Seven mistakes dental practices make when creating
a Web site
For more on this topic, go to www.dentaleconomics.com
and search using the following key words: Web site design,
Internet marketing, goals, Stewart Gandolf, Lonnie Hirsch.
The Internet has become the tool of
choice for prospective patients in making dental and
other health–care decisions. But there are a ton
of practices that don't have a first–class online
marketing tool, and that's a missed opportunity and
lost revenue.
If it's time to take a critical look
at your tired, gen–one version, here's a roundup
of the big mistakes to avoid in getting your Web site
done (and what to do instead).
Don't even think of doing your Web
site yourself. D.I.Y. is for backyard gardening and
has no place in Internet marketing if you want professional
results. Given this basic rule, here are the top seven
mistakes that are guaranteed to do a lot more harm than
good:
• Lack of clear goals
and visitor path to action. Clearly define
exactly what you want the Web site visitor to do. Usually,
the goal is for the visitor to make an appointment,
or at least call for information. Hold that thought.
Yes, you'll need to persuade the visitor. Inform, yes.
But save detailed patient education or lessons in office
administration for later. Everything about your site
— the “visitor experience” —
needs to move the visitor from “looking”
to “doing.” Your contact information should
be available, obvious, inviting, easy, and encouraging.
• No focus = no message
= no results. Don't try to say everything to
everybody. Build your site for a specific target audience.
Understand exactly who you are talking to and maintain
that focus in content, graphic design, functionality,
structure, and other details.
• Poor structure and
navigation. Getting around on your site should
feel intuitive. Sites where it is difficult to find
important information or hard to move around drive visitors
away in frustration. Consistency is a plus — menus
and navigation should appear at the same place on each
page and links should be obvious. Appealing design is
important, but Web site design that is too flashy, technically
overdone or underdone, or too slow will make your Web
site a loser.
• Believing “If
I build it, they will come.” Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) is a fundamental tool, and it's commonly
overlooked. Most visitors — usually 80% or more
— will arrive at your site using a search engine
(like Google, Yahoo, etc.), so build a site that search
engines recognize. SEO is a sophisticated blend of art
and science that begins with the design, construction,
and content of the site itself, and makes it highly
visible to Google and others. The do's and don'ts of
SEO can fill a large book, but your site needs targeted
keywords and phrases, well–written and relevant
content that is “spider friendly,” and appropriate
Meta tags, title tags, and keyword tags. Caution: There
are special rules in this game, and using “black
hat” techniques, such as hidden text, can result
in being banned by the search engines.
• Making the Web site
a marketing orphan. This is a serious player
in your overall marketing plan. Integrate your Web site
with other marketing activities and vice versa. The
classic symptoms of this are not including your Web
address in correspondence or your practice brochure
— or a Web site that looks different from your
other branding. Find ways to tell current and prospective
patients about your site. Maintain the content with
regular updates and refinements.
• Believing your Web
site is a technical or graphic arts example.
Above all else, your site is a professional marketing
communications tool. Of course it needs to be technically
correct (but not geek–trick driven) and it needs
to be graphically appealing (but not an artistic expression
alone). Communicate a compelling, benefit–laden
message that differentiates you and your practice. Understand
that the visitor has a need ? and make sure your site
explains how you can provide the answer to that need.
In the process, you'll also build trust, establish credibility,
and entice response.
• Ignoring site and
visitor analytics. Every Web site keeps detailed
statistics about visitor traffic (how they found you)
and site activity (what pages they saw, how long they
stayed). Web analytics are included with your hosting
service or are available free or at a low cost. Study
this near–real–time feedback about your
prospective patients' response to your Web site. This
data is vital to making SEO and marketing decisions.
Use this checklist to make a critical
review of your existing (or new) Web site. If any one
of these items is out of whack, you can be confident
that your site is sending prospective patients elsewhere.
Wouldn't you like it to produce new patients for you
rather than your competition?
Stewart Gandolf, MBA, and Lonnie
Hirsch are cofounders of Healthcare Success Strategies,
and two of America's most experienced practice marketers.
They have worked with dentists for a combined 30 years,
have written numerous articles on practice marketing,
and have consulted with more than 3,000 private health–care
practices. They may be reached by calling (888) 679–0050,
through their Web site at www.healthcaresuccess.com,
or via e–mail at info@healthcaresuccess.com.
Source:Dental Economics
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