplest way to do this is via regular blog posts and if you check out other businesses’ websites you will see that most of them have a blog.
This is now common practice but where the blogs used to be for stuffing keywords, they are now genuinely helpful. You could create blog posts on dental hygiene, guides on how to maintain your toothbrush, or even articles for children explaining how dentists work and why they shouldn’t be afraid of them.
Content like this helps SEO but it also builds a bond of trust with your patients and can do wonders for your online presence and brand recognition.
5. Create Active Social Media Profiles
Social media is generally not as powerful for dental clinics but you could certainly look to create a Facebook page and perhaps even an Instagram page. Platforms like Twitter and Pinterest are not as useful and don’t really fit the dental industry.
A Facebook page could really help tap into another area of patients and boost your online presence further. The key is to post regular content that has real meaning and value to your customers. This could be dental advice and info posts similar to the blogs for your website.
Get Your Clinic Noticed and Stand Out From the Competition
These are all things that anyone can implement without SEO or web development knowledge and the results can be fantastic. We get that it’s tempting to rely on traditional offline marketing methods like word of mouth and business directories but dentist surgeries really can benefit from boosting their online presence and increasing traffic to their website too.
