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Are you struggling to find new ways to market your dental practice?

If so, you’re not alone. There are over 46,000 dental practitioners in the UK, so there’s a lot of competition for new patients.

How can you make your practice stand out from the crowd? Free marketing resources are a great place to start.

With so much information online, though, sifting through all the advice can be overwhelming.

Don’t worry. We’ve done the legwork for you.

In this post, we’ll reveal the ten best dental marketing ideas to attract new patients and grow your practice. Read on to learn more.

(RELATED: How to Become a Dentist That Markets Like Apple)

Identify Where to Begin

Before we discuss dental marketing ideas, you first need to identify where your practice stands.

Schedule a brainstorming session with your staff for a SWOT analysis of your company. What does SWOT stand for?

Strengths

• What is your practice best known for?
• What sets you apart from your competitors?
• What positive feedback do you consistently hear from patients?

Weaknesses

• What are the most common patient complaints?
• What does your staff seem to struggle with?
• What are some things you honestly feel you can improve?

Opportunities

• Where will your practice growth come from?
• How can you better market to your target audience?
• What’s currently happening in your community or region?

Threats

• Who is your local competition?
• What do they do better than you?
• Are there any issues you need to prepare for or defend against?

Once you’ve answered these questions, you’re ready to choose the best dental marketing ideas for your practice.

10 Dental Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Practice

1. Update Your Website

Patient referrals and word-of-mouth advertising are still wonderful ways to grow your practice.

To compete in today’s marketplace, though, you’ve got to have a professional website. This needs to be the centre of all your marketing efforts.

How long ago did you create your website? Does it look dated, or is it modern and trendy? If your site looks outdated, visitors may conclude you have an outdated practice as well.

Your website should also be responsive and mobile-friendly. Fifty-two percent of patients access the internet from a smartphone or tablet, so your website should look great on any device.

SEO is crucial to your website, as this ensures it ranks high in search results. You’ll also want to add high-quality content such as photos, videos, and blog posts.

2. Beat Your Competition

Strategic dental marketing means knowing your competition.

Study your competitors to identify their marketing strategies. Then think of ways your practice can outshine them.

How can you do this? Let’s say three local offices offer a new patient special for ?89. You won’t win any new patients by offering the same service for ?99.

Instead, nudge out your competition by setting your new patient special at ?79.

Another thing to keep in mind is that patients love convenience. Expand your hours of operation to accommodate after-school or weekend appointments.

You might also consider adding an online appointment booking feature to your website.

3. Know Your Target Audience

Who are you mainly marketing your practice to — seniors, children, or families?

The thought of dental work makes many people anxious, so strive to make your image as friendly and welcoming as possible.

Whoever your target audience is, remember that women make 90% of all family health care decisions.

Today’s woman is a tech-savvy powerhouse consumer. She wants to make an informed decision for her family. She doesn’t just want a product, she wants a service.

Therefore, you should tweak your marketing strategies with today’s female head-of-household in mind.

Women generally shop around and do a lot of research before making decisions. Give them what they’re looking for by loading your website with informative, relevant content.

Then explain why your practice is the best choice for her and her family.

4. Encourage and Track Reviews

The next of our best dental marketing ideas involves reviews.

Eighty-eight percent of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations, so reviews can make or break your business.

Perform Google searches for your name and your dental practice. What comes up? Hopefully, you have at least a few five-star reviews.

If not, it’s time to get listed on the major review sites.

Claim your free Google My Business listing, if you haven’t already. You should also set up profiles on sites like Yelp, Tipped, and TrustPilot.

Once you have your profiles set up, offer incentives to your patients for leaving a review. It could be something as simple as discounting a few pounds off their next office visit.

5. Harness the Power of Social Media

If you’re not active on social media channels, you’re missing valuable marketing opportunities.

With over 2 billion users, Facebook dominates the world of social media. Set up a Facebook business page and add relevant information about your practice.

This is also a great place to set up advertising campaigns and reach out to prospective patients.

Facebook is a powerful social media tool, but it’s not the only one. Twitter, Instagram, and Google+ are also valuable marketing platforms.

Once you’re set up on these social media channels, it’s time to share content. Post updates, advertise specials, and link to blogs or other pages on your website. Encourage followers to like and share your posts.

You should also engage with your followers by replying to their comments and answering questions. This helps to build trust with your brand and also boosts the credibility of your website.

6. Post Patient Testimonials

Other powerful dental marketing ideas involve patient testimonials.

Recall that consumers trust reviews as much as personal recommendations. Patient testimonials are powerful “social proof” that your practice is as great as you claim it is.

Excerpts from written testimonials are a great place to start. For maximum impact, though, you should consider recording a few video testimonials.

This may sound daunting or expensive, but it’s neither. Set up a room in your office with good lighting and no background noise. You might also invest in a simple clip-on microphone to ensure good sound quality.

When you find a willing patient, set your smartphone on a tripod or other secure surface and press Record. Edit the video and upload it to your website.

One more thing: Don’t forget to have the patient sign a consent form before you post the video online.

7. Offer a Patient Referral Bonus

Ideally, most of your new patients should come from existing patient referrals. Sometimes, though, patients aren’t aware of your efforts to grow your practice.

How can you tactfully encourage them to refer friends and family your way? One way is to offer a patient referral bonus program.

If someone they speak to visits your office, the referrer gets some type of reward. This could be a free product, a discount on their next visit, or some sort of prize.

Referrals are a win-win situation because it engages you with patients old and new. It also promotes a positive image of your entire practice.

How can you start up a referral program? Mention it in your next newsletter or on your social media accounts. You could also print up some referral cards to hand out at the office.

8. Utilize Email Marketing

The best dental marketing ideas include both old and new patients. In your efforts to gain new patients, don’t forget about the ones you already have.

Your existing patients are the ones who will refer their friends and family; so, nurture those relationships. A terrific way to do this is through email marketing.

Endeavour to get each patient’s email address on their first visit. You should also offer a sign-up option on your website. This will help you build an email database for your newsletter.

What might you include in your dental marketing emails?

• Oral Health Tips
• Special Offers
• Monthly Promotions
• Office News
• Birthday Greetings
• Check-up Reminders

These emails keep your practice fresh in your patients’ minds. This leads to increased retention and more new patient referrals.

9. Use PPC Advertising

Looking for a way to get a lot of new patients quickly? Try PPC (pay per click) advertising.

Through platforms like Google AdWords, you can target potential patients searching for a local dentist. You choose relevant keywords, create an ad, and link it to your website.

The best part is that you only pay when someone actually clicks on your ad. You can also turn your campaigns on and off to suit your budget or business flow.

PPC advertising is a terrific way to maximize exposure for your practice.

10. Get Your Staff Onboard

The last of our dental marketing ideas is also one of the most important.

No matter how impressive your digital marketing efforts, you need the cooperation of your staff to reel in new patients.

How do your staff members speak to potential clients who call the office? Are they warm, knowledgeable, and friendly? Are they eager to answer questions, or are they quick to place callers on hold?

You can market your practice until you’re blue in the face, but none of it matters if patients don’t make it past the first phone call.

There should also be a staff member dedicated to answering email enquiries in 24 hours or less.

Final Thoughts on Dental Marketing

Successfully marketing your practice requires dedication and ingenuity. These dental marketing ideas are sure to help you attract new patients and grow your business.

Are you overwhelmed by the thought of implementing these dental marketing ideas on your own?

Don’t worry. You don’t have to do it alone.

Click here to learn more about our professional dental marketing services.

There are nearly 43,000 dental practices in the United Kingdom alone.

With numbers like that, it can be hard to find ways to set your practice apart from the competition.

Have you noticed recently that you’re not getting as many new patients as you need, or even as you’d like?

Are you concerned that you’re not booking appointments like you used to? Are you having trouble finding the right employees?

Do you feel like, even though currently have a marketing plan, no one really seems to know about your practice?

If any of these things sound similar to your current situation, including Dental SEO in your digital marketing strategy is likely the solution.

Let’s take a look at a quick statistic:

Incorporating content marketing (in your case, Dental SEO) into a digital marketing strategy has lead to a 2,000% increase in traffic – and a 40% increase in profits.

We know those are the kinds of numbers you want to see.

To get increases like that, and to get more patients in your doors, start by reading this article on the power of Dental SEO.

1. Make Sure You’re Using The Right Keywords

SEO lives and dies by keywords. They’re the things that get people on your site in the first place.

When you need to find a product, service, or pretty much anything else, what’s one of the first things you do? Enter in a search on a site like Google. You might type in something like “movie times” or “best brand of tea.”

Hopefully, your customers will search for things like “top dental practice” or “dentist near me.” The things you type into search engines are known as keywords, and they are the link between you and your customers.

However, just as you’ve probably noticed in your own life, keywords change all the time. This means that you’ll have to research, update, and include keywords in your content pretty often.

How do you find these keywords? You can start by using a free keyword generator tool. These tools will tell you what people are usually searching for when they type in something related to dentists.

As you grow, and as you post more content, it’s highly likely that you’ll need to hire a professional SEO service to help you to get more targeted keywords.

Aim to include at least three keywords in any blog post you make. However, you want to be sure to avoid keyword stuffing. Not only is it incredibly painful to read, but it also just makes you look desperate and unprofessional.

2. Get Active On Social Media

Of course, establishing profiles on social media is a huge part of Dental SEO – and customer service.

Before we even get into the SEO side of things, you need to realize that in today’s world, people see social media as an extension of customer service.

If a client called into your office and left a message asking about insurance, you wouldn’t lose that lead by not returning the call, right? So why would you leave a comment asking the same thing on social media unanswered? What about a tweet, or a message in your Facebook inbox?

Always remember to be active and responsive on social media – it’s just good for customer relations.

Of course, that’s not the only thing it’s good for. First of all, it’s true that Google is now able to take social media and the keywords you use in crafting your posts into account when ranking.

It’s also true that social media provides you with an awesome opportunity to share content from your website with your followers – meaning that your web traffic will increase.

To get the most out of your social media experience, establish accounts across multiple platforms.

3. Don’t Forget About Local Dental SEO

Local SEO is especially crucial for dental practices. Let’s be honest: no one is going to drive from 5 States away to get their teeth checked out.

Instead, you need to tap into the awesome power – and leads – of your local market!

First, always be sure you’ve claimed your Google My Business listing. This will help you to show up in more local results. It will also ensure that those who are searching locally have all the information they need: your contact info, hours, location, etc.

Additionally, be sure to include some location-based keywords in your content. This can include things like, let’s say “best dental practices near me” or “dentists Omaha Nebraska.”

4. Page Loading Time Matters

Another crucial, yet overlooked, thing that can have a huge impact on your overall Dental SEO?

How fast it takes your website to load. This impacts what’s called your “dwell time” – AKA, the average amount of time people spend on your website.

The higher your “dwell time,” the higher you’ll rank in search engines. Obviously, if your website takes forever to load, people are going to click away from it. This also means that all the awesome content you worked so hard on creating will go to waste.

To find out your current loading speeds, check out free testing sites like this one.

5. Make Sure Your Site Is Optimised For Mobile

Reality check: these days, just as many people are accessing your dental website from their mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) as they are from their desktop computers.

If your website isn’t optimised for mobile users, you won’t get as many clicks. Additionally, people on phones may just navigate away from your site. All of this will cause your site to fall in the search engine rankings.

Also, be sure that your mobile content is free from pop-up ads that cover the majority of your content. This is because Google now takes note of this, meaning that excessive or large mobile pop-ups will lower your search engine rankings.

To be on the safe side, eliminate them altogether. Instead, rely on your awesome content to get the job done!

6. Start A Blog

Did you know that companies that have a blog increase their website visitors by over 50%? You’ve probably heard that blogging is important, but we want to tell you why it’s one of the most important parts of a good Dental SEO strategy.

First of all, blogging is a great word to incorporate those keywords we talked about earlier. The more keywords you have, the more hits you’ll get. The more hits your website gets, the higher you’ll rise in search engine rankings!

All that means more patients.

Additionally, blogging is a great way for people to really get to know your practice, and learn what sets you apart. It will help to establish you as an authority both in your local community and in the dental world at large.

Finally, blog content is highly shareable and a great place to link back to your site and relevant web pages that can bring others to your website.

With the many advantages it offers, there’s no reason not to blog. If you have trouble coming up with posts, don’t worry. You can always hire a professional content writing service or blogger to help you.

7. Avoid These Mistakes

Of course, for every right way to do Dental SEO, there are countless more ways to do it wrong.

The last thing on our list? Knowing what to avoid!

First off, you’re not going to win any friends, followers, or customers by constantly spamming them with content. Aim to blog once a day (or even just a few times a week if you’re busy.)

When it comes to social media content, three posts a day is perfectly fine: a morning, noon, and night post.

Additionally, be sure to vary the content you post. Trust us, it’s not going to make you look very good if you’ve posted the same article three times in a week. Doing this will get you fewer clicks, and your SEO score will be lowered.

Finally, don’t just “rewrite” the content you see on another dental practice’s website. Not only is this just lazy, it’s also not ethical. Plus, it doesn’t tell your clients what sets you apart from the competition – only that you think your competitor’s ideas are valuable.

Dental SEO Can Help You To Grow Your Practice

After reading this article, we hope you’re as excited about the positive impact Dental SEO can have on your business as we are.

However, there’s a good chance that you’re also feeling a little overwhelmed. We get it: this article also proved that a good SEO strategy is a comprehensive one.

With everything else you have to do in a day, you just might not always have the time to get everything done when it comes to your digital marketing strategy.

But you don’t have to compromise your standards or let your SEO strategy fall by the wayside.

Instead, let us help.

Get in touch with us to learn how we can help you to create and implement a unique, effective, and complete Dental SEO and digital marketing strategy that will grow your practice, make your life easier and give everyone who walks through your doors an even brighter smile.

Why You Need A Smart Dental Website Design

Creating a website for your dental practice is a great way to communicate and engage with patients. It allows them to find information about your company and answer their questions they may have.

However, the mere act of creating a website isn’t enough. You need to have some sort of strategy – a good strategy, at that.

The layout and your dental website design have to be at their best. How your website looks online is how viewers will perceive your dental practice.

A great dental website design can attract and even retain new customers. It can also satisfy existing customers by providing features and functions that they already need.

Below I will discuss several very important tips for how to maintain a well-rounded dental practice website.

Dental Website Design Tips

Less is More

Consider some of the most popular websites that you frequent the most. Think Google, Amazon, Yahoo and even Facebook.

These websites are great examples of pages that are informative and fully operational. However, they do not bombard their web page with flashy graphics and gaudy text.

It’s important to not overkill your dental website design with flashy, unuseful elements. This can come in the form of background design, text, images and other forms of media, so reviewing best dental website design in london can help you strike the right balance.

The goal of your website is to inform and persuade potential and existing customers. Having a tacky website will drive customers away from your practice, and eliminate the purpose for having a page.

Create a Modern Look

As I will mention later, having an outdated dental website design will cause visitors to leave. You should avoid being too complex but also find a way to engage and excite your audience by following best dental website design in uk.

Text-heavy pages may seem great as they are informative to your customers. However, it generally is a lot of information they don’t need. It also causes your website to look cluttered and unattractive.

Also, using images and background themes that are wide can be more visually appealing to visitors.

Consistency is Key

Your dental website design should feature the same text font, color, and layout throughout the page. A unison look will make your website appear professional and modern.

Throughout the different pages, you should avoid using dark backgrounds. This is especially true when your text is light. This is straining on the eyes and can be unappealing to your website visitors.

Limited Graphics

Having a dental practice means prospective clients will want to see past work. You should definitely include some past work onto your site.

However, it’s important to not bombard your page with videos and picture clips. This will cause slower loading times and can be too flashy.

Having informative, quality content is more valued by customers than slideshows of past clients.

Navigation Tips

Link Back to Homepage on Each Webpage

Your website can be much easier to navigate through by providing a link back to the homepage.

This should be somewhere noticeable such as the top of the page or the top left-hand side. It also wouldn’t hurt to include a link to your ‘Contact’ tab on each page as well.

Check Hyperlinks Frequently

There’s nothing more frustrating than getting that dreaded 404 message from the site you’re trying to visit. That’s why you should ensure that all tabs and links are fully functioning.

When you update information on your site, sometimes there can be errors with saving. Sometimes the website software you are using does not register the changes made. This can cause the page to deactivate.

We have all left a website after running into an ‘error’ page. This is why it’s imperative to test out all links and tabs even after launching your site.

User-friendly Navigation

Having a website that is difficult to navigate through will drive customers away. Tabs should be labeled out and have a clear, easy to understand description of its function.

Also, it would be helpful to include ‘quick links’ or shortcuts to popular tabs on your page. This will allow your patients to find the most important information more efficiently.

Include Drop Down Menu

A drop down menu is a great way to easily group your tabs together in a concise fashion.

Also, this should be easily visible on your site. Usually, the top is the most preferred by customers.

However, given your dental website design, it may look better to have on the side. or bottom. If that is the case, make sure it’s easily accessible and recognizable by viewers.

Check Load Times

Having a website that loads too slowly is the number one reason customers leave a page. You should be frequently testing your page’s links to make sure they are loading the most efficiently.

According to Google, customers have reported that 400 milliseconds was too long of a wait. Your dental website design should not interfere with the overall speed of your page.

Content Tips

The content of your website is the ultimate reason people are coming to your page. You should ensure that all content is informative and compelling to viewers.

Include an Attention-Grabbing Headline

Your headline says it all. It tells your viewers what they need to know about your website. It also says where they will find answers to their questions.

Typically, we view websites in an ‘F’ formation. This means that your headlines should fall along those parameters on your site.

Create Own Content

Often times, dental offices will imitate similar practices web pages and follow assemble a comparable look.

The content published on your website should be specifically tailored to your patients. What you post should directly reflect what your typical viewer would visit your page for.

It is okay to use similar topics that other dentists talk about. However, make sure you put your own spin and style into the written and design work.

Keep it Current

One of the most noticeable mistakes business owners can make on their site is having outdated information. This could actually be hurting you for a number of reasons.

For one, it makes the page look tacky and unappealing. Outdated information can drive customers away because it compromises the legitimacy of content.

New content helps with SEO rankings. If you aren’t posting regularly, your page is less likely to be retrieved through search.

Making regular posts can also drive more customers to your page. Shareable content is great for generating leads and driving more patients to your door.

Remind Customers Why They Love You

When able, you should show and explain why your practice stands out from its competitors.

It’s likely people coming to your site have never been one of your patients before. Your website needs to be impressionable and show new viewers why your practice is so great.

Include a tab that lays out your mission statement and other relevant information. Don’t be shy when talking up the greatness of your practice!

Link to Online Reviews

Over 88% of people have found a practice from recommendations through online sources. If your practice is getting a lot of good attention, you should show off!

Find ways to incorporate your online reviews into your dental website design. Pull from sites like Google My Business, Yelp, and Angie’s List.

You should include photo and video elements to these reviews. Text-only reviews aren’t as engaging or appealing.

Also, if your business is active on social media, it wouldn’t hurt to link those pages as well. You could find innovative ways to display your accounts review section.

Features to Avoid

Auto-play audio and video

Auto-play is very, very rarely ever needed for a page to be functional. It is perceived as annoying, too forward and untasteful.

It’s totally fine and even encouraged to include forms of multimedia on your page. Yet, you will want to avoid being intrusive and allow viewers to play this content when ready.

An Extra Mobile Site

Commonly, outdated websites have mobile-friendly counterparts that are different from the desktop version.

Your website should absolutely be mobile-friendly. This means you need to tailor and modify your current site to fit new standards.

Do not create multiple pages for your business as it will be confusing to patients. Also, this is very harmful to SEO rankings as it can divide searches between the sites.

One Service Page

If you are a fully operational practice, you likely offer many services. You should create subtabs underneath the main ‘Service’ heading with each listed.

This allows you to describe each service in full detail and give your viewer more information. Your website visitors will be able to connect your business with certain services then. They are also more likely to remember your practice because of association from a service.

If you are looking to boost your digital marketing strategy even further, then you’re at the right place! At Dominate Dental, we offer full marketing services to drive the success of your dental practice.

From dental website design to search engine optimization and everything in between, we’ve got you covered. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help put your best smile forward!

Building a dental practice and keeping your patients happy can be a huge job. We all know that digital marketing tools can make life easier.

By using digital content like blog posts, or focusing on customer reviews, you can build your brand. Local patients will boost your word-of-mouth business and you can focus on practising dentistry.

Unfortunately, it’s not always that simple. The blessing and the curse of digital marketing is that it happens so fast.

Yesterday’s tools are today’s junk.

You need to be focusing on dental Social Media Marketing ideas for your digital campaigns to remain effective.

If not, you may fail to reach the patients you want. We can help.

Here’s why you need Social Media as part of your strategy:

Dental Social Media Marketing Ideas Work

Many dentists know that the way to boost business and establish the foundation for a successful practice is by increasing your word of mouth referrals.

Social Media takes that same concept and allows you to accelerate the process with digital content and targeted advertising.

Since more than 90 percent of all people say referrals (or earned media) are their preferred form of advertising, you can cater to their needs.

Social Media is where you enable endorsements, community presence, and add a boost to your digital content strategies. You’ll increase revenue and have a marketing strategy that is measurable every step of the way.

We know the trends aren’t always easy to follow. After all, you have a dental practice to run.

And when you and your staff finally pin down a digital marketing technique, something new comes along and changes the rules.

But if you master this list you’ll be on top of the trends this year. Here’s how to make the most of dental Social Media marketing ideas:

1. Make It Mobile

Too many dental practices still have it backwards when it comes to mobile. They plan their marketing strategy for desktop users and then reverse engineer the content for mobile platforms.

This is true for every aspect of digital marketing. But especially when it comes to Social Media marketing ideas, it’s time to shift the paradigm.

It’s simple: Your current and potential patients depend on mobile for all of their content.

If you start on the desktop you are working against yourself. Mobile is your patient’s first priority.

Mobile needs to be your first priority too.

Facebook reports that 80 percent of their new ad revenue is from mobile campaigns. This is true because business owners understand that the majority of users get their information from mobile platforms now.

Whether they are using smartphones or iPads, your current and potential patients want access on mobile platforms. You won’t just be designing your dental Social Media marketing ideas around their preferences, though.

What better place to leverage Social Media than on mobile devices? The connection between communication and the personal touch is strongest when it’s made on Social Media.

Mobile technology is hardly a trend. But designing for mobile first and desktop second is.

2. Focus On Social Messaging

It’s not enough to limit your practice to the Social Media side of digital content. Investing in social messaging is one of the most effective trends to follow this year.

Many dental practices aren’t aware of the incredible reach of social messaging. Did you know that WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Viber and WeChat together have more users than the big networks?

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram are second place to the Social Messaging apps.

Social Messaging can be a great component of your digital marketing strategy. Don’t be a latecomer to the party with this mode of connection.

Dental Social Media marketing ideas work hand in hand with social messaging. You can connect users, leverage reviews, and deploy targeted ads as well.

3. Be Social With Video

Mobile video traffic is projected to grow by 50 percent annually between now and 2022. If your digital marketing content creation strategy doesn’t include video yet it’s time to start.

Your patients don’t just want mobile content. They want video, too.

Plus, video is a great way to connect socially. You can post reviews, procedures, case studies, community events, and more.

There is no limit to the ways video content can help you build your brand and connect with new patients. In terms of dental Social Media marketing ideas, video content works because it also encourages engagement with your content.

Engaged patients are likely to be moved to action. Plus, if they like your Social Media content they are more apt to share it.

You can watch your referrals soar. But the content isn’t the only reason to get moving with video.

You’ll have access to other networks.

YouTube is a Social Media community.

Many dentists don’t think of YouTube as a Social Media community. But it’s designed is for users to share personal content, respond, and connect.  It’s actually the original platform for video users in a Social Media setting. Plus, YouTube is the second most visited site in the world.

We see too many dental practices fall short with their dental Social Media marketing ideas. They use one or two but fail to see the impact.

For instance, they focus on SEO away from a Social Media strategy. But YouTube isn’t just a popular site.

It’s also the second largest search engine in the world. YouTube processes over 3 million searches a month.

By using video content as a key dental Social Media marketing idea you will have the benefit of boosting SEO and engagement while reaching more web users with popular content.

4. Get Live

Don’t just focus on video content this year. Focus on Live Video content if you want the best in dental Social Media marketing ideas.

Live content is taking off in popularity. Facebook has made huge investments in the technology which can help you reach new and existing patients.

Their approach allows for targeted ads inside Live Video content.

But Facebook is not alone. Snap, Twitter, and Instagram have all expanded their offerings and are investing in Live Video technology. Much like video content and mobile access, Live Video is what users want. With increasing distrust of mass media, Live Video allows users to connect in real time.

You can use this video in the same way. Promote a new special or connect with your followers in social and friendly ways.

Just like your other content strategies, Live Video stands ready to build your brand.

5. Be Professional

When it comes to dental Social Media marketing ideas, you’ll need to consider your platform as well as your brand. You will find you use Facebook very differently than you use Instagram.

But LinkedIn is a Social Media platform many practices ignore. They don’t remember that the branding of LinkedIn makes it a unique forum to promote expertise and professionalism.

Your dental Social Media marketing ideas can benefit from LinkedIn because you can integrate this platform with your overall strategy.

How is a platform we’ve all heard of a trend for 2017? Simply put, Microsoft’s purchase of the Social Media platform has changed things for the better.

Make sure you are being professional in a way that relates to your patients by using LinkedIn this year.

6. Invest In Targeted Ads

Targeted ads are nothing new for Social Media. But the ability to link to return on investment is becoming more and more effective.

If you think of advertising on Social Media something like placing an ad in a local magazine, it’s time to reassess your strategy.

Targeted ads need to be utilized alongside the dental Social Media marketing ideas you deploy across different platforms.

As mentioned above, this can include Live Video and Social Messaging. But you should also pay attention to return on investment (ROI) and SEO.

If you are investing the right way for your practice you should tie each campaign back to results. New dental Social Media marketing ideas include getting incredibly precise in both your targeting as well as your returns.

Social Media marketing allows for this investment to be measurable and direct.

7. Boost Reviews

Reviews are just becoming a larger trend because of their ability to boost other aspects of your dental Social Media marketing ideas. Reviews aren’t new. But using them as an SEO strategy and a way to promote content and sharing on Social Media is.

Done correctly, you can increase reviews and referrals by leveraging your Social Media strategy.

All of this should be done in an integrated approach.

8. An Integrated Approach

Each of these trends is useful when taken separately. But when combined, the effects are exponential.

Integrating your Social Media strategy with Live Video, reviews, video content, and reviews will propel your website upwards in the search results. Unfortunately, when it comes to Social Media trends, it’s hard to stay on top of things. Plus, unless you combine these ideas you are missing out on the results.

You may even watch your competitors do less work for more returns.

Don’t lose your competitive edge when it comes to the latest dental Social Media marketing ideas.

We can help. Dominate Dental creates and deploys successful digital marketing campaigns that include an integrated Social Media strategy.

Don’t wait. Keep focused on your core business.

We can do the rest. Contact Dominate Dental now to start your integrated Social Media marketing campaign.

 

With nearly 24,000 dental professionals in the United Kingdom alone, you need to do whatever you can to make sure yours stays at least two steps ahead of the competition.

One of the most effective ways to do that?

Developing a strategic and comprehensive digital marketing plan. Where’s a good place to start? By creating a dental blog for your practice.

Looking for ideas on what to write about? Need advice on creating blog content that’s geared toward Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)? Want to know the best steps you can take to promote your dental blog? 

If so, this guide is for you. In it, we’re telling you everything you need to know about how to create the kind of blog that gets you more hits, more customers, and bigger and brighter smiles for both you and your patients.

What Should You Write About On Your Dental Blog?

Any way you slice it, blogging has an enormous impact on your practice – both in terms of your online/local reputation and in earning potential.

In fact, businesses that blog get close to 70% more leads than those that do not.

We know those are the kinds of numbers you want to have.

But especially if you’re not much of a creative thinker, it can be daunting to have to come up with topics for your dental blog.

Promote Your Team

If you’re stuck on what to write about on your dental blog, one of the best places to start is on your employees themselves! The relationships between dentists, assistants, and everyone else who works in your office and the patients you see is incredibly important.

You probably have a few clients that you’ve seen for almost all of their lives!

Start by posting about the people that work at your practice. What drew them to dentistry? Where did they train? What’s the funniest thing that happened to them during a root canal?

People want to work with dentists they feel really care for their patients. Putting yourself and your team out there is a great place to start.

Review Popular Products

That new toothbrush everyone is talking about? The latest whitening kit to hit the market?

As a dental professional, your opinion is valuable – and people want to hear it!

Leave product reviews online for people to read, and you’ll see a serious increase in the number of visitors flocking to your blog.

Hints About Blogging

Remember that this is a blog, not a college entrance essay. The information you put on your blog needs to be short, to the point, and accessible to everyone.

Also, avoid longs blocks of text that will likely cause readers to click away from your blog without reading any of it. This gives you a great opportunity to include lots of pictures in your text to break it up!

We also suggest including short videos, which are fun to watch and great to share on social media to promote your blog.

How To Make SEO A Part Of Your Dental Blog Content

Of course, writing engaging and unique content isn’t all that you have to do to promote your blog and increase your patient list.

You also need to take into consideration your overall SEO strategy.

In other words, what are you doing to make your blog more attractive to search engines?

You can start by peppering your content with appropriate keywords. Keywords are the words and phrases that potential patients type into search engines when they’re looking for the services you offer.

For a dental practice, that might be something like, “best dentist near me” or “dentist London.” More often than not, these keywords will include some kind of a location word.

This is why it’s so important to include keywords that mention the cities that your practice serves. It’s not going to help you or the people searching if all of your hits are coming from people that are five cities away.

Also, be sure to list your website on Google My Business. Not only will this help local searchers find, learn more about, and read reviews of your practice, but it will also help local searchers find your blog.

Finally, make sure that you avoid keyword stuffing – essentially, cramming your blog content full of keywords in an attempt to “hack” your way into a higher search engine ranking.

Not only is it incredibly painful to read, it also makes you look completely unprofessional. Trust us when we tell you – everyone is going to know what you’re trying to do.

And, that includes search engines like Google.

They can sniff out practices that are engaging in keyword stuffing, and it’s likely that your blog will fall in the search engine rankings as a result.

Instead, focus on creating original content that includes a reasonable, sane number of keywords.

How To Promote Your Dental Blog Content

There are lots of different methods and tactics you can use to promote your content. While writing creative content and using SEO in that content is crucial, there are additional methods you can use to promote it!

Social Media

This is probably the most important way to promote your blog – and your practice in general!

First of all, social media allows you to promote your blog posts on countless different platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn…the list goes on.

Each platform has a slightly different user base – which means that you’ll be able to broaden your target market and reach more people. This is why it’s so crucial that you remember to share your posts across all the social media platforms you use.

Social media allows you to interact with potential patients directly! If they leave a comment on your page or reply to a tweet, always take the time to respond. Even thank those that share your posts – since they just gave you the chance to reach whole new sets of eyes!

Keep in mind that around 80% of the time people spend on social media happens on a mobile device. As a result, always check and make sure that your blog and social media content displays quickly and clearly on smartphones and tablets.

Always share your blog posts on social media!

Link building

We’ve found that a lot of people think link building is way more complicated than it actually is. All you need to do is include both internal and external (your site, and then someone else’s) link in the blog content you write.

First of all, doing this will help you to rise in the search engine rankings. But also, it will generate more hits to your site and help you to find more potential patients.

Don’t be afraid to ask a popular industry blog or website to put a link to your site in their content! Also, whenever you leave a comment on another website or blog, be sure to include a link to your site in the comment itself.

People that read dental blogs will likely be interested in your site, too!

Posting Frequently

Our final suggestion on how to promote your dental blog?

Make sure you’re posting throughout the day! You don’t need to spam your followers, but you do need to tell search engines (and future patients!) that you frequently update your blog and social media platforms.

We suggest aiming for three social media posts a day. You can, of course, vary the platform you use, and even just share “fast facts” from past blog posts.

Try to update your blog at least once every couple of days. If you need help, there are plenty of incredible dental blogging services that can help you get there!

Need More Help Creating A Dental Blog?

We get it: just because you’ve finished reading this guide, doesn’t mean you understand everything about blogging, SEO, link building, and social media marketing.

It also doesn’t mean you automatically have the time to do it.

The good news?

We understand how to implement everything, and we also have the time to do it.

Have you noticed a plateau in the number of new patients at your practice? Are you feeling a bit threatened by a newer dentist’s office that’s opened in the area of your business? Do you just feel like your current website and blog are failing to promote your business best?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then its’ time to get a professional to update, refine, and implement your digital marketing strategy.

We want to be the professional digital marketing agency you trust.

We believe in our services because we have years of experience writing for dental practices. So, even if we’re not dentists ourselves, we know the terminology, popular questions, and things you need to include on your site.

We run a seamless and integrated SEO and digital marketing strategy that’s effective across multiple platforms.

Get in touch with us today, and let’s grow your patient list together.

Reviews are important. Really important.

As George Washington once said: “With public opinion on our side, we can do anything. Without it, nothing.”

Think about it – before you buy something from Amazon, what’s the first thing you check? ….Reviews!

Whilst you’re running your dental practice, your focus is constantly on caring for patients, learning new procedures, and managing the day-to-day operations of your business. Quite rightly.

The last thing you should have to worry about is online dental practice reviews.

Yet unfortunately – you need to start.

Online reviews of your practice are a cornerstone in building your reputation.

Put simply, online review dental tell the world what your current patients think of you.

If your online reviews are positive and people are saying kind things about your practice, that’s great news! Your patients are helping to establish a positive online reputation for your practice.

According to a Zendesk survey, 90% of participants claimed that positive online reviews influenced their buying decision, and 86% said their decision was influenced by negative reviews.

If your online reviews are negative, quite frankly they can destroy your reputation – and fast. Think about it, you’ve spent all that time and effort getting a prospective patient to discover your practice, to know who you are and trust you, then you lose them at the last hurdle because you don’t have a decent online reputation, or you have a bad one that is not being managed correctly!

This is why it’s so important to not only monitor and manage your online reviews, but collect and showcase the reviews from happy patients, and address negative reviews from unhappy patients (keep reading – we’ll get to this).

By doing this, it builds trust with prospective patients and promotes your practice online.

However, the importance of reviews does not just stop there.

Online reviews are an essential part of increasing your overall dental website ranking on search engines. This is important because the higher your website ranks, the more visitors, i.e. traffic, your website receives.

Now for the best bit – the more traffic your website gets the more people are likely to convert into your patients. More patients = more revenue for your practice! Get it?

Here’s how it works:

Search engines like Google understand the importance of providing its users (your prospective patients) with quality websites, especially when it comes to dental google reviews.

So, if your website has one hundred 4 and 5 star reviews, search engines take note of your positive online reputation, meaning your website will rank higher on its search pages. You can also use tools like free online reviews reputation report to understand and strengthen your brand’s credibility.

91% of Google’s users don’t go further than the first page of Google, so you need to make sure you’re on it.
(Source: Quora)

So, clearly reviews are important. The big question now is how do you get them?

Keep reading to discover 5 ways to obtain dental practice reviews from your patients.

#1 Just Ask Your Patients to Leave a Dental Practice Review

Believe it or not, many patients will leave you a review if… you just ask for one.

So do it.

Every time you finish an appointment with another happy patient, ask them to go online and leave you a review!

It’s really that easy…

If you’re not asking in person, then design a system that sends your patients a follow up email straight after they’ve left your practice, whilst their experience is still fresh in their minds.

Ask them how their experience was today, and direct them to your review links. Once they click on the links they will be taken to review sites to review your practice.

Here’s an example:

 

TIP: Have someone from your practice regularly check your review links to ensure they are not broken.

Sounds quite straightforward doesn’t it? It is, so long as you do it at the right time.

There’s nothing worse than checking your inbox to see a review request email from a service you received 3 weeks ago. No, I can’t remember the name of the guy who changed my tyre.

#2 Provide Exceptional Care to Your Patients

First and foremost, if you expect to get positive dental practice reviews, you have to give your patients the best service possible.

This might sound obvious, but it is what motivates patients to actually take the time to write a review for you.

Until you’ve mastered going above and beyond for your patients, getting quality reviews probably isn’t going to happen.

Sure, you may have everything set up to collect dental practice reviews (we’ll get to that in a minute!) but if your services are just average, your reviews will also probably be average. That’s not enough to make your dental website stand out against your competitors.

Think about the following questions that will help you provide the best experience for your patients…

• Is my practice comfortable, clean, warm, and friendly?
• Do I educate my patients about their teeth so they can make the best decisions when it comes to their dental care?
• Do I give my patients the time to ask questions and share their concerns?
• Are my procedure processes up to date to provide maximum comfort for my patients?
• Are my front desk team equipped with the skills necessary to help patients with scheduling and billing?
• (And maybe most importantly…)
  What can I do to go above and beyond for my patients. Could I potentially offer child care while parents are getting their teeth cleaned? Payment plans for patients that have lower incomes?

…you get the gist?

#3 Make Patient Reviews Easy to Submit with Online Review Websites

Many patients don’t have the time to stick around after their appointment to leave you a handwritten review – and even if they did, although it looks lovely in your waiting room, a handwritten review guest book does nothing to help your dental website rank online.

That’s why it’s so important for you to take action and sign up your practice to multiple online review sites.

Doing this makes it easy for your patients to go home and review your practice when it’s convenient for them. You also benefit from the online review. It’s a win-win situation.

There’s loads of review sites out there that you can use. Spend 5 minutes researching which ones you think are most relevant to you and your customers.

Here are a few examples of what review pages will look like…

Google Reviews:

 

Facebook reviews:

We recommend sending your patients a follow up email asking them to leave you an online review. Make sure the This email contains links to the review sites so they can easily leave a review!.

Want more tips on how to increase your dental site rankings? Download our 21-Point Dental Website Checklist to Increase Website Conversions and Generate More Patients for Your Practice.

#4 Offer a “Review Incentive”

It’s very common to have patients that love your practice, but lack the motivation to leave you a review.

I suppose you can’t blame them. Who wants to sit down and write a review after having a root canal procedure?

That’s why it’s important to find ways to motivate your patients to leave you reviews post procedure.

One of the best ways to motivate your patients is to offer them an incentive… Who doesn’t love a freebie?

How generous you want to be here is really up to you (from a free dental check or discount voucher, to a travel sized tooth brushing kit) but, knowing your patients, think of things that are really going to inspire them to leave that all important review.

#5 Make Leaving Reviews Accessible in Your Practice

You may be missing out on receiving reviews simply because your patients don’t have working Internet at home. Or perhaps, they don’t have a computer or tablet?

The easiest way to combat this problem is to offer the technology and assistance necessary to leave reviews to your patients whilst they are still in your practice.

How about setting up a tablet in the waiting room that patients can use in between treatments, or whilst they wait for their appointment?

Even better still, if your time and resources allow, it’s also a good idea to have a staff member available to assist patients that need help navigating the process of leaving a review.

Again, why not offer them an ‘in practice review incentive’? If they leave a review whilst they wait, they receive:

• Free products, like toothpaste, mouthwash, or a tooth brush
• Discount coupon for a teeth whitening service
• A free teeth cleaning the next time they visit your office

What To Do Once You Have Collected Your Dental Practice Reviews

Well, it’s time to put them to work.

Reviews collected on review sites are already hard at work helping your website pop up in search rankings. The more positive reviews you have, the better your website looks online.

Of course, when you have positive reviews, you want to make sure you add them to your website. New patients who visit your site are going to want to know what other patients think of your practice.

We recommend placing them in your header, footer, or in side bars.

Here’s an example of someone who integrated their reviews and star rating into the footer of their website.

 

Depending on what website platform you use, there are widgets that can help you share your online reviews on your website.

You can also use your reviews as testimonials. To do that, just copy/paste the review with your patient’s name and add it into your dental website.

Check it out…

Collecting dental practice reviews is very important for the success of your dental digital marketing strategy, so don’t forget to do it!

The only downside of regularly asking your patients for reviews is that it may well generate the occasional negative one.

If this happens, don’t panic!

Firstly, we advise that you reach out to the patient that left the negative review and see what you could have done to make their experience better.

Then, doing the following things might help them to consider actually removing the negative review. …

• Apologise to your unhappy patient and ask for their feedback on what you can do better next time (also helps to imply that you hope they’ll return!).
• Offer your unhappy patient a gift (perhaps a free product) to “make up” for whatever went wrong.
• Send your unhappy patient a voucher for a service, like teeth whitening, or a discount on their next hygienist appointment.

If you can get an unhappy patient to delete their negative review, (despite whether they come back to your practice or not), that’s great. If not, future patients will see your honest and genuine response.

Not sure what else your practice is missing? I encourage you to download our 21-Point Dental Website Checklist to Increase Website Conversions and Generate More Patients for Your Practice.

This checklist will give you a solid overview of what needs to be included in your dental website and digital marketing strategy.

Maintaining a blog is a really powerful thing – if you commit to it.

But what exactly is a blog and why is having one important?

Let’s have a look…

A blog is a regularly updated stream of publications packed with useful information, that features on your dental practice’s website.

It’s an online, digital place where you can…

• Share valuable information with current and prospective patients
• Educate prospective patients on new technologies/services
• Give tips and share insightful facts
• Share fun information about yourself or your team
• Discuss the latest dental trends
• Establish and convey the personality of your practice

That’s not all a blog does, though.

Having a blog helps direct traffic to your website, aids with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and helps you establish connections and relationships with your current and prospective patient base (as well as giving you a platform to showcase your knowledge and how much of an industry expert you are of course).

Your blog is often the first thing a prospective patient may see when searching for information online – in their buying cycle, blogs come right in at the top.

When all of these points work together, they help you to increase traffic to your website, generate leads, grow your patient list, and ultimately make more money.

Sounds great, doesn’t it? I think so.

Here’s how it works.

• Firstly – there’s nothing worse than a blog which was last updated 2 years ago – so if you’re thinking of blogging for dentists, commit to updating it regularly!
• Use your blog to regularly publish valuable, insightful and interesting information.
• Publish your blog to your website (your Home Base) and all of your social media channels (your Outposts) – amplify it’s exposure by linking the content into your Newsletters and emails.
• Current patients will read your blog, and feel nurtured by the insightful information you present to them – they know that their dentist knows their stuff!
• Your blog contains lots of keywords that prospective patients might type into Google – when they do, your blog is featured and they read it.
• These prospective patients find your blog so valuable that they share it on their social media pages – perhaps their friends and family will read it too…
• The next time they have a dental problem, they remember your blog and search for it directly (here’s where you’ve started to build trust with these prospective patients).
• Your cleverly constructed blog features a Call to Action, so your prospective patients take this action, and book an appointment at your dental practice!

However, there is one thing you need to keep in mind, in order to make it that last stage.

That thing is VALUE.

You could write blogs all day long about how much you love your pets, but is that beneficial to your prospective patients? Does that content add value to your prospective patient’s lives? The answer is no.

If all you do is write about your dog, your patients aren’t going to read your content.

The point is, to constantly and consistently provide your reader with valuable and insightful information – whilst also making it super easy to read, follow and implement.

If you’re struggling for ideas on what to write your blog about click here to download our free list of 21 Dental Blog Topics Swipe File.

When you’ve got an idea for some value-packed, insightful blog topics, there’s loads of different styles in which you can write them!

Let’s have a look at some of the most effective approaches for the dental industry, especially the insights shared by dental bloggers.

19 Dental Blog Post Ideas

Case Study blog: whether it’s the first procedure you cut your teeth on (excuse the pun), or the finished results of your first Invisalign case – presenting this to prospective patients as a case study (especially with rich content: before and after photos) is a brilliant way of showcasing your work.

Educational blogs: share insightful and valuable information, this can be from your own original findings and research or something you’ve read from a third party. Remember; if it’s third party research, add your thoughts to it and ask your readers’ opinion – a great way to increase engagement with your blog!

List blogs: list things! Here’s an example of a list post:
Emergency dental items that all sports centres should keep to hand

Checklist blog: people like the gratification of being able to tick something off a list – so for example, you could write a 10 point checklist for “Bi-Annual Dental Hygiene” and challenge your reader to tick off each element in the next 6 months (make sure one of them is to book their next hygienist appointment… at your practice).

Tutorial blogs: take your patients step-by-step through a process of how to do something (This is a great place to embed some ‘rich content’ on your website by presenting the tutorial via a video!).

Tip blogs: offer an aggregated list of valuable tips on how to do something; like tips for properly brushing your teeth, or how to spot when your toothbrush needs changing.

Example:

Definition blog: now, you might know the difference between lichen planus and gingivitis, however your prospective patients may not. Culminating a simple blog post that defines some common dental terminology can boost your SEO and become a ‘go-to glossary’ for your patients.

Series blog: look for a chance to break a blog topic up into a series of posts that you can release day to day, or week to week. This will really aid your reader retention, because of course, you’re going to leave each blog post on a juicy cliff hanger, so your reader can’t help but click on the ‘subscribe’ button for next week’s post!
Remember: link the posts together so your reader doesn’t miss the previous blog.

Interview blog: you’d be surprised how easy it is to get someone to give you an interview. All you need to do is ask them a few questions and record their answers! If you know an industry expert – excellent, drop them an email to ask if you can schedule a 5 minute call with them to discuss their field. Alternatively, why not ask a long standing patient about a successful procedure they had at your practice? Jot their answers into a blog post and give your readers a first hand look into someone else’s experience (the best bit of this one is, technically, your interviewee writes the blog content for you!).

Pick of the Week blog: this is an effective way of producing blog content weekly. Your pick of the week can be a succinct and valuable explanation of a new dental tool, toothbrush, mouthwash, industry expert… maybe even pick a patient of the week!

Review blog: a less regular and more insightful adaptation of the ‘pick of the week’ blog. Take some time to thoroughly review a new product on the market, or a new dental procedure and inform your reader about it. Or, take two and compare them – share your expertise.

Meme blog: memes are everywhere right now. Spend 5 minutes searching for a few light hearted memes about dentists/teeth and pop a few on your blog to entertain your readers.

Issue blog: find an issue (a dental condition) that may affect your audience and write a post about it. Let’s take wisdom tooth pain for example, your post will provide your reader with valuable and actionable information; anywhere from how to treat the symptoms at home, to outlining the removal procedure, to where to go for help… Which is your practice, of course!

Seasonal/Holiday blog: if you’re shutting down for Christmas, Diwali, New Year, Eid, Easter or Thanksgiving – then write a blog to tell your patients, whilst also taking the opportunity to wish them a happy holiday. If you’re not shutting down – tell your patients that if they need anything, you’re open!

Behind the scenes blog: another great place for some rich content in the form of videos and photos. Give your readers an insight into what happens behind the scenes at your practice.

Profile blog: pick a member of the team, or even yourself, and write out a ‘get to know me’ profile. Include some anecdotal information as well as your role in the practice and professional profile (okay, I know I said don’t write posts about your dog but on this occasion you can give him a mention). This helps build trust with prospective patients, and lets your current patients get to know you better.

Company update blog: is something changing about your practice? A new team member, weekend opening times, phone numbers, waiting room makeover, more car parking spaces!? If so – then share it on your blog – people want to know.

FAQ blog: have a look through your social media, and ask the front desk team to keep a note of what the most commonly asked questions are about your practice. Compile these into a blog post with the answers and voila! Blog content. (This might also be a great tab to have on your website).

Challenge blog: set your readers a challenge, perhaps it might be to; brush your teeth an extra time a day for two weeks, and post a before and after photo on our Facebook page.

So there you have it, 19 dental blog post types!

If this all seems a bit daunting, or – let’s be honest, you simply don’t have time to commit to regularly updating your blog with solid, valuable content, no worries! Get in touch with us to discuss our all-in-one blogging package.

Implementing different blog types into your blogging for dentists strategy is so important; keep in mind that everyone who enters your dental practice has different dental needs, so the same goes for the people who read your blog.

Mix up your approach and keep it fresh – it’ll keep your interest in writing the content too. Check out how to promote your dental blog for more ideas.

Why don’t you give it a try?

Now is the time to commit to writing a blog for your dental practice.

Take a minute now and write down a few dental post ideas, and what blog type to write them in, that you think would be valuable content for your patients to read.

Still stuck for ideas? Then download our free list of 21 Dental Blog Topics to get started writing valuable blog posts for your practice today.

You want to grow your dental practice, but you need more visitors to your website, right?

New patient enquiries (aka leads) that come from search engines are hands down the most powerful type of enquiries after word-of-mouth referrals.

What is Search Engine Optimisation?

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is the process of implementing tactics to increase the number of targeted visitors to a website by obtaining a high rank in search results.

It’s estimated that 80% of all clicks go to the “organic” results on Google.

Unlike paid search advertising, once you build trust with Google, increase visibility and rank within the search results, you receive a consistent stream of high-quality, pre-qualified website visitors free of charge. These visitors are looking for a solution and are close to being ready to take action.

They’re gold dust.

When done correctly (and within Google’s terms of service), SEO is a long-term growth strategy that will pay dividends for years to come.

We live in a digital age where 93% of online searches begin with typing keywords, like “dentists near me” into a search engine.

Google is continuously improving their system to ensure that they deliver the most relevant, high-quality content to respond to their users’ search.

SEO is a competitive game; there are only ~13 spots on page one of Google (including the three map results) and your competitors are fighting just as hard as you are to take one of them.

But the reward of a top position (combined with some smart tactics), can catapult your practice growth.

SEO has gained somewhat of a bad wrap over the years with Cowboys in the market using shortcuts to cheat Google and get clients’ websites penalised, whilst over promising and under delivering.

This post will to cut through all of the haze and give you a step-by-step guide to getting started with SEO and allow you to benchmark how your current SEO efforts stack up.

Let’s get to it.

There are two types of SEO; Local SEO and Organic SEO.

Local SEO focuses on ranking your Google My Business listing (Google Maps listing) in the local stack that appears when a local search query (keyword) is entered into Google:

Organic SEO targets the website results below the local stack:

The ultimate aim is to rank your Google My Business listing and website for keywords your target patients are typing into Google.

Click here to learn more about our Dental SEO service.

Before you can start to optimise your site, you need to understand what your target patients are typing into Google (keywords) and make a decision on what keywords you want to appear for.

This is known as Keyword Research.

Step 1: Keyword Research

There are different ways of completing keyword research, some more advanced than others.

To get you started, here are three techniques that give you a comprehensive list of keywords to choose from:

– Google Keyword Planner

Google records every search a user makes and allows you to access it in a tool they call Google Keyword Planner. Here’s a YouTube video to get you started with Google Keyword Planner:

– Competitor Analysis

As the famous saying goes; don’t reinvent the wheel. Your competitors’ websites that are already ranked can give you valuable insight into what keywords are effective!

The first step is to search Google for what you would enter to find a specific treatment or private dentist in your area, then take a look at the top results and see what they have used in the titles of their pages.

A more advanced solution is using a tool like SEMRush to see which keywords are generating the most traffic to your competitors’ websites.
This doesn’t always work on low traffic sites but it is worth checking.

– Google Search Suggest

An underused and very useful way of seeing what people are searching for, is the suggested ‘search function’ on Google itself.

When you type a search query into Google, you will notice it suggests different searches, these are based on what people are actually searching and are more up to date than the keyword planner.

– Google Search Console

If you already have Google Search Console setup on your website (ask your website manager), Google will tell you what keywords people have been searching to find your site.

Make a list of your core treatments and carry out keyword research for each one. Compile a list of all the relevant keywords that also have an explicit intent to buy.

By this, I mean focus on keywords like “Invisalign provider in Birmingham” or “private dentist Croydon” where there is clear intent they are looking to take action.

Once you have this list, go back to the Google Keyword Planner and enter them all in to get the estimated search volume.

Now it’s time to choose your target keywords.

Don’t get blinded by traffic volume!

Whilst it’s important that your target keywords have a good number of people searching for them, you want to marry this with clear intent to take action.

TIP: The suggested bid is a good indication of the value of that keyword, as this is what your competitors (and maybe you included) are paying Google for every click on the paid results.

The idea is: if people are paying that amount, it must be good quality traffic.

If you stick to local keywords, with a clear intent to buy, you should be good. In more dense areas like London or Manchester, look for keywords around your immediate local area.

Step 2: “On-page” SEO

There are two primary sides to SEO. These are On-page and Off-page.

On-page SEO is about helping search engines figure out what a page on your website is about and how it is useful for users. The better optimised a page is for its target keywords, the more likely it is to show higher in the search results.

There are on-page optimisation factors from beginner level right through to advanced. Today, we are going to focus on the 20% of actions that produces 80% of the results!

1. Group your keywords into tight groups of intent and design a website page structure that allows you to target each group with one page.

For example,

Main keyword: dental implants in Birmingham

Supporting keywords (variations aka LSI keywords):

• dental implants
• private dental implants
• dental implants cost

TIP: A great way to find what Google considers closely related to your main keyword, is to search Google for the main keyword and look at the “searches related” section at the bottom of the page:

We might group all of these keywords and target them with a page: www.yourpractice.com/dental-implants

Do this for all your keywords, and you should start to see a website structure forming.

TIP: An excellent way to manage this is by using a Google Sheet or Excel Document and planning your site structure against your target keyword groups.

2. Include your main keyword at the start of your title tag

The clickable link that shows in the Google is known as the page title or META title.

The title of the page defines its content and holds more weight if it is at the start of the title.

That said, do not stuff your titles with keywords! This is seen as spammy. Instead, write a title that gives the user a reason to click your link.

e.g. Dental Implants in Birmingham – Award Winning Practice

You will notice when a title is too long, Google cuts it off with a …

There have been recently updated to how Google displays titles and their length but if you stick to under 60 characters you should be okay.

3. Use your main target keyword in the page URL

SEO friendly URLs that include your target keyword is another way of letting Google know what the page is about.

That said, keep it straightforward and clean.

If we were targeting “dental implants in Birmingham” I would choose to use www.yourpractice.com/dental-implants/ and let Google figure out you’re in Birmingham from the page’s content, title and other signals such as your Google My Business listing.

You will see webmasters including location in all their URLs, but we have found this to be less and less effective and a little spammy.

4. Seed your keyword into the first 100 words of content on the page

You want to ensure that your target keywords are used throughout the content on the page.

However! A word of warning, make sure it is appropriate, makes sense and is natural to do so.

Repeating your target keywords unnaturally is going to result in your website being penalised. Remember, Google wants you to deliver REAL value to the user, don’t compromise this by keyword stuffing your content.

Write quality content that delivers real value, include your target keywords where appropriate and you should be all good.

5. Write click-worthy meta descriptions

The META description is the text that shows below the title in the search results:

While the META description does not directly affect on-page SEO (Google’s words), it is your opportunity to sell why someone should click your link, over the competitors on the same page.

We also advise including your target keyword (where appropriate) for good measure. Notice how Google bolds out the keyword in the description too:

This is ultimately going to help you win the click, which is a positive signl to Google that the user clicked your website over the ones above you!

6. Avoid “thin content” and publish quality, quantitative content

Google favours pages with long content, we typically aim for 500 – 1000 words of content at a minimum, however, don’t just publish content for the sake of it.

Take the time to really understand your target patients pain when considering a treatment. Include what they need to know before they can take the next step.

Use this understanding to publish helpful content that delivers real value. If you do this correctly, you should have a page full of high-quality content that converts website visitors, into practice patients.

The combined effect is ranking for more long-tail keywords, more traffic to that page and users spending more time on your website scrolling through and reading your content. Again, all positive signals to Google that you are worth showing when someone makes a search!

7. Establish internal linking structure

Internal linking connects different pages on your website together and is crucial to decreasing your site’s bounce rate (the percentage of visitors to a website who navigate away from the site after viewing only one page)

Google uses your internal linking to get around your site and establish the architecture and hierarchy of it. It also uses internal linking to distribute the “authority” of your site across your pages.

Ensure your pages interlink, especially your most important pages, but do not over do it! Only where it seems logical and appropriate to do so.

As a rule of thumb, we like to see 1 – 3 internal links per page.

To see internal linking in action, check out a page on Wikipedia.

8. Use outbound links to relevant authoritative content

This is a little more advanced, but in recent years, linking externally to content that is directly related to your page (and holds more authority than your website) is an effective way of placing you in the same “neighbourhood” as those more authoritative pieces of content when Google is evaluating your page.

Obviously, you don’t want to completely lose the visitor to those websites, so place no more than 1 – 3 links per page and keep them below the fold if possible (where the screen cuts off the page at the bottom before having to scroll).

You will notice we have linked to a few authority sites in this post!

9. Avoid any internal content duplication

If you have the same content on multiple pages on your website, it can really hurt your ability to rank as Google will stop crawling those pages on your site.

Think about it, if you continued to turn a page in a book and kept reading the same content over and over again, would you carry on reading?

Ensure that all of the content within your website is 100% unique.

10. Use a proper heading hierarchy

In its simplest form, a web page is simply a document. When writing a document, you would use different headings and subheadings to break down a piece of content in digestible chunks.

When formatting your content, you have a choice of doing this by choosing a H1 tag (most important) through to a H6 tag (least important).

These tell Google what the hierarchy of your content is.

Try to use a different keywords that are tightly related to your main keyword in your H1 tag on the page, try to avoid using your main keyword in the META title (page title) and H1 tag, this may appear over-optimised to Google.

11. Optimise images on the page

Before uploading images to your website, ensure the file name is descriptive and includes a keyword from your group that is relevant to the page it’s being embedded on.

TIP: We like to separate words using a hyphen when naming files.

More importantly, ensure your web design has used descriptive ALT tags on your images to accurately describe the image, again ensuring you include a relevant keyword to the page and image.

12. Ensure your website is super fast when loading

A slow site is not only a bore for the user and a bad experience, but it is also bad for Google.

Google’s job is to deliver a positive user experience whilst at the same time returning the most useful and relevant information to the user’s search.

Do you think they are going to show your website if it’s slow to load and delivers the exact opposite?

Lots of different factors contribute to how quickly it takes your site to load but start by ensuring you’re using a good hosting provider who maintains high-performance servers. Check that your site is correctly coded with no unessential plugins and optimise your image file sizes.

We aim for 1 – 2 second page load times as a minimum. See how fast your website scores using Google Pagespeed Insights tool!

P.S. If you need help with this, talk to us about how we can guarantee to double your website speed.

13. Your site must be mobile friendly

A mobile friendly website changes its layout depending on what device the user loads it on, from phone, to tablet, to laptop.

The primary aim of this is to deliver the best user experience possible, regardless of the device they are using to view it.

If your website is not mobile-friendly and the user has to zoom in on their smartphone to read your content, you are not delivering a positive user experience, and Google is not going to show you in the search results!

Google now even goes as far as to penalise websites that are not mobile-friendly by pushing them down the results pages, and have began prioritising mobile friendly sites over non-mobile friendly sites.

See how mobile-friendly your site is by using Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test Tool.

Step 3: Off-page SEO

While on-page optimisation is crucial to ranking for your target keywords, off-page SEO has always been, and continues to be, the most influential ranking factor of all.

Off-page SEO is commonly called “backlinking”, however it is more than just that. It is everything that you and others do away from your website that increases the profile of your site.

A backlink is an incoming hyperlink from one site to another. The Backlinking Strategy is a complex subject with multiple layers.

However, in short, where the links come from and what words are used in those links, tells Google what your page is about and how authoritative it is.

You may have heard of the dreaded Google Penalty that wipes websites off the face of Google! This is because Google maintains a very advanced algorithm that assesses the quality of backlink sources and their relevance to your site and whether they are “natural” or not.

Off-page SEO is not about the quantity of links pointing to your website, but the quality of links (as well as other signals that tell Google how authoritative your content is, such as social media activity).

When executing off-page SEO you should only use white-hat techniques that fall within Google’s guidelines, to get you started here are 8 actionable off-page tactics:

1. Local business listings

There are hundreds of business listing websites, start with the well-known ones that include:

• Facebook
• Google My Business
• Bing Places for Business
• Yelp
• Yellow Pages
• Yahoo! Local

The key is to ensure that your practice’s name, address and phone number is consistent across all of them and matches what is published on your website. This might seem obvious, but a comma here and a postcode format there can make a big difference!

2. Be active on social media

Social media activity is a positive signal to Google that you are publishing good quality content, especially when it is being shared.

3. Offer to guest blog on local and relevant websites

You could offer to write an article on how to correctly brush your teeth for the local school’s blog or offer to write an article on a subject you specialise in for a popular dentistry blog.

4. Offer to write a testimonial for a product or service that you love

Let’s say you’re happy with your dental lab or insurance company, offer to write them a customer testimonial and include a link back to your site.

5. Publish online press releases

Do you have something happening that is worth shouting about? Or maybe you’ve won an award?

Press releases are a great way of building a foundation of high-authority links and getting you on Google’s radar.

6. Find unlinked mentions of your practice

Use a tool like BuzzSumo to find mentions of your practice’s brand.

See whether the person that mentioned you included a link back to your site. If not, contact them and politely ask them to update the content with a link.

7. Create compelling and valuable content and promote it

If you know your stuff and have the time to commit to writing a blog, then do it! Publish great content and promote it on social media and watch the links flow in.

8. Infographics

Everyone loves an infographic. Create an infographic on interesting statistics and promote it to your peers as a guest post on their website.
Time To Take Action

Now it’s your turn to take action and apply everything you’ve read in this post.

To beat your competitors and rank your website in Google for valuable keywords, you need to ensure your site is correctly optimised and that you are proactively building your site’s off-page authority.

Start by getting your website’s SEO score and a detailed report of the actions you can take to improve its ranking in Google:

What’s Your SEO Score?

Enter the URL of any landing page or blog article and see how optimised it is for one keyword or phrase.