There are
valid reasons to pursue a high ranking on a search engine (SE) or
to make sure a Web site is listed in an Internet directory (ID).
However, the value of SE's & IDs fluctuate from business type
to business type. And, the value will continually evolve and change,
requiring continual site updates to stay ahead of this game. The
following paragraphs and client quotes will help explain why search
engine optimization or Internet directory placement adds little or
nothing to the marketing strategy of an advanced, fee-for-service
dental practice.
Click on the numbers throughout the article to view the references
used to write this article.
First
How valuable are SE/ID
prospects to advanced and fee-for-service dental practices? This
is difficult to quantify, but is important
in determining
how much effort and/or money should be expended to reach these potential
patients. Most advanced dental practices require patients with some
level of appreciation (or desire) for higher-level services.
This disqualifies
most new residents, emergency patients and families with children.
While some of these might "turn into good patients",
they are not as desirable as patients prepared and able to
purchase your highest-level
services. "Desirable" prospects have been exposed to your
brand before they come to your site.
SE/IDs will never proactively
promote your image or the value of your services: you are always
waiting for visitors/patients to search.
Therefore,
you get what they send: a great number of "advanced dentistry
unaware patients" that are often cost-focused and insurance-reliant.
Additionally, turning your site into a "content-rich" 1 (or text-dense) SE showpiece reduces your ability to showcase your
image and the beautiful
smiles made possible with this type of dentistry.
Second
The search engine
(SE) and Internet directory (ID) submission process has a labyrinth
of rules 2, which are constantly changing 3.
Combined with this are frequent changes in the search algorithms
that control
placement or search ranking 4. On the search site Google.com
this process is called the "Google Dance" 5. Google
changes their process regularly so those at the top are often
displaced from their long sought
top spot 6. Google's goals include keeping their site fresh,
clean, intuitive and powerful, and their mission is to "do
good by users" 7 - not to help any SEO strategy.
In addition, Internet directories,
like DMOZ.org and Yahoo, have many rules that interfere
with other sound Web marketing
concepts,
possibly
precluding your site from getting "accepted" 8.
Let's say your site is StupendousSmiles.com. But you have
also purchased
the name StupendousSmile.com
because someone might type in the wrong address, and you
don't want your competitor to buy that name and get your
visitors.
You have the rights
to that name, but the directory won't allow its submission.
Even submitting that name could ban you from that site indefinitely
9.
Third
Waiting for SEO changes
to help increase visitor traffic could mean missed opportunities
to attract patients and/or
significant
costs
10. Search
engine optimization (SEO) experts have many different
strategies to help you stay on top of these changes. Unfortunately,
they cannot guarantee
anything specific 11. Furthermore, to get anywhere near
the results they
hope to achieve for you, they need to work continuously
on updating your site 12.
If a SEO expert is charging
you less than $250-$500 per month, you probably will not get any
noticeable
results.
(Cost depends
on their
expertise
and what they are actually doing for you, which could
be negative. 13) The level of cost is incurred because
it is time intensive
to gather relevant statistics and SE/ID policy changes,
and discuss proposed
changes
to your site with you and then make those changes 14.
Then
you wait
three to six months to see if any of those changes
had any effect on the number
of visitors to your site 15.
Some SEO experts even recommend
developing a unique site for each of the 20-40 top search engines
16! So
do you
spend any
money on
this
process? Maybe some should, but as you are waiting
for SEO to work, many more
high-value patients are unaware of your services.
Fourth
Why are some putting
so much effort into SEO if it doesn't work? Actually, it does work
and is worth
it, but in
varying degrees
depending on the
type of site it is and results expected. If you
are selling products nationally and/or internationally,
it makes
more sense 17. It
also makes sense for home-based businesses with
no marketing money.
Of course, then
you do it all yourself, which means you better
have someone else running your company or expect to work
6-12 hours
extra each
week to keep up
with the changes.
But if you are a business
that sells a service that can only be accessed in a specific location
(like
dentistry), a proactive
strategy
makes
more sense 18. There are at least national 30-50
SE/ID sites that are considered
important to searching success - with thousands
of others
that a good percentage of people regularly use.
This year the hottest consumer
SE site is Google.com 19- what will it be next week or next year?
What
about local
SE/ID sites
(yourtown.com)
or the Yellow Page online directories in your
area like SuperPages.com? Is the SEO expert
spending too much time
making your site
viable on Google.com
when ExampleSEsite.com is actually what most
of
your potential prospects are using?
What if Google.com
is the best in your area (500,000 population) and 15 dentists can
be found somewhere
in each search,
but only 50 people
per month use it to search for a dentist? And
what if your site is on the third page of results
and
for some
reason
your competition
is on
page one? How much time should be spent to
get to page one to reach 50 potential patients? And
what
if you
never get
to page
one?
Fifth
There is another option
to SEO that gets you better rankings faster - with more guarantees.
A number
of the most popular
sites, including
Google.com,
now offer paid rankings or sponsorships
20. The purchaser determines a budget and what
they will
pay per click
and then pays per
click (per visitor to your site) until
that budget is exhausted. Whichever
site
is paying more per click and/or has a higher
click through rate in that category gets
the top spot.
Google offers both a sponsorship
listing (which looks like a search listing at the
top of the
traditional search listings)
and a small
banner ad
21. The banner ads run vertically along
the right side of the page. Of course, costs
can escalate,
as the
sector gets
crowded.
Ironically, if you go to
Google.com and search for "search engine
optimization experts" you will
see a bunch of banner ads for SEO companies
22. This means even the "experts" have
to do more. Imagine when every dentist
in your area is doing the SEO Dance,
too.
Sixth
What happens if you
never submit your site to any SE/ID site? Because of
bots and
spiders (Internet
scouring
programs) that look for
new sites on the Web and feed
them to most of the
most popular
search
engines, most every site gets
listed within 3-6 months after it is posted
to
the
World Wide Web. Of course,
it might not be a top listing, but you will
have to pay
for that
expectation
(and maybe
still reach
your goal).
Even Flash sites, which are
not very "search
engine friendly",
can be listed without direct
human intervention or extensive
optimization. You might have
to wait a couple more months,
but the
SEO route
only guarantees that you will
spend more
money.
Conclusion
Focusing on search
engines is not wrong; it just has the potential
to be a significant
waste of
time for
a fee-for-service,
quality-focused
dental practice. Yes, there
is a potential for some practices
to gain
an enviable
presence on
a specific
search engine,
but it is
not free,
easy or guaranteed for any
length of time. Otherwise, there would
only be
a few search
engine "experts or specialists" because
the process would be automated
and/or need to be performed
only one time.
Our philosophy
at Curtis Marketing
Group has always been to
focus on creating an effective image
for
each practice
and
enlightening
the
public about the advantages
of modern restorative and
esthetic dentistry.
While
search engines have a place
in
dental marketing,
they lack the ability to
proactively engage those who are
unaware
(or already
aware) of
your value and are often
not even aware of the benefits
of modern
dentistry.
Millions of people
who need, would want, and have the
ability to pay
your dentistry
and/or
have stayed
away
from dentistry
because
of fear
will never sit down to
type in something in a SE or ID.
Therefore,
we concentrate
our efforts
in
developing Web
sites that soothe
the visitor's
fears, build the value
of your services and enhance
your brand. Then, we market
your message in proactive
ways
to the most
likely candidates
for this type of service
and engage them to come
directly to your site. Finding you
on
the second or third page
of a
search
engine
is just
not good enough.
Of course,
there are some dental
sites that have
gotten benefits
from search
engines. Some practices
can choose
to move on
both fronts, but
most have to choose which
battles to wage from
a cost and time
perspective. If you
are selling
whitening
strips, which can
be shipped UPS, you
might want to focus on
search engines. However,
practices that wish to
effectively
promote the value of
their highest level services
to an
uninformed public need
to do more than
wait for enlightenment
and then hope for good
SE/ID
placement. How do our
clients feel about search engine marketing?
"After my radio
commercials on sedation dentistry started running, I saw a dramatic
rise in the
number of visitors to my site. I don't see how
search engines could
ever create that type of response.”
• Richard K. Weimar,
DDS, Minneapolis,
MN
www.WeimarDDS.com
"A 'search engine
specialist' recently called me. You would figure he found me because
he searched for my site on a search engine. Actually, it was a referral from
his personal injury attorney, who is a patient
of mine. The attorney
(my patient) gave him a Web Referral Card produced by Curtis Marketing Group
so he could get an estimate on the dental work
he needed. He got
my Web address from the card and then visited my site. When he called for the
estimate he also said I might need his [SEO] services.
It was difficult
for me to place a high priority on his services after the way he found out
about me.”
• Fred H. Peck, DDS,
Cincinnati, OH
www.PeckDDS.com
Coming
up next month… What
should you do
instead of focus
on search engine
optimization?
Next month we will focus
on increasing
the value of
your Web site with proactive,
value enhancing
and
brand
building marketing
techniques.
Dental
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