Dentistry is a regularly developing discipline. Dental know-how is always getting better, with new equipment, techniques, and treatments being developed on a regular basis. At the same time, quite a few of the approaches and techniques that dentists learned in dental school are being discarded in favor of these new advances. That means for dentists the training never ends. They have to spend time outside of treating patients to read trade journals and attend seminars and conferences to stay abreast of the shifts in their industry. Given the constant state of change within the dental sector, it should come as no wonder that dental practice marketing methods have changed as well.
In the past, dental advertising was comprised of taking out an ad in the local newspaper, getting an enlarged listing in the yellow pages, and in some cases sending out the infrequent direct mail advertising flyer. The paper and yellow pages advertisements could be contracted out for a year at a time, meaning that the typical dentist really didn't have to spend much time on getting his practice discovered. But with the increase of the Internet and social media, things have significantly changed.
The truth is that most people aren't reading the newspapers or making use of the yellow pages any more. Rather than being locked into one local paper, people use the Internet to gain access to frequently updated news from sources that they prefer, rather than being locked into one local paper. And the phone book and yellow pages have been superseded by a relatively new world-wide giant: Google. Google's Internet search engine has become so entrenched in our society that they are now a verb, with people often Googling any piece of information that they require. And that encompasses their research for a dentist.
Almost all dental practices came to grips in the late 1990's or early 2000's with the reality that they would require some kind of website. Nowadays the website is almost as common as the sign outside a dental practice. They are now a necessary element to launching a dental business. But what many dentists don't realize is that the website design doesn't only need to be visually appealing for prospective clients. To get your web site (and therefore your practice) discovered by people it first has to be found, understood, and found to be relevant by Google. Enter the role of dental Search Engine Optimization, and dental seo sites.
With any given search generating hundreds or thousands of results, it is important for dental offices to get ranking at or near the top of the search listings. People have always tended to pick the first result they view in any search. That is the reason why the yellow pages were loaded with companies like A1 Towing and AAA Auto Repair. Dentists with last names that started with letters from the tail end of the alphabet were obligated to brand their practice differently, or spring for a much more substantial display advertisement to try to gain the attention of searchers.
Conditions are not much different in the on-line searches today. Dental practices can either pay Google to advertise in the paid results area of relevant keyword searches, or do the Search Engine Optimization work necessary to top the organic listings. With the cost of Google ads for dental keywords running from $5 to $20 or more per click in competitive markets, it makes sense for dentists to make investments in Search Engine Optimization services to save money in the end.
For more information about dental seo sites, visit http://www.ddsrank.com.