I Tried Search Engine Optimization and It Didn't Work....

If you are frustrated by the search engine optimization process, don't be. It is a process and it takes time and consistent effort. Your practice can have one of the dominant dental websites on the search engines in your market if you invest the time - or hire a website marketing firm with the necessary expertise and resources - to make a consistent effort over time to get the results you want.

For starters, make sure that you have optimized every page of your website for a narrow list of search phrases. We recommend focusing on your city and state on each page. In other words the search phrase you use for each page should include your city and/or your state (e.g., Denver cosmetic dentist, Colorado cosmetic dentist). The process of optimizing each page of your website tells the search engines how to index each page. It does not tell the search engines how to rank each page, but it does tell them what each page is about.

How do you optimize each page? That’s a great question. Start by making sure the caption for the page clearly identifies the subject of the page. In other words, if the page is about gingivitis treatment, make sure that is in the caption. In fact, you should also include the location of the practice – Denver, Colorado, in the caption or sub caption if you can. It will help.

Next, make sure these keywords and search phrases are also included in the body text and in the meta tags. For the meta tags, the most important one is the title tag. If these all have the search phrase in them, the search engines will know what the page is about.

The next part of search engine optimization is the hard part. You have to make sure that the search engines see your whole site as a credible resource. This means you have to have lots of links pointing into your dental website. This takes time. Register your site on as many directories as you can. Exchange links to a limited extent - but only with related sites. Finally, encourage other websites to link to you by making sure you have constantly updated relevant content. If you can become THE resource for your area of practice in your market area, more sites will link to you and the search engines will rank your pages higher when they index your site.

So, don't say it didn't work. Search Engine Optimization for dental practices is hard work, especially when you are competing with lots of other dentists and practices who want to be on top of the search engines too. You have to keep at it. It will and does work. It just takes time.

Dan Goldstein
Page 1 Solutions

Domain Renewal Commitment - An Easy Google Brownie Point

Recently, Google filed a patent to protect the search engine's technology. As patents are public record, this technology was finally unveiled to the search engine community. We learned a few valuable pieces of information about the inner workings of this search engine giant. One piece was somewhat surprising.

In United States Patent Application 20050071741, Google made apparent its efforts to wipe out search engine spam, stating:

“Valuable (legitimate) domains are often paid for several years in advance, while doorway (illegitimate) domains rarely are used for more than a year. Therefore, the date when a domain expires in the future can be used as a factor in predicting the legitimacy of a domain and, thus, the documents associated therewith."

What does this mean? Essentially, Google and other search engines use the length of time that you have your domain renewed for as a measure of your website's longevity and credibility. Search engines are constantly bombarded by fly-by-night websites of little or no significance. These nuisance websites (regarded as search engine spam by Google) typically have domain names that are registered for only one year.

You can send a clear message to Google and other search engines by simply renewing your domain name for a longer period of time. Since the Google patent release, Page 1 Solutions recommends domain renewals of two or more years. I typically recommend a five-year domain renewal period. This gives you an impressive domain expiration date and ensures that when the nuisance sites begin renewing their domains for 2 years instead of 1 (which is almost guaranteed), your site will still stand above the rest.

Jonathan Fashbaugh
Page 1 Solutions

Websites - It's Not Just About You

Is your dental practice’s website just about you? "Well of course it's about me. It's my website, isn't it?" is a common response. True, your website is about you and it is about your practice, but your knowledge and skills exist for the benefit of your patients. If you want your website to really perform, go the extra mile to ensure your website makes your potential patients feel like the website is all about THEM.

1. Make sure they can easily find what they are looking for. Don't try to be too clever or creative with your navigation or descriptions. A well-planned organizational flowchart for your website is a blueprint for success. Navigation that is not consumer-friendly is a recipe for failure. This is magnified if you provide a large menu of specialized services and expertise. Focus on helping visitors reach target "destination" pages.

2. Speak in their language, not in a manner that tries to make you sound so professional your site becomes "institutional". Ideally, your site should be filled with more "you, yours, your needs, your health, your well-being, your life, your future, etc." than "us, we, our practice, our dentists, etc.” Let them know it’s about them and "what's in it for them."

3. Be a resource of important information, and provide materials that have some value to the visitor. Don't just try to "sell" them superficial cookie-cutter or generic copy. Make the information value enough so that they might even print it!

4. Do things that accelerate the "relationship" between your practice and the visitor. For instance, identify "who" they will be contacting when they send your practice an email. I can't recall ever meeting a person in an office named, "info!"

5. Don't assume visitors know enough about dental services and general dental care that you overlook including important information. For example, if you offer services with a certain guarantee behind it, be sure they know that immediately and throughout the site.

6. Provide ample opportunities for visitors to send you an email. Yes, it is important to place phone numbers "above the fold" on every page and to try and generate phone calls. It's understandable that you prefer telephone calls, rather than emails. However, Internet users and most of your website visitors typically prefer corresponding through email. If email is the communication means of choice, then implement some mini-contact forms that make it quick and easy for them to contact you.

7. Don't forget, most visitors that come to your website are seeking help and want to educate themselves on an important decision that will affect them physically. They likely don't have a great relationship with a dentist and are feeling intimidated, confused, scared, and possible frustrated. Be sure you let them know you understand what they are going through, that you will listen, and that you care. Developing trust and credibility is what sets high-performing dental websites apart from those that only serve as an online brochure.

Bill Fukui
Page 1 Solutions

The Importance of Paying Attention

In the movie True Stories, David Byrne from the Talking Heads plays himself exploring the eccentricities of a fictions small town in middle Texas. At the beginning of the movie Byrne says that it is exciting to get or go someplace new. But after a while, he says, the newness fades and the intricate details die away. People stop noticing all the things that made it exciting in the first place. Individuals get used to it and it just becomes part of the big picture.

What does this have to do with websites? It has everything to do with websites. It can be a very exciting to participate in web marketing and Search Engine Optimization. But after a while of receiving results, a lot of businesses forget about the details. SEO or web marketing just becomes “something they do.” Many individuals just glance at their results while some ignore them all together.

This month, I received a call from a client who was comparing his results from last month and the month before. By doing this, he noticed that his website’s first page listings were down slightly. It was really refreshing to have a person be concerned for the welfare of his web marketing. “I want to know how this drop is going to affect us,” he said. I was glad he asked.

I made several recommendations based not only on the number of Page 1 listings he had, but also on his web traffic reports. His average user time on his site was down. We took a thorough look at the site and decided to update some of the older pages. By adding new, fresh content, I can bet that his Page 1 listings are going to rise along with his average user time.

This success story was brought to you today by: “The Importance of Paying Attention.” If this client hadn’t reviewed his reports every month, he may not have noticed the drop and there may have been a continuous downward spiral.

It is just as key to pay attention to the results of marketing efforts as it is to market in the first place. If no one is paying attention, how does anyone know it is working? And if it is working, why not try to make it work better?

Noël Otten
Account Manager
Page 1 Solutions

The e-PR Campain- Success Through Visibility

Electronic Press Releases (e-PR) - e-PR is an excellent way to promote your website on the Internet. It spreads the word about what your site has to offer, locally and nationally, while expanding your link popularity at an almost viral rate. It's also the most cost effective means of growing your link popularity. Here's how it works:

1. Page1 Solutions e-PR program initially sets up your campaign by finding websites that will likely be interested in publishing your articles and press releases. We use this comprehensive list of online publishers to reference when it comes time to make a submission for you.

2. Select an article. Each submission will require an article that is pertinent to your practice’s website. The article can be something that you have had for some time, something that you've just written, or you can have us write the article.

3. Submit the article. Our e-PR specialist will optimize the article prior to submission. She will also plant links within the article's text. Once this prep work is done she will submit the article to your strategic online publishing list.

4. Track results together. By monitoring web traffic reports and incoming leads, you can see a growth in both the aforementioned areas. We can help interpret your results accordingly and monitor your success.

5. Continue the Process. It's important that you understand that e-PR isn't a one-shot deal. It's an ongoing campaign to grow your link popularity, which in turn helps your website visibility. Each article will have a peak performance, but after it reaches its peak, the links from the online publishers begin to fall off as the article is supplemented by new articles from other sources. For this reason, it's necessary to publish an article at least once a quarter and optimal results can be generated from campaigns that submit an article every month.

This comprehensive strategy, which will increase your exposure on the World Wide Web and boost your ranking on the search engines, will aid in the process of growing your website's link popularity. Link popularity is how Google and other search engines measure your website's reputation and credibility. They assume that if another website is linking to your site, then your site must have something good to offer.

Noël Otten
Account Manager
Page 1 Solutions