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How to use search engines and Google AdWords in marketing your dental practice Dr. Lynn Carlise www.spiritofcaring.com This article appeared on www.spiritofcaring.com. In a Spirit of Caring is the "The online newsletter, gathering place, virtual library, information and resource center for dentists and team members who are serious about the people part of dentistry". Go to www.spiritofcaring.com to check it out. Ad Words and their equivalents are ballyhooed as the next great things in marketing. In the near future, search engines and on-line ads like Google AdWords will replace the phone book as the primary ways that people find dentists. An extreme example: recently, I had an e-mail from a person who requested an interview posted on ISOC that I had done on an ISOC member. She wanted to check this member out as her potential dentist. (I denied her article request, but recommended the dentist to her.) Obviously, she was using a search engine to research dentists before she chose one. (I Googled this member's name and did not see a web site on his dental practice.) You need to have a practice web site and learn to be Google wise in marketing your practice. Google AdWords are a great place to start. What are they? Google AdWords are the on-line equivalent of display ads in the phone book. They are small display ads that appear next to the search engine listings.
Search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL and Ask Jeeves have been the main ways people, like the woman above, find your practice on the Internet. If patients are looking for a practice, they type in any town, dentist or other phrases when they look for a dentist. A listing comes up of dentists with web pages that use that word or phrase in their web site content. There is one huge problem with search engines – it is a voodoo art to have a high search engine ranking. Then, once you learn the secrets, the search engines change their criteria for a high listing. In early 2002, Google came up with an easier way. (Notice I didn't say easy.) It is called Google AdWords. You can create an ad for cents on the dollar that will have a prominent place on the your town, dentist web page or any word or phrase you choose - cosmetic dentist, your town, tooth whitening, your town, preventive dentist, your town. Instead of relying on a changing voodoo art, you can insure a listing on the your town, dentist or any other phrase’s web page. Andrew Goodman's research showed that for many websites, Google refers up to 75% of search traffic. Even the aggregate figures for the U.S., from leading metrics agencies, show Google’s market share to be nearly 60%, which is probably an understatement. That’s market dominance. Your Google AdWords need to be effective enough to get people to click on your web site. It is your web site that determines whether someone calls your office to make an appointment. Google AdWords are a form of external marketing that works for a Tier IV, health-centered/relationship-based dental practice because they send the person who clicks on your Google AdWords to your web site. A well done web site is a supercharged practice brochure and dental information source for current and potential patients. *Other search engines like Yahoo's and Microsoft's have AdWords equivalents. As you become more adept at using AdWords you can branch out. But, because Google is so dominate in the search market at this time, it is the best place to start. Tier IV, relationship-based dentists are reporting an increasing number of people who are finding their dental practice through search engines. Explore using Google AdWords in your practice. It will help people find you. Here’s how AdWords works:
To see how other dentists use AdWords: type in “your town dentist” in the Google search box – www.google.com Look under ‘Sponsored links” in the right panel. Look for dentists who use AdWords in your area. AdWords is in its early stages, so the guidelines are being developed. Google gives some good advice on creating AdWords. Currently few dentists use AdWords so it is a good time to start. If many dentists advertise on Google the bid price for the ad increases. A Checklist for implementing Google AdWords:
Remember the three most important words in marketing are test, test, and test. By using this intriguing way of marketing, you will be a early adoptor of AdWords. As an early adopter, you will be ahead of 90% of the dentists in using this new marketing tool.
If you are already using Google AdWords please go to the discussion forum to share your successes (and failures) in using this medium. Discussion Forum
If you want to do in-depth research on how search engines and Google were created, their successes and travails, read The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture: Books: John Battelle One review had this to say about Battelle's The Search: "The Search is not exactly the corporate history of Google. At the book's outset, Battelle specifically indicates his desire to understand what he calls the cultural anthropology of search, and to analyze search engines' current role as the "database of our intentions"--the repository of humanity's curiosity, exploration, and expressed desires."
Lynn D. Carlisle, DDS, FAGD practices dentistry in Fort Collins, Colorado. He has served on the Board of Directors of The Pankey Institute and has been president of The Bob Barkley Foundation. He is the author of the highly acclaimed book, In a Spirit of Caring. He is the publisher and editor of the web site In a Spirit of Caring. The web site is dedicated to helping dentists and teams with the people part of dentistry. For more information on the web site, go to www.spiritofcaring.com.
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You need to have a practice web site and learn to be Google wise in marketing your practice. Google AdWords are a great place to start.
