If you look at dental websites, they’re often relatively similar to one another. Make that mistake number one on the list of dental website mistakes.
There are, in fact, a number of mistakes that dentists make on their websites. Some are minor, others aren’t. A few of these mistakes may merely annoy viewers while others could drive them to another dentist’s website. Let’s examine some classic dental website mistakes that Dreamscape Marketing has encountered:
The Generic Website
Can you look at your practice’s website, then look at a competitors and see any real differences? Could you switch names on the websites and not really notice? If so, that’s one of the typical dental website mistakes that dentists make. For this reason, finding an agency with experience maintaining and hosting dental websites is important.
Let’s be honest when discussing the web presence of a lot of dentists. Many practice websites consist of exactly the following:
- Bio of the dentist
- Short page about the staff
- List of services the practice provides
- A few photos
There’s nothing wrong with having this information. After all, these are things people expect to see when they land on a practice’s website. However, if this is the extent of your web presence, you’re making one of the most common dental website mistakes imaginable.
Remember that every dental practice in the world wants to provide quality patient care. You’ll never differentiate your practice by mentioning it (although you should mention it!). It’s simply not enough to make a patient choose your practice versus someone else’s. After all, that other practice is most certainly saying that they also provide quality patient care. It’s just one of the dental website mistakes you need to be aware of.
Thin Content
Having thin content on your dental practice website hurts you in several ways. First, it’s not compelling to your readers. Your website doesn’t engage them or inform them particularly well if the content is thin. Second, Google doesn’t like to see web pages with sparse content, and it will consequently reduce the rankings of such pages.
Even if Google doesn’t penalize you for thin content, it will know if readers bounce off your pages quickly. That tells them your material doesn’t offer the reader much value, and they’ll reduce your ranking as a result. As you can see, inadequate marketing content is one of the most dangerous dental website mistakes you can make.
The more your pages inform readers, the better off you are. For example, if your practice offers dental implants, you should provide substantial information about them. If you place as well as restore implants, you probably deal with one particular manufacturer. Tell readers who that is, and why you choose to work with them. Anyone considering implants will want to know.
You want to use your website to educate them about implants (and other important need-based and elective services you may provide). Include links to the implant manufacturer if they want to read even further on the matter. Even if they don’t actually do that, they’ll like knowing that you’ve made the task a little more convenient.
In the end, there’s nothing more useless than a dental practice website with a handful of pages that contain 100 or 200 words each. Such pages will never rank well in Google searches. Why? Well, for a start, Google wants to see web pages with a minimum word count of 300. Is your practice website’s content thin? This is one of those dental website mistakes that’s easy to fix. Commit to the creation of informative dental content on a regular basis.
The Static Website
This dental practice website never changes. It looks the same as the day it was launched…whether that was yesterday or two years ago. Such a website gives viewers little reason to ever return. When they notice nothing changes, why would they return? Why should they?
Dental practices that maintain their own websites are often guilty of having static websites. It’s certainly not because they’re lazy. Dental website mistakes like this happen because dentists and staff members have a practice to run, and that’s plenty of work all by itself. Trying to keep a website fresh and up to date with original and informative content is often beyond the reach of the doctor and the staff.
To prevent a static web presence, it’s usually a good idea to partner with an outside marketing firm that can maintain your website and generate original content for it. Just make sure they know dentistry. There’s nothing worse than an outside firm that doesn’t understand the difference between a GP and an OMS practice, or that gingivitis and periodontal disease aren’t interchangeable terms.
Avoid Dental Website Mistakes – Work With Outside Experts
A dynamic website that informs and motivates people can drive new patients to your office. An inferior website will only drive prospective patients away. The choice is yours. What kind of website do you want for your dental practice?
As a Premier Google Partner, Dreamscape Marketing is well positioned to create dynamic optimized websites that generate traffic. We’ve created hundreds of websites and created more than 50,000 pages of content for our healthcare clients. Let’s talk about what we can do for your dental practice website.
In a competitive industry, you don’t need dental website mistakes interfering with your success. Call us today at 888.307.7304 or email us at info@dreamscapemail.com. It’s time for your website to go from good to great.