We all know that technology is the way of the future for dental offices. But what exactly is one of the biggest waves you or many of your colleagues might be missing out on? Your website! No one uses a phone book anymore.
Did you know that in this day and age there is an estimated 50% of dental offices out there that don’t even have a website? Everything is on the world wide web. Yet HALF of all dentists don’t have a website. That is a staggering statistic. So how best do you make your website stand out? Here are a few helpful tips.
Include your contact information
Seems pretty obvious right? This stuff isn’t rocket science. But when I say your contact information I mean ALL of it. The patient that doesn’t like to talk on the phone will want to email you. Set up a generic email address for appointments and publish it on the website. Better yet, give them a link to email you. Of course in addition you want your address and phone number visible. Not including all avenues for a potential client to get ahold of you could be a costly mistake.
Put an FAQ section on the website
This will not detract from your professional help. If someone has a toothache they still need to come into the office, but maybe they just need some information on managing pain until they can get in. FAQ’s are a great way to show off your knowledge and help the patient at the same time.
Make the page LOOK interesting
Have you ever stumbled across a website that just didn’t appeal to the eye and STAYED on the website? Yeah, me neither. Any good architect will tell you first and foremost aesthetics should be the #1 priority of any great design.
Your dental office needs to reflect your website
Now you might be asking yourself why I of all people am giving you advice about a website. The answer is simple. It is part of a whole cohesive package. If you have a sleek and elegantly designed website and then your patient walks into a waiting room from the 90’s you are going to have a retention problem. After you have spent so much money, time, and effort on obtaining that new patient why would you want to lose them after ONE visit?
Once you have spent some extra time and money on getting your website updated you need to take a look around the office as well. Is the pattern of the chairs in the waiting room floral? Is the paint a boring white or a boisterous maroon to match the floral chairs? Do you have wall paper up on the walls (GASP)?!?!? You can not stay relevant with your website and not with your waiting room.
If this is one you are guilty of, call me. We need to talk. I love the construction aspect of my business. To help you remodel and integrate all the most cutting edge technology (for more technology ideas go here http://www.dentaleconomics.com/articles/print/volume-103/issue-4/practice/makin-the-right-choice.html ), designing and building a new construction office for you, or talking statistics over a possible office move. But in addition to the handyman stuff, I also have my own expertise in marketing.
Nothing I told you is something that a great web designer won’t go over (except perhaps offering to remodel your waiting room), so go out there and get cracking on the brand new or redesigned website. But in the meantime let’s talk about those CHAIRS…
