Undoubtedly, you’ve heard of the term SEO or Search Engine Optimization being used by online marketeers when speaking about websites and the internet. They promise quadrupling your online traffic and providing you with loads of new patients. While this is true and the premise of SEO is to get your site ranked higher on search engines for visibility, you cannot neglect that once the potential patient is viewing your site, what is his/her impression?

Traffic is only half-important. What a true website needs is ease of usability and a design that is inteded to immerse the end-user into your practice. The average web user will only spend 30 seconds on a website to find what they are looking for. If that information is not easily seen, they will go to the other 15 dentists listed in their search results. Remember, every browser has a back button.

You have to treat your website as your first point of contact for potential patients. You would not want to hire front office personel who cannot perform, so why are you keeping your website from working for you? Most dental sites seen, are usually all from the same mold. They almost always look the same, have the same information, and lack the personality and persona of the dentists and offices they represent. Your website should be an extension of your office’s mission and vision. It should not be an afterthought and neglected. In a time when physical yellowpages and directories are slowly becoming extinct, your website is the new medium for potential patients to find you and decide if you are the practice for them.

The end-goal of a website should always be a well-informed and willing patient. You have to remember that SEO will get them to your site, but a well-designed website will get them to your practice.