More Stuff About Local Search

You Need Website Traffic!

Here is a sobering fact out promoting your dental practice online with a website: It takes work. Sorry, but the truth is that a website still requires viewers to be effective. That means you must drive traffic to it.

There are a number of ways to do this. First is with proper SEO or search engine optimization. This is the process by where not only does your website show up in organic searches by Mr. or Mrs. Prospective Patient, it shows up at the right time and for the right people. Content is king and through blogs you can create content to match your audience and keywords.

If you fancy yourself as somewhat of an author you can also promote your site through the use of articles. Not only can you post your articles on article sites for others to view your expertise, the article sites will allow you to add links to your website. Putting a list of articles on your website with links to the article site creates a two way communication system. Search engines like that and your website ranking will climb.

You can also drive traffic to your site using social media and Pay per Click advertising. These methods can all be done on a local level. Finally there is email. One simple trick very few dentists use is to place a guest book on the front desk. Ask for email addresses of current patients. Use these addresses to build a list you can email for promotions, news or highlight expertise featured on your website.

The point is that a website by itself won’t do you a lot of good. But a website with traffic driven locally and organically or with emails will make you an internet celebrity.

Posted in Local Search, Paid Search (SEM), Search Engine Optimization, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Does Your Website Get the Right Traffic?

Like a child in a candy store, all buggy-eyed with excitement, you’ve set up your website to display everything great about your dental expertise. As launch day approaches you drool with anticipation as you picture the phone ringing off the hook.

Ok, reality check. After a few weeks the phone is not ringing off the hook like you thought it would be. In checking Google Analytics you discover that a lot of people have clicked on your website but very few calls have come in. Even more disheartening is the cost of your PPC campaign. Lots of click-thru’s but your bounce rate looks like a super ball. Is that the way it’s always going to be?

Did you remember to use negative keywords? As you know, using the proper keywords in your website can help boost your rankings in local searches. You can even promote your more profitable services and drive high end patients your way. Unfortunately not using negative keywords can wreck your best efforts.

Negative keywords are simply terms that prevent your ads from showing up during certain searches. Let’s assume your practice is located in a large metropolitan area where suburbs or neighborhoods are fairly self-sufficient. People from one neighborhood do not frequent others for dental services. If the internet user searches “dentist, my city” you might show up in the listing. But because you are in the wrong neighborhood that person will never call you. In the meantime you’ve wasted a click-thru.

“Dentist” is a pretty broad term. “Your city” might be another. Narrowly define yourself for the traffic you want both in positive and negative keywords. Your website might get less traffic but it will be more targeted traffic, the kind that is more profitable.

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How to Destroy Your Practice Listing

In this series of articles we’ve been talking about web based business directories and how they can help your practice. We’ve shown you a string of things you should and shouldn’t do to boost your local ranking using these directories. Here is the absolute worst thing you can use if you have multiple locations: a single phone number.

It’s not uncommon for a dentist to have multiple locations. In the city you or your colleagues may have an office downtown and one out in the suburbs. In more rural areas dentists frequently maintain offices in two towns. Pre-internet it was not uncommon for the Yellow Pages ad or newspaper ads to list a single phone number ringing into a live person in one of the offices. But that was then, this is now!

The old Yellow Pages ads were confined to a local town or, if covering a broader area, multiple locations could easily be combined into a single advertisement. Readers knew which location was closest to their home.

But people are smarter than search engines such as Google. The algorithms search engines use are based on addresses and phone numbers to sort out who to show your ad to and which location to display. When there are multiple ads with the same phone number Google’s brain melts.

Some suggest Google has done this on purpose so that spammers can’t create multiple business listings with one phone number in an attempt to beat the competition. Whatever the reason, having multiple locations with one phone number signals a death toll to all of your listings. Use multiple phone numbers in your online business directories. They can still ring into a central location but they won’t confuse Google.

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Have You Claimed Your Spot In the World?

Here’s a quick history review: Remember the land rush in U.S. history of a few centuries ago? Settlers were encouraged to stake their claims in the broad expanse of the new American territory. In many places land was given away or sold for pennies on the dollar so that it could be developed and the U.S. could push expansion westward.

Today there is a new land rush and the valuable real estate is on the internet. There is good news and bad news in this as it applies to your dental practice. The good news is that you can list your dental practice in local searches so that new patients can find you. More good news comes from the fact that Google and other places probably have already done this for you. The bad news is that if you don’t go online to “claim” your dental listing the information will be incomplete, possibly inaccurate and your competition will crush your listing every time.

Claiming your place is nothing more than going into the listing and making sure it is accurate. Here, however, is the secret to beating your competition every time someone searches “dentist” in your area; expand your listing.

There are plenty of tools within your listing you can use to expand on the default content. This allows you to give your practice a more helpful profile and target keywords you wish to promote, such as special services you provide. The benefit to all of this is that once you do it the local search engines will rank your dental practice higher in the search pages. A higher listing means more visibility which means more traffic to your practice.

The rest becomes history!

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How To Make Your Dental Practice Disappear

Imagine you are a 007 spy. Counter-spies know you’re out there but they can’t find you. It is as though you have vanished off the face of the earth. Now snap back into reality. You’re a dentist. Letting the world find you is vital to your business. But can you be found?

If you want your practice to drop off the face of the earth don’t include an address in your web based business listing or directory. Experts all say that this is one of the most common factors in poor ranking performance during online searches. Not only can the public not find you but Google won’t even try. One webmaster went so far as to say that not using an address in your online directory is like buying an iPod and never turning it on.

Another way many dental listings inadvertently hide can be with the street name itself or how it is entered. Using “Rd” for “Road” or “Hwy” for “Highway” confuses the search engines. Leaving out the North, South, East or West as a leading tag on a street name can also destroy your ads effectiveness. Finally, if the street or road you are located on goes by several names you might have a problem. If “Johnson Road” turns into “Decker Street” and then back again your address may show up in one location during one search and in another to someone else.

To correct this, first make sure you enter your street address as completely as possible spelling out everything. Secondly, test your listing. Look online for yourself. Does your practice show up where it’s supposed to be? If not, go back and change your listing and try again.

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Where Is Your Practice?

Quickly, where is your practice? Did you think of a suburb, a city, or something more broad like a township? Hopefully you were immediately able to give a definite description which matches where most of your patients are coming from. Now think about your web based business directory. Does the location listed there match where you are drawing your patients from?

Put yourself in the shoes and actual location of someone searching on the web for “dentist”. When they search locally they will be entering “dentist, city name”. Do you want them to see your listing? That may seem like a stupid question but it’s really not. Obviously if they are in Des Moines and you are in Kalamazoo you don’t care if they see your listing. If you are on the outskirts of Des Moines in a suburb with another name you may very well want a person who enters the keyword “Des Moines” to see your listing.

This is one area in a local business listing where you can target your audience. Where do most of your patients come from? Is it the suburb you are on the border of or is it from the city? Narrow your local listing to where you actually are or, if on the border, where you want to be associated with. In a local search your directory will show under the local name you have entered. Doing something cute, like NYC for New York City, should never be done. Use the full and proper name. If you do the search engines will display your listing when your ideal, prospective patient is looking for you.

In the next issue we’ll talk about one of the worst things for SEO many inadvertently do which destroys their business listing effectiveness.

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Episode 045: The One that Explains Why 30% of Dentists Get 70% of the Patients

Episode 045: The One that Explains Why 30% of Dentists Get 70% of the PatientsPlay Now

Why 30% of Dentists Get 70% of the Patients

Episode 045: The One that Explains Why 30% of Dentists Get 70% of the Patients [ 13:11 | 254.06 MB ] Download (107)
Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Content Writing, Dental Advertising Lure, Local Search, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Video on the Web, Video Podcasts, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Business Listings: Do You Have a Problem?

Are you using a web-based business directory for your practice? You should be, but if you are having trouble getting your practice seen on the web it could be the result of a problem you just don’t realize is a problem; multiple offices which share the same location.

This happens when a dentist is located in a professional building or office complex with many professionals using the same address. As you know there is a field where you simply enter your address into your listing generator. Easy enough, one would think, except when there are multiple professionals using the same address. In that case search engines don’t know which business to display.

Multiple offices at the same address create a very real problem with your listing directory. Search engines cannot sort you out from your next door neighbor. You all have the same address so search engines assume you are the same business. The result will be that either multiple listings will become merged or internet users will get an error message from the search engine saying “address not supported”. SEO experts have seen everything from information swapped between listings to accounts deactivated.

The fix is simple. Include a suite number in your address. Make your address stand out with something like, “123 This Street, Suite 4”. Also, take the extra time to dig deep into the free tools included in your listing generator and fill them up. Extra content keeps you separated from your neighbor.

Assume the search engine is much like a patient standing in front of your office building. Don’t make either one ask, “Which way do I go?”

Next week: Where does your practice live?

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A Simple Step to Improve Your Web Performance

So you’ve established your practice’s presence on the web in the localized business directories. You may be listed in one or many of the places you should be; Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local or others. But did you know there is a way to drill down to even deeper and more profitable clicks when people search for you?

Even the SEO experts are having a harder time getting local businesses, such as dental practices, ranked. Listing your practice’s name, location and phone number is no longer adequate. One of the best things you can do to improve your web presence is to make sure that your practice is listed in the proper category in your directory. Many business listings automatically assign these and they may not be correct. When a potential new patient is searching for you on the internet many business directories use the default category to display listings. If you are not properly assigned your listing won’t be seen.

While you are making sure you are listed in the appropriate category, take the time to add several customized categories. The assigned category is good for a generalized search, but customized categories are good for additional keywords which help you promote specialized services such as “mini-implants”, “sedation” or “dentures”.

Set yourself apart using multiple categories. If there are a lot of listings for “dentists” in your area chances are the business listing will be alphabetical. If you combine the general list category with customized ones you’ll rank higher in sub-categories. The advantage to doing this is that many competitors aren’t aware of this fact.

Next week we take a look at one of the worst mistakes many dentists make when trying to rank their web presence.

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Episode 039: The One About the Maturity of Your Patients Searching

Episode 039: The One About the Maturity of Your Patients SearchingPlay Now

The Maturity of Your Patients Searching

Wanted to talk today about the maturity of your patient searches. I was actually flipping through dental town earlier and saw that there was a doctor asking about the differences between short tail and long tail keywords and he really didn’t want to worry about the long tail keywords right now he just wanted to know more about what people are searching for in terms of short tail keywords and the problem with that is is that people searching for short tail keywords aren’t the kind of people you want to attract. People searching for short tail keywords are immature searches and you have to look at the progression of how people search and how their search evolves as they educate themselves and as they acquire more information about what it is they actually want. What you see is at first you might see somebody searching for “dentist Indiana,” “cosmetic dentist Indiana,” then they’re going to go back, they’re going to look at that first page of search results and they’re either going to find somebody they like and that’s the end of their search, more than likely they’re not going to find somebody they’re looking for with that simple of a search. They’re going to go back and look at “cosmetic dentists in southern Indiana,” or “cosmetic dentist in New Albany, Indiana.” They’re going to look through those search results and they’re going to revise it a little bit more, “cosmetic porcelain veneers in New Albany, Indiana,” and now you’re getting into the nitty gritty of what somebody is going to be searching for, that they’re actually going to be ready to click on and I talked a little bit about this in Episode 32: “the keywords that actually generate phone calls for you,” and those are actually the long tail keywords, those are the things that you want to identify, you want to optimize your site for, that’s what somebody that is searching that is actually looking at what you have to offer and they’re going to pick up the phone and call you. When you go after the short tail keywords when I say they’re immature searches that’s not a dig at the person it’s that they haven’t gone through that process of maturity to know what they even want and that’s what the searching process does. Statistically, 80/90% of your people searching are not going to click to page two, they’re going to go back to the top and they’re going to revise their search. Think about when you search yourself, I know that when I search I do a couple searches and I go back to the top and I revise it and go back down and keep looking at results and tweaking my search. Find out what the long tails are, find out what people are actually searching for when they’re ready to call your office. You can do that through a number of ways: phone call tracking, you can do something as simple as asking people what they searched for when they call you which you can be very effective. Asking somebody on the other side of the country or your buddy you went to school with might be a good starting point as well for your long tailed searches. I’m sure they’d be glad to give you the information as long as they’re not competing with you. The thing to realize there is you’re going to see different keywords in every geographic area and in every town that you’re in. You know, up in New York they use different words than they do down in Texas, than they do in California so it’s going to vary geographic area to area, dentist to dentist, everybody has a different approach a different type of patient that they want to attract. So keep that in mind when you’re trying to optimize your website, trying to use keywords that it’s not that you don’t want the short tail keywords but the short tail keywords are not going to generate as many phone calls for you as the long tails do. If it was just easy as picking cosmetic dentist out of a hat every dentist would be doing that.

Episode 039: The One About the Maturity of Your Patients Searching [video] [ 5:14 | 57.51 MB ] Download (73)
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Episode 031: The One About Dominating Google to Crush Your Competition

Episode 031: The One About Dominating Google to Crush Your Competition Play Now

Dominating Google to Crush Your Competition

Yesterday, I made my podcast about dominating Google to protect your eggs. In other words, how to spread the money you’re spending on your own line marketing around to protect yourself against the whims of Google from changes in algorithms to changes in the search result pages and today I’m going to talk about that same philosophy but from a different perspective. Dominating Google to eliminate your competition to get more patients. Essentially, when you’re dominating Google you’re taking multiple listings on the first page. When you’ve got a peg listing on the top, organic ranking, a local places page, maybe an adwords express listing over on the side, videos, press releases down below, your facebook page, you’ve got 4, 5, 6, 8, we’ve seen 10 listings on the front page of Google, not only are you protecting yourselves against any changes Google might make like I talked about yesterday but you’re also eliminating potential properties that your competition can occupy. If you’re taking five spots on the first page, that’s five spots that your competition is not in which pushes them to the second page. Statistically, 80% of your searches are not going to click to that second page, they’re going to revise their search term in the top and search again or take action on one of the search results that’s already in front of them. So, it’s really an anit-competitive measure, of course, when you have five results on the first page if you want to talk about branding or just simply being seen a lot more often. Having five listings on the first page you’ve got 500% more chances than if you had one listing on the first page for that patient to see you for them to click into your website and the other important thing to realize is that patients all people are looking for different things. We see about 60% of clicks coming in through the organic side, your local places, your videos, organic listings, press release, whatever, we about 40% of all clicks coming out of google on the paid side so if you only have one listing on Google, you’re missing close to have, at least half of all the potential patients that you could be pulling in. Take a look at where you’re ranking at, make sure you understand the different search engines that Google offers. There’s a lot of different opportunities out there. If you got any questions, I’m glad to do a quick little demo on the different search engines Google offers, where you can possibly be found as well as a demographic report on your market area to show you what kind of potential exists.

Episode 031: The One About Dominating Google to Crush Your Competition [video] [ 3:26 | 57.93 MB ] Download (72)
Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Paid Search (SEM), Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video Podcasts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Episode 030: The One About Dominating Google to Protect Your Eggs

Episode 030: The One About Dominating Google to Protect Your EggsPlay Now

Dominating Google to Protect Your Eggs

I wanted to talk a little today about insulating yourself against the whims of Google. Protecting yourself from the big gorilla in the room that we know is Google. We see a lot of marketing companies out there that only advocate doing organic search engine optimization and there’s a lot of dental marketing companies that only push SEO and they only say do content and on page SEO and there’s all these companies that advocate all these positions of marketing on the internet and I’m sure some of them do that job really well, the very specific task that they’re advocating. The problem with a single mode of online marketing is that a big change such as what we saw last year in April, May with Google they rolled out their panda and penguin updates such as what we saw in 2010 when they really started ramping up their local marketing stuff such what we saw in late 2010 when dozens and dozens over a period of 6 months we saw the number of dentists marketing on adwords in 60 to 70% of the markets here in the United States double or triple in a very short period of time. When you only have a single presence on Google you are open to the whims of not only Google changing but advertising conditions changing in your market. Let’s go back to the days of yellow pages when yellow pages was the only marketing that most dentist did and when the yellow pages started to go down hill it was kind of the frog in the pot, if you crank up the heat slowly the frog will never jump out well a lot of guys that were doing yellow pages did it very successfully for years, if they had seen overnight the changes that took place over a period of two years they would have jumped out really quick out of the yellow pages but it was a slow downhill decline and by the time they made the change they were literally flushing the money down the toilet. The point I’m making is don’t put all your eggs in one basket, don’t only go after SEO, don’t only go after local search, don’t only put your money in adwords, get your videos up there on the first page, get your local places up and on the first page. Google is now looking at social metrics, your facebook, your google plus, your social media profiles as a sign of authority. In other words, Google’s position is most of the scammers and spammers that try to fake google out to get on the first page don’t have social media profiles. While we don’t advocate social media as a means to find you new patients, you’re simply not going to get new patients off facebook, it is still necessary to get that great Google ranking to have social media and have many other tactics in place. Make sure you’re doing a holistic type marketing campaign where you have presence in all the different search engines you have your eggs spread out into many different baskets.

Episode 030: The One About Dominating Google to Protect Your Eggs [video] [ 3:50 | 64.58 MB ] Download (69)
Posted in Local Search, Mobile Search, Paid Search (SEM), Search Engine Optimization, Video on the Web, Video Podcasts, Web Site Design | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Attracting The Patients YOU Want – An interview with Dr. Woody Oakes

Attracting the new patients that YOU want may sound difficult or like a gimmick. However, it is been our approach at SmartBox Web Marketing (SWM) for the last 12 years.

Patients don’t want to feel like they are being sold something, whether it is when they are reading your website, interacting with your staff on the phone, or simply the way you talk to them. If when you are interacting with them, you convince them that you are more interested in doing a great job and creating “value” for them, then you’ll earn them as a new patient.

We help our clients create an image of “value” which attracts the prospects looking for a dentist like that. When you have a persona of value and high level service, you attract those kinds of people. That’s what we call the “mirror effect”. The testimonials on your website should be those same types of people….ones who talk about the great value you provided. Then you will attract more of the same types of people.

Is your web marketing generating real phone calls, or just lots of hits and clicks? People looking for a deal? Are those phone calls solid prospects you want? That’s where SWM (SmartBox Web Marketing) comes in. For 12 years SWM has helped dentists reach out and attract the types of new patients THEY want.

“Anyone can build a website. There are tons of providers out there selling websites and products”, Receveur says.

What we do is create an image and teach our clients how to attract the prospects THEY want using our “mirror effect” and creating value for them so they feel like our dentist client is the only one they should go to”.

SmartBox Web Marketing puts as much passion into the technical side of what they do as they do into the “value building” and image building. Dr. Woody Oakes caught up with SWM founder & CEO Colin Receveur to learn more about how they can add new patients to any dental practice. SWM has many systems, ranging web marketing, social media, automated follow-up, on-site and green screen video production, and their new patient tracking system, Zetetics, designed exclusively for dentists from the ground up.

Their proprietary phone tracking system, automated follow-up systems and “relationship-building video” puts them head and shoulders above their competition.

Visit www.SWMresults.com for case studies from practices that they have helped, then judge for yourself.

Woody: Colin, can you tell our readers what’s new at SWM since we first met?

Receveur: Things have changed a lot. And that’s an understatement. In 1997 or 2000, most dentists didn’t even have a website. Those marketing online were ahead of the curve and taking the lion’s share of new patients. In today’s world, nearly every dentists has a website, many having 2, 4, or even 10 websites for their practice. If you want to grab the lion’s share of new patients in your area today, simply having a website won’t do it—it’s practically the norm.
Our marketing systems are setting records for and new patients generated here in the US and abroad. On average, our clients are seeing a 40% increase in phone calls and new patients with many seeing as high as 125%-150%.

We have continued to grow and expand and meet the needs of our clients. We’ve added six new marketing systems in addition to our original web design services. We’ve assembled complete marketing packages intended to take your practice “from zero to hero”.

Maintaining customer service and improving the value for our clients has always been in the forefront of our minds. As we’ve grown, we’ve also become more intentional about giving back, which is why in January we launched our “No Smart Dentist Left Behind” Scholarship Program for to help recent grads and new offices get the marketing systems and advice they need to succeed. Visit our website www.NoSmartDentistLeftBehind.com to learn more.

Woody: How do your systems help dentists?

Receveur: For years, the majority of our business was simply designing websites. The technology simply didn’t exist yet to do what we can do today with automation, video, and our proprietary phone tracking systems. Before this technology explosion, a dentist would have to invest huge amounts of man-hours to accomplish what we can now with simple computer software programs. We can very accurately figure ROI for a marketing campaign, stay in front of patients who don’t buy (until they do), and track where we are getting the best results with our marketing efforts.
The last few years have been truly remarkable.

In the old days we would bring on a new dentist, build their website and marketing campaign, and they would see a big spike in web traffic as well as new patients. But we couldn’t draw a line between them. The technology just didn’t exist yet. Now we have our Zetetics Phone Tracking System, which we’ve built specifically for dentists to show them exactly how many new patients ANY marketing they are doing is generating.

As I hinted at before, we currently offer six additional systems to improve all areas of your practice’s marketing. By using tested and proven methods and then meticulously tracking absolutely everything from clicks, to calls, to new patients, the results our clients have achieved has gone through the roof.

Up until a few years ago, we only did on-site video production which, as you can imagine, can be expensive to get a 3-man crew plus equipment across the country and into a dentist’s office. Now with our new video studio, our clients can come to us. We’re located just minutes from the Louisville International Airport and have a complimentary concierge service to make your travel to us “brainless” [laughs]. Many dentists are able to fly into the studio in the morning, film 50 to 100 videos, and be back home in time for dinner.

Woody: Colin, tell us how you are different than many of the other “website” providers out there?

Receveur: There’s lots of options and other companies out there. Some only do certain portions and not everything, some just offer advice and make you do the shoveling. We don’t sell shovels, we do the shoveling for you. We’re not in the business of helping our dentists produce incrementally better. We want killer results for our clients. We want to constantly be setting new goals, bigger goals than they’ve ever gotten in the past. Many of our dentists prefer we handle everything for them. They want to be very involved in the development of their message and marketing.

We’re not afraid to tell a client “we can take your money, but we don’t think that will work.” Sometimes it’s painful, but we’re obsessed with the results and your bottom line. Our concept of “focusing on the value” permeates everything we do. We have seen this concept produce results when applied to every aspect of our business.

We have found that “focusing on the value and forgetting about the money” has miraculously transformed the way we do business. The money seems to just take care of itself…and come in more than ever before.

The reality is some dentists have plateaued or need to grow but don’t know how to get it done, or worse, have tried other marketing firms with little to no success. We’re a full service dental marketing firm. We believe and can show that our concepts are working for our clients. We are not just another marketing firm. Do patients want just another dentist?

Woody: What can we expect to see from SmartBox Web Marketing in the future?

Receveur: It’s been around 15 years or so, but just in the last 5 have we seen it revolutionize the way patients find the answers and care they need through Wikipedia, WebMD, YouTube, and Google. Our intention is to double in size in the next 18 months and grow 5-fold in the next 3-4 years. We will continue to add services and products based upon what we’re learning from our dentists and what solutions they need to succeed. Right now, believe it or not, the internet is in its infancy.

Woody: How can a doctor learn about how you can help them?

Receveur: We encourage every dentist to get our Dental Website Audit and evaluate their online marketing and its’ effectiveness. My audit isn’t a sales pitch for our services. It’s a true blueprint to help you you decide if your website is what you really want.

It is available totally free on our website—you don’t even have to enter your email—at www.AttractTheNewPatientsYOUWant.com. There, as a special bonus for all of Woody’s group, you can also get a printed hard copy mailed to your door with 2 bonus DVD’s. The DVD’s are packed full of all of our best material. The systems and strategies discussed on them are the latest strategies have taken dentists to new heights. We’re talking about marketing methods that consistently generate 100-200 phone calls and new patients every month. No dentist will want to miss out on this.

Also, for more information, doctors can call us at 888-741-1413 or go to www.AttractTheNewPatientsYOUWant.com to learn more about what kind of results we can create for you.

Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Behavioral Marketing, Client Testimonials, Company Announcements, Dental Advertising Lure, Drip Marketing, Google Apps for Business, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video Critiques, Video on the Web, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged | Leave a comment

“Being Everywhere On The Internet” with Colin Receveur & Dr. James McAnally

Colin is our secret weapon that we deploy for our best members practices all over the country.

He owns a slew of certifications with Google, Microsoft, Cisco; they all come with lots of little important letters after them. More important than those letters is his intimate knowledge of what we’re up to as dentists and his ability to tie all of the pieces together on the web.

The fact that he gets it is why he’s rapidly become known as a ‘Google god’ for dental professionals.

He has online technologies allowing us to leverage our time, effort, money and energy to be in more places at once than we’ve previously ever imagined in front of our patients, our prospective patients and to stay ahead of competitors.

<== Click play to listen!



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Being Everywhere On The Internet with Colin Receveur and Dr. James McAnally [ 52:58 | 48.5 MB ] Download (396)
Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Behavioral Marketing, Client Testimonials, Company Announcements, Dental Advertising Lure, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Personal, Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video Critiques, Video on the Web, Video Podcasts, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“How To Crush The Competiton With Your Web Marketing” – Interview with Dr. Woody Oakes and Colin Receveur

If your dental website isn’t driving a MINIMUM of 100 phone calls a month to your front desk, you are getting “Crushed.”

Colin has been hailed as the “Google God” for his ability to build websites that actually work (and work insanely well!!) by Dr. James McAnally & Dr. Mike Abernathy.

He currently is helping hundreds of dentists to “Crush It” online.

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How To Crush The Competiton With Your Web Marketing with Dr. Woody Oakes and Colin Receveur [ 38:15 | 35.01 MB ] Download (348)
Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Behavioral Marketing, Client Testimonials, Company Announcements, Dental Advertising Lure, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video Critiques, Video on the Web, Video Podcasts, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

“How To Win The Marketing Game” – An Interview with Jonathan Moffat & Max Gotcher

Special guest Colin Receveur from SmartBox Web Marketing talks about how to unlock the mysteries of online marketing. Why are some Dr.’s offices having succes, while most others are struggling.

Has someone promised to get you on the first page of Google search and not delivered?

Take 50 mins and listen to what Colin has to say before spending another dime on marketing that is not getting you results.

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How To Win The Marketing Game - An Interview with Jonathan Moffat and Max Gotcher [ 54:22 | 12.44 MB ] Download (446)
Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Behavioral Marketing, Company Announcements, Dental Advertising Lure, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video Critiques, Video on the Web, Video Podcasts, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Anatomy of a Perfect Dental Website

Want to learn more? Download our Free Dental Website Audit.

Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video on the Web, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Memorial Day 2012: Alaskan Killer Whales & Fishing Lures

What does Colin do in his free time? Spending time with his wife (who’s expecting in December), cookouts with the family, spending time outdoors… On Memorial Day that meant grilling some short ribs and Amanda’s twice baked potatoes… and last summer, that meant a fishing journey to Alaska. Here’s his story of a lifetime.

How close have you been to a Killer Whale?

No, I’m not talking about at the zoo looking through twelve inches of bullet-proof glass… I mean in the wild WILD outdoors? Yeah the postcard pictures and YouTube videos look pretty cool, but imagine this:

You’re on a small twenty-eight foot boat floating in the middle of the ocean, and without warning a pod of killer whales breach the surface so close to you that the entire boat gets soaked with freezing forty-six degree water. Before you can even think about your camera, the seas are calm the whales are gone and the only reminder you have of it all is the bad taste of saltwater left in your mouth.

My (almost) state record catch

I’ve loved fishing all my life, and growing up in a big fishing family and with a three acre pond certainly nurtured that passion. But going to Alaska I quickly realized that the lures and techniques I used to catch Large Mouth Bass, Redear Sunfish (I have one on my wall ten ounces shy of Indiana state record), and Catfish back home just wasn’t cutting it for catching those big Salmon in the Alaskan Wilderness.

That’s why they call it “fishing” — not “catching”

After a forty-five minute fastboat ride from our camp in Angoon (a tiny fishing village) across the Inside Passage, we disembarked into canoes to continue our journey up the streams into shallower water. Along the way we stopped in a few pools to try our luck, but after three dozen casts the only thing I had caught were a pair of Dolly Varden’s weighing in at under a pound each.

Colin with his 17lb Chum SalmonWas it my technique? Was I reeling too fast?

Maybe I needed to have my brother spit on my lure, because he was certainly catching the big Salmon!! So the next time he reeled in I stole a look at the lure he was using: a big yellow fly with a big treble hook. I was using a red fly with a reflective spinner and a little single hook.

Without admitting he had chosen a better lure, I quickly switched mine out. First cast out Bingo! Salmon on!

With just one simple change I went from catching ‘bait fish’ to a 17lb Chum Salmon.

What kind of patients are you catching with your “advertising lure”? Are they the ones YOU really want? Or are they the ones that just “keep you busy”? Are you reeling in those big Invisalign, Botox, Sleep Apnea, Cosmetic, and Implant cases… or are you happy just drilling and filling all day long?

The difference between true success (helping the patients YOU most want to help and having time to spend with your family and do the things YOU love doing) and “running the treadmill” could be as simple as just changing the lure that you are marketing with.

Your marketing is a mirror reflection of the type of patient you will attract. If you want to catch the larger cases and patients with money to spend, your marketing message must be targeted to the mindset of those patients (Hint: “Free whitening and x-rays” isn’t going to do it…).

Your patients are exposed to 5000+ marketing messages EVERY DAY.

The reality is your “advertising lure” in today’s world has to be “killer.” The days past of just “hanging out your shingle” and hordes of patients flock to your office are far gone. If you want to stand out in your patient’s minds and earn their business, your message must be strong and persistent. This flowchart shows the marketing systems we’ve put into place with one of our Premium Package clients (we blacked out his Zetetics™ phone tracking numbers to protect their integrity).

Dentist X Marketing Flow ChartThis flowchart shows the marketing systems we’ve put into place with one of our Premium Package clients (we blacked out his Zetetics™ phone tracking numbers to protect their integrity).

The general dentist we developed this marketing system for has taken specialty training in Implants, IV Sedation & Sleep Apnea and is currently marketing his dental practice very successfully using a mixture of advertising mediums, including newspaper ads, directmail, newsletters, his 110pg “No More Living with Teeth in Your Pocket” dental implant book, webinars, automated follow-up systems, free reports, pre-qualification packets, and multiple websites.

The “advertising lure” that he’s using to attract the types of patients and cases that he wants (all things our Premium Package helped him to accomplish…) allows him to “touch” his prospects six to eight times before they ever pick up the phone to call his office.

The “big fish” are chomping on his bait. What kind of fish are you catching?

When your patients see you in multiple mediums and your message is consistent and compelling, you will take the lion’s share of new patients. Why? Because persistence always pays off. Seen once, they probably won’t even remember your name. Seen thrice, they will know who you are. Seen a dozen times, you are now their “expert.”

Your prospective patients are searching the web right now for answers to their problems. If you answer their questions, humanize yourself through killer video and web marketing, and position yourself as their expert solution, you will be their hero, and they will call you.

So which lure will catch the right patients — the red or yellow one?

Just like in fishing, what works for one dentist in one area might not catch the right fish for another dentist in another area. This is why meticulous tracking is paramount to success in all marketing.

We provide our world-class Zetetics™ call tracking system complimentary for every one of our clients – a system we built from the ground up specifically for dentists to allow them to SIMPLY and QUICKLY track all their leads from phone calls to consults to cases to exact dollars generated from any advertising campaign.

Once you know exactly what’s working (and what’s not) with your dental marketing, it’s very easy to RAMP up your RESULTS and make your marketing produce killer results for you.

What’s the next step?

Give the online dental marketing experts at SmartBox Web Marketing a call today at 888-741-1413 for help. We offer full-service online marketing solutions for dentists. We would be happy to help you with website design, search engine optimization, phone call tracking, video production, mobile & iPad friendly websites, and more. Let us help you present your dental practice at its very best!

What are you thinking? Leave us a comment below!!

Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Company Announcements, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Personal, Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video on the Web, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How many C’s does your website generate?

Successful dental web marketing isn’t a fluke. It’s the result of meticulous planning and a sound marketing strategy.

There are four hurdles you must jump through to get new patients:

1. You must be seen by the right patients (visibility)
2. You must give them the information they seek (pre-qualification)
3. You must follow-up with them until they are ready to buy (automatically)
4. You must track everything so you know what works and what’s wasting your money (phone tracking)

When your web marketing strategy does this, you will get rewarded with the Four C’s:

1. Calls to your front desk
2. Consults scheduled
3. Cases accepted
4. Cash back in your pocket

We develop online strategies that attract the types of patients YOU want.

Most marketing firms can not give you an exact ROI for your advertising campaigns. With our proprietary Zetetics™ Phone Tracking technology, we can tell you EXACTLY what works and what doesn’t work, tracking your results down to the penny.

And with our Zetetics™ Automation you can keep in touch with your patients by email, txt, and postcards for 2 years after they visit your website, call your office, or come in for a consult.

So, when they decide to buy you are at the “Top of Their Mind”… the first person they think of.

Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video on the Web, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

She Chose Her Dentist In Her Underwear

Did you know that no one really cares about what you (or your staff) has to say?

…unless you give them some piece of information that they feel truly applies to helping them solve their question or concern.

Effective marketing has less to do with what you as a dentist wants to say and more to do with conveying the proper message that directly applies to the problem your patient is looking for the answer to.

People don’t care about your practice, credentials, or history, they want to see how they can solve a concern they are dealing with. If you position yourself as the solution, they will see you as a dentist that truly provides value to them.

In the past four years we have seen the single largest growth of information availability in the documented history of our world.

No longer is just putting an advert up enough. Patients don’t want to just “find a dentist” – they want to find “the best dentist for them.” Your patients now have the ability to get to know you, get tons of information, read what other patients think about you, get a first impression of your staff and office — all in their underwear and without ever leaving their home.

Wikipedia, WebMD, Facebook… all these information-superhighways allow your patients to find any and all the information they want. We all have developed D-ADHD (Digital Attention Deficit Disorder)… we all want the answers to our questions RIGHT NOW.

If your website just talks about YOU and about YOUR services, YOU’RE losing new patients.

Your patients are searching for the answers to their problems. Your website should address THEIR problems and solve THEIR needs. It should educate them on what is available because educated prospects are better consumers of the dentistry you offer.

And I don’t mean clinically educate… those clinical videos and pamphlets will only scare them away! (When you go to the mechanic do you want to know how they fix your brakes, or do you just want to know that your car will stop safely?)

When you answer their questions, you will win them over.

So how do you answer their questions? Simple.

  • If you design your website from the perspective of what your patients want…
  • If you produce good quality educational videos that show your human side and teach your patients the benefits of the treatment (not the process of the treatment)…
  • If you let your patients see how happy your past patients are through video reverse testimonials…
  • If you let them meet and greet your staff before ever setting foot in your office…
  • If you offer free reports and drip marketing to constantly send them informational materials that educate them…

    • …Then you will become their hero.

    And that’s our marketing philosophy.

  • Absolutely dominate the first page of Google.
  • Leverage technology to automate your marketing to send emails, txt’s, postcards, and letters to stay in touch with your patients.
  • Scrupulously track every piece of marketing so you know exactly the calls, consults, cases, and cash it generated.
  • Record every call because even the best marketing is wasted if the phone call doesn’t close.

    • Best Dental Websites

    Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video on the Web, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

    Did Einstein Understand Dental Marketing?

    Truth be told, this isn’t Einstein’s quote.

    His actual quote from his 1962 book New Perspectives in Physics said:

    “You do not really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandmother.”

    The web marketing world is filled with lots of hype and confusion.

    One “expert” will tell you that social media is the way of the future, while another preaches that SEO is the tried and true method, while yet another says that local search is the best thing since sliced bread.

    Yet none of them can tell you which one REALLY works and which ones DON’T. So what do most dentists do?

    Confusion breeds indecision: The Analysis-Paralysis Effect.

    I’m a numbers guy. I like to know the bottom line before I make a decision. All too often though companies don’t let you compare “apples to apples” to see which provides the better value. They don’t tell you about the pitfalls of their own marketing agenda. So you end up:

    1. Trying them out only to find out it doesn’t work, or
    2. You can’t make up your mind and get stuck in analysis-paralysis mode (and do nothing).

    Neither is good for your dental practice.

    One bonus of our Swift Kick! package is the fifteen minute video critique of your entire web marketing campaign where we show you step by step exactly what you’re doing right (and what you’re not).

    So what does a successful dental web marketing campaign look like? Here’s one example:

    Best Dental Websites

    To find the new patients and cases that YOU want, you have to design your marketing campaign to not only dominate the entire first page of Google, but you also must provide killer content and information to your prospects, automatically follow-up with all your prospects for 12-24 months after initial contact, and you have to scrupulously track all your marketing so you know what is (and is not) performing.

    Einstein also once said that insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results…

    Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video on the Web, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

    Dr. Mike Milligan: “What does it take to build the best dental websites?”

    Dr. Mike Milligan - What does it take to build the best dental websites?Play Now


    Dr. Mike Milligan from Dental Mastermind Group interviews Colin on how to build the best dental websites that help highly successful dentists attract specific types of patients.

    SmartBox Web Marketing helps dentists with advanced clinical training to attract the patients THEY want, to automate their follow-up marketing, to create automated referral systems for existing patients, to create the best dental websites imaginable, and to track down-to-the-penny the results all of their marketing is bringing them.

    To learn more about what goes into creating the best dental websites, click here to download our new free report The Dental Website Audit (free download, no email required).

    Posted in 5 Star Patient Reviews, Company Announcements, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video on the Web, Video Productions, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Leave a comment

    Google Penguin Attacks Dental Websites

    Is your dental website overly-optimized?

    If so, take notice of Google’s latest major update: The Penguin.

    While innocent looking, watch out. If the Penguin thinks your dental website is TOO optimized, it will turn your top ranking website into sushi.

    Want to learn more? Click the button below to watch a short video…

    Posted in Local Search, Mobile Search, Search Engine Optimization, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Leave a comment

    Are You Playing Ball With Google?

    “My website, is it broke?”

    I get asked that question all the time. Dentists that do have a website believe, like many people who have websites, that all they have to do is put it up and people will find it. Not true!

    If you are the only dentist is a 100 mile radius I’m not talking to you, but if you have competition in the same local area your practice is located in, listen up!

    I will bet you the bank that your website is not being “seen” in ways that count…

    And in ways that get you more patients!

    A lot of people also ask me, “Why would Google go to the time and expense of creating 50 million mini-websites for businesses, and then give them away?”

    The answer is ‘money.’ How Google turns free Place Pages into revenue really doesn’t matter right now, so I won’t bore you with details. Suffice it say, they do… and they ARE betting the bank this works.

    Remember Google Maps?

    The little dots are those dental practices that have not taken Google up on their offer for a free Place Page. The big dots are the ones that have.

    Google spent hundreds of millions of dollars developing 50 million mini-websites.

    Which dentists do you think are going to get preferential treatment: The ones that claim and work their Place Pages, or the ones that don’t?

    You see, for Google it’s a matter of “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”, like it or not. They are going to make money off of this venture, and if you don’t play you won’t.

    Those dentists that don’t play the game aren’t even in the ballpark when it comes to a shot at getting new qualified patients.

    Posted in Local Search, Mobile Search, Web Marketing | Leave a comment

    Walmarts Checkout Line and Your Dental Website

    Any time you go through a checkout lane in WalMart or almost any store, notice the hundreds of items that are surrounding you as you wait to check out. Most will be small ticket items, a buck or two here and there.

    They certainly don’t compare to the big ticket items found in other places in the store, but they are money makers. Even though WalMart might sell a $599 snow blower in one department and a $700 flat screen in another, based on square footage, the checkout line is the most profitable real estate in the store.

    The last time I checked WalMart merchandise was selling at a rate of $5.00 per square foot on regular shelves and $28 per square foot at the checkout aisle.

    Why?

    It’s because that is where everyone is. A snow blower might be bypassed, and in reality they don’t sell that many compared to the number of gum packs in checkout isles. Everyone has to go through a relatively small space to get out, and while you are standing there, you are a captive audience. WalMart also knows the last minute decision in a checkout line is immediate and swift.

    “Mom, can I have a pack of gum?”

    How many times have you heard that and the parent, probably you included, has succumbed to the ease and immediacy of throwing a pack of gum on the conveyor belt?

    Being where people are at and allowing them to satisfy their need for “immediacy” is important!

    If someone is searching for a dentist, especially in today’s world of quick internet searches and the prevalent use of smart phones, YOU HAVE TO BE SEEN IN THE MOST VALUABLE PIECE OF ADVERTISING REAL ESTATE OR YOU WON’T GET THE BUSINESS!

    Today that means you have to be seen on the web.

    Your website displays information about your dental practice. You can emphasize your advanced clinical training and let your prospective patients spend some time getting to know you via your website and videos… but not if you aren’t there AND NOT IF YOU CAN’T BE SEEN.

    It’s a simple concept but an important one: Provide the information when and where people are looking for it, and be the best at it, or drop down to the $5 a square foot rent district.

    People act quicker today than they ever have before.

    Technology has spawned a global “checkout isle” mentality. Turning that into a lucrative, patient attracting practice dictates you be there.

    Talk to us about how you can capture the “checkout line” mentality and make it work for you and your dental practice. You will get the lion’s share of qualified patients who are searching.

    So the next time you go through the checkout line in your favorite store, remember this email.

    Posted in Local Search, Mobile Search, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Web Marketing | Leave a comment