Dental professionals often find broken appointments and missed inquiries adding up to the chaos of running a dental practice. The vision of expanding your dental practice is amplified by the struggles to get patients in. Luckily, there are ways that you can open opportunities but you need to identify the reasons why your clients are not coming in?
1. You have a poor online presence
One of the reasons why you can’t attract more patients is because you are not investing enough time to boost your online presence. With a majority of people using search engines and social media platforms to find businesses, you are missing a huge opportunity to reach them.
Websites and blogs that have a strong keyword presence get high organic traffic. If you want to get dental patients, you need to use the right keywords – the terms that people use in search engine queries.
2. You lack community involvement
Canada has thousands of dental offices. In fact, a quick drive around your clinic location should show you the number of dental practices that patients can choose from. To get the attention of clients, develop a unique selling point that should tell them why you are a better choice than the rest. The most efficient way to attract dental patients is to engage with the community by sending out coupons and fliers. The more they see your brand name, the more that clients remember your business.
3. You do not use retargeting campaigns
Almost every person who visits a website for the first time does not book an appointment for services or buy anything. To get their attention you need to set up retargeting ads to create momentum, loyalty, and visibility.
4. You lack referrals
Business referrals can help businesses grow. Developing a relationship with other businesses in your local area is advantageous. Nurturing relationships with an orthodontist, oral surgeon, an Etobicoke family dentist and other linked industries can be good for your business.
How to Use Local SEO for Your Dental Clinic
If you own dental practice, the first people that you want to reach are the closest ones to you. Local clients are within your reach and are most likely to avail of your services here are some ways to use local SEO for your dental practice:
1. Google My Business
To be successful in your efforts to reach the local audience, you need to set up your own Google My Business (GMB) account. This free listing is an easy-to-use tool hosted by Google and puts your information across other platforms including Maps, Search, and Photos.
Setting up your profile helps customers find your business and tell them what your business and brand stands for. Verifying your business profile also gives you the opportunity to update your information when necessary.
2. Citations in Online Directories
Aside from having your own GMB profile, you also need to be found on other online directories. Look for reputable directories that your clients would likely use for finding a business.
If you are listing as a dental office in Ottawa then you need to find directories for dental professionals in your area. These listings will help you reach more clients and also establish legitimacy because you are found on a list alongside others on your field. With your clinic information and the perceived reliability can bring in people to your clinic.
3. Keyword Research
Have you been updating your website with fresh keywords or has it never been touched since the time you launched it? Make it a part of your SEO efforts to regularly update your keywords to make your site more relevant to the audience.
The trends in keyword research has changed along with the search engines. While before one or two terms would suffice, now the focus is on phrases and sentences. These changes are brought about by social media and voice searches. If your keywords are stuck at two or three then you will trail behind competition.
Use different keyword research tools to simplify the tasks. You can also talk to an expert in SEO Toronto to help you revamp your site and update contents with the best keywords for your niche.
4. Conduct Technical SEO Analysis
The word technical often intimidate people but this may be what you are doing in your marketing efforts. For example, you need to know how many people are coming into your site weekly so you use a tool to generate this data. Maybe you want to identify which parts of the site need improvement?
It is best to delegate this job to a dedicated SEO team that can organize your website and make it easier for people to navigate through it. Also allow them to make the necessary changes to accommodate SEO elements that can improve your rankings and sales.
5. Work on On-Page Optimization
Using keywords is the fundamental steps to make your website searchable and you want to strategically use them throughout your web pages. Specifically in the following places:
- Title tags – this is a crucial ranking factor
- Meta description tag – it makes content compelling and makes people click on your web page
- Heading tag – this include blog post titles and subheadings of pages and posts
- New URLs – you can use keywords in already existing URLS with the help of a qualified team
6. Write Blogs and Other Long-Form Content
Long-form content is the new norm in content writing because Google is rewarding the efforts of website owners. The strategy allows you to write a topic of interest and allow people to read through with the most in-depth article you can manage. Readers turn to web pages that give them new information and insights which also help them rank on SERPs. You can also add topics according to the seasons and other events around your locality and incorporate these into your dental practice.
Local SEO is a powerful way of marketing your dental practice because, after all, the very first people who are likely to avail of your services are those within your community. Harness the power of tools, listings, and strategies that can improve your website’s overall content and drive more traffic.