Five Steps to Internet Marketing for Orthodontists

When potential patients search online for your orthodontic practice, what are they likely to find? Your Web site or the Web site of a competing practice? Like it or not, those who receive recommendations for or referrals to your practice are likely to check you out on the Internet before picking up the telephone to make an appointment. And there’s a good chance they could land on the Web site of a neighboring practice.   

“The biggest problem I find is a lack of knowledge with how the Internet works,” said Mary Kay Miller a certified search engine optimization (SEO) specialist who has worked with orthodontic practices for more than 30 years. “Most are unaware that the search engines Google, Yahoo and Bing don’t care about the design of your Web site, the quality of services provided or your expertise. You are rated on the Internet using a mathematical algorithm. If you don’t understand this and don’t meet the criteria, your Web site will not be found.”

For orthodontists and other dental specialists, Miller breaks down Internet marketing into a five-step process:

1. Have a visible Web presence. From meta tag coding within your Web site to setting up your orthodontic practice on Google Places, there are several ways for you to increase your Web site’s rank on search engines. If you miss this first step, someone searching for your practice may never find your site and instead end up on the Web site of another local practice.
2. Make your home page engaging. Your dental practice Web site should be a projection of who you are and should capture the viewer’s attention in 9 seconds. Make sure it is as good as or better than your competitors’ sites—or your potential orthodontic patients might call a competing practice instead.
3. Draw visitors deeper into your Web site. Know what your potential dental patients are interested in reading about, and provide them with that content. You want them to delve further into your Web site. Part of the SEO algorithm is your bounce rate—the percentage of viewers who leave your site after visiting just one page—and how much time people spend on your site. Aim for a bounce rate of 50% or less.
4. Encourage appointments. Visitors may spend time browsing your site, but until they pick up their phone and set up an appointment with you, your work is only half done. Your Web site should encourage visitors to contact you to set up an examination.
5. Know how effective your efforts are. Installing Google Analytics on your site will track search exposure and give an overview of visitors finding your Web site. But the best way to determine whether new dental patients are visiting your site is to have your appointment coordinator or treatment coordinator ask those who call for appointments at initial contact. 

“Miss any of those pieces, and it affects the bottom line of conversion for people picking up the phone and calling you,” Miller said.

Having an effective Web site can also be a service for your current orthodontic patients. Whether it includes videos on how to properly floss with braces or a page that allows patients to make secure monthly payments online, a good Web site will have your patients visiting it on a regular basis. And the more visitors you have, the higher you rank on search engines.

To engage your existing patients and attract new patients, Miller offers additional tips in several areas:

Social Media

The latest reports show that social media is a great marketing tool to brand your practice and build relationships with your current patient base; however, it is not an ideal marketing tool for gathering new patients. To attract new patients, a focus on SEO is a better investment, Miller said. But a social media tool such as Facebook is ideal for orthodontists looking to communicate with patients between appointments. You can offer contests through your Facebook page or notify patients of any changes in your office. Just be aware that an active Facebook page will not improve the search engine rank of your practice’s Web site.

Web Site Videos

“Video is one of most powerful marketing tools,” Miller said. “Once your video is created, you can use it 24/7 and promote it the way you want it promoted. Most consumers respond to video.”

Consumers on any given Web site will not read more than 2 to 3 pages, she added. They often skim, absorbing about 25% to 40% of what is on the page. Make your videos short, sweet and to the point. A video that gives an overview of your orthodontic practice should run no longer than 3 minutes. Address what your potential dental patients want to know. Remember that your goal is for them to pick up a phone and call you.

Pay-per-click and Online Yellow Page Advertising

High monthly payments for online Yellow Page listings is not the most effective use of marketing money, Miller said, adding the same advice for pay-per-click ads. In 2008, it was reported that 30% of Web viewers would click on a pay-per-click ad. Today, that figure is down to 5%.

Google Places, Web site videos and other SEO measures are a better investment, according to Miller.

 “It’s been my experience with clients that the conversion rate for online ads is not as high as expected,” she said. “For practices in major metropolitan areas, the only way they can get themselves on page 1 might be a pay-per-click ad, but that’s a different story. For most private practices, we would rather see them spend money on videos, which have a good return on investment, than putting money month after month into ads.”

Miller’s Web site offers a variety of Internet marketing tips, many of which apply across all dental specialties. For orthodontists looking to use the Internet to more effectively market their practices, Miller offers a variety of services, from recoding existing Web sites so they appear higher in search engines to geographically exclusive blog content that uses backlinking to put one local orthodontic practice at the top of search engine searches. Miller offers free online consultations through her Web site, www.orthopreneur.com.