Page 1 Solutions Blog

and neither should you when it comes to your web marketing. Many practices make the mistake of letting their website fall by the wayside when either they get busy or when times are tough. Sometimes practices will fire an under-performing Web marketing firm, but don't hire a new one for a year or more.

In any case, when you take a break from working on your website (for instance, not blogging for a few months), you lose momentum. Your website carries a certain amount of inertia. Either it's moving up on Google's listings or moving down, and it takes work to move it up on the listings and to keep it there. It's like your website is on a treadmill. If you stop running, you'll land flat on your face! Your competitors that are diligent and have a website that's moving up on the listings will pass you by, and you'll be forced to eat their dust.

Don't let your web marketing lose momentum. Keep your eyes on the prize!

I was in Edmonton for a regional LVI meeting and had the opportunity to go to dinner with one of our dental internet marketing client, Dr. Alex Pavlenko. We had a really good time. Since we have clients all over the U.S. and Canada, it's kind of rare that we get to meet them in person, so this was a treat.

All of us at Page 1 Solutions have a lot to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my family and our health, all of my friends and colleagues at Page 1 and my clients (many of whom are friends).

There are a lot of scary things happening in the world today from the economic troubles to terrorism, but we have each other and when it comes right down to it, you can't beat that. The key is to keep it in perspective.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Social media (and Internet marketing at large) proved itself this year by working to elect the next President of the United States. Obama used a variety of social media and Web marketing strategies to spread his message and win votes. His opponent also used these strategies, but to a less effective extent, always a step behind, and his campaign suffered for it.

Obama's team created a Obama/Biden social networking website that worked to coordinate supporters to further his cause by providing phone lists of people to call and doors to knock on. According the the November 19 post on the Obama website's blog, "Two weeks after Election Day, supporters are continuing to use the online tools at My.BarackObama.com to gather together to celebrate, to reconnect, and to find ways to stay involved politics and in their communities."

Obama's team has been prolific in blogging. The Obama blog boasts 623 pages of blog entries, his earliest blog entry dating back to October 2006. McCain launched his blog in April of 2007 and his blog is now offline.

Obama used text-messaging to share updates about the campaign. He also used Twitter (see Obama's Twitter page) for the same purpose and has over 133,000 followers. Impressively, his Twitter account has 14 pages of updates; his first update in April of 2007. John McCain followed suit, but not until mid-September of this year. McCain only has 4,800 followers, just 2 pages of updates, and his last update was on October 24th (lost a little steam at the end), whereas Obama was posting up until November 5th when he posted a "thank-you" update.

Both candidates have Facebook accounts. Obama has 3,174,939 supporters, while McCain has only 607,621. Both launched their Facebook profiles in December 2007.

Obama's popularity also exploded on YouTube. Currently, a search on YouTube for "Obama" returns 124,000 videos, compared to the 71,500 videos returned for "McCain".

All of this worked together to share more about who Barack Obama is and what his vision is about. The social media efforts surely made a difference in electing him to office.

This success online will further the importance of social media when it comes to marketing businesses on the Net. The landscape of the Web was already moving toward social media, but now it's more important than ever. If Obama just had a simple website that didn't reach out to anyone, he may not have won the majority of the Internet vote.

Your website should also feature elements of social media, particularly a blog and website video. Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter accounts are all well and good, but be sure to take care of your website first and foremost. Then you can branch out. Secure listings on highly ranked websites that specialize in your area of practice (see my blog entry about directory websites). No matter what type of practice that you have, create a Google Local account, submit photos, videos, and direct your patients to post testimonials there. Use an online public relations campaign (e-PR) to boost the number of links and the sheer amount of traffic going into your website.

These are just a few things that you can do to make your website a part of the bigger social media picture on the Internet. Just remember that social media is only one aspect of a well-rounded Internet marketing campaign.

First what is pay-per-click marketing and how does pay-per-click relate to a search engine?

In the most basic definition pay-per-click is simply a bid for position on the search engines. Let's say you want to be number 1 for the keyword “Catastrophic Injury.” The first thing you need to do is see who is number 1 and then find out how much they are paying per-click and out bid them. You then want to develop a list of other key words and a budget for each month. It sounds really simple but it requires strategic thinking, expertise, and careful attention to detail. In my experience it is very time consuming and might not be the best use of time for an attorney where time is money.

Pay-per-click marketing offers one tremendous advantage for law practices: instant gratification. When the next drug hits, like Vioxx did, how do you think law firms will go after those cases? The answer is pay-per-click. They get instant exposure, high rankings, increased traffic and will quickly start to bring in Vioxx cases.

In my experience with prospective clients who are conducting PPC campaigns, there is one problem that comes up time and again. Their PPC campaigns are generating great traffic, but they’re not seeing conversions. Your website design must encourage the potential client to take the next step and call you. What’s the point of traffic if no one’s contacting you?

At Page 1, we typically recommend PPC once you have great presence in the natural listings of a search engine. PPC allows you to get double the exposure on the first page of the search engines. The only other instance where PPC is warranted is in small markets where search engine optimization just doesn't make financial sense.

If you would like to talk in more detail about your current PPC campaign or how you can incorporate PPC into your marketing, contact Jonathan or myself and we would be happy to discuss your marketing with you.

Clint Macklin
Internet Marketing Consultant
Page 1 Solutions

Some web marketing companies are pushing what they call "Video Websites". They create a module that contains a series of videos for the web in a special video player. That module is then linked from a call-to-action on the home page that says, "Check out our video website."

This approach has a huge problem. You're banking on the fact that someone is going to click on that link. Most people don't think that they have the time to watch a video, or they think that they'll have to download something in order to play a "video website", so they don't click on these links.

People will watch videos if they're presented to the visitor in the right way. There's nothing wrong with having a video website, but don't hide your videos in there. Increase the number of times that your video is viewed by embedding the videos within the various pages of the website.

On a side note, be sure to include client/patient testimonials like our Portland cosmetic dentist, Dr. Sue Wendling. Check out our page about website video for more information.

Whether it be cosmetic dentistry or any other professional services industry, using testimonials in your web marketing is a great idea, but many practices miss out on the full potential of testimonials.

The biggest challenge in using testimonials is getting potential patients/clients to actually read them. If the only place that you use testimonials on your dental website is in a testimonials page, your testimonials aren't reaching the majority of your visitors. Most people just don't think to click into that page. There's nothing wrong with having a testimonials page, but don't make that the only place where potential patients can read a testimonial.

Sprinkle testimonials throughout your website. Consider using them in the banner of your website coupled with a portrait photo of the patient. Insert testimonials in your cosmetic dentistry procedure pages so that when someone is reading about a procedure they will come across a testimonial.

Lastly, use website video. Nothing compares to a testimonial coming straight from the patient's mouth on screen. Our cosmetic dentistry client in Portland is a great example of effective usage of video testimonials.

Your testimonials are powerful assets in Internet marketing. Use them well, and you'll increase the conversion rate from visitors into high-end cosmetic dentistry patients.

In the ever-evolving dental market, having a website is one of the most important factors to grow your practice. This is even more important in cosmetic dentistry, where you are marketing high-end cosmetic procedures. Having a great website can transform the way a dental practice communicates with prospective patients and even current patients, improving patient satisfaction and driving more patients through your door. The way online consumers shop these days has changed dramatically and your website needs to reflect and stay current with those changes. The Internet has transformed the way we go about our everyday lives. More and more people are using the web to find the services they need.

Before you jump in and just start building a new website, make a plan. Write down exactly what information and functionality you need on each page. Strategically document the page topics you want written for your site. Content is king on the Web and having a content-rich website is essential to build credibility with consumers and the search engines. This information should be easy for visitors to locate, so make sure that you develop a navigation order. This will also help make it search engine friendly. What is the point of having a great website if no one can find your website when they search for “cosmetic dentistry,” “teeth whitening” and “porcelain veneers”? Just make it simple and don’t try to get too fancy with your navigation.

Now you are ready to design the container that will fit the most important part of your site, your content. This is the fun part, but make sure that your design is a reflection of you and your practice. When people come to your site, the need to get a feel for who you are and how you can help them. Don’t portray the wrong image to possible patients. Don’t be afraid to have pictures of your staff, office, and yes, even you, doctor. One way of securing a great image on the Web is adding some custom video to your site. Consumers want to build a relationship with you and having them be able to watch you talk and have past patients talk about the great care you gave them is a great way to build trust with that patient before they even meet you.

Now you have a great looking site, that you have fallen in love with it and it connects with potential patients. The most important thing at this point is having potential patients complete the contact forms or call your office. Make sure you drive them to contact you. This is where having planned out your navigation plan will pay off. This includes mini-contact forms on every page so visitors contact you without having to make more clicks. Make sure you have links and compelling calls-to-action to ensure visitors take the next step.

Just remember these three things to a good website:
• It should be easy on the eyes
• It should be easy to understand
• It should be easy to develop a relationship with the doctor

I hope these suggestions helped and if you would like to talk about anyone of these topics in more detail please don’t hesitate to contact myself or Jonathan we would love to talk to you.