Let’s say you’ve been entrusted with handling marketing for a dental office. You know that in today’s virtual world, you have to solidify your online presence. But where to begin?
Here are 4 basic digital marketing tips for dentists.
#1. Get your listings in order
Winning the battle for local search is where your job begins, and that starts with the nuts-and-bolts basics of having your listings in order. Go to Google My Business and claim your listing. Then make sure it’s updated.
Double-check the address, phone number and the office hours. This is the information Google will rely on when a searcher looks for a “dentist near me.” If inaccurate info gets reported, your search position will decline.
#2. Optimize your website service pages
For the moment, let’s assume your website has 4-5 separate pages that describe each service you provide. You need to be certain these pages all follow best practices for search engine optimization (SEO). That means taking a look at the back end and ensuring that each page has a meta-title and meta-description.
Please note that this is not the standard H1 heading that you see on the website itself. The “meta data” is the title and description that appears in a search listing and your content management system will have a special tool to allow you to implement that. The title and description are important virtual real estate to use in selling searchers on the idea of visiting your page.
#3. Create fresh content
When you’re not a news service or other type of content publisher, it can be tempting to just put up your basic service pages and leave the website alone. But the sites that rank the best have vibrant activity. Keep creating content.
Write blog posts on common types of dental issues that you see in your office or answers to questions you get asked. Create podcasts for people who like to listen to their content. Videos are a great tool for bringing a human touch to the information you provide. And best of all, you can use the same topic for all 3 modes of delivery—written, audio and video. No need to reinvent the wheel on each one.
#4. Go social
There’s a good chance you already have a Facebook page for the office. But how often does it get updated? The same goes for LinkedIn—is your office page claimed? You can also use Instagram, Twitter and any other platform where people congregate. If you’re creating content as described above, then you’ve got plenty to share with your social networks.
There are plenty of other ways to market your office digitally—pay-per-click advertising comes to mind. But these 4 points are the basics, the prerequisites, to get in place before doing anything else.