dental practice online reputation

Online Reputation for Dentists

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Your online reputation is essential for the success of your dental practice. These days, people will read reviews and information online before selecting a new dentist. As a result, dental practices should adjust to this and be in control of their online image and perception in the eyes of their patients.

Whether you are starting a new dental practice or have owned a dental practice for years, your online image can improve continuously. Here’s how dentists can take advantage of their excellent reputation and avoid the pitfalls of a bad reputation.

What is Online Reputation Management for Dentists?

Online reputation management (ORM) is the process of controlling or influencing your perception of a business or person. Online reputation management can help improve your online image and presence with customers and prospective customers for dental practices.

Online reputation can include proactive strategies like monitoring brand mentions and getting clients to leave reviews and testimonials, as well as reactive strategies like responding to bad reviews or handling a crisis.

Your reputation is important, and the amount of time actually needed to improve the reputation of a brand is worth it.

Tips For Dentists to Improve Online Reputation

Here are seven tips on how dental practices can strive to improve their online reputation.

Monitor your Reputation Online 

There are so many websites these days where people can leave reviews. This includes Facebook, Yelp, and Google My Business, among others. Be sure to check these directory listings and ensure the information listed is accurate. If or when a negative review or press is posted on a directory site or news publication, you can catch it quickly and take action.

Respond to Negative Reviews

Negative reviews can happen. When they do, make sure to respond to the review kindly and in a timely manner. Responding to negative reviews shows you care and want to improve as a practice. Leaving negative reviews unresponded looks unprofessional, and will hurt your reputation even more than the negative review itself.

Get Positive Reviews Online

Encourage your customers to leave a positive review if they had a great experience. Getting 5-star reviews can not only help boost your reputation and even has SEO implications, with Google seeing you as a more trusted company. 

Create and Promote Content

Information that people find helpful or valuable can help you further engage with your customers. Investing in content marketing is a significant opportunity to create a more favorable reputation online.

Be Active on Social Media 

Social media can be an important part of your online reputation. It’s a great way to reach your customers and promote yourself in a positive manner. Consider running ads on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to better reach your customers in the local community.

Give Back to the Community

A great way to boost your reputation is to give back to the community! Consider a fundraiser for a charity, have employees volunteer their time, or donate your services to those in need. People will support you when you promote it online, whatever campaign you decide.

Ready to Boost Your Reputation?

You could never have too good of a reputation. With the number of searches being done online, having a positive reputation could be one of the most significant assets for dental practices to grow and acquire new customers in the community they serve.

Fortune Northeast provides dental practice management consulting to dentists in New England and New York. Learn more about what we can do for you and how we can help.

Best Ways to Get New Dental Patients

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It’s not always easy to get new patients to your dental practice. Dentists need new clients just as much as any other business. Whether you’re thinking about opening a new dental practice or looking to make more of an effort to grow the number of patients for your existing clinic, it’s essential to know what strategies are out there to help get you some new patients.

Here are the best ways to get new dental patients to your dental practice:

Reviews

Posting personal reviews about how great your dental practice makes it seem like you’re proud of your work, and the site visitors should see that as a sign that the office must be excellent.

Testimonials

It works particularly well if you have an excellent support staff who can offer valuable opinions on particular products or services that they’ve used, like a dental chair or toothpaste.

Be as Flexible with Payment as Possible

Offer patients payment plans if they’re paying out of pocket, so they don’t stress about how to pay their bills and accept credit cards as a way of payment.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Patient email/text reminders

Many different sites offer incentives for the visitors to email or text the dentist giving out information about their needs for the time being. You can also offer free trials and discounts up to a certain point.

Patient referral program

You set up a plan to give customers free treatment to anyone who refers someone with new insurance to your practice. You can ask for referrals in many ways, such as offering a special discount if the referred person stays on their insurance for 90 days after their first visit to get their brackets removed.

24/7 Online Appointment Scheduling

Some offices will offer online appointment scheduling, which lets the clients set up their appointments. You can even automatically send them a reminder before the meeting.

Offer Teledentistry

Offer Teledentistry if you’re internet-savvy as an option for your patients, including access to live webcam consultations or even sending a text with a link to download content that they can refer to while they’re at work.

Sponsor local events in your community

To reach out more to your community, you can set up a program where you give financial incentives to people that go and volunteer. You can donate raffle tickets with different prizes like gift cards to win a free treatment.

Closing Out

You don’t have to do everything on the list, but you should use the ones that work best. Don’t be afraid to find out new best ways to get new dental patients and experiment with what works best for your practice.

SEO for Dentists: What Practices Should Know

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Every dental practice is looking to get more patients in the door. If you’re looking to grow your dental practice, one way to do that is through SEO.

Many people may think SEO is complex, and rightfully so, with the number of factors that goes into Google’s ranking algorithm, which determines which website appears first in searches online. In reality, SEO can be simplified for dentists to take advantage of. In this article, you’ll learn what SEO is, why it’s important for dentists, and how to leverage SEO with strategies and best practices.

What is SEO?

SEO stands for search engine optimization. It is the process of improving the quality of the website in an effort to increase visibility and traffic by appearing higher in search engines like Google and Bing. For example, if someone were to search “dentist in Boston” on Google, your website is more likely to appear higher in a Google search, and users are more likely to click on it. With SEO, you do not pay to be listed in a Google search, as you would with Google advertising.

The main element of SEO is to use keywords on your website. Keywords used on your website should reflect what people are searching for to find your practice in search engines like Google. We will review the process of how to use SEO for your website.

Why invest in SEO?

Dental practices will reap the many benefits of investing time or money in SEO.

  • Build trust among your online audience
  • Organic search is (usually) the primary source of web traffic
  • Get more online bookings scheduled
  • Get more phone calls to your dental office
  • Don’t miss out! SEO can be competitive, and there are likely several dentists in your area that are also investing in SEO

Best SEO Tactics for Dentists

At this point, you may be thinking, what can I do to leverage SEO for my website? Here are some bullet-proof best practices for dental practices to use SEO:

On-Site SEO

Part of Google’s algorithm is on-site SEO, which involves using keywords and writing great content. Keywords used on your web pages should reflect what people are searching for online.

On-Site Strategies

  • Homepage – if you are a single-location practice, your homepage should be optimized for “dentist in {city/town}“
  • Location pages – if you are a multi-location dental practice, you should consider having separate pages for each location. The pages should provide all the information a user needs for that location, including a map, address, phone number, and even staff.
  • Service pages – how many different services does your dental practice offer? Consider creating separate pages for each service offered. For instance, emergency dentistry, tooth extractions, dental crowns, implants, and root canals, to name a few.
  • Blog – a dental practice should also launch a blog! Google loves fresh content, and writing new blog posts is a great way to increase traffic to your website.

Off-site SEO

Off-site SEO is activities that occur outside your website that Google uses in its ranking algorithm. The biggest factor for off-site SEO is the number of websites that link back to your website. For Dentists, here are a few off-site SEO strategies.

Off-Site Strategies

  • Blogging – in addition to getting more traffic, blog articles with quality content can earn links and mentions from other websites and businesses.
  • Local directories – fill out directories online! This will get your business mentioned online and get a link pointed to your website.
  • Local press – reach out to local press for any business happenings! This could events, new hires, and more.
  • Google My Business – GMB is a useful directory because many people will use Google Maps. Be sure to fill out your profile completely, and get glowing 5-star reviews from patients.

Closing Out

Though we covered the basics of SEO in this post, we highly recommend hiring an SEO agency, consultant, or expert. The information in this article is only the tip of the iceberg, and having an SEO expert will help you improve your organic search over time. They can also help you avoid penalties from Google.

Finally, it’s important to know that SEO takes time to see results. If you do not see results in the first few months, remain patient.

Have any questions? Fortune Northeast is here to help. Our coaches provide dental marketing consulting to implement strategies that will grow your practice.