More Stuff About Phone Tracking

Less Expensive Traffic for Your Website

If you are advertising your practice with Pay per Click on the top search engines you may want to look at alternative options. Second-tier search engines may not be as popular or generate high numbers like Google, Yahoo and Bing, but places like Ask.com and Business.com can have some advantages.

Take your best performing PPC campaign. Put it on Ask.com or another second-tier search engine and let it run. Check your Analytics and see the results. You may have just picked up some traffic you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.

You can reverse this and use second-tier search engines in preparation for larger campaigns as well. Because they are second-tier they are often less expensive places to experiment with new Pay per Click ads or new keyword groups you want to explore. Set up your new ads on the second-tier engines first and run, test and tweak them. Again, the numbers overall might not be as impressive as on Google or some of the other giants but you can look at click-thru rates, bounces and other Analytics in a less expensive but just as effective way. Then when you think you have a winning ad move it to the bigger search engines and run it again. If your ad produces the same percentages you should be getting more traffic just because of the size of scale. In the meantime you’ve saved some money.

Your goal in all of this is not necessarily to top the return of the leading search engines, but to make your ads more profitable. In the meantime you will hopefully pick up some traffic on your dental website you would not have otherwise.

Next week: Are your advertising on the right platform?

Posted in Behavioral Marketing, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Web Marketing | 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.

Posted in Local Search, Phone Tracking, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

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

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

Episode 032: The One About the Keywords that Generate Phone Calls

Episode 032: The One About the Keywords that Generate Phone CallsPlay Now

The Keywords that Generate Phone Calls

Phone Calls From Keywords
Total 33 Calls
Reporting period 2/12 thru 2/18
Client in Old Bridge, New Jersey

(not provided) 6
http:www.bestnjdentist.com 6
old bridge dental care 2
bleeding gums 1
can lipstick mess up tooth enamal 1
dental help 1
dental implants oldbridge nj 1
dentist best day 1
dentist laser gum treatment near 07036 1
dentist old bridge weisfogel 1
dentist on route18 1
dentists in somerset 1
different dental implant splinnting o fleepping 1
dr avi weisfogel 1
dr. avi weisfogel 1
dr. weissfogel dentist old brige 1
inplants in old bridge,nj 1
neighborhood health working hour 1
old bridge dental care, pa 1
same day inplants in old bridge nj 1
what age does dental implants make sense? 1
what are the cheapest dental care in nj for a priv employee innj 1

Phone Calls From Keywords
Reporting period 2/12 thru 2/18
Total 69 Calls
Client in New Albany, Indiana

(not provided) 14
new albany implants 8
newalbanyimplants.com 5
dental implants 3
new albany implants prices 2
newalbanyimplants 2
teeth in 1 day or all-on-four louisville ky 2
all on four permanent dentures cost 1
artificial tooth flipper isn loose on one side of my mouth and tight on the other side 1
best place to get all on 4 dental implants louisville ky 1
cheap mini implants 1
dental implants new albany indiana 1
dental inplants 1
dentist performing the most mini implants in 1
denture implants 1
dentures made in new albany. in for $200.00 1
does permanent dentures have warranty? 1
dr receiver dentist new albany 1
dr receiver dentist new albany in 1
dr ronald receveur new albany in 1
dr. ronald receveur 1
georgiadit.com denturesimplants 1
how much does it cost to get dentures in southern in 1
how much does sedative cost for dental implants? 1
how much does tooth implant cost in kentucky 1
http:www.newalbanyimplants.com 1
i don’t want to die from a dental problem 1
mini dental implant dentists in new albanyindiana 1
mini dental implant dentists in new clarksville indiana 1
mini dental implants cost in louisville ky 1
mini implant dentures 1
mini tooth implant in new albany in 1
newabanyinplants,com 1
newalbany implants 1
newalbany implants .com 1
permanent denture care 1
receveurcoat of 1
should i get any kind of warranty for dental job 1
southern indiana bad credit mini dental implants 1
warranty on dental implants 1

Had a crazy night last, we were in Pittsburgh for a video shoot. Airline industry is a real pain these days, the ended up canceling our flight and ended up driving back through the night last night from Pittsburgh back to Louisville to get home. Had a late night and early morning, my son had his first doctors visit this morning, his one month check-up, everything went great he’s in the 60th percentile in height and weight. Right down the middle I suppose.
I had some thoughts today about the keywords that you’re targeting. A lot of dentists go online and they search for cosmetic dentists their city , dentists their city and yeah those are important to show up to some degree but what I want to talk about a little bit and I’m going to be posting the actual keywords that I’m talking about right below this video for reference is two keyword reports of actual search queries that people searched for over the past seven days on two of our clients’ websites and the interesting thing that I’m finding here, just to give a little background information these were keywords that were searched for that directly led to a phone call being generated to this doctor’s office something we can track through our zetetic software, and something I noticed about these keywords is there’s very few searches in here that have less than three, or four, five keywords that this person searched for. I’m going to be posting these keywords here below this video, take a look at them I don’t want to spend five minutes going through every keyword and what exactly it says because the video will be mundane and boring and you’d stop watching me, so I’m going to post the list below, you can skim through it quickly and again these are keywords that generated phone calls to this doctor’s practice in the past seven days. There will be two list of keywords for two practices. Take a look, leave a comment below, I would love to hear what you think.

Posted in Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Video Podcasts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Episode 017: The One About Systems, Systems, Systems

Episode 017: The One About Systems, Systems, Systems Play Now

Systems, Systems, Systems

Good Morning. Colin Receveur here. Tuesday January 15th, 2013 and wanted to talk a little bit today about systems, systems, systems, systems, systems, systems. A lot of doctors out there and they do this with all their marketing, it’s not just limited to their website, but they only are doing one piece of the puzzle and they are not getting the results that they want and with websites since we’re exclusively a dental web marketing firm let me give you an example: we see docs that are only doing SEO. Maybe they have a website that they had company A build last year or five years ago, they hire this other firm to do SEO and they have another firm that is doing pay-per-click and they’re paying all these fees and all these different companies are doing one piece of the puzzle of what’s needed to actually get new patients. It’s not really coordinated, it’s not really put together, the pieces aren’t put together. When you do piece mail marketing you’re not putting the pieces together and you’re simply, your phone is not ringing. Having a website and successfully marketing yourself online is not about just doing SEO or just getting to the top of google or just having a website, you have to have the system that actually captures the patients, generates the lead, captures the patient, nurtures them, tracks them, and converts that into a phone call, and into an appointment, and into a paying patient. If you are missing any of the steps in there, you’ve got a big crack in your system and you’re leading your patients, they’re falling into the cracks and you’re not getting money back from your investment. So, make sure that with your marketing campaign you’ve got a complete system behind it that takes your leads from the front of google all the way through the phone call until that lead is getting handed off at your front desk and make sure that your front desk is actually converting those leads into phone calls. So, that’s my thoughts for Tuesday, January 15th. Keep moving forward.

Posted in Dental Advertising Lure, Drip Marketing, Mobile Search, Newsletters, Offline Marketing, Our Doc's VIdeos, Paid Search (SEM), Phone Tracking, Search Engine Optimization, Social Marketing, Video Podcasts | 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!



Download Transcription (PDF)

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.

<== Click play to listen!



Download Transcription (PDF)

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.

  <== Click play or use this link to visit their site directly



Click here for the transcription (PDF)



To learn more about Summit Practice Solutions click here.
To learn more about DDS Strategies click here.

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

Your Marketing Dollars – Wasted

There’s not many ways you can completely waste your marketing dollars.

This dentist thought his staff was doing a great job answering phone calls. Turns out, they were only answering about 60% of the calls that came in during business hours, and all after-hours calls went to voicemail (new patients rarely leave messages).

Using our Zetetics Phone System, we were quickly able to identify and fix this problem before it cost him tens of thousands of dollars in wasted advertising. We now automatically forward all after-hours calls to a cell phone as well.

June 2012 Dental Call LogOnly 60% of this dentist’s phone calls were being answered. Phone numbers blacked out to protect privacy.

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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

    How is this dental website functioning?

    We installed an advanced analytics software on a few of our websites last month as part of a pilot program to replace Google Analytics.

    Is this website performing well? Where is it failing?

    The heat map shows where your prospects are actually clicking. The scroll map shows where your prospects are spending the most time looking at.

    What’s your opinion? Post your comments below using Facebook.

    Click to enlarge
    Click to enlarge
    Posted in Phone Tracking, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Leave a comment

    YellowPages Death Watch

    Two weeks ago on Episode 6 of our weekly video podcast, I made a bold prediction that the Yellow Pages would be extinct within 18 months.

    [I also blogged about this last year and last month.]

    Remember what the YellowPages books looked like five.. three… even last year? Remember that big yellow full-size book that was 2 to 3 inches thick and chocked full of advertisers and listings?

    I just got this years YP in the mail today. It’s been downsized to a meek 5 x 11 and less than 1/2 inch thick… a slim reminder what dominated local business marketing for the better half of a century.

    Did the advertisers stop advertising?

    Businesses are still spending money to find customers, and consumers still need to find local providers for the services they need, so what’s changed?

    Ten years after mainstream adoption of the internet, businesses have realized that consumers are going to the web to find what they need, and they are transitioning their marketing dollars accordingly.

    Does your dental practice “Get Found” on the web?

    Confused about where and how to get started? Not sure your web marketing dollars are producing for you? Our Swift Kick! Web Marketing Package will show you everything you need to know about how to dominate your local market area…

    Posted in 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

    Einstein & Your Dental Practice’s Marketing

    Are you spending thousands on your dental web marketing and have no idea what you’re getting for it? Is your “dental marketing guru” sending you reports of “hits and clicks”? Do you know exactly how many patients your dental website found you in 2011?

    Dental marketing isn’t about “branding” or “impressions” — it’s about putting qualified patients in your chair that accept treatment. “Hits and clicks” on your website and Facebook simply do not do that.

    Your dental marketing firm should be showing you, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that your marketing is attracting qualified patients into your practice.

    We provide all our dentist clients with our industry leading phone tracking system, Zetetics™. With Zetetics™, we can track not only the phone calls all your marketing generates, but consults scheduled, cases presented, which patients move forward with case acceptance, and real dollars generated into your bank account.

    Here’s 3 of our top dentist clients and some of their results the last 30 days…


    Click to enlarge (65 calls)
    Click to enlarge (31 calls)
    Click to enlarge (98 calls)

    Albert Einstein once said “insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

    If you’re not happy with (or you have no idea what) your dental web marketing is doing for you right now, stop the insanity and call us at 888.741.1413.

    Posted in Phone Tracking, Web Marketing | Leave a comment

    Know your ROI Backwards Forwards Upwards & Downwards

    There are two critical metrics for you to calculate your ROI (return on investment).

  • First, take the dollars you spent on your marketing and divide by the number of leads you got. This is your cost per lead (CPL).

  • Second, take your dollars generated from your marketing, and divide that by your dollars spent on the marketing. This is your ROI Ratio.
  •  
    If you’re not sure what your ROI is, or you want to hone in on what advertising is really producing for your dental practice, it is critical to track your phone calls.

    If you’re still relying on your patients to remember where they saw your ad, you’re guaranteed to be wasting marketing money (our phone tracking proves they are terribly unreliable).

    We’re running a limited-time 30 day zero-risk offer to try out our phone tracking system, Zetetics™.

    To learn more click here. There is no obligation or contract, which means only positive things for your bottom line.

    Posted in Phone Tracking, Web Marketing | Leave a comment

    Do You Want Impressions & Clicks or Dollars In Your Pocket?

    Some dental marketing firms will tell you about “exposure” and “branding.” Others will talk about “hits” and “clicks.” Still some might even show you “impression” charts and complicated measurements of readership.

    Are you marketing for “branding, impressions and exposure,” or are you marketing to bring in the new patients with money to spend?

    The downside to all of these is neither tells you EXACTLY how many dollars came back into your pocket.

    Last Friday I had several monthly strategy calls with our dentist clients. We embrace phone call tracking with every piece of marketing we do, so naturally they are a hot topic for conversation during these monthly calls.

    Here are the results from two practices we’ve been working with for about 4 months. Think about it.. …
     

    Practice 1 – July 1-Sept 31, 2011
    189 Phone Calls from Website Only
    143 Calls from Newspaper Print Ads
    Practice 2 – July 22-Sept 31, 2011
    140 Phone Calls from Website Only
      
      
    Click to enlarge this image

    Click to enlarge this image
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    Click to enlarge this image



    Interested in getting a landslide of new patients into your dental practice? Send me an email at colin@smartbo

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    Posted in Company Announcements, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, 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

    How To Work More and Make Less Money

    Is this your idea of a profitable professional?

    This dentist probably doesn’t even know the slippery slope he or she is sliding down. Someone, somewhere will always be glad to beat your price, so where do you stop?

    The problem with racing to be the “cheapest” is that you just might win.

    You do the math: If the dentist in this picture has discounted their crowns in an effort to keep the door hinges from rusting shut in this new economy – even 10% – that means to make the same money as before he or she is going to have to see 10% more patients, work 10% percent longer, and will have to then account for 10% higher expenses… and that’s just to break even.

    We see this slippery slope all the time now that the economy is in its third year of stagnation. With the projected GDP to grow at only 1% during the next one to two years, and the real unemployment rate at 22+%, it’s no surprise that new money for dental services is likely to remain tight within household budgets, and dentists wishing to remain profitable must find a way to attract the patients “with cash in their pocket.”

    Remember the tale of selling ice cubes to the eskimo’s?

    We had a call from a dentist client last week who was “slow” and wanted to send out a marketing piece offering $50 off an introductory visit. Most dentists going down this path end up frustrated trying to sell dental care when all their new patients want is the “cheapest.” Our experience the past decade marketing with dentists has found time and time again that those who respond to that type of marketing will jump from dentist to dentist to get the free stuff, and will never spend any money on the restorative & cosmetic “big case” services.

    Do you discount to the point of reducing profit margins, using less costly and inferior materials, working longer hours with fewer staff, holding off investing in the latest techniques, or rushing more and more patients through your week? What about your long-term plans… how do you justify steep increases in prices and fees to just get back to normal? Do you think you can regain that ten or twenty (or more) percent and not lose patients at that time?

    The slippery slope of discounts for the sake of patient numbers has implications for a very long time. Yes dentists, like many businesses, have to do something creative to maintain or grow in this new economy. But the race to cheap is not the only and certainly not the best solution!

    There are businesses, and that includes dentists, that are thriving without discounting; up thirty percent, up 56%, up twenty-six percent: Those were some numbers I just read and were even reported on Bloomberg this past week.

    What Was Their Secret?

    In all cases they had two things in common:

    1. They avoided giving away their services; they never discounted themselves down the slippery slope
     
    2. They recognized the important role a good marketing strategy can provide, and they had the foresight to keep investing in what works


    Many businesses, not just dentists, make the mistake of cutting back their marketing and advertising budgets during slow times. That’s understandable, but it leads to making poor choices, like “discounting.”

    This also leaves the door wide open for dentists who can position themselves as offering quality services, maintaining a “steady as she goes” image, and grabbing what is available… and there is always business available for those doing exceptional work AND marketing with the right message…

    We all know it takes money to make money. So why do many dentists think that they can get away with bypassing that age old rule of Business 101 by scaling back their advertising and reducing their prices?

    As a business owner you have a choice to make: Do you discount yourself into longer work weeks and falling budgets hoping more work means more money, or do you wisely make the decision to move ahead with a strong marketing position, a strategic plan, and a unique selling proposition (USP) that can be filled with all of the necessary tools for broadcasting your message?

    What’s your niche?

    Many dentists operate in the mindset that “your patients choose you as their dentist.” So what kind of patients are going to choose you when you are competiting to be the best (lowest) price? Successful dental practices choose the patients they want.

    By only marketing to attract the types of patients & cases you want, you can stay profitable in this new dental economy without discounting and without working 12 hours a day 7 days a week.

    There are things that can be done to promote your dental practice that gets you noticed by the patients YOU want.

    Consider these Facts:

      97% of U.S. households now go online to research services in their local area (Yellow Pages is DEAD)

      90% of searchers won’t look past page 1 of the results page, according to Google

      71% of searchers will visit the websites ranked #1, #2 or #3, leaving the lower ranks to fight for the scraps

      85% of local searchers will follow up with a phone call or visit to the listing that stands out best

      A dental practice without a dominant online presence is losing patients

    Give our awesome sales guys a call to learn more at 888.741.1413 and get your marketing back on the fast track to finding the new patients that YOU want.

    The Dental Website Audit
    Tuesday, 7:59am

    Is Your Dental Website Failing?

    In today's digital age your dental website is the most important marketing advantage you can give yourself.

    It's true. Web marketing for dentists works, but there are a lot of myths and misconceptions about what it takes to attract new patients with your website and other online tools.

    Learn Why Your Dental Website Failing:

  • Learn the #1 mistake 97% of dental websites make that is killing their ability to ATTRACT new and better quality patients.

  • See why "more traffic", "more keywords", and "more ranking" will not CONVERT into more money into your bank account.  Learn more

  • Discover the Four Elements of Successful Dental Web Marketing and find out what's missing on your website.  
    Learn more

  • The Dental Website Audit will show you how to Attract The Patients YOU Want. To download now, click here.
    Posted in Phone Tracking, Video on the Web, Web Marketing | Leave a comment

    Is It Raining Where Your Customers Live?

    A friend of mine used to live in a small town at the base of a mountain. It was a beautiful sight to walk out on his back porch and see the mountains rising up out of the horizon… unless it was spring and dark rain clouds surrounded the mountain top. He explained the fear that kept locals watching the mountain in the spring: “It doesn’t matter how much rain we get down here. What matters is how much water they are getting up there. All of that water must go somewhere, and it is down to the river that flows through downtown.”

    An important marketing concept in the making

    A major mistake many business owners make, including dentists, is that we tend to compartmentalize our thinking when it comes to marketing. If we place an ad in the newspaper and results appear to be less than stellar we discount the effort and move to another tactic. If we post a video on YouTube or send out an email blast and we get few calls to our office we are tempted to chalk it up to experience and try something different. Compartmentalizing our marketing efforts and basing future decisions on the results of one campaign may seem prudent (short term) but it may be hurting our flood of calls at the bottom (long term).

    A recent study showed that despite a crash in the economy, discounts and offers are not a major focus for consumers choosing a local business or a professional practice, such as a dentist.

  • Fifty-two percent of adults under 45 visit more than two websites before picking a local business to call
  • 63% of respondents under 45 head to Google
  • 24% visit Facebook
  • 21% look at review sites
  • 17% simply choose a local business because it is the first spot on the search results
  • Only 8% said the best price is the influencing factor in choosing local business


  • So let’s look at the largest group; Google users. If you were to focus your marketing efforts on this large group alone you’d be missing 37% of the rest of the population. Also, you’d be missing out on an even larger percentage of people over 45 who may be your main target audience – the Boomers with more disposable income (cash in their pocket!). If you used Facebook as your main marketing focus you’d easily miss 76% of potential viewers and therefore patient prospects.

    We cannot compartmentalize our marketing efforts and boil it down to one solution

    We have to remain everywhere and do everything or we miss large market segments. We cannot look at what is happening in the valley, or with one marketing effort, and not expect flooding because the mountain of total marketing looms above us. The raindrops of emails, websites, Facebook, video content and newspaper ads are all drops falling on top of your community. Those consumers now look at everything in varying degrees. What flows down the mountain is a more educated audience before they flood your office with calls. To say one thing doesn’t work may be a mistake. It may be in fact the raindrop that adds to the flood of new patients.

    Local community members are savvy shoppers, even for a dental practice

    They shop, they look, they compare, and they study, as shown by those who visit at least two websites before making a decision. An email blast or newspaper ad may not cause someone to call your office directly, but it may cause someone to visit your website, compare you with a few others, see your videos and get your free reports. If that was the flow to making a call to your office it would be wrong to assume the free reports did the trick and were most effective.

    More and more attention is being placed on the flow of consumers before they make that all important call. The audience wants to shop around as shown in this study. At SWM we know this and we’ve built in tracking capabilities to everything we do for our clients. We can track the flow of buying decisions. In the above example, we have the developed the technology to know that the free reports did not make anyone call your office. Without this technology, this could be a very expensive misunderstanding.

    Posted in Local Search, Phone Tracking, Video on the Web | Leave a comment

    Getting to know your ROI

    One of the problems with traditional advertising whether it is in the newspaper, on the radio or even on the web is that very few businesses really know how well these media perform. It is hard to know whether a particular ad in a newspaper actually gave you two new patients, four, or if it brought in any at all. You can put enticements in the ads that ask people to mention something when they come into the office or bring in a “coupon code”, but most don’t and most office staff doesn’t want to appear pushy when asking for details about such things.

    This becomes very frustrating for most dentists and in the long run it can be very expensive. If you don’t know which ad works and from which medium, how do you know if your advertising dollars are doing their job? Furthermore, if you do stumble upon an ad that really pulls in patients you might inadvertently cancel it because you didn’t know its effectiveness. Not knowing your advertising effectiveness will always mean you are wasting money on poorly performing ads and you’ll never have a chance to improve things.

    Imagine that a marketing campaign with a good sales copy drew 100 clicks and 10 calls to your office

    Armed with that knowledge you now would have a “control” ad that could be slightly rewritten and tested. If during the second campaign your ad pulled 12 calls into your office you’d know you were headed in the right direction. If it only pulled 8 calls into your office you’d want to go back to the original ad and try again. Of course the goal is to constantly upgrade the conversion rate (calls to your office) and through scientific testing and rewriting always strive for a better ROI.

    With web campaigns you can usually view the number of page views, but calls to your office are what really count

    This is where the real money is. With print or radio advertising you rarely have a way to judge the effectiveness of your advertising dollars as a new patient call could come as the result of newspaper ads, radio ads, word of mouth, direct mail or anything else you might be doing at the time.

    Several years ago SmartBox Web Marketing launched Zetetics™. This is a tracking system that assigns a phone number to ads in different media you might run. The software then tracks calls on a number supplied through Zetetics™ so that you will know exactly what ad is converting at what rate. It can be used with any advertising and even your website.

    Zetetics™ is perfect for dentists when clicks on a website or views in a newspaper tell them little without corresponding calls to their office. Dentists love it because it proves beyond a shadow of a doubt whether any ad is working or not working, and it can eliminate wasteful spending on advertising. It can conversely improve their ROI as they strive to better their marketing. They also like the ability it has to monitor calls for quality assurance purposes as each call to a Zetetics™ phone number is recorded as an MP3. Dentists can listen to staff/patient interactions and reasons for a patient call at their leisure.

    We are pleased to announce that Zetetics™ phone tracking will no longer be an option but a built in feature of every web project we do. You will know exactly how your web campaign, site optimization and the work we do for you is improving your business.

    Posted in Phone Tracking, Web Marketing | Leave a comment

    Web 3.0 Books In!

    We just got the first shipment of my latest book, Web 3.0: What Every Dentist Must Know to Thrive in The New Economy.

    We ordered 100, and 37 are already spoken for from our $1 book offer.

    As my gift to help you out, you can get your copy of our bestselling book for just $1 — until we run out. After that, they go back to the regular price of $49.97 + s&h.

    Google has completely changed the game again.

    It’s simply not enough to just have a website anymore. In this book, I’ll reveal the high-level tactics we use with our best and elite clients, to keep them at the top of Google and Bing, and keep a steady stream of phone calls and new patients coming into their practice.

    Click here to grab your copy now. Don’t delay, we only have a few left for just a buck.

    Posted in Client Testimonials, Drip Marketing, Local Search, Mobile Search, Phone Tracking, Social Marketing, Video on the Web, Web Marketing, Web Site Design | Leave a comment