We live in an age of information. Google has become our confidant, our 3.00A.M medical advisor and our trusted counsellor and guide. But for business the key role these search engines play is that they generate opportunity. The internet allows us opportunity to reach out and connect with patients in ways we never thought possible. This massive online world is an unavoidable tool in terms of marketing, visibility and branding. But the World Wide Web is also a train pushing information, most of it highly irrelevant, towards our customers at an alarming rate. So, how do you make sure your information reaches the right people at the right time to help them make the right decisions and choose your practice over others? Unfortunately, the current craze around SEO and keyword insertion, means businesses are more focused on content and less on value. And this is where they make the biggest mistake. Hence, this week, we decode the secret to great content that will make the search engines happy and your patients happier. Here is everything you need to know.
Content Tip 1: Why is Content Important?
What do you do when you are looking for a good place to buy Lebanese food in your suburb? Or to book tickets? Or to look for accommodation out of town? You ask the ultimate resource of information – the internet. And while, the internet, or more specifically the search engines, may not have personally experienced the products and services that it recommends on its SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) it has sieved the information through complex algorithms to ensure the data is accurate and helpful. As a practice owner, having value-adding content ensures that any internet user searching for a dentist in your area is directed to your doorstep. And that is exactly how and why content has become king in this Digital Age.
Content Tip 2: You Need to Get Some Help
Did you open a clinic and hang a sign on the door and wait for patients to pour in? No you didn’t right! You had professional help – real estate agents – designers – fit out specialists. Just like not everyone can fix their teeth all on their own, you may not be good at writing targeted and consistent content in order to generate the right traffic to your website and your practice. The fact is, a professional from any business will provide technical information, which may be valuable, but it will not be interesting to read, hence, pretty ineffective in generating the right outcomes. A professional content writer will be able to share all the technical aspects of your business in an interesting and engaging way, that will deliver your business’s voice without losing its integrity and uniqueness.
Content Tip 3: Share Stories that Connect
But for how long can you really talk about dental procedures in your content.? The internet is brimming with information on all dental procedures, technological advances in the industry and all the oral health precautions and care one needs to read. What you need instead is YOUR story out there. Why do you do what you do? What brought you to where you are today? Your story is unique and nobody can take that away from you. To create engaging and valuable content, you need to open up a little and let your potential patients – visitors to your website – take a sneak peak into what makes your practice so special. Share stories about the experiences your patients have with you and your team. These stories could be as simple as a case study of a little kid who refused to sit in the chair. There are so many unique, day to day stories that could be turned into engaging and value adding content.
Content Tip 4: Generate different Types of Content
There are different types of content for different types of needs and target audiences. For instance, you will need to be straight forward and to the point when writing your mission statements or procedures or booking details. However, you will need a very relaxed and conversational tone when writing newsletters and blogs. You will also need to seek assistance from an SEO expert to target the right keywords in order to generate the right traffic and to ‘fix up your content’ in order to please the search engine algorithms.
Content Tip 5: Structure of a Good Blog
Nobody wants to read a 1000 word document with no end in sight. Quality content relies as much on words as it does on visuals. Ideally, break the blog into different sections, add a lot of subheadings to make it easier to read. Not everyone would like to read an entire blog, subheadings make it easier to understand and make the content more visually appealing.
Content Tip 6: Bring Personality to Your Content
When it comes to personalising content, it really can get difficult to understand how much is too much. In a nutshell, any and every information about yourself or your business that can add value to the relationship you are building your potential patient is the right information. So while your potential patient doesn’t know who used to fix your teeth as a kid, they would be interested in knowing how that person inspired you to pursue a career in dentistry. Any transaction and relationship is based on trust. By opening up about yourself you allow patients to identify with you, and form a bond of trust with you.
Content Tip 7: Have a Plan
You know why content is important, but you need to know why you are posting content and who you want to reach with a particular piece of content. Any content without a plan is like playing tennis without a ball. You keep swinging your racket in hope that someday a ball will come and you can hit it. You need to have set targets that you wish to achieve with your content. Are you trying to introduce a new procedure or spread awareness about the importance of dental health or perhaps wanting to increase your patient base for a specific treatment. Having a plan helps generate targeted results. It also helps you to track the success of your content. You can then assess what is working and what is not. This will help refine your content and when and where you post it. As you refine your content the impact it will have in connecting with patients will grow. And your content will become a crucial patient funnel for your practice.
P.S. Whenever you’re ready …. here are 4 ways I can help you grow your dental practice:
1. Grab a free chapter from my book “Retention – How to Plug the #1 Profit Leak in Your Dental Practice”
The book is the definitive guide to patient retention and how to use internal marketing to grow your practice – Click Here
2. Join the Savvy Dentist community and connect with dentists who are scaling their practice too
It’s our Facebook group where clever dentists learn to become commercially smart so that they have more patients, more profit and less stress. – Click Here
3. Attend a Practice Max Intensive live event
Our 2 day immersive events provide access to the latest entrepreneurial thinking and actionable strategies to drive your practice forward. You’ll leave with a game plan to take your results to the next level. If you’d like to join us, just send me a message with the word “Event and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
4. Work with me and my team privately
If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take your profit from 6 figures to 7 figures …. just send me a message with the word “Private”… tell me a little about your practice and what you would like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details! – Click here
