CATEGORY 40 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST When a new patient needs a dentist, their first action is to typically turn to Google or seek the recommendation from a friend, after which, they will likely turn to Google to find the contact details of the referred practice. So with this in mind you need to ensure your dental practice appears at the top, or at least on the first page, of their search results. My teamand I at Dental Rank are proud of our 10 years expertise in dental digital marketing and to celebrate this milestone, over the course of proceeding Australasian Dentistmagazine publicationswewill share with you key insights you need to know to help you create your own comprehensive online marketing strategy for your dental practice that will attract and retain new and existing patients. We will dissect each core area of digital marketing and give you action steps you can implement yourself to grow your practice. And of course, should you need, we are always here to help! These are the tactics that incorporate a thorough dental practice marketing plan in order of importance and what we will cover in detail: u A robust and appealing website: your website is the central hubof information for your dental practice and where you can add valuable insights and start to gather feedback from your patient base to what interests them the most. u Search engine optimization (SEO): optimizing your website and online content to rank higher in search engine results makes it easier for potential patients to find you. u Content marketing: creates valuable content that educates and informs potential patients about dental health and your practice’s services. u Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising: use targeted ads on search engines and social media platforms to drive traffic to your website. u Social media marketing: using social media platforms to engage with patients, share valuable content, and promote your practice. u SMS & Email marketing: sending targeted SMS and email campaigns to existing patients and potential patients to keep them informed about your practice and any promotions or services you offer. By using a combination of these tactics and regularly analysing and adjusting our strategy based on data and feedback, you/ we can help your dental practice grow and succeed in a competitive digital landscape. Our marketing series topic in each forthcoming publication will be as follows: 1. Your practice website and how to audit. 2. SEO & content marketing 3. Paid advertising on Google and social platforms 4. Organic Social Media – Building a content calendar, ideal times to post and how to get maximum effect 5. SMS & email marketing – Which to use when, how often and what to avoid. Let’s begin the series. Your practice website & how to audit Before knowing what to fix or optimise on your website and by extension, your practice marketing, you need to first take a thorough audit of the current state of your practice’s online presence; how effective is your website and marketing to attract and retain patients, and, compared to that of your competitors. Here are the 6 areas to audit your website: 1. Start by identifying the purpose and goals of your website. What is the primary goal of your website? Is it to generate leads, increase online visibility, educate patients or something else? Having a clear purpose on what you want your practice to do, will make developing a content strategy easier and allow a navigational flow for your website visitors. Typically, the website will cover capturing lead information while educating visitors, for example, a video series on how best to brush your toddlers teeth, sent via email. 2. Review your website’s design and layout. Look at your website from a user’s perspective and evaluate its usability, navigation, and overall design. Does your website have a modern, professional design? Is it easy to navigate? Can users find the information they need quickly? The key element to remember here is that your website needs to speak ABOUT your audience, answering the questions they might have, and not TO them of how great you or your practice is - leave that for in the chair with your clinical work. 3. Evaluate your website’s content. Review the content on your website to ensure that it is engaging, informative, and relevant to your target audience. Is your content up-to-date? Is it optimized for search engines? Does it address your patients’ pain points and concerns? 4. Check your website’s technical SEO (search engine optimisation). This includes assessing your website’s loading speed, mobile responsiveness, internal linking structure, and URL structure. Are your pages optimized for speed and performance? Is your website mobile-friendly? Do your URLs follow a logical structure? Great free tools you can use to do this are: u https://gtmetrix.com/ u https://pagespeed.web.dev/ u https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seospider/ 5. Analyse your website’s traffic and performance data. Use tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console to gather data about your website’s traffic, search engine rankings, and user behaviour. How many visitors are coming to your website? What pages are they visiting? What keywords drive traffic to your site? 6. Assess your website’s security and compliance. Make sure that your website is secure and compliant with relevant regulations such as AHPRA, GDPR, HIPAA, and the ADA. If you would like to fastrack auditing your website (and compare two of your competitors) thenweoffer acomplimentary audit covering all 6 elements above and more. Simply visit https://dentalrank.com. au/dental-rank-audit/ and fill in the form. In the next publication, we will cover the key components of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and steps to developing a thorough 12 month content marketing strategy for your practice. u Nicholas Dogulin Principal & Lead Strategist, Dental Rank nicholas.dogulin@dentalrank.com.au https://www.dentalrank.com.au PROFILE Marketing your dental practice – what you need to know By Nicholas Dogulin, Director, Dental Rank Nicholas Dogulin
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