As a new school year starts afresh, it may be high time to send your practice’s website “back to school,” too! A modest refresh may be all that is needed to get your website up to speed. Or, a more substantive overhaul may breathe new life into your practice. Whatever you do, no website update or makeover would be complete without acknowledging the other platforms that add up to your practice’s collective presence in the digital universe.
Refresh
“To restore strength, replenish, update, and renew supply.”
Merriam-Webster
Your patients strive to put their best face forward. You help them accomplish this through dentistry. Putting your office’s best “face” forward is also essential. We all know that a little bit of fresh paint or a burst of colour amid a sea of grey can transform a space and make it more comfortable and welcoming for our patients and staff.
We must be mindful of what our online presence conveys as well. If our online image is frumpy, outdated, out of touch, and otherwise not as “fresh” as it should be, the site and related resources may be losing us money, even top talent, in a fiercely competitive hiring environment. It is estimated that nearly 90% of sales start with an online search. With so much riding on the site’s content quality, navigability, and presentation, your online “home” cannot afford to get dusty and mothballed.
An early spring clean of your website may be in order if you notice the following red flags:
Lagging conversion rates – One of the more obvious signs that your site needs attention, this rate measures the total visitor count and compares it to visitors’ actions. We strive to convert visitors from merely reading content to doing something about what they see or hear. This doesn’t always boil down to scheduling a consultation with you or an associate. After all, we are not selling widgets here. We are selling trust, credibility, and a relationship. “Converted” site users may call or email teams with questions or submit forms online. Conversion measures engagement and interactions with your broader, desired or aspirational community.
Lack of knowing indicators (like conversation rates) – If you have no idea how your site converts visitors from mere “reviewers” to engaged potential patients and practice advocates, this indicates a far bigger problem. We always say, “What does not get measured does not get managed.” Critical business intelligence involves having the data or metrics at your fingertips to know where your strategic initiatives stand. Data on progress can then inform “next steps” to improve weak areas and build upon or amplify the bright spots within your practice and its digital presence. Now, we understand that analytics can be tricky if you do not know what to measure and how to do it. Surrounding yourself with good people as an extension of your team or an advisory board can be helpful.
You cannot remember the last time you gave your website a second thought – Be intentional about reviewing, reassessing, and refining your website on an ongoing basis. Establish a schedule of set-aside conversations to go over website needs at consistent, specified intervals, for instance, monthly or quarterly. As technology evolves at breakneck speed, you can readily see how fast a site may be left in the dust. Notably, if you are not on top of your site, it may lack more than speed and responsiveness. It may be vulnerable to security breaches, costly compliance failures, and other data privacy issues that can bring your practice to the brink.
Old or outdated information – Let your exceptional expertise and cutting-edge capabilities shine. You and your team deserve that much. You are doing your practice a considerable disservice when its website and associated collateral are chockful of earlier-generation products or treatments and fail to showcase what you have to offer right now. Furthermore, if content refers to safeguards during the worst of the pandemic, you may be giving your community the wrong impression. The concept behind highlighting precautions is paramount; however, outdated references can make you seem like a dinosaur – not like your true, savvy professional self.
When assessing website performance and the quality or “freshness” of site content, consider social channels. Is there a healthy symbiotic relationship between the website and social platforms? Are you strategically cross-promoting social on your site and vice versa? Bring more quality visitors to your site with something as simple as linking in-depth services content and social media pages for those who seek additional info on specific conditions and procedures.
Additional Tips
Consider and align all content with Perspective, People, and Past. By accounting for the “Three P’s,” you can strengthen the quality of communications, making content more meaningful and valuable to the reader, listener, or viewer. “Perspective” refers to your team’s unique skill sets and expertise. “People” refers to the human element, what drives you and your team, and what plays into your practice’s overall mission and values. “Past” refers to your track record and elements such as case studies, success stories, and images that showcase patient results.
Align content with a “hero.” In the above item, we reference practice mission and values. These fundamental aspects of your office should be summed up in some way with a clear image or tagline that resonates. For further cohesion, ensure this “hero” image or statement is a thread that binds content throughout your site and digital channels.
Simplify. A measure of intelligence is the ability to simplify the complex, not the other way around! An impactful web refresh may simply involve going through the home page, services pages, and other content and assessing how these articles or items can be abbreviated while maintaining accuracy. Visitors may be “bouncing” quickly from your website due to overly technical language or trying to throw too much content at them. Know in advance what will “stick.” Keep content to a minimum. Think quality over quantity. Snappy and pithy over onerous and verbose.
Once your website is a real beauty – lean and fast, streamlined and attractive, enriching and valuable – keep it that way. Plus, routine “pruning” of your website is always far less tedious and resource-intensive than uprooting the whole thing and cultivating afresh.
About the Author
Naren Arulrajah, President and CEO of Ekwa Marketing, has been a leader in medical marketing for over a decade. Ekwa provides comprehensive marketing solutions for busy dentists, with a team of more than 180 full time professionals, providing web design, hosting, content creation, social media, reputation management, SEO, and more. If you’re looking for ways to boost your marketing results, call 855-598-3320 for a free strategy session with Naren. You may also schedule a session at your convenience with the Senior Director of Marketing – Lila, by clicking https://www.ekwa.com/msm/ or simply send a text to 313-777-8494.
