subject: Internet Marketing For Dentists Five Things You Should Know [print this page] Whether you're just starting your dental website for the first time or re-inventing a current website to get better results, understanding a few simple principles of Internet marketing for dentists can ensure that you end up with a website that delivers the results you want.
Work with Professionals
You wouldn't ask a website designer to clean your teeth, so no one should expect a dentist to design an awesome SEO strategy for a dental website. That goes for every aspect of your online presence, because Internet marketing for dentists is about more than just the search engine optimization. Get a professional photographer to do the photos and a graphic design artist to create any art for your website. Before you hire anyone separately, though, check with the dental Web marketing company you choose to see if they have their own art and design department. And speaking of photographs...
Use Photographs Liberally
Web gurus used to discourage a lot of photographs on websites because they could slow down loading times. That's seldom an issue any more, and photographs can make all the difference on your dental website. At a minimum, your website should have photographs of yourself and any other dentists in your practice. People are more likely to book an appointment with a dentist they can see, even if it's in a photograph. If you do cosmetic dentistry or repair, before and after photos are your most potent dental Web marketing tool, and if you're marketing a relaxing, spa-like atmosphere, photographs of that convey that atmosphere can help sell the concept.
Target Your Specialties
When searching for effective keywords, be sure to include your specialties and all of your services. It's Internet Marketing for Dentists 101. Optimizing a Web page for "dentist" puts you into competition with tens of thousands of other dentists with websites. You can cut a lot of the competition simply by optimizing for orthodontist, pediatric dentist or cosmetic dentist.
Create a Separate Page for Each of Your Services
Likewise, you can cut competition for high-ranking first page search engine results by targeting specific services such as teeth cleaning, dental fillings and dental bridges as keywords. By putting each dental service you provide on a separate page, you can optimize specifically for that service. That makes it considerably easier for new patients looking for fillings, bridges, dentures and other services to find you instead of another local dentist.
Target Your Local Market
If you're like most dentists, the bulk of your patients probably live within 20 miles of your office. Target your dental Web marketing directly at the patients most likely to call you for an appointment using a local SEO/social marketing strategy along with regular Internet marketing for dentists. In a small town, optimize your website for your town and nearby towns. In a larger city, get granular and target neighborhood and district names.
Your website can deliver the results you want if you take advantage of high quality SEO provided by a company that specializes in Internet marketing for dentists. For more information about available SEO and marketing services that can help your practice flourish, contact an SEO company that provides full service dental Web marketing.