Dentistry is a regularly changing field. Dental technology is always getting better, with new instruments, techniques, and treatments being devised on a regular basis. At the same time, many of the approaches and techniques that dentists mastered in dental school are being dumped in favor of these new technologies. That means for dentists the training never comes to an end. They must spend time outside of treating patients to read trade journals and attend seminars and conferences to stay abreast of the developments in their industry. Given the continuous state of change within the dental sector, it should come as no shock that dental internet marketing strategies have changed as well.
In the past, dental marketing was comprised of taking out an advertisement in the local paper, getting an enlarged listing in the yellow pages, and perhaps sending out the infrequent direct mail advertising flyer. The newspaper and yellow pages advertisements could be contracted out for a year at a stretch, meaning that the regular dentist really didn't have to invest much time on getting his practice found. But with the increase of the Internet and social media, things have drastically changed.
The truth is that most people aren't reading the newspapers or utilizing the yellow pages any more. Rather than being locked into one local paper, people use the Internet to access regularly updated news from sources that they favor, rather than being locked into one local paper. And the phone book and yellow pages have been replaced by a relatively new world-wide giant: Google. Google's Internet search engine has become so established in our society that they are now a verb, with people often Googling any piece of data that they require. And that includes their search for a dentist.
Almost all dental practices came to grips in the late 1990's or early 2000's with the reality that they would have to have some kind of website. Today the website is almost as commonplace as the sign outside a dental practice. They are now a needed element to opening up a dental business. But what a large number of dentists don't realize is that the website design doesn't only need to be visually appealing for prospective customers. To get your website (and therefore your practice) found by people it first has to be discovered, understood, and found to be pertinent by Google. Enter the role of dental Search Engine Optimization.
With any given search generating hundreds or thousands of results, it is essential for dental offices to get ranking at or near the top of the search listings. People have always tended to choose the first result they see in any search. That is the reason why the yellow pages were loaded with companies like A1 Towing and AAA Auto Repair. Dentists with last names that started with letters from the tail end of the alphabet were obligated to brand their practice differently, or spring for a much more substantial display ad to try to get the attention of searchers.
Here's a video on Internet marketing:
Things are not much different in the internet searches today. Dental practices can either pay Google to advertise in the paid results segment of relevant keyword searches, or do the Search Engine Optimization labor needed to top the organic listings. With the price of Google ads for dental keywords running from $5 to $20 or more per click in reasonably competitive markets, it is a good idea for dentists to make investments in SEO services to save money in the end.
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