For years, word of mouth, print, and radio advertisements were the go-to sources of advertising businesses. You may even remember or have experienced when businesses primarily used the Yellow Pages to advertise. But times have changed, and for smaller businesses like dental practices, there is one key tool in advertising that you may be missing or neglecting but shouldn’t: a website. Pew Research estimates that as of 2021, 93% of adults use the Internet, which has nearly doubled since 2001. And that’s for most age groups between 18 and 64. That means that if you’ve been practicing dentistry for 20 years or more, a lot has changed in how you should be reaching new patients.
Not having a website or having one that is outdated or neglected could be causing your business to suffer, and you may be missing out on new patients. People use the Internet when finding a top-rated restaurant, learning more about products and services, and finding specific businesses close to home or work. If your practice isn’t coming up in their search, that could be a problem. Or if your website is old and outdated, runs slow, or doesn’t provide much information, searchers will likely be clicking the back button quickly.
Why a website matters?
Your website is one of the first impressions of your practice. When people find your website by conducting Internet searches, they should see a modern design, updated photos of your practice and team members, and informative content that helps them decide if your practice is the right place for them. In fact, a lot of patients decide on a dentist based on Internet searches without stepping foot inside the practice. A website serves as an essential component to providing information or answering common questions that many patients have regarding treatment and oral health needs. A website is also an ideal place for you to showcase what you can do by displaying before and after photos of patients. This shows prospective patients what they can expect if they choose your office for their care.
How to go about making a website?
Well, you don’t. We do! Designing and maintaining a website is one of those tasks that a lot of business owners think that they should do because it will save money. While we have no doubts that you could take on this task and learn how to build an attractive site, there’s a lot more that goes into it than that. Plus, building a website can take many hours, which means taking time away from your patients or spending time outside the office when you should be spending that time with family or doing things you love. Unfortunately, this often means that the site never gets finished, which also means it never gets published. Hiring professional website designers can be one of the best ways to invest in your marketing strategy. These professionals are well-trained in best practices like SEO optimization, can craft quality content that wins the favor of Google analytics, and know just how often to update your site with content so that your site becomes well-trusted by Google.
There are other components that go into building a dental practice website. If you would like to learn more, keep an eye out for our newest blog this week, where we explain how to distinguish a quality website, and explore in more detail what your website should include.
Ready to hire a website designer for your practice, or would you like to know how your website performs, even if we didn’t build it? We are here to help!
Call Bryant Consultants (877) 768-4799 today!
