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How to Ask Patients for an Online Review

Online reviews can serve as a wonderful resource for attracting new dental patients. When considering which patients to ask to write an online review, we choose patients who have been coming to our office for an extended period of time and who are complimentary. Before sending an email requesting a review, our front office manager personally asks the patient while they are in the office if they would be willing to write a review so that this email is not unsolicited.


My dental office uses the following email script when asking patients to write an online review.

We have found online reviews to be a wonderful way of setting new patients at ease before they come into our office. Many people fear the dentist and are comforted by reading positive experiences from other patients. Since you are a valued, loyal patient, we thought you might be the perfect person to ask to help us in this way. Would you be willing to contribute a positive online review of our office?

 

This initial paragraph is followed with a link to the web page where a patient can write a review. The link takes them directly to our dental practice’s listing on whichever review site we are sending them to so that they don’t have to take any time to search around for our office. We also include simple directions as to how to fill out the review.

 

My dental office sends patient reviewers to a variety of review sites, but only one site per patient. If the patient has a Yahoo! or SBCGlobal email address, we ask them to write a Yahoo! review since they already have an account with Yahoo! If the patient has a Gmail account, we ask them to write a Google review on our Google Places listing. For all other patients, we divide the review requests between InsiderPages, CitySearch, MerchantCircle and Yelp. Our goal is to make the process of writing a review as simple as possible. 

 

Nov 09, 2011 | 3 comments | View Post

Social Media Trends in Dentistry

Wow, the social media world has been busy this month!  It’s hard to keep up with all of the changes being made by Facebook and Google.

 

 

 

I just wanted to take a minute to share the above video from Google regarding their current position on business profiles on Google+, as well as a great article from Social Media Examiner which outlines how the recent changes to Facebook may effect business pages.  Please comment below regarding your experience with the recent changes to Google+ and/or Facebook.

Sep 28, 2011 | 1 comment | View Post

What Do Dentists Need to Know About Search Engine Optimization?

 

 

The importance of appearing on the first page of search engine results was highlighted in iProspect’s 2006 Search Engine User Behavior Study of 2,639 Internet users. The study’s results revealed that 62% of users stated that they do not look past page one for results. Over 90% of users reported that they never look past the first three pages for results. As this study bears out, if your website is not appearing on the first page of results, it is highly unlikely that it will be found by potential patients. Therefore, it is critical to maintain a high ranking with the search engines and this needs to be accomplished my putting in place systems to ensure maximal search engine optimization of your website.

 

First, let’s explain in simple terms what happens when a potential patient searches for a new dentist online. The patient will choose a combination of words, such as “Dentist in Austin,” and click “Search.” The listings which appear on the results page will generally be in one of three formats:

1.  Organic, also called natural listings,

2.  Local listings which are found on a map, as well as within the search results and

3.  Pay per click, also called sponsored listings.

 

Organic listings are those that appear in a search because a search engine such as Google determines their website content to be relevant to the words entered into the search query. Pay per click listings, on the other hand, appear because these companies have paid to have their websites appear high in the ranking for specific keyword search phrases. Local listings appear on a Google map, as well as within the list of results returned in a search query.  With a recent redesign in how Google delivers local search results, these local listings now appear higher on the first page in many cities.  Local listing ranking results from a variety of factors which I have discussed in more depth in an article on Google Local Search for Dentists.

 

A recent study by the website tracking company Eightfold Logic determined that for the 5,000 companies it monitors, people were 8.5 times more likely to click on an organic listing than they were to click on a sponsored listing. Despite this data, these same companies spent nearly 80% of their Internet marketing dollars on pay per click advertisements and less than 10% on increasing their websites’ optimization and visibility. This to me is a clear display of the backward logic being employed by the marketing factions of these companies. Therefore, if we know that the overwhelming majority of patients searching for you online will be drawn to the organic and local listings they find, it behooves us to market to this area much more than to the area of sponsored ads. We can conclude that making our websites relevant to search engines in a natural rather than a paid manner will provide us the greatest return on investment.

 

In order to help dentists understand what they need to know in order to maximize their appearance online, I have created a Search Engine Optimization Checklist. This checklist is one of the many items you will find in the Practice Management Resources for Dentists CD I have put together over time to help make life easier in my practice. I think you will find these gems quite helpful in your practice as well. Below you will find some of the SEO checklist which can help you start and maintain optimization of your website within search engines. Keep in mind that all applications on the checklist can be performed for you by a consulting company if you elect not to spend your time on these items. It is valuable to consider that many SEO experts agree that the most important aspect of optimization is the building up of quality links to your website.

1. Submit your website to the major search engines: Google, Yahoo! and Bing. Dentistry’s Business Secrets provides links to do so.

2. Submit your Sitemap to these search engines as well. Dentistry’s Business Secrets provides information on how to do so.

3. Sign up for local business listings on major search engines. Dentistry’s Business Secrets provides links to do so.

4. Research possible sites which can link to your website. Links from dental related websites are the most beneficial.

5. Research online directories such as www.TheDentistSearch.com, which appear high in keyword searches for a local dentist.

6. Continue to add quality content to your website through the addition of articles or patient case descriptions and pictures.

7. Post comments on dental related blogs and general answer forums, always providing a link back to your website. Some examples include www.DentalHeroes.com and www.Dentistry.AllTop.com.

Aug 22, 2011 | 8 comments | View Post

Does Internet Marketing Really Work for Dentists?

Over the past decade, the Internet has revolutionized dental practice marketing. An ADA study from 1999 reported the percentages of patients finding a new dentist by referral source. The study indicated that 55% of new patients to a practice were referred by other patients. The next largest source of referral was direct mail marketing, which came in at 12%. There was no mention of the Internet as responsible for providing any new patient flow. Contrast those figures with the present. Well over 50% of my new patients report first finding me on the Internet. Some 90% of my marketing dollars go toward Internet marketing and optimization of my websites’ visibility. An added benefit is that the marketing budget is greatly reduced because the return on investment is vastly higher with this form of practice promotion.

This is not to say that I do not continue to strive for patient to patient referral sources, as these can still be considered the best patients to have. However, we cannot neglect the overwhelming tendency for patients to search for their doctors online. By doing so, we miss out on the huge numbers of new patients that our practices could be caring for simply by establishing a highly visible online presence.

It has been estimated that less than 35% of dentists even own a website, and this says nothing about how many of those sites are actually optimized for greatest search engine ranking and visibility. Some estimates have the actual number as being much lower, at less than 20% of dentists having a presence online. The main question that comes to mind is, “Why would the overwhelming majority of dentists still remain on the sidelines with respect to the greatest marketing opportunity available to their practices?”

One thought I have heard expressed by dentists is the intimidation factor. They commonly do not understand a lot about website design or search engine optimization and feel as though they may be taken for a ride by their website designer. Most feel the cost is too high and they do not tend to value Internet marketing for what it’s really worth. The majority of dentists simply do not know where to start. Many dentists wonder “Does a dentist really need a website?” These are understandable concerns and I have made every effort in Dentistry’s Business Secrets to overcome all these obstacles by providing practical steps, written in non-techie language, which can be taken on Monday morning toward the development of any dental practice website. I hope you will take that first step and welcome the productive boost that Internet marketing can lend your practice!

Aug 03, 2011 | 1 comment | View Post