The squirrel was efficient, I’ll give him that. But as I watched him, I wondered about something.

And it prompted my thinking about the set-it-and-forget-it approach to your dental website.

These days a website is essential…but it’s far from enough.

The diligent squirrel outside my office window makes sure he has adequate food supply. He finds a food source, searches for a storage location, and buries it.

It’s fascinating to watch (and often a significant distraction). My question: does he remember where he buries all his resources?

That’s a question of survival for the squirrel.

What about you?

Will YOU survive?

I’m not talking existentially. What concerns me here is whether or not you’ll survive the online marketing landscape.

You were wise – however long ago it was – to bury (invest) a significant amount of marketing resources in your dental website. Having a website is as basic as…well…brushing and flossing is to your oral health.

But what good is a website, really?

For starters, your website home page and/or about page captures your reader’s attention. The unique benefits of your practice story and culture should compel readers to click through to the all-important reason they visited your site.

We’re talking treatment, right?

Your dental services pages highlight the benefits of your treatment expertise. And the copy/content should compel them to ultimately click to your contact page to schedule an appointment or connect with one of your team members via email (an ongoing gold-mine if you use it effectively).

Hopefully, your website copy is designed to accomplish those primary functions. If not, we should talk.

The bigger issue

I intentionally omitted what (these days and I suspect for a long time) is the linchpin of an effective online presence.

Be warned, if you’ve adopted my friendly squirrel’s approach – burying it and forgetting it – you’re missing something that will turn your precious website into nothing more than an electronic brochure (and we know what people do with brochures once they’ve read them…).

Back to your dental services – this is where your current and potential new patients often decide via their ever present smart phone or tablet to schedule. A keyword (e.g. dental implant, dental fillings, dental veneers, dental crowns, etc.) landed them on your site.

But here’s the scary part.

They could have landed on any of the 100’s of dental websites locally. How do you stand out?

You tell me…you’re the expert!

I’m not being sarcastic. Actually, I’m paying you a compliment.

The missing element that sets your dental website a part from the crowd is content. Your expertise is the reason people schedule.

It’s also the path to how today’s search engines rank you. No longer is it enough to have a website.

You must have a reason for existing online. Being useful and helpful is first and foremost.

3 Basic Strategies to Prevent Your Dental Website from Being a Wasted Investment

1-Blog consistently

This is content-101. A regular channel that provides useful information is now a marketing essential.

But this is vital!

The content you post, publish, or otherwise share on your blog must be relevant and above all useful. Your blog content will be ignored and possibly penalized (by Google) if it’s lacking authenticity.

By authenticity, I mean – true to your voice, practice culture, expertise, etc. No longer can you post warmed-over, stale, keyword-baited “crap” just to “tease” the search engines (they’re smarter and for good reason).

Be useful! Enough said.

• Dial into the questions your patients are asking (are you listening?) and write blog posts about THAT!

• Make your content interesting at the same time you make it search effective.
• Give patients, site visitors something they can use at the bathroom sink when they’re practicing good oral hygiene.
• Provide first time site visitors something they can share with others about good dietary choices and their link to healthy teeth.
• Be the go-to dental expert in your local search area for not only good dental care but also outstanding dental information.

They find you by your dental keywords. They return by how well you create content around those words via a channel like your dental blog.

2-Showcase your authority with sidebar content (ebook, case study, Podcast, YouTube channel, Social media, etc.)

Think of this as the “something-extra.” Sidebar content is the mint-on-the-pillow (throwback to when 5-star hotels did this kind of thing).

No one comes to a dental website expecting anything more than smiling stock photos of pretty people, right? (That’s another post for another day…don’t get me started.)

Give them more than they expect.

Now, I’m not suggesting that people are reserving precious reading time for your 10 page ebook on teeth whitening. But, they will consider you above the norm if you provide them a compelling title and useful info to go with it.

Make it easy access. Ask for their email address (this is gold). Deliver content to their inbox or smartphone at the click of a sidebar button.

And speaking of smartphone – make certain ALL your online, delivered content is readable on a smart phone or tablet. You greatly reduce your reach and your relevance by missing this all-important benefit.

Use a variety of content products.

• An ebook (10-20 pages) on a frequently asked question (what are patients asking about – teeth whitening, veneers, non-metal braces, etc.?)

• A podcast or downloadable mp3 featuring you and a noted expert on a popular dental product (Sonic Toothbrush, oral cancer, etc.). Portability is key here. Many might not read your expertise but they’ll listen to it on a walk, run, during a workout or on a commute to work.

• Social media relationships. Set up and maintain an active Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Vine, etc. relationship with your patients and site visitors. And by active, I mean more than a random post every 4 weeks. Or only when you’re promoting an office special. And please stop gaming your social relationships with prizes (they get the angle and it makes you look…well…you get the picture).

Connect just because. And if you maintain an active blog presence you should have plenty to share and engage with via social media.

3-Use email better than most (newsletter, blog links, promotions)

This is why I earlier said the email address is “gold.” Once you have this resource you can communicate freely.

Be careful…

Don’t always be hitting their inbox with promotions, treatment specials, and product pitches. This will numb your readers and they’ll hit delete or unsubscribe quicker than you can rinse and spit.

Be intentional, strategic…and (once again) useful with your email content.

• Give as much thought to your subject line as your email content (this will make or break…open or spam your content).
• Balance your email content – less promotions, more usefulness (are you seeing a theme here).
• Tell a story in the first few lines to gain reader attention (like my squirrel story in the this post – you’re still thinking about that spunky lil’ guy arent’ you?)
• Transition naturally from your intro story to your reason for emailing and your all-important call to action.
• Link to your valuable, useful content (speaking of a call-to-action).

And about that squirrel.

He does remember where he keeps his food supply. I’ve watched him.

Instinct is a fascinating thing.