With so many dental practices available in each town or village, it is important to have a good dental marketing scheme in place to help find new patients for your practice.
Dental practices are now within walking distance of each other, so most people will walk past without even realizing that you are there.
Sometimes, they will walk past, see your name and then decide to go home and search for you on Google, but it is highly unlikely that they will walk straight in to book an appointment.
So, when they do type your name into Google, it is important that they find what they are looking for and that you have a strong online presence that gives them all the information they need.
This will give them that boost to encourage them to take the first step and book an appointment with you directly.
Encouraging better oral health
Everyone understands the importance of visiting the dentist, but most people present a certain degree of reluctance to do so.
With good marketing, you can encourage people to address their dental needs by comforting their nerves and educating them on the importance of good oral health and regular dental checkups.
When a patient decides they need to visit the dentist for a certain dental issue or has moved into the area recently and is looking for a new dentist to join, they will type their needs into Google.
Research has found that the majority of healthcare services are first searched for online, and this is the same with dentistry.
When your potential searches Google for a dental practice nearby, you want to be the first one to come up on their search results list.
Unless they know your name specifically, this is most likely what they will be searching for, and unless your name comes up or you’re near the top of the list, then you will have lost that patient to your competitors.
The importance of SEO
To make sure that you are at the top of the search results list, you need to have good search engine optimization or SEO.
This makes sure that your website is tailored to what people in your area are already looking for regarding their dental needs.
This means carrying out keyword research and content marketing so that you know which dental terms are of most interest and focusing your website and new content around these areas.
Maybe you live in an affluent area where people are interested in cosmetic dentistry; in that case, cosmetic dentistry would be your main topic of focus.
If you live in a family-friendly town where people have big families, then you may wish to market yourself as a family dental practice.
In doing this, Google will then recognise that you have the answers to what potential patients search for and list you at the top of the search results.
This will help direct quality patients to your website, increasing website traffic and the likelihood of patients booking an appointment with you.
