Why Do Dentists Need Websites?

A Look into Why Your Dental Practice Needs A Website

It’s no secret. Top dentists must have an up-to-date, optimized dental website that can be found easily online if they wish to remain ahead of the curve and local competition.

As the hub of your entire online universe, your practice website is your digital calling card and serves the vital function of augmenting your staff’s in-office workflow. Therefore, understanding how patients find your site and how they interact with your site, is paramount to maximizing your new patient acquisition potential as well as ensuring high retention and satisfaction within your existing patient base.

Read on to learn how to create a world-class dental website that attracts the right patients to your growing dental practice and delights your existing patients every time they visit.

How do I make a dental office website?

Creating a world-class dental website that is found by the right patients requires: compelling branding with authoritative and sought-after information, a vibrant eye-catching mobile and desktop design, authentic and relevant content, superior usability and navigation, lightning-fast speed, as well as secure online registration, payments and scheduling – that makes running your practice easy and efficient.

Prioritize Branding in Web Design

Compelling branding is one of the most important facets in building a successful website. It is the art of seamlessly integrating your clinical story, passion and voice into every aspect of your online presence. Since your website is often the first place a new patient will interact with your practice, it must immediately resonate and connect with the reader – conveying credibility and value – and, of course, prompting them to choose you over the competition.

The key to success is showcasing what makes your practice valuable, what sets it apart from others in your area, and how your team is clearly the best and only option for superior dental care. Use this cohesive story to build trust and ensure that potential patients recognize you as the leader in your industry. Tried and true branding techniques include:

• A customized logo that tells a consistent story and fits with your website design.

An effective logo should be unique, match your branding, vision and market goals, and mirror the needs, preferences and demographics of your ideal patients. A modern, polished and innovative design will help you score a great first impression, while a poorly executed vision will ruin the foundations of your entire branding strategy.

• Positive reviews that leverage your reputation.

Reviews matter. Over 92% of patients read online reviews before making an appointment, even if they’ve been directly referred to your office by a friend. Glowing client testimonials – and lots of them – are the best way to secure a sterling reputation. Set up a robust reputation management strategy that includes an easy-to-use, automated system like RevenueWell or  Launch Survey, that monitors major search engines and integrates reviews with your website and other online destinations, so they are seen, cross-posted, responded to, and indexed for the highest level of search engine optimization and website visibility.

• Custom Photography, Smile galleries and video marketing that reflect your expertise and authenticity.

Many successful practices are already using some form of custom photography and videography, such as office tours and welcome videos, as a component of their online practice marketing strategy, and so should you. 90% of online consumers report that engaging video content is a key determining factor in their purchasing decisions. So… lights, camera, action! Get in front of your prospective patients and remain competitive by adding dynamic and engaging video and still segments throughout your online presence.

• Recognition across all social media

With over 69% of your potential patients scrolling through social media daily, being recognized in their feed is monumental to building a recognizable brand. Think of social media as a PR platform specifically catered to your practice, where you can advertise your services to existing and potential patients consistently across multiple venues such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn.

Create Dental Content that Captivates and Engages Your Patient Audience

Messaging matters. Branding may be the most important ingredient in creating a world-class website, but quality content is what captivates, educates and converts potential patients. When creating compelling content in the form of staff and doctor bios, welcome videos and messages from your doctors, make it compatible with conversational search to facilitate high search engine rankings. Refresh content frequently with blogs and procedure page updates. This will ensure that your content is customized, a key component of search engine optimization and ranking on page one of Google.

Ensure a Fantastic User Experience (UX)

Most visitors don’t read your website. They scan it, looking for fixed anchor points that will guide them through their journey. At best, you have 3 seconds to capture their attention, stand out and help them find what they’re looking for, before they move on to the next site.

An easy and enjoyable user experience, including efficient site speed, will keep potential patients on your site longer, and so will clean navigation and above-the-fold calls to action. Make your website mobile friendly in every way and responsive on all devices. Go further with strategically positioned website accessibility (ADA & WCAG 2.0 Disability Compliant) buttons so users with disabilities can easily interact with your content. And finally, as dentists, you know as well as anyone the importance of a secure site. Provide users with peace of mind, and have your developer set up an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate to ensure your patients’ information is protected.

Make It Easy to Get Things Done

We are all busy, so make life easy for your patients by providing them with the tools they need to efficiently access the information they need, when they need it. First, ensure that patients can easily book appointments in real time on your website. Next, save time by enabling patients to fill out forms on their own devices with secure online patient registration. PBHS truForm™ E-forms includes Patient Registrations, Health History Updates, Privacy Policies, Fees & Payments, COVID Disclosures, Referral Forms, Informed Consents and more.

Quickly answer questions about the services you offer and help patients choose your practice with live online reception via a simple chat interface. Launch Chat Ai provides a 24/7, cutting-edge digital chat receptionist, which simplifies your patients’ experiences as they navigate your site so they can engage with your content and effortlessly retrieve the information they seek. In addition, this clearly tells your patients that you have a professional practice, that is serious about their personal health and attention to detail.

Who is PBHS?

As we embark on 2022, it’s prime time to update your website to increase new patient appointments and grow your practice. The PBHS team is ready to help! Visit our portfolio to learn more about our customized dental websites and contact us today for a complimentary review of your current online presence and rankings.