By Brittany Vernon
Is your website lost in the crowd? It can be tough for your content to be seen amongst several other dental websites, thousands of search engine results and changes to devices that websites are viewed on. Try out these steps to increase the visibility of your dental practice’s website.
Personalize
Make your website unique to your dental office!
The most personal aspect in your office is your team; so be sure to include a page dedicated to telling your patients about your staff - they are the face of your practice! Display photos of your staff and include a brief blurb about each staff member.
Along with introducing the team, show off what your office looks like. Have a gallery on your website to showcase your office, from your lobby to the patient waiting area. Through photos and additional content, you can also show your COVID-19 initiatives and practices you are doing in the office, including social distancing, seating, and signage.
Giving website viewers and potential patients a virtual experience on your website will help them get acquainted with your practice and increase the likelihood of them visiting in real life. Your website is an opportunity to get potential patients comfortable with your practice without having to physically visit it just yet.
Optimize
There’s no point in having a great website if no one will see it. This is why optimizing your website is an important step - crucial for your page to be seen by potential patients.
People tend to use search engines, like Google, to answer questions and find services they’re looking for. As a dental website, provide content that answers your potential patients' questions. Creating a Q&A or Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page could help direct potential patients to question and answers about your dental procedures and expectations. Your FAQ page would include primary keywords and content that patients are looking for. You can also weave these questions and answers into individual service pages for good search optimization.
You should also ensure your website ranks well on Google. Google search result pages only hold 10 results per page; so the higher the page ranks, the more likely your website will be clicked on. Improving your website search rankings can be done in a number of ways. If you want your website to appear organically in Google searches (i.e. not with paid ads) then proper Search Engine Optimization (SEO) should be implemented and managed monthly.
Here are a few SEO tips to practice:
Write unique titles and content (make sure titles are concise!)
Tag your images with appropriate descriptions as part of best practices
Accurately describe the page's content with description meta tag
Avoid “keyword stuffing” and excessive use of heading tags on a page
Use online tools to help evaluate your site’s SEO
More information on SEO guidelines can be found on Google Search Central.
Mobilize
People will view your content on different devices - smartphones generate 51% of global website traffic! Build a responsive website that looks good on all devices and all screen sizes. Responsive websites create brand continuity and a comfortable user experience for your website visitors. You don’t want people searching for a dentist on their phone to get to your website and abandon it because it’s not smartphone friendly.
Assure that appointment requests, patient forms, and contact forms are easily accessible on your website and quick-to-fill via smartphones. The more you allow your patients to engage with your practice from the comfort of their home, through their smart devices, the more likely you are to attract new patients. Be convenient, be accessible, be mobile!
With these steps in mind, your website can stand out amongst competitors. Keep in mind that your content should be updated whenever there are changes in your office. On top of that, Google’s search algorithm is always changing based on people’s search habits. UpOnline can help your website evolve with these changes in addition to creating website content for your practice and services.