In cities around the world, such as Perth, WA, dentists have a variety of methods at their disposal to acquire new patients and grow their practice.
One of the most effective strategies for a Perth dentist is to leverage word-of-mouth referrals, encouraging existing patients to recommend their dental services to family, friends, and colleagues.
This approach not only builds a strong local reputation but also fosters a sense of community trust.
Additionally, paid advertising plays a significant role in patient acquisition for Perth dentists. This can range from targeted pay-per-click online campaigns, which are particularly effective in reaching a broader audience in the Perth area, to traditional local advertising methods such as newspapers and billboards.
These advertising efforts, when executed well, can significantly increase visibility and attract new patients to their practice in Perth.
One asset almost all dentists have, and which can be used to attract new patients, is their website. Given the growth of the internet, any dental practice that does not have a website is almost considered off-the-grid; however, simply having a website is not sufficient to see a steady stream of new enquiries. That will only happen if the website has been designed properly, and that is where many fail.
Web design is a skill, and unfortunately, in possibly trying to reduce costs by not employing a professional web designer, many dentists’ websites are not effective, and some are more likely to repel visitors than induce them to contact the dental practice.
Thankfully, there are several ways a website’s design can be improved, and to such an extent that it transforms from a waste of online real estate to a huge asset that sends new patients to the dental practice every single day. As for what web design changes can be made, here are seven proven to be highly effective.
Publish Quality Content
One of the most effective ways dentists can improve the performance of their website is to upgrade and improve the content which is published there. Informative and interesting quality content can set your website apart in a positive way, and it can also improve search engine rankings on Google.
Make The Website Easy To Navigate
One of the biggest mistakes we see on websites of dental practices is they almost require a sixth sense to navigate through them as there are no means of clicking through to another page, and returning to the home page is impossible. The solution is to have a simple menu system that anyone will find easy to follow.
Less Is More
Continuing on the theme of simplicity, we now come to the overall layout and appearance of a dentist’s website. The key principle to follow is to have a clean, uncluttered design on each page, rather than having pages that look more like a newspaper overloaded with text, images, and distractions across the screen.
Capture Their Email Address
Any dentist with a website that does not ask for a visitor’s email address is missing out hugely. Offering a free report or even a discounted consultation in return for an email address allows the dental practice to follow up with emails to prospects who will potentially become patients as a result of those emails.
Use Lots Of Images
A website with all text is neither inspiring nor is it likely to retain visitors for long who will click away to find a more visually appealing website. As such, if your dental website does not have many images, especially of smiling and happy patients, then you need to alter that quickly.
Have Contact Details On Every Page
It seems incredible, but we still find dental practice websites that do not have contact details clearly published on the homepage or any other page for that matter. This is tantamount to saying you do not want any new patients. So, ensure your telephone number or other contact details are clearly visible on every page.
Ensure You Have A Call To Action
It may surprise you that when visitors land on your website unless you tell them what to do when there, many of them will do nothing whatsoever, and that includes calling you. Avoid this by ensuring that every page on your website has a clear call to action, such as “Call Us Today” or “Enter Your Email Here”.