The Importance of A Great Dental Website

The internet is no longer new. This new information highway has been in homes for the better part of the last 30 years.  However, only in recent years are a higher number of dentists actively partaking in online marketing. Having a great dental website is but the first step of many. And, where word-of-mouth once prevailed, the internet is taking over.  

Today, a healthy dental practice will generate 35 to 65% of its new patient base from word of mouth. However, don’t let these statics fool you. Over 75% of new patients will still research you online even with a referral from a friend of a family member. The internet has become the backbone of all major marketing tactics including word-of-mouth, family referrals, and even dental specialty referrals.

Today, most dentists will require an online presence to succeed. Online marketing begins with a great dental website, with handicap accessibility features, and a responsive design to play on all platforms without delay or issue.

Tips on Creating the Perfect Dental Website 101

• Website Builder Vs Custom Website.
  Its easy to be attracted to a simple, easy website template with a low monthly budget from a website builder platform.  Wix, Duda, Web.com, Hubspot, Gator, and many other website builders offer an attractive website solution with “easy” DIY builder interfaces. However, these platforms are antyhing but "easy". These platforms also historically have missed the most important aspects of having a website – it’s marketability. Website builder platforms often lack the Search engine Optimization (SEO) tools need to increase search presence. The ability to increase your website’s searchability is the reason for having a great dental website or medical website. Without these SEO features, a website builder only offers you a pretty page that may never be found, thus becoming a useless piece to your online campaign.
  
  In some cases, SEO tools are included in website builder platforms but require an additional fee to unlock. Mind you, this is only to unlock the tools for a fee and does not provide the services to optimize the website. At that point the lower budget gap slowly closes compared to a custom website, making the website builder less attractive than initially thought.
  
  The reality is clear. A custom website, designed for your industry with an SEO backbone out of the box is the only effective choice.

• WordPress and Other CMS’s.
  What is a CMS platform? CMS stands for the content management system and provides the foundational code for your potential website. CMS solutions offer next-to-custom options without going fully custom. Website CMS’s are the best solution for today’s small businesses. They offer the most customizable options without breaking the bank on a fully custom website.
  
  WordPress is by far the most known and popular CMS platform today. Designed as an online blogging tool in the early 2000’s, WordPress pioneered personal internet space. WordPress became the center of attention when a man named Matthew Cutts began expressing his support for WordPress. Who is this Matthew and why did his support mean so much? Matthew was Google’s SEO representative speaker for several years offering insights and tactics into the SEO world. Google being the biggest and most popular search engine, Matthew Cutts became the center of the SEO knowledge tree. His support for WordPress as his blogging platform reached every marketing ear and in turn, turned this solid CMS blogging platform into the most popular website CMS in the world.
  
  Is WordPress the best CMS solution? By far, it is not. Over the years, many new CMS platforms have hit the market with much better interfaces, options, and capabilities. Although this platform can provide the needs of many dental practices, there are much better options to consider with increased security, ease of use, and maintenance.

• Do-It-Your Self Vs Professional Website Development.
  Most dentists are great at being a dentist. You may even know a few dentists who are not great a being a dentist. However, it is rare to find a dentist who is a great dentist and a great website developer. That being said, it is recommended to focus on being that great dentist and let great website developers help you develop your awesome dental website.

With nearly everyone online today, a great dental website should be on your priority list.  It is the foundation of all your online dental marketing. Visit Medical Marketing Guru and see how we can provide you’re an amazing dental website.