Dental Marketing In the Mobile Age

Mobile devices are plentiful. iPhone. iPad. Blackberry. Windows Phone. Android.

Of the 6.8 billion people on the planet, 5.1 billion own a cell phone. To put that into perspective only 4.2 billion have a toothbrush. Society is staying on the move and your dental marketing strategy needs to include a strong mobile presence. The most important aspect is a mobile-friendly website.

A website that is capable of being seen on an Internet-capable cell phone is important for usability and ranking in search results. Google favors websites that are mobile-friendly even on desktop searches. Usability is key. Value and quality for their users are two of the most important things in their eyes.

Local dentists will need to enhance their search engine optimization for mobile devices. It’s generally the same ideas behind optimizing any website. However, here is an important tip to help with conversions. Include your office’s phone number in the meta description. This is the area that describes what the content of a webpage is on the search engine results page.

Phone numbers on websites are clickable from a mobile phone. By including it in your description local searchers can click from the search results. This is great for conversions as most dentists are using this trick. Think about it. If someone searches for a local dentist from a mobile phone there is a good chance they are in pain. That person runs a search and sees the first 10 results of dental offices in their vicinity. One of those practices is yours and it has a phone number in the description. Do you think they would probably click your phone number and ignore the others?

Mobile searches are common. In fact, 95% of all Smartphone users use their cell phone to look up local information. On average 61% will call that local business and 59% will visit. Google even expects mobile searches to overtake desktop computer searches as early as 2015.

So pull out your phone and take a look at your website. Think about it from a patient’s perspective.

• Is it easy to read and navigate?
• Can they find your phone number and contact information easily?
• Does your website even show up on a mobile phone?

Did you know that ReferralMD has solved patient intake forms using conversational AI?

Let’s recap the importance of mobile strategies for your dental practice. It’s important to have a user-friendly mobile website. This is usually a simpler design giving the most important information. Optimize it for search engines by including your office’s location. For example, this could be “Chicago Dentist” or “Palm Beach Dental Office”. And be sure to include your phone number in the meta description of your website. These simple ideas will help make your dental practice more mobile friendly. Don’t be surprised if you see your website climb the rankings in desktop searches either. Is your website mobile-friendly?

Contact us today to learn more about our social referral network connecting healthcare professionals in your area.

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