Of Phone Numbers and Calls to Action

So why have a website anyway?

If you're a dentist, you may see all the other dentists’ websites out there and say - "I better get one too." And that wouldn't be such a bad idea. A website is pretty much a requirement for any business these days.

It may be that you have enough business already. Maybe you have too many dental patients and you don't want to get bigger. You get all your patients through referrals. If that’s the case, a website can serve as a good credibility reinforcement tool.

If that’s not the case, continue reading. Many dental practices want a website as a tool to generate more patients - patients they would not get through traditional referral sources. Some dentists don't want to advertise on radio or TV like some of their high profile competitors, but they still want to generate patients. Maybe you're a radio or TV advertiser yourself, but you want to appeal to prospective dental patients who are not likely to hear your radio ad or see you on TV. With the growth of the audience on the World Wide Web and the differences in the demographics between the typical TV generated patient and the typical internet surfer, you can appeal to a whole new group of prospective clients with an effective web presence.

So, if you want to generate new business directly off the web, why in the world would you make it hard for a prospective patient to contact you? You've got me. Then why do I see so many websites out there that hide their phone number or make you go through multiple steps to contact them? If you build a website so you can generate patients, make sure you prominently place your phone number at the top of every page. In addition, give the prospective patient easy access to an email inquiry - put a mini-contact form on every page - preferably near the top. And, finally, encourage them to call. Anybody who gets to your website found you. You didn't force them to go there. So tell them to take advantage of a free consultation with no obligation.

You will won't you? Make it easy to contact you and your website will work for you.

Dan Goldstein
Page 1 Solutions

Design or Update Your Website

If you are creating a new dental website, or making an update to a current one, be sure to get a search engine positioning expert early in the process, if getting it to show up high on the search engines is an important objective.

How a website performs on the search engines is directly tied to how a website is organized, written, programmed and optimized. This is magnified even more when you are in a large, highly competitive market area (such as Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, etc.).

Unfortunately, most dental website design firms or independent website designers are not search engine optimization or positioning specialists. They simply design websites. Engaging a search engine positioning expert after a website is completed, may require you to redo elements of your website to make it more search engine-friendly. Involving a search engine positioning expert at an early stage will save you valuable time, money and frustration.

Bill Fukui
Page 1 Solutions

Do It Yourself SEO

Many cosmetic dentists are interested getting their websites to show up on the top of Google and Yahoo for important search phrases. Only a few will succeed. The question is, should you do it yourself or hire a search engine optimization expert who specializes in dental website marketing.

Here are a few things to consider when evaluating that question:

• Time vs. Expertise. Search engine optimization is an extremely time intensive process. If you have the time to learn the tricks of the trade and implement them - or if you have someone on your staff with the time for this endeavor and the commitment to succeed - you will probably outperform most of your competitors including many who hire professional search engine optimization firms. SEO is not rocket science, but it does take time.
  
  
• First, you need the time to learn the basics of optimizing your website.
  
  
• Second, you need to determine your target search phrases.
  
  
• Third, you need to implement and incorporate your search engine optimization techniques on your website.
  
  
• Fourth, you need to register with the search engines and directories.
  
  
• Finally, you need to consistently work on your link popularity over an extended period of time. And, it's not over yet. You still have to track your results and tweak the optimization as well as add content to your website on a regular basis. Now, if you have enough time to devote to this process and the commitment to succeed, you will surely do well. But be honest with yourself about how much time you can devote.
  
  
• Time vs. Cost. Search engine optimization firms like Page 1 Solutions charge a lot of money for their expertise and resources. If you do it yourself, you will save these out of pocket costs. You have to consider, though, whether the time you spend optimizing your website would generate more money if you devoted it to working your cases.
  
  
• The question is one of opportunity cost. It is a lot easier to evaluate if you charge a fixed fee like $200 per hour. Then you can make the determination pretty easily. Ultimately, you must decide if your time is better spent working your practice and procedures or working on your website.

If you do decide to do your own website optimization and you have the passion and dedication, you will probably do very well. If you are not happy with the results or figure out that you don't have the time to devote, you can always call a professional search engine optimization firm.

Dan Goldstein
Page 1 Solutions