http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/ en Copyright 2011 2011-02-03T20:04:34+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/web-analytics-dental-marketing/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/web-analytics-dental-marketing/ Web analytics are the tools used for gathering and analyzing the behavior of visitors to a website. As a dentist and more so as a business owner, you have goals for your website. Web analytics help you track your website’s performance against those goals, maximize ROI, and better target your advertising efforts. The first step in putting web analytics to work involves choosing a provider. A variety of web analytics tools are available from a number of quality companies. Below you’ll find a list of some of the most used web analytics providers along with a little information to better help you decide which provider is right for your dental practice. Web Analytics Providers: • Google Analytics • Yahoo! Web Analytics • CrazyEgg • Omniture Google Analytics (http://www.google.com/analytics/) Google Analytics is a free tool provided by, you guessed it, Google. It’s pretty easy to set up and use, with minimal technical knowledge needed. It offers basic analysis and reporting functions, which are capable of collecting standard metrics such as page views, unique visitors, time spent on the website etc. And all you need to do to use this software is to add some code to your web pages – a process that Google walks you through with step-by-step instructions. More about the product here: http://www.google.com/analytics/tour.html Yahoo! Web Analytics (web.analytics.yahoo.com) Like GA, Yahoo! Web Analytics can give you valuable insights including the demographics and interest level of your website visitors. It also gives you powerful and flexible dashboards, market-segmentation tools, and campaign management features. And, like GA, it’s easy to implement. Learn about product features here: http://web.analytics.yahoo.com/features CrazyEgg (http://www.crazyegg.com) CrazyEgg offers a more advanced overlay tool that gives you an ability to literally see where people are clicking on a web page, and the results can be depicted on a Heat Map. This can tell you volumes about what’s working on a page and what isn’t. The basic version of their tool starts at $9/month and goes up to $99/month for the Pro version. Omniture (http://www.omniture.com) Among the available web analytics options, Omniture is one of the most advanced and priciest option. It’s usually used by enterprise level companies that need custom tracking. The biggest advantage to Omniture’s offering is the extremely customizable implementation of your tracking. Custom success events and variables allow for a virtually unlimited set of options when planning your analytics strategy. The caveat to this feature of course is the increased complexity of implementing this solution. The Bottom Line: To begin with, we highly recommend using some sort of web analytics for anyone with a business website. Choose the solution that fits your needs best, make a plan, and be prepared to really get some good use out of it. To set up and manage, any of these web analytics software’s; a basic level of technical knowledge is required. To overcome this issue, one option you have is to work with a company like Yodle (or a similar company), you will not only be given analytics automatically but you won't have to go through the potential hassle and confusion of installing the analytics (which to a layperson might be difficult). Also because many of these resources are free, there’s no reason why you can’t use more than one of them in combination. Let your specific needs be your guide in building your own personal Web analytics arsenal. Happy analyzing! 2011-02-03T20:04:34+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/yodle-content-internet-marketing/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/yodle-content-internet-marketing/ Content Creation & Syndication: An Important Internet Marketing Method While there are a variety of factors that weigh into your dental practice website’s search engine ranking, content remains one of the most important. As such, in order to increase your search engine presence it’s necessary for you to a) identify which keywords are the most important to your practice, b) create (or acquire) content that targets those keywords, and finally c) distribute or syndicate that content to maximize its impact on your search engine rankings. Here are a few more details on how you can accomplish all of this for your dental practice: 1 - Choosing Keywords This is probably the most important step of the process as incorrectly targeting phrases can result in traffic that is not interested in your dental services – and therefore is useless to your practice. When choosing keywords make sure to pick keywords that relate to your business and services and also have a considerable search volume. Here are a few tools you can use to help make the proper targeting decisions: a. Google Keyword Tool b. WordTracker Picking the right keywords to optimize your website for will bring you to step 2. 2 – Creating Content Having keyword rich content is essential to have on your website to get higher search engine rankings. There are various tactics that you can use to keep content on your site fresh and updated, blogging being one of the most popular ones. You can also add content in the form of FAQ’s or the like, to your website. The key here from a SEO standpoint is to include keywords in your content, as much as possible without sounding repetitive and “spammy.” 3 – Content Syndication Once you have invested in creating or acquiring high quality content, one option to maximize its impact on your search engine ranking is to syndicate it across the web to give it maximum exposure. You can do this by submitting that dental content to high trafficked article directories that in turn will facilitate the crawling of your website by search engines for the targeted dental topic/keyword. One thing to remember is to make sure that you link the article back to your website, so readers and search engine crawlers can find the original source of that content. Some article sites include about.com, ezinearticles.com, as well as articlesbase.com just to name a few. Happy Writing!! Of course, if this all still seems like more work than you want to do, Yodle can help you create and syndicate content and optimize your website’s search engine rankings. For more information regarding Yodle’s organic offering, you can go here: http://www.yodle.com/packages/long-term-growth/ Internet Marketing 2010-11-30T16:12:50+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/google-launches-adwords-help-site-small-business/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/google-launches-adwords-help-site-small-business/ Google recently announced their AdWords Small Business Center: an AdWords resource focused on providing tips for small and medium sized business owners. The site offers advice and articles on a variety of PPC advertising topics like: “Write great ads” or “Track your Results” among others. There are also links to the official AdWords blog and a discussion forum just for small business owners. While we know that many small business owners don’t want to run their own Adwords campaigns, for those considering doing so, this is a great place to start to better understand the necessary process. Happy Small Business Marketing! 2010-09-21T15:33:35+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/online-dental-marketing-terms/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/online-dental-marketing-terms/ Whether you are first starting your online dental marketing campaign or you’re a seasoned pro continuing to sharpen your skills, there are bound to be a few instances where you have been flooded with unfamiliar jargon that you just can’t seem to make sense of. Therefore, instead of spending your time searching for the definitions of Internet-marketing related words when you could be fine-tuning your campaigns, take a quick look at this post to decipher some of the most commonly used terms—you may even want to bookmark this page for future reference as well. Banner ad: A banner ad is a graphic advertisement used on websites that is linked to an external site. You may want to consider placing banner ads for your business on another site to help drive more traffic to your own site. Click-through rate (CTR): This number signifies the number of times that a particular ad is clicked on, divided by the number of times an ad is shown. When you know an ad’s CTR, you can determine how successful it is in grabbing an audience’s attention. Conversion rate: This represents the number of visitors to a website who then performed a desired action, such as purchasing a service or signing up for a newsletter. Landing page optimization (LPO): Every time potential clients click on a pay-per-click ad, they will be brought to a corresponding landing page. LPO encompasses all of the methods used to increase the conversion rate on a landing page. Cost per click (CPC): This is an advertising option in which the advertiser pays— often to a search engine such as Google and Yahoo!—every time someone clicks on their ad (that then directs him to a landing page on a website). Cost per lead (CPL): Instead of paying per click, this is a model where advertisers would pay a third party every time they successfully received a new sales lead, such as a phone call or email. Cost per acquisition (CPA): This form of advertising is especially enticing because the advertisers only pay when they make a sale. However, this type of agreement is rare to find since it is not very favorable to affiliates and marketing companies. Search Engine Optimization (SEO): This describes the process of increasing a website’s ranking on search engines. The benefit is that statistically, the higher your position is on search engines, the more likely it is to garner clicks and traffic from potential new customers. Unique visitors: These represent visitors to a site who have never been to that website before or haven’t been there in a certain amount of defined time period. Hopefully you’ll all find this short glossary helpful. For more info and tips, check back to this blog and read all of Yodle’s marketing team’s helpful advice. Internet Marketing 2010-08-26T14:19:56+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/top-marketing-blog-yodle/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/top-marketing-blog-yodle/ Although there is a lot that you can learn about online marketing from your own hands-on experiences, there is also a great deal to be discovered in this ever changing marketplace by reading blog posts from industry experts. We suggest the following 5 search marketing blogs that you should consider reading on a regular basis: 1. Google Webmasters Blog: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/ The official blog from Google that supports the resource center for webmasters. 2. Matt Cutts Blog: http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/ Matt Cutts joined Google as a software engineer in January 2000 and is currently the head of Google’s Webspam team. Follow his blog for everything from Gadgets, Google, and SEO 3. SEOmoz Blog: http://www.seomoz.org/blog One of the best SEO resources on the web. Follow this blog to keep up to date with the most current News, Tips & Highlights from the search marketing industry. 4. Search Engine Land: http://searchengineland.com/ One of the most read and trusted sources of information on search engine marketing including SEO, PPC & Social Media. 5. Search Engine Journal: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/ Search Engine Journal, established in 2003, is a 6 year old publication of Search & Social Media, LLC, which specializes in a community approach to the reporting of search engine news & the sharing of Search Engine Marketing knowledge & tactics. 2010-08-10T22:22:21+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/common_dental_website_design_mistakes/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/common_dental_website_design_mistakes/ Your website is the face of your business; potentially the first interaction most potential customers will have with your brand and of course it’s a very effective tool for ongoing communication with existing clients too. But a cluttered, unpleasant, or disorganized design can turn people off from your site and keep them from employing your services. When you’re planning and designing your site’s look, our recommendations are: 1. Stay away from the glitz. Your graphics should illustrate your product and purpose. Anything else just distracts from the sale and creates confusion. When in doubt, be sparing with decorations and extra graphics. Here is an example of a beautiful yet effective site. 2. Use everyday language. Don’t be too formal when it comes to addressing your potential client. The more relaxed a prospective client feels on your site, the greater the chance that they’ll buy from you. Remember that the Internet is basically a conversation. If you act pretentious, you will just turn people off. In the screenshot above, notice the informal language (marked 2). 3. But don’t be too folksy. Write as you speak, but leave out unusual colloquialisms or language that’s too cutesy. After all, you also want to sound the way your customers speak. 4. Keep it brief. Don’t be Long-winded Larry. Make sure your sentences are short, punchy, and purposeful. Use bullet points whenever you can: People’s eyes are naturally drawn to text that’s set apart from the rest. 5. Organize it well. Heard of the pyramid structure in news stories? Well, it applies to the web too. Calls to action, promotions, and other key information should be toward the top of a page, otherwise a potential client is likely to miss it. 6. Keep the design sparse. Since you can add as many pages as you want to a website, it’s a good idea to spread out your information into readable, easy-to-understand parts. 7. Be direct. Make sure that customers can easily find the information they are looking for by using clear menus, site maps, and section/page titles. Don’t hide what you have to offer, and how people can respond to it, in an easy-to-overlook place. 8. Balance text with graphics. Too many graphics can make it more difficult for a reader to find information. Too much text can be off-putting. As in all things, make sure you maintain a balance. 9. Update your website! This may seem like a no-brainer, but too many business owners put together a website and then never update their content. Make sure to update your site with new information about your business: That gives your customers a reason to keep checking in to see what’s new. With these tips, you’ll be on your way to a website that helps draw serious business! Internet Marketing 2010-06-24T20:21:09+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/yodle_dental_marketing_blog_featured_as_one_of_50_best/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/yodle_dental_marketing_blog_featured_as_one_of_50_best/ NursingSchools.net recently featured Yodle’s Dental Marketing Blog as one of its “50 Best Blogs In The Dentalsphere,” listed under the Advice & Resources section. The website frequently compiles lists such as “100 Best Men’s Health & Fitness Blogs.” Congrats to all of our authors and a huge thanks to all of our readers for helping make this happen! Keep Reading! 2010-06-11T19:06:34+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/claim-local-search-listings/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/claim-local-search-listings/ We know that more than 82% of US consumers are now searching online to find local services. As important as it is to have a strong presence in the organic and sponsored sections of the search engine results page (SERP), at the very least, every local business should claim its listing in the maps section of the search engines. First off, here’s a little explanation regarding the maps sections in general. In order to capture local traffic more effectively, the well-known search engines, such as Google, Yahoo!, and Bing created special areas that help searchers find local businesses, like your dental practice. Users can find local listings under the “Maps” section of the Google SERP or on Yahoo Local http://local.yahoo.com/. The search engines display these local listings next to a helpful local map that has flags or pins popping up all over it. The letter or number on the flag or pin that represents your website corresponds to the letter or number attached to your website address in the search results list. In Google, you can click on the map and find even more local listings. The great thing about these sites for business owners is that with most of them, at least some level of the listings are free. Just upload the pertinent information about your business to the search engine’s computers, and you’re ready to attract new customers looking for business like yours. To get your local business on these listings, just go to Google’s Local Business Center or the Basic Listing section of Yahoo! But getting listed in local directories does not mean you are always going to show up for searches. Because the number of small and local businesses vying to be found through local search is growing every day, search engines are overloaded by the demand. Getting noticed often takes longer than you’d like, but if you’re patient and persistent, you will get at least some level of results. And after all, it’s free! Here is a list of the local search features of the major search engines (subject to change): Google Maps: maps.google.com Yahoo! Local: local.yahoo.com Bing Maps: bing.com/maps AOL Local Search: localsearch.aol.com Ask: City Search: city.ask.com Get Your Business Listed Today! Internet Marketing 2010-05-28T17:58:08+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/dental-marketers-keyword-pie/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/dental-marketers-keyword-pie/ Just the fact that you are reading this blog means you are interested in online marketing for your dental practice. In this post, we want to educate you on lesser-known yet important aspects of PPC (pay-per-click) marketing we call the “The Keyword Mix” or “Keyword Pie,” which is essentially the actual group of keywords that you bid on when running a PPC campaign. When thinking of your keyword pie, there are several buckets that keywords can be organized into: Broad Keywords: Also sometimes referred to as “general” terms, these are the non-specific keywords. Ex: “dentists” Pros: • They are often high volume-driving keywords • They are more effective for campaigns in which the goal is “branding” vs. “direct sales” Cons: • The quality of traffic that these keywords attract isn’t very targeted. For instance, you may be a cosmetic dentist but the person searching is really looking for pediatric dentistry services. • They can use up the budget very quickly Long Tail Keywords: These are keyword phrases composed of three or more words and are more specific. Example: “orthodontists midtown manhattan” Pros: • The quality of traffic is high in that it is very specific • The searcher is assumed to be closer to the act of purchasing • There is sometimes less competition from other advertisers for the longer phrases, thus a more effective CPC (Cost per Click) Cons: • The volume for these keywords is low when compared to broad terms • One needs to do more keyword research to find such keyword phrases Brand Terms: These are terms that define your brand, product, or services. Example: “All Smiles Dental Clinic” Pros: • Almost no competition from competitors, and thus lower CPC • Very effective in converting, as these searchers are looking for your services Cons: • Doesn’t capture undiscovered audiences for your dental practice It’s important and recommended to run PPC ads for brand keywords even if you rank #1 (or high) on the organic listings. Studies have shown a lift in brand retention and CTR (click through rate) by owning both organic and PPC listing on the search engine results page. Competitor keywords: These are terms that define the brand, products, or services of your competitors. Example: “Down the Road Dental” Pros: • Helps capture new patients from a pool of prospects that your competitors serve • Effective conversion, as prospects are looking for dental services Cons: • Could instigate your competitor to launch a similar campaign against your practice Misspellings: These are keywords that are common misspellings of the services you provide. Example: “dentsist” Pros: • Low competition from advertisers, lower CPC The Perfect Mix The perfect mix of the right keywords and appropriate messaging are key to a successful PPC campaign. Generally speaking, based on our experience of buying PPC ads for thousands of dental practices, we find that the optimal keyword pie usually looks something like the one below:- So get on the path to attracting new customers with a successful PPC campaign and keep your dental chair occupied! Internet Marketing 2010-05-17T15:12:09+00:00 http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/yodle-dental-marketing-advice-on-alltop/ http://www.yodledentalmarketing.com/blog/post/yodle-dental-marketing-advice-on-alltop/ In effort to spread the word on dental marketing and help dentists around the country improve their current online campaigns, Yodle Dental is proud to announce that our posts are now readily available on http://dentistry.alltop.com/. The site, which considers itself to be a table of contents to the Internet, helps connect Internet users with blogs full of helpful information that they may not have discovered yet. Internet Marketing 2010-05-03T20:45:14+00:00