Generally speaking, there are 3 ways that websites are built and maintained:

1) HTML/CSS:  the website is built by a website developer, but if you wanted to update the website yourself, you would need special software (such as Adobe Dreamweaver) and a bit of coding knowledge and training to make updates.  With clients of mine who have this type of website, they email me the changes and I make the updates.  The client still writes the content, however, and I handle the techincal end of getting that content on the website. .

2) WordPress – the website is built by the developer, and you (or anyone you designate – staff member, etc.) is able to log on to a web-based interface and make updates such as editing the text, changing and uploading photos, adding pages, adding blot posts, etc.  Currently this is the most popular option and almost all of my new client sites are WordPress-based.

Note that WordPress is a program that is installed on your web server so you as the user only access it via the internet — so there’s no software to have on your desktop.  The concept is similar to how Gmail or Hotmail is stored and accessed online — it doesn’t matter if you are on your desktop, or your laptop at a conference across the country — you simply login to Gmail and you are able to access your email.  The real beauty of WordPress is that if you can use a simple word processor, then you can use WordPress.

3)  Proprietary system – some of the larger companies have a proprietary systems in place that are a hybrid of the above two options.  They design a site for you (with or without a template) and you can then login to their interface and make updates.  Naturally each system has limitations as to what can or cannot be updated, but those are specific questions to ask those vendors.

Note that if you do use a propriety system with one of the large vendors, you are essentially locked into that system and that vendor.  If you use WordPress (and have it setup the correct way), YOU own the hosting account, and YOU own the WordPress website. This way if for some reason you decide that you don’t like your web people anymore, it’s not that difficult to move to another web person because you own everything.   The whole thing is similar to taking your car to a different mechanic — you own the car, and YOU choose who services it when there’s a problem. And if you don’t like the mechanic, you can take it to a different mechanic.

Therefore one of the KEY  advantages of WordPress (and why I like it for my clients), is that WordPress can easily be setup so that the dentist owns everything.  If there’s anything I preach, it is that I INSIST that dentists try to do everything they can to OWN their own websites, and that includes your domain name, you web hosting account, your google analytics account, your adwords account, etc

Ultimately you as the dentist or physician need to decide which option is best for you and your practice.  But the reason I recommend WordPress-based websites to most of my clients, is because WordPress websites give you the maximum flexibility to build  and update your site, and at the same time allow you to have full ownership of your website and your content.

We in the industry always use Google as the search engine benchmark, but it will be interesting to see if the Bing redesign results in more traffic for websites that are listed on Bing.  Will people like the new BIng interface and click more?  So one of things that you may consider doing (or having your web people do) is taking a look at your web analytics to see if your traffic from Bing increases in the next few months (presumably due to their interface change).

Google still remains the goliath in the search engine business so I wouldn’t recommend altering your current SEO strategy to please Bing (especially if it’s working for you), but it will be interesting to see if this change affects your traffic.

A Facebook Fan Page for your Dental Office or Medical Office

As I mentioned in Part I, individuals have personal Facebook pages. Bringing your practice into the mix, while your office can’t have its own individual Facebook page, your office can have what’s called  fan page.  So individuals have personal Facebook pages and businesses have fan pages.

Thus, I, David Wank, have my own personal Facebook page where I share things with my Facebook friends only.  But i also have a fan page for Short Hills Design where I can interact with my clients and potential clients – and this page is public.  A major concern of many dentists and physicians is that somehow their office fans will be able to see their personal Facebook pages  — but remember that these two entities are totally separate so one does not need to worry.

When you go to create a fan page for your office, you will first need to have a personal Facebook account, and then, while logged in to this personal account, you can create the fan page for the office.  Moving back to my personal example, I was logged into Facebook as David Wank, and then I went ahead and created a fan page for Short Hills Design.  I also — under the same David Wank personal account — created fan pages for a few other of my business endeavors as well,  But the idea here is that you start with a personal page, and then from within this account you create your fan page (or pages).

You Gotta Keep ‘Em Separated

Remember, unless you friend someone, they will not be able to see your personal Facebook page.  So if a patient is a fan of your office’s Facebook page, they will have no more or less access to your individual Facebook page as would a friend from high school who was looking for you on Facebook.  That  is — whatever information you mark as private in your personal Facebook page, will stay that way and having a fan page will not change this privacy.

How Can a Facebook “Like” Help you Get New Patients?

Remember – a core idea of how information spreads around Facebook is via a “Like”.  A person “Likes” a product, a service, a news article, etc., and when they do so, their Facebook friends now see the item that the person liked.

Putting this into play with your practice, let’s say you were running a tooth whitening special in the month of June to prepare for the beach time in July and August.  In order to get the most exposure for your special you could do the following:

1) Put an article on your website’s blog about the special and about whitening (if you have a blog — if you don’t — get one)

2) Put the article in your practice’s monthly (or bi-monthly) email newsletter (if you have one — if you don’t strongly consider starting one).

3) .Post the article on Facebook.

By putting the whitening special in all three places your special gets exposed to the maximum possible people.  People who visit your website or blog regularly (or people searching for whitening on a search engine) will see your blog post on your website, and people who get your email newsletter (usually your existing patients) will learn of the special this way.

That leaves us with Facebook and here’s where the magic starts.  If you post the article on your Facebook page, and a fan of your page, Mary,  “Likes” the post about your whitening special, then Mary’s friends will see that Mary “Liked” your special.  Now Mary’s Facebook friends are not going get a notification every time Mary likes something (Facebook as you may have guessed has an algorithm so people aren’t completely bombarded with information) , but even if a few of Mary’s friends see that Mary liked the special, then these friends, in turn, may decide to check it out.  And naturally if one of Mary’s friends, John,  likes the special, then the whole cycle starts again with John’s friends.

The take-home message here is that Facebook is “icing on the cake” in that by posting on Facebook (your special, an article commentary, a blog post, etc), your are potentially getting exposure to people who otherwise may not have interacted with you in any way.  Think about it — why would any of Mary’s Facebook friends have gone to your website or joined your mailing list — they wouldn’t!  But because Mary “Liked” the post about your special, you now have potential exposure to all of Mary’s friends and more.  And these are people who are all potential patients.

Conclusion

Facebook is a great and FREE way to generate new patients for your practice, and to help you interact with your existing practice (there are paid advertising opportunities on Facebook but this is a different subject)   If you don’t have a Facebook fan page for your dental practice or medical practice  I strongly recommend that you consider creating one, and if you do have one, keep it current with relevant and helpful posts

Social Media in Perspective

As I review in The Web Design Workbook for Dentists, I break-down your online presence into four phases:

1) Initial Website Development
2) Search Engine Optimization
3) Social Media and Newsletters
4) Website Maintenance

Facebook and other sites such as Twitter fall into Phase 3 above, where you focus on enhancing your social media presence.

What is Facebook?  And Why Should Dentists and Doctors Care?

Facebook is arguably the world’s largest social media website, and data show that people spend hours on Facebook every day.  Facebook was originally designed as a platform for people to easily share information with their friends and colleagues.  And while Facebook has achieved this goal of connecting people, the advantage for professionals such as dentists and doctors is that having a presence on Facebook can get your office greater exposure that it would with a website alone.

How Does Facebook Work for Individuals?

Generally speaking, a person will sign up for a free Facebook account and then start adding “friends”.  A “friend” is simply another trusted person on Facebook.  So if you create a Facebook account for yourself, you would likely then add your spouse, and some of your close personal friends, for example, as “friends” on the account.

Facebook is driven by people adding information or, “status updates” and your Facebook account can be configured so that only your “friends” (recall that “friends” are trusted people) can see what your are posting.  So if you are on your summer vacation and you post some pictures of your family on Facebook, only your friends will be able to see these photos.  This setup makes sense, as you don’t want the entire world being able to see your personal pictures.

I will delve into this more in Part II of this article series, but understand for now that there are two types of Facebook entities.  The first is your personal Facebook page, and the second is a business’ page or what’s often call the fan page for a business.

What is a “Like”?

The buzz around the marketing world is getting people to “Like” a product or service on Facebook.  I’m sure you’ve seen countless ads that say, “Like us on Facebook”.  A “Like” is simply a way of suggesting a product or service to your friends, or highlighting that a product or service is something that you are interested in.  When you “Like” a something, a notification appears on your personal page that you “Like” this entity, and all of your friends can see this “Like”.

What’s Next?

In Part II of this article series I will go into more detail about Facebook fan pages for your office, and how getting people to “Like” your office’s page can help you get new patients and engage existing ones at the same time.

The Past with Flash

In the past using Flash for your website navigation was a great idea — Flash was installed on practically every machine you could find (even those free computer terminals at the library, too) and you could be sure that if you had a Flash menu or a Flash component on your website, then most everyone could see it.

The Present without Flash

Much has changed since the days of Flash being dominant across the web, and while there are still many websites that do use flash components, 

  And to make matters even worse, new Mac computers are no longer shipping with Flash installed.

The Road Ahead

Adobe announced recently that it will not be continuing to develop Flash for mobile devices, so the writing is now on the wall that Flash will begin a slow decline soon.  This doesn’t mean that Flash is dead by any stretch — but it does mean that anyone with a website that has significant Flash technology incorporated in it better take a good look at their website to see how the site performs on the iPhone and the iPad. It also means that any new sites that are being build should NOT incorporate Flash in their navigation.   What this change does underscore, however, is my frequent point that any and all critical information on your website should be in a format that is accessible to everyone (i.e. make every effort on your website to have your phone number and address in a text-based format so people on any device can reach you)..

We all know that trading of reciprocal “Likes” helps increase the number of  “Likes” you have on your page. And while it’s unclear at this time whether or not Facebook’s “Sponsored Stores” advertisements only use personal page data and not company pages, it’s still very important to make sure that you (personally AND as your business) are only “Liking” businesses with whom you truly wouldn’t mind being associated.

In Kanrda’s article (here’s the link to the full story), the example she gives is of a person who  — as a joke — posts about a particular product that isn’t G-rated, and then finds himself being included in advertisements for this product

So while you always need to be judicious in your business associations online and offline, this article highlights the point that as far as Facebook is concerned, you are judged “by the company you keep”.

While each dentist will have his or her own approach to managing patient questions about this article, here are a few suggestions you may find helpful in terms of website and social media (Facebook, Google+) management of the topic.

1. Regardless of whether or not you think that this study is “good science”, I strongly recommend that you consider NOT openly criticizing the article or discussing how the results may or may not be flawed.  The cat is out of the proverbial bag and if you criticize the study design (whether such criticism is warranted or not), it may come off as condescending, uncaring, or simply angry.  It’s a frustrating article for all of us, but we all have to manage it in our practices.

2. Make sure you and your staff have a unified message on this topic — especially if you do take a lot of xrays and panoramic films.  Make sure your hygienist, your assistants/x-ray techs, and front desk staff are all on the same page — or better yet – have all of them direct all patient questions about the subject to you directly.  You do NOT want a mixed message sent on this topic, especially when the words “xrays”, “radiation”, and “cancer” are involved.

3. There are some offices who are getting in front of the article’s subject and posting responses to the article online – before people ask questions -  but I’m not sure if this is the best approach.  If you do choose to weigh in online – after someone has commented on your Facebook page, for example,  you might consider something as simple as “We take our patients’ health very seriously and only take x-rays when absolutely necessary for proper diagnosis and treatment.  If you have any questions about this [article/subject/news] please contact the office and we will be happy to speak with you personally.”  If you do decide to engage online, It might even be worth a phone call to your attorney to ask for a very professional, caring, and liability-free statement that can make the above point.

4. Keep an eye out on your Facebook and Google+ pages to see if any patients are asking about the study or have already commented. Make sure the person managing these services for you (especially if it’s a content posting company) – speaks with you prior to posting on this topic.  And if you do find a large buzz in your practice about the issue, then you may consider a Facebook post or a short newsletter note to people along the lines of what I wrote in #3 above.  But if you do send out an email to your patient base, do speak with your lawyer about the best way to broach the subject because it is an electronic transmission and does involve patient care.

Necessary Disclaimer:  Because of the nature of this article I have to state that I’m not a lawyer and this article is not giving legal advice, and that the information here is not to be a substitute for proper legal consultation.  The reason I have to mention this is because patient communication laws differ in every state and you need to make sure (in every patient communication situation) that you are communicating with patients within the bounds of the law in your state.  You also have to consider that everything you write online is something that a patient or patients will now have in writing — that may come back to bite you later on.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process by which carefully selected keywords (search terms) are added to specific pages on a web page in order to improve that web page’s ranking in a search engine search.

What is a Search Term vs. a Keyword?

A search term is exactly the same thing as a keyword – that is, a word, words or phrases that a user types into a search engine.  A keyword can be one word like “dermatologist” or it can be a phrase such as “dentist long island ny” or anything in between.

What is the Goal of Search Engine Optimization?

The goal of SEO is to make your web pages appear in the top rankings on search engines.  The idea is that if your web pages rank highly – especially for multiple search terms, then more people will see your web page listing and more people will visit your website.

Why Do I Need SEO for my Dental or Medical Website?

You need SEO for your dental or medical website because without SEO you are less likely to appear in search engine listings.  And if you don’t appear in search engine listings then you are missing out on a tremendous source of potential new patients – that is, people searching on the internet.

You also need SEO to keep up with your competition.  As more and more providers build website, there will consequently be more websites for potential new patients to see.  So you need SEO to stand out among your competitors.

Remember, part of what determines your web page’s position in search engine rankings is the level of competition.  Let’s look at a ridiculous example to underscore this point.  If you are the only dentist on the planet Mars, then if someone does a Google search for “planet Mars dentist” then your web page with the “plant Mars dentist” keyword – let’s say the home page in this example — will likely be ranked #1.   But if you are in a large metropolitan area such as New York City, you will find that there are a very large number of dentists (your competitors) who also want pages on their websites to rank #1 in Google for the search term (keyword) “dentist new york city”.  Remember that there are other factors that go into what makes one web page rank higher in a search engine listing than another web page, but these factors are beyond the scope of this short article.

Why do you Keep Saying “Web Page” and not “Website” when you refer to search engine listings?

I make this distinction because keywords are added to specific pages on your website and not to the website as a whole.  So technically speaking when your website appears on a Google search listing it may look like the whole website is coming up, it’s actually a particular page. It’s just that the page is often the home page.

So there’s a quick intro to SEO. There’s a lot more to know but this is a good starting information base.