In today’s busy world of online marketing, a website is a must for any business looking to grow; but it’s essential for general dentists and dental specialists. This is because most potential new patients will turn to the internet when looking for a new dentist or needing specialised dental care.

Whether you’re a general dentist or a specialist, a website is an effective way to provide information quickly to potential (and current) patients, establishing you as the expert they need for their dental care.

What to Consider When You’re Creating Your Dental Website

Whether you seek professional help or build your website on your own, there are a few factors to consider:

• Design: Create your logo and establish a colour theme for your website. Follow those colours and themes throughout the site to keep it consistent. Consider how colours make people feel. For example, an endodontic specialist may want to choose a relaxing blue and green theme for their website that welcomes and calms patients who need root canal treatment.

• Function: Your website needs to be user-friendly and easy to navigate, or potential new patients will leave and seek out their next options. Also, be sure to optimise your website for both desktop and mobile users. Even if it’s easy to navigate, if it takes too long to load, you will also lose the attention of your visitors.

• Benefit: Be sure that your website spends time introducing you to your potential patient but also provides the critical information they’re looking for. Keep your content engaging and friendly, avoiding dental terms that could be scary or off-putting to new patients.

What Should General Dentists Include on Their Websites?

General dentists perform a wide array of services for their patients that help them to achieve and maintain healthy smiles. A good rule of thumb is to choose around ten services that your dental practice focuses on or that you love to do.

If you love oral surgery, include informative service pages about tooth extraction, dental implants, and the other surgical service you offer. Maybe your focus is full mouth reconstruction; then your service pages should discuss porcelain crowns, veneers, and the dental implants you would use to help a patient reclaim their smile.

There are many of these services that you can combine, such as things like dental sealants or fluoride treatments, that you could include on a preventive dentistry service page. Or teeth whitening, porcelain veneers, and dental bonding could all be discussed on a cosmetic dentistry page.

If you provide a specialised service that other practices aren’t offering in your area, such as treatment for sleep apnea or platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapy, be sure to highlight those procedures.

Your service pages should emphasise what’s great about your dental practice and what sets you apart from other clinics in the area.

What Should Specialists Include on Their Websites?

Specialised dentists, such as endodontists, orthodontists, oral surgeons, pediatric dentists, and periodontists, won’t need as many service pages to highlight their talents. Perhaps around five to seven is sufficient.

Specialists need to focus their service pages on discussing the procedures they offer in a friendly and non-threatening manner. In fact, your website is an excellent place to dispel fears patients may have about procedures like root canals, tooth extraction, or gum surgery that may be holding them back from getting the treatment they really need. Use this opportunity to explain how you can help anxious patients comfortably receive their dental care.

What Every Dental Website Should Have (Regardless of Your Specialty)

Besides engaging, informative, and reader-friendly service pages, your dental website should include:

• An attention-grabbing home page. Your home or landing page is the first stop when patients visit your website. This is your first impression and your chance to grab their attention and encourage them to explore more of your website. Focus on excellent design and welcoming unique content for this page.

• A friendly “about us” page. This is your “meet the team” page, and it’s also one of the most highly visited pages on your website. Patients love to learn more about the team they’re considering working with, so add bios, pictures, or videos of yourself and your team that are fun, friendly, and welcoming.

• A technology page. Here you can highlight the technology and equipment you use to make your patient's experience at your dental clinic exceptional. Maybe you offer same-day crowns, or perhaps you provide options for dental sedation, talk about these things on your technology page.

• A financial page. Cost can be a significant deterrent for many patients. How do you help your patients overcome objections due to cost? Discuss your payment options or membership plans here and highlight how you will help your patients comfortably fit their dentistry into their budgets.

• An FAQ page. This page may not seem necessary, but it’s beneficial for several reasons. First, patients may visit here for direct answers to their questions. Next, this page is an excellent opportunity to provide specific information using search engine keywords that can improve your rankings when patients search online for a dentist (meaning more people will find your dental practice). Finally, having an informative FAQ page that quickly answers patient questions can also save them from calling your dental clinic, relieving some of the stress on your front desk team.

Use Original, Unique Content for Your Website

Content is king when you’re marketing online, and Google rewards original and relevant content with higher rankings in the search engine. This translates to more traffic to your website, increased visibility, and the potential to meet more new patients.

Cutting and pasting someone else’s content doesn’t accurately portray your dental practice and what you have to offer, so don’t do it.

Choose Friendly Images

Whether your dental practice is general or specialised, carefully choose the images, you include on your website.

Graphic images of procedures may be interesting to you but could scare away potential patients. Instead, keep images friendly and non-threatening. 

Choose images representing your patient demographic, like seniors, families, or different ethnicities, so everyone feels welcome at your dental clinic.

Do You Need Help With Your Website?

If you need to design or update your website, your team at GDW can help. Contact us to learn more about the right marketing strategies for your dental practice.