Your website is one of the greatest assets of your dental business. Being able to correctly value your business assets and identifying the need for investment towards what brings revenue is Business School 101.
From the domain, to the content of the website, social media presence and online PR; there are many aspects of your online marketing efforts that have tangible value driving revenue towards yout dental business.
Learn how and why to value them more closely with some advise below.
Referring to content as ‘words’ really devalues what content is and does. Every image, font, sentence, video, or info-graphic on your website IS your practice in the eyes of the user. Opinions are formed right from the get-go and continue to form as the user looks all around the website.. and you know what they say about opinions.
When a website owner begins to ask themselves; “what does our content say about us?”.. most often the answer is not very good. This is because so often a website and its content is seen as a commodity and not an asset.
Mistakenly, a website and it’s content can be viewed as a stand alone billboard of one-way communication, a tool ‘for the practice’, and at worse a vessel to ‘keep information updated’.
A website, and all it’s content, is so much more than that.
Having quality website content is one of the greatest competitive advantages you can give your dental business.
Here’s how to do it;
Get the right people
find the best person in the practice who really understands the business and has the much needed time to work on this valuable business asset. Then find a great copywriter and SEO agency who knows dental practice websites, current search engine optimisation techniques and editorial know-how.
Get the right mindset
No shortcuts and afterthoughts. You’re content strategy across video, social, words, images etc etc should all be planned.
Ask “why”
when constructing a content strategy, if it doesn’t support a key business objective (i.e Invisalign promotion), or help the patient in any useful way, then it’s not worthy quality.
For any online only business, the domain IS the business, and huge amounts of money are paid to protecting the domains for well know online brands.
Your domain has a value in financial terms. You paid for it at some point and you renew it once in a while. If you are continually investing in the SEO of the domain/website, then it holds SEO value through rankings, reviews, etc which generates new patient enquiries. Clearly this has huge worth. Working out what it is worth can be done by evaluating the quality and number of new patients that can be attributed to having been gained from the website directly.
Your domain should be protected and provided with the highest quality service.
Online PR – Social Media and Reviews
Any practice that has embarked on social media management will understand that it takes time and a lot of effort to construct a strategy that results in patients engaging with you. But once you’ve cracked it, the results are worth it. Ensuring your online PR is monitored will secure the channels for the future.
A few bad reviews on Google that go unanswered have a massive impact on your dental business. More and more, your potential patients will be looking for reviews about your practice before they even look at your website. Ensure you’re garnering positive reviews to take advantage of this great credibility builder.
Conclusion
Just having a website and updating the fees guide once a year is no where near enough effort needed to stand out amongst the competitive crowd online. If you value – and therefore manage your website properly – the gains are huge, not only for the bottom line today, but as a business asset for the future.
Never underestimate the credibility gained from a well performing, delightful website and online presence.
with thanks http://blog.forbin.com/2015/01/28/words-case-website-content-business-asset/