NOV
05
0

Search Engine Optimisation For Dummies

Search Engine Optimisation (part one)

Using search engine optimisation
search engine optimisation

NEIL SANDERSON DENTAL MARKETING EXPERT

You are probably aware that Google now gives the top three search results to it’s paid advertising e.g. pay per click or Google Adwords. This is without doubt the most effective and quickest way to get your website to the top of Google’s rankings.

However there is also a case to be made for being near the top of the rankings organically or free listings. Some people just prefer to click on the free area rather than clicking on an advert. So whilst I would always advocate using Google Adwords as your first choice, I’d like to talk a little about search engine optimisation.

Search engine optimisation is effectively trying to make your website rank towards the top of Google’s listings. You must remember that fourth place is probably the best you will ever get because of the pay per click.

But if you can get yourself to position four of five it’s certainly better than being on page two. So  what do you need to do?

Search Engine Optimisation must do’s
  1. Video You must have video on your website, this is now crucial. Not only does video move you up the rankings but it also is a brilliant tool for keeping people on your page and remember to make your video autoplay. Ideally the video should be on either YouTube or Vimeo with a link to you website rather than being embedded in your site.
  2. Blog Write a regular blog, between 300-500 words. A blog is also extremely effective in influencing Google, make sure you put lots of links back to your website into the blog and also have outbound links. you also need to optimise any images you put into your blog. You also need to think of the keywords you are trying to influence Google with.
  3. Google local business. This is an area often overlooked by most practices but is highly effective at getting you up the local rankings. Put as much content into this area including video, images, your opening times, any special offers, in fact as much as possible. Then get as many reviews from your patients as possible.
  4. Metatags These are the short descriptions you see when you search for something and are presented with the listings, ensure that these are relevant and have your key words in them.
  5. Links. If you have any links in you page ensure that they still work, Google will check for broken links, if you have lots they will mark your site down.
  6. Navigation Analysis ensure that your site has good navigation and all links within the site work.
  7. URL names ensure that your URL (the name of the page) is relevant and has your key words in it.
  8. Content Change you need to make sure that your content changes regularly, Google doesn’t like static sites, it wants to see things changing regularly, just as you update your Social Media ensure that you regularly update your website too.

I’ll go through some of the other SEO tactics in later posts, but if you start to adopt these you should see your rankings improve, although this isn’t guaranteed and you are at the mercy of Google. As I said earlier, the only tried and tested way to get your site to the top of the listings is to advertise with Google.
 

If you would like help with your digital marketing, call me on 01767 626 398 or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit my website www.dentalmarketingexpert.co.uk Facebook page

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SEP
09
0

Your Dental Website, What's Important?

Your Dental Website, What’s Important?

The answer to this question “Dental Website, What’s Important?” is incredibly simple really and it’s this: (1) You need to attract as much traffic to your site as possible (2) You need to convert as much of that traffic as possible.

Most businesses view their website as something that they have to tick the box and can say, yes we now have a website. The fact that the only people who know it exists is themselves, friends and family never seems to come into the equation.

Having a dental website built can cost many thousands of pounds and take up a great deal of your time and effort, only for it to lurk in the shadows never being seen by anyone. It’s a little like setting up a new dental practice in the middle of a field and wondering why nobody is coming!

The best and most reliable way to drive traffic to your website is to use Google Adwords. This will take you to the top of page one of Google in most instances or at worst you’ll be over on the right hand side of the first page see below.

Dental Website

When someone looks for your site on a mobile device this is even more important as normally you’ll only ever see the websites that are using Google Adwords advertising or pay per click (PPC).

Google normally allocates the top three slots for paid advertising which means that if you don’t advertise your website with them the best you can ever hope for is position number four and to get to this position you have to be very, very, very good at optimising your dental website.

So let’s assume you’ve decided to pay Google an amount each day to display your dental website and people are landing on the particular page you want them to land on. You now have to convert them from browsers to buyers.

Take a look at the two websites below:

dental website

Dental Website

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m sure you’ll think that the page on the right is much prettier than my page and you’d probably be right, but my page will outrank the other page in Google rankings and also out convert the one on the right by a factor of 1000% here’s why.

On the left of my page is a video which automatically starts running when someone lands on the page, this immediately gets and keeps their attention. On the page on the right is a nice photograph.

On the right hand side of my page is a picture of my book, and a line saying click here to download my book or have one sent in the post for free. However to actually get the book you have to give me your email address and name and this is key.

If you are selling anything that is of a higher value such as an implant on your dental website, invariably people will not just pick up the phone and book an appointment now, simply because whenever we buy things of a higher value we want more information and this is where the email comes into play.

When someone gives you their email address it is placed in what we call an auto responder, this does exactly what the name implies, it automatically responds. So you can have a series of emails spaced out over the next three or four months that will automatically be sent to your subscriber.

This means that when they do eventually decide to have that implant or have their teeth straightened or have a smile makeover, invariably they will choose you because you have been sending them information for that last three months.

That’s how we convert browsers into paying patients on your dental website.

If you would like to know more about our website service, with video and auto responders built in, call me on 01767 626 398 or email me a This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or visit the website www.dentalmarketingexpert.co.uk

  6174 Hits
6174 Hits
JUL
14
0

Dentists and the web: 5 actionable tips to improve your online exposure

This week, we are publishing a guest blog by Alex from FireCask on how you can improve your online exposure.
 
 
Alex is a Director at FireCask, an online marketing and web design company in central 
Manchester. He has written over 10 WordPress plugins attracting over 750,000 downloads, 
speaks at industry events and has written for publications such as The Guardian, Huffington 
Post, Smashing Magazine and Econsultancy. 
 
I have been working in online marketing for nearly 10 years now. In that time I’ve worked with 
100’s of businesses in all kinds of verticals and helped them get ahead online. Dentists are 
actually in a competitive vertical when it comes to ranking within search engines so it’s important 
to know that your online exposure is improved as much as possible to ensure you get new 
people walking through the door and into the dentist’s chair. 
 
Tip #1: Write something relevant on your site 
You may have been advised to write on your site’s blog or you may have a company writing blog 
posts on your behalf. One piece of advice is to ensure that the content is of the utmost quality 
rather than content being produced for the sake of publishing content x times per month. As well 
as this make sure your subject matter is relevant and possibly attached to current affairs. 
 
I’m still unsure why no dentist has taken advantage of the Suarez biting incident. It’s current, 
popular and you have the opportunity to sell yourself whilst using something such as humour as 
your outlet. 
 
Tip #2: Make sure your Website is user friendly 
Ranking well in Google is great, but it’s only half the battle. Once someone enters your site they 
need to find what they’re looking for whilst you try and make them convert. A conversion for you 
may be as simple as sending you an email, picking up the phone or finding out your location but 
these things need to be easy for the user to do. 
 
Ensure your website has this information to hand on every page. It’s also important to have your 
site mobile friendly ­ meaning that someone on a mobile (or tablet) device can read and navigate 
through your site just as easily as they would a desktop computer. As someone who wrote the 
chapter on Mobile SEO for Econsultancy, I understand that dentistry is a vertical where the 
majority of people now will view your site on a mobile, and because 2014 is the year that mobile 
use overtakes desktop use for browsing the web, it’s vital to cater for mobile users. 
 
By the way, we make great websites at FireCask :)
 
Tip #3: You’re the Authority, not the building you work in 
If I want to research into my next dentist or I want to know more about a certain procedure I 
would have more trust in you if you were the ones who authored the information. For example, if I 
need a root canal and read information about it (sources of the issue, what to expect on the day, 
approximate costs) I’d be much more comfortable knowing the information was provided by the 
dentist that could potentially be performing the procedure. 
 
People love people, not brands. This means that if you want to attract a new client they have to 
connect with the people, not the building the people work in. You will be in more demand if you 
become the authority on dentistry (or your specific area of dentistry). 
 
Tip#4: Get recommendations from your customers 
At FireCask we don’t have a sales team so most of our work comes from the oldest method of 
social networking known to man ­ word of mouth. Online, a good recommendation written by a 
satisfied customer has a wider reach and is permanent (unless of course the customer decides 
to remove the recommendation at a later date which is very uncommon). 
 
You can receive recommendations offline (via post, or filling out a form) which you can then 
publish on your website. Asking for marks out of 5 can help you produce the 5 star rating system 
as seen in some of Google’s results pages such as this. Online, you have various options for 
recommendations: 
? Facebook: your company may have a Facebook Page. If so, ensure it is set as a Local 
Business where people will then be allowed to rate you out of 5. 
? Linkedin: people can recommend you as a dentist within Linkedin. For me, I find this 
invaluable as I now have over 35 recommendations spanning over 5 years. Business 
pages used to have recommendation options but have now been replaced with 
Showcase Pages which I suggest you look into. 
? Google+: as with Facebook, your business’ location can receive reviews if you have a 
Business Page. If you don’t have a business page I suggest you create one as soon as 
possible so you can be located on a map (such as if you search for dentist in 
manchester) 
 
Tip #5: Add to a Discussion 
As well as the above, social networks also let you, as a person, get involved with discussions. 
Here’s a few places you can go to and become an authority on dentistry within the networks 
themselves: 
? Linkedin Groups ­ you will see suggested groups to join, as well as being able to search 
for groups in the search bar at the top. ? Google+ Communities ­ similar to Linkedin. Find some relevant communities and
contribute to them. 
? Facebook Groups ­ search for groups with relevant terms. 
? Niche sites ­ as well as GDPUK, there will be other sites that cover dentistry from the 
customer’s point of view. Contributing to those sites will help you also become an 
authority, especially if they’re locally based. Searching for terms such as dentist forum uk 
can help (and I notice GDPUK is number 1). 
 
I hope that this post helps you be able to become more involved online not only to grow your 
business but also your personal profile. Some people of course don’t have the time to do all this 
which is why they hire companies such as my own in order to help them improve their online 
exposure and conversions. 
 
Get in touch via email - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
tel: +44 161 222 8655
mob: +44 7743 870 210 
 
  9667 Hits
9667 Hits

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