Why your dental practice should prefer custom instead of templated website content

The sparkling personality of your dental practice should be reflected in your dental website. Patients want to know what sets you apart, and a templated website will not differentiate you from the other dentists in town.

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PICTURE THE PATIENT HUNTING FOR A NEW DENTIST. She gets a few recommendations from her friends and starts the online vetting process. She clicks on dental website number one and the homepage offers “customized care and treatments for each and every patient.” Sounds good. Then she clicks on website number two and reads about their “customized care and treatments for each and every patient.” After seeing two sites that look suspiciously alike, she wonders how their patient care can be customized when they can’t be bothered to customize their website copy?

Templated web copy and stock photo images are an easy and appealing solution for dentists’ busy schedules. But the problem with this type of content is the message it conveys to patients—this dentist is no different from that dentist, who is a half mile closer to the patient, so that dentist may get the patient’s business even though that dentist is not the best choice.

What sets you apart from your competitors is your unique practice personality, and this needs to be conveyed in all of your marketing strategies. Check out Breezy Bay Dental's website before (above) and after (below) they redesigned their website to make it unique.

Web copy

Do a test yourself—Do a search using the name of your city and “dentist” and view the first two or three sites that pop up. If you copy the first sentence from the homepage and paste into a new search, it is very likely that at least a handful of other dentists will show up with the exact same content. So, if those dentists are the same, what criteria are patients to use to make a choice? Would they use proximity? Affordability?

Customizing your website content allows your patients to see who you are and how you’re different from the dentist down the street. Sure, each dentist cares about his or her patients, but what sets you apart? Is it that you put extra thought and care into designing a waiting area that promotes calm?

Is it that you continue to study new technologies, techniques, and advancements in dentistry? Is it that you are the only dentist in your area who will do everything in your power to save a tooth when others will just extract it? Any of this information should be included in your website copy, and using templated content will not make that happen.

Photos

You might have professional headshots of you and your team, as well as a nice exterior shot of the office, but what do your other website photos look like? Does your restoration page include a generic older couple who are loving life because they have implants and bridges? Does your cosmetic page feature the smiling mouth of a lovely woman who is happy with her whitening and orthodontics? Guess what? So do all the other dental websites. But how do you make your photography unique? I suggest using real images.

There’s no need to hire a photographer to lurk around your office waiting for photo opps. You or any of your team members can take great pictures with your smartphones. These photos can show genuine interactions between you and your patients, your team, and your favorite equipment.

This applies to all of your marketing platforms. Using templated content in emails or on social networking sites such as Facebook has the exact same effect as it does on your website. Make sure that all of your digital marketing content is unique to you and your practice, otherwise patients will have no reason to choose you over the practice that is more conveniently located or more affordable. You are the best thing you have to offer, and your patients should be able to learn that about you.

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With over a decade of experience in corporate dental laboratory marketing and brand development, Jackie Ulasewich took her passion for dental marketing to the next level by foundingMy Dental Agency. She and her team have helped practices throughout the nation focus their message, reach their target patients, and grow their practice through effective marketing campaigns. When she isn’t helping dental practices reach their full potential, she can be found at the beach with her three dogs or immersed in everything food-related with her large Italian family. For more information, call (800) 689-6434.