We are incredibly grateful to share the amazing news to all our Dental Focus clients over the 21 years since we began our story.

Dental Focus won two prestigious awards in the dental industry. We are proud to announce that we have been awarded…

Winner – Website of the Year

Winner – Customer Service of the Year

It’s been a truly epic journey with the very best individuals coming together for the mission and each other, always dreaming big together!
Without our clients’ trust and support, these achievements wouldn’t have been possible. A special thank you to Dr Manny Vasant MBE who was our very first client 21 years ago, and joined us on our special night where we all remembered how he gave our Founder & CEO Krishan Joshi his very first opportunity. Our clients’ guidance and support has been invaluable for our continued improvement and growth.
Also to our amazing team, each member has contributed to these achievements through their dedication to delivering exceptional service and maintaining the highest level of care.

Why this means the world to us

We care about what we do because we come from a family of dentists. For us, customer service has always been a result of caring for clients, like we care and go the extra mile for our family. As we celebrate these awards, we recommit ourselves to serving you with even greater dedication and innovation in the future. We are driven by a desire to consistently grow and these awards serve as a testament to our continuous pursuit of excellence.

Thank you once again for being part of our success story. We look forward to continuing our journey together and achieving our goals and visions together.

The post Celebrating Success Together! first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Dental Focus presents an information-filled webinar to drive more patients into your practice.

In this Webinar, we cover:

– The steps you need to take to dominate Google in your area.

– A new feature released by Google to help you remove fake or offensive reviews.

– The key ranking factors to top the map listings on Google.

Presented by:

Jamal King – SEO Manager

Naz Haque – Google Consultant

Raheem Syed – Operations Executive

Request review removal link:

https://support.google.com/business/workflow/9945796

The post Why the Dentist Next Door Has All The Patients: Local SEO first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Are there different ways to get onto Page One?

There are actually two ways in which a business can appear on Google page one. These are through paid advertising, otherwise known as Google Adwords and through organic rankings with dental SEO. 

Organic rankings are fickle, unreliable and take more time than many businesses have to achieve results. Through consistent use of SEO relevant content, appropriate social media marketing and activity on your website, your business will organically move through the rankings to come closer to that page one goal over a certain amount of time.

However, the first 3 or 4 websites on any given page one search are placed there by Google Adwords. If you are serious about your marketing strategy and allow it to work for you, then perhaps it is time to invest in a dental SEO expert and work out a budget to pay Google for the right to be in this place. 

By using this ‘Pay Per Click (PPC)’ advertising strategy, you are speeding up the process whilst still playing the game and competing with many other businesses whilst improving your chances of being seen by those who matter: your patients. 

What is a pay per click advert?

PPC advertising is how Google has collected billions of dollars of revenue. What works for the advertiser is that you only pay when a person clicks onto your website. By placing your website at the top of page one and where all the buyers are, Google has the aim for your business to succeed because they benefit from it as well. We need to inform Google who your ideal patient is so that when they search for a topic using any given keyword, your results will appear where the buyer is ready to click.

When you use Google Adwords you can decide on the wording of the advertisement, you can choose the target audience, your daily budget and your per click budget as well. From there it runs like an auction where you pay as much as you want and you see where you rank. 

Although a business placed above you has more than likely paid more for their advert, the other factors that are the fundamentals of Google such as keyword choice plays an important part which can give you that leading edge. In fact, we have found that in certain locations, the dentist’s name, their qualification and a few informative snippets such as 0% finance and a price for a service can offer exceptional click through rates.

The post Dental SEO: How quickly can you get onto Page One? Part Two first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Remember, there is no such thing as page two. By understanding this, you are going to be wholeheartedly focusing on bringing your company up in the Google page search rankings, with dental SEO, so that your website can appear on the most desirable page one. 

But how quickly can you bring your website up from the depths of the web and into visible search engine results on page one? If you have access to the right skills, tools and expertise, then this can actually be done within minutes. 

This has actually been accomplished by our experts notably three times before, but of course, this 120 second or so goal does rely on a few variables to make it this easy. For any company however, an hour is a respectable amount of time to identify the correct factors within your web pages to be picked up by Google and move up to page one. 

We have a webinar available on our website titled ‘Google Page One in 60 minutes’. We are confident that many of the businesses that we work with will be able to appear on page one within 10 minutes, but this will depend on how competitive the keywords are in the searches. 

For example, dental practices in London may find that the keyword searches are far more competitive than for a smaller practice located in Frome. If your practice specialises in a certain treatment, such as dental implants, then your prospective patients who are searching for your services will be looking for more specific keywords. It will be easier for Google to identify your business and bring your results up on the first page through these more specific and less competitive keywords.

This is only one factor of the more than 200 that Google uses to determine Google page rankings, so don’t let this discourage you if your business is in a more prominent area and offers a range of services. Our SEO scientists are here to provide you with these very real results in a very short amount of time so you can start to reap the rewards sooner.

Tell me more about this webinar

The webinar, found on our Dental Focus website is located in the ‘Google section’. Just scroll down to the bottom and a webinar titled ‘Google Page One in 60 minutes’ will be at your disposal. This valuable content essentially offers you an insight into what it is we do here for you at Dental Focus and gives you the basics so you can learn for yourself the fundamentals of the Google search engine.

If you apply the guidelines that we suggest consistently, there is no doubt in our minds that you will get to page one. 

In part two we will cover the two ways that you can get your dental website to page one, Google Adwords (pay per click/PPC) and organic rankings with dental SEO.

Brought to you by the leaders in dental marketing, Dental Focus.

The post Dental SEO: How quickly can you get onto Page One? Part One first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

What can we learn about Google to improve our chances of reaching and staying on page one?

Watching it evolve over the years has taught us a few things. Certainly we can say that history repeats itself and there are cyclical motions that we can begin to predict and work with. That is why it is good to know what happened in 2001. You are able to see the behaviours and the mindset of Google alongside it’s growth and what it considers to be important. 

What does Google consider to be important?

Google page one is always about relevance. We need to consider how relevant your website is to your product and more importantly, are you the most relevant between you and your competition?

The definition of relevance by Google has evolved over the years, much like how Google itself has evolved. In 2001, it meant keywords. You needed to ensure that you had the same keywords as what an individual was searching for. It coupled this with how many people link to you, which was a reference to how popular you were. 

It then began to evolve into deciphering who is linking to you and seeing what those websites were about to ensure authenticity. Here we saw Google counting these links again to decide how popular you are. This is the foundation of dental SEO.

The more popular you are, the greater likelihood will be that your company is one of the first pages to appear on the first page of a Google search.

As we evolve further again over the years, we begin to see the filtering of websites that were not produced cleanly and checking to see whether a website is spamming the system with a keyword density that is too high. The content that is produced will be penalized if it is not readable and authentic. 

One page websites are OK, and do OK, but the most successful websites these days are big 30 to 50 page websites with a lot of relevant, readable content. If you want to be number one in the searches, then you need to think big. 

Furthermore, we must ensure that the links are strong, such as BBC or strong PR links. It is not just about how many links you have but who is linking to you.

Today, Google analytics has become a minefield. There are about 200 factors that are considered as to whether a website and its content is relevant enough to appear on the infamous page 1. At Dental Focus, we hone in on the most important factors for our dental SEO clients as well as our website development clients.

How can we ensure that we are relevant?

Some honest effort needs to go into producing relevant content and keywords with some emphasis on finding what the most profitable keywords are for a given website or topic. We then must work on growing the content constantly and consistently and then distributing that through social media.

The content needs to have reputable links that we can source from and by distributing what we can through social media, we will be able to link back to many sources as we reach a greater base of followers and potential clients.

The main take home message here for dental SEO is that it is all about content. Content and appropriate activity will deliver that page one result that will bring in those new patients through your doors and allow you to grow your business.

Brought to you by the leaders in dental marketing, Dental Focus.

The post Dental SEO: Why do you need to be on Page 1 of Google? Part 2 first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Although for many, it may seem to be a pipe dream to appear first on the search results for any business, it is actually critical for a company that is serious about growth and their success to work toward this goal and to make actionable steps in a plan to appear on the first page of Google.

Why is it so important? Because unfortunately, there is no page 2. Yes, we know there is, but how often do you click it when you are looking for information for yourself? It is only individuals who are looking for themselves or their own business do they regularly look beyond the first page of their Google search results.

It has been found that people would rather enter different keywords or change their search questions time and time again and continue searching through that first page of google, rather than press ‘page two’.

So if you want to grow your dental business, if you want to attract the ideal patients and get new bookings, then you must be on page one of Google with dental SEO. If you’re serious about your business and your name, then you need to aim to have your name appearing as the first hit on the first page of a Google search. This is fact.

So, how do you get to page one?

You can invest years of your time into understanding search engine analytics and the evolution of Google since 2001 and work tirelessly to produce relevant and continual content to stay ahead of the ever-growing competition, or you can work with Dental Focus, masters of dental SEO, and take advantage of the skills, dedication and experience that our team has to offer.

But don’t take our word for it, let’s take a quick look at how a learning curve of more than 20 years can produce visible, relatable results on Google so that we can begin to grasp the depth of how this process is continually evolving and changing.

In the year 2000, Krishan Joshi was studying Accounting and taking advantage of the high speed broadband that he had in his dorm room. Like many others in the DotCom boom, he was seeking to become a digital millionaire.

Not surprisingly, he did achieve relative success with his website ‘download free films’. With 20,000 UK and US based members, this website reached number one on both the Google and Yahoo search platforms.

Since then, Joshi has achieved success for a range of different businesses, whether it was the rise of the Mouth Cancer foundation, through people wanting to make donations because they had come across a website and subsequent information by Joshi and his team, then moving onto Dental Implants London and further into cosmetic dentistry, Google Page 1 and dental SEO has always been a passion and talent.

In part 2, find out more about what we can do to improve our chances of reaching and stay on page one of Google.

Brought to you by the leaders in dental marketing, Dental Focus.

The post Dental SEO: Why do you need to be on Page 1 of Google? Part 1 first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

 

Has your practice been marked as ‘Temporarily Closed’ on Google?

We have seen cases of practices being marked as ‘Temporarily Closed’ on Google. We are encouraging clients to keep practices ‘marked as open’ because ‘marked as closed’ hides your practice from local search results and hides the call button on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP).

The post How to turn off ‘Temporarily Closed’ on Google MyBusiness map listing first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Discussing many elements of dental marketing, from attracting new patients and Google paid traffic, to organic SEO and reviews, watch the full interview between our Google Consultant Naz Haque, and the CEO and Founder of Dentaltown – Howard Farran.
 

During the interview, Naz Haque reveals typical patient behaviour on Google – such as their reaction to ads versus organic listings. Moving through the patient journey during their search for a dentist, Naz goes on to discuss the importance of building trust on Google through reviews and addressing patient concerns.

What do patients care about? 

Typical concerns of a patient looking for a dentist are things like:

• What is the patient journey like?
• Who are the people that will be with me?
• What will the practice be like?
• How will the treatment feel?
• What is the after care like? 

Reviews and patient testimonials are really important. These address patient concerns naturally, as well as help to build trust between dentists and prospective patients. Dental practices wanting to make an impact with their dental marketing should be starting with their reviews on Google.

Video Testimonials

Taking reviews to another step, many dentists are now asking their patients to offer video testimonials. These address the patient concerns with emotional impact. If a patient is so thrilled with the results their dentist has achieved that they are happy to broadcast their happiness, it creates a deep connection with any potential patient who watches that video testimonial.

Emotional Websites

Dental websites should mostly be filled with content from existing patients. This content is:

• Patient reviews
• Video testimonials
• Before and After images

This populates your website with emotional moments that help to move the patient into “action” mode.

SEO: Push & Pull Dental Marketing

Another topic discussed during this interview between Naz Haque and Howard Farran is the difference between appearing on Google versus social media marketing.

By paying to appear in front of patients on Facebook or Twitter, you are pushing your contact details onto them. Whereas appearing naturally on Google when patients are directly searching for a service or product, you are pulling them in. The mindset is very different, and the results can vary dramatically.

To find out more about the ways in which Dental Focus can help you attract New Patients, get Google Reviews, or appear on Google Page 1 through SEO, get in touch!

The post Naz Haque interview with Dentaltown CEO Howard Farran – New Patients, Reviews, and SEO first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

“Attracting new patients is always about trust,

first impressions and reinforcing trust…”

Have you read the latest Dental Focus Blog?

Discover why passing the “Google Mobile Friendly Test” is now the most important weighting factor in the Google Algorithm for predictable Advance Google Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) rankings. Google now expects 100% of the website to be optimised and responsive for mobile devices.

Click here to read the article by Krishan Joshi, Founder Dental Focus

Read on…

Creating Trust: 5 Star Google Reviews

Several years ago, Google became the new Yellow Pages because it started showing local businesses on the maps right at the top of Google Page 1.

Today, Google is the new Trip Advisor because clients now see reviews and stars next to their local search results. It’s no longer just about how high they rank on Google Page 1 but more importantly about how they stand out.

On average, patients are scrolling or swiping iPhones and iPads to look up and down Google Page 1, which is a mine field. All they see is blue, green and white. They don’t know who to click on because 80% of the page is pretty much shouting back the same or similar keywords they typed into search.

Today, trust is built on Google Page 1. Clients couldn’t have done this before. Now clients at Dental Focus are making it their Number One priority to have at least 5 reviews because they need at least 5 reviews for their stars to start showing next to their name and ranking.

Have you ever used Trip Advisor to help you decide on where to go for holiday or bought anything online, read the reviews and looked at the star ratings?

At Dental Focus, clients are now making sure they are “on track” with a daily system to have at least one 5 star review each week because they want to make sure that this time next year they have at least 50-100 5 star reviews next to their Google ranking. They want to make it a ‘no-brainer’ for patients to choose them on Google Page 1 because Google is the land of competition. They have no competition on their website, they literally own the entire retail space of the screen.

Clients who want patients to trust the words, testimonials, photos and videos on their website are making sure that they maximise the level of trust at first impression on Google Page 1 with over 30 5 star reviews.

What clients have realised is that when they reach ‘critical mass’, like 50-100 5 star reviews, nobody reads the Google reviews, they just see who stands out, who to trust and ‘click’ to visit the website.

Clients say that they grow their practice through word-of-mouth. When patients recommend them, their friends generally Google the ‘name’ of the practice instead of keywords. When clients have over 30 5 star reviews next to their name, it allows friends of patients to think ‘my friend was right’ because so many other people agree, strengthening word-of-mouth into a ‘no brainer’ and immediately reinforcing trust.

For more information, read the full article

by Krishan Joshi, Founder Dental Focus

I look forward to hearing from you!

The post Google Reviews, 5 Stars and Trip Advisor! first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Dentists often ask us…

 “How do I get to the top of Google Page 1?”

Google Page 1 in 60 minutes

Your Dental Practice on Google Page 1

 If you are serious about the success of your practice you need to be found on the first page of Google. Having a beautiful website is great, but offers few benefits if your patients can’t find you on Google. Google dominates over 76% of the UK Search Market, so it is important you optimise for its platform.

There is no Page 2

Over 92% of searchers do not go past Page 1 of of Google, so if you’re not on Page 1 you will struggle to find new patients online. Word of mouth marketing can be lost because you don’t appear for your brand name online. Google Page 1 listings can help you average over 2,500 visitors per month and bring in an extra 5-10 new enquiries per month on average.

Watch the Recorded Webinar

You can now watch the recorded LIVE Webinar that everyone
is talking about:

“Google Page 1 in 60 Minutes” ~ 92 people registered, 56 people attended and 20 people retweeted Krishan’s tweet during the LIVE Webinar. Coined the “Magic Trick” lecture, previously presented at Dentistry LIVE, Dentistry Show and IAAFA Conference by Krishan Joshi, Founder / The Master at Dental Focus® “Websites for your profit”.

The post How to get to Google Page 1 in 60 Minutes first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Krishan Joshi, Founder of Dental Focus, sheds light on some of the recent changes that affect website ranking.

In the first quarter of 2015, Apple made record profits on sales of iPhones and today, 50% of internet traffic is on mobile devices, meaning that one in two patients is accessing dental websites on a phone or tablet. This familiarity and usability means that patients now expect a great user experience on mobiles as well as on traditional desktop and laptop devices.

Google Mobile Friendly Websites

A decade ago web developers faced the challenge of resolving Mac and PC compatibility, but today it’s about creating synergy across a range of devices; Samsung, HTC, Apple and many more. The challenge now is to make sure that your website is Google Mobile Friendly across the variety of platforms and brands being used by patients.

But the drive for mobile optimised websites is not just being driven by functionality. On 21^st April 2015 Google redefined the criteria by which they rank websites. Before this date, classic websites, which could be read on iPhones and tablets if you pinched the screen and were willing to scroll through the information, were considered mobile-friendly. But not any more. The way in which Google defines ‘mobile-friendly’ has changed.

Now, to be categorised as mobile-friendly, every page of the website has to be viewable and functional on every type of mobile device. With most surfing taking place during the evenings and weekends, this ensures that the patient gets the best user experience from a website, regardless of the device they are using.

To check your website is Google-friendly, simply go to Google’s Mobile Friendly Test, type in your web address and it will tell you whether your site is mobile-optimised. Although we haven’t seen any dramatic shifts as yet, and non-Google Mobile Friendly websites are certainly not plummeting through the rankings, over the course of the next 12 months, I expect that these changes will start to filter through and have an effect on their ability to climb to Google page one.

Move with the times

In the last 18 months the world has gone mobile and the pace of technological change shows no sign of slowing down. In creating your website, dentists need to be aware of changing trends and ensure that its capability meets the needs and wants of users. Everyone now has a camera in their hand, courtesy of their smart phone, and to some extent imagery has taken the place of words.

Take the rise of the ‘selfie’ as an example. This trend has changed the way some dentists interact with prospective patients. By accepting uploads of images onto their website, dentists are enabling patients to send an image of their teeth and ask questions that traditionally they might have needed to describe over the phone or in person. This by no means replaces a formal diagnosis, but does enable the dentist to interact with patients at an early stage of their decision-making and suggest treatments that might be suitable.

To facilitate this type of communication the website needs to incorporate this level of functionality. It makes you and your practice highly visible and attainable and builds engagement and rapport with patients. One word of caution – if this area of your site is not encrypted you must include a disclaimer about patients not disclosing personal information.

Five Star Reviews

A few years ago Google page one became the new version of Yellow Pages, with local businesses listed at the top of the page. Today, Google page one is the new TripAdvisor, and gaining a five-star ranking is now a recognisable sign that you have satisfied customers. In general prospective patients are more likely to believe existing patients’ recommendations – so this process is like word of mouth, but by people who don’t have any formal connection to each other.

Once you have five stars, these become visible on Google and if you are the first practice in your area to achieve this you stand out, making people more likely to click on your listing. Some of our clients are now recording between fifty and a hundred five stars and they are implementing in-practice systems to encourage patients to give them a five-star review. What our successful clients are realising is that those who prioritise Google page one and make sure they are getting five-star reviews every week are able to build trust with potential patients.

A five star ranking changes people’s perception of your practice before they have even viewed your website.

Only people with a Gmail account can give a review on Google, so to encourage patients to post a five-star review, dentists need to ask for a recommendation from every patient with a Gmail account. Having the team on board is important in making any kind of campaign like this work, but if the system is tracked, the team can receive weekly feedback about the numbers of five-star ratings and this can become a great internal motivational tool.

Getting help

This area remains a minefield for dentists, particularly as Google is constantly changing the rules. I am sure that 80% of dentists are not even aware of the five-star ranking process and the benefits it can bring, and a similar number will be unaware of the new rules governing Google Mobile Friendly websites.

Although dentists are big users of technology and understand the user experience from their own point of view, they often fail to understand how this applies to their own patients’ use of their website.

Our clients’ priority is to attract more patients – it is only when they consider how they are going to do this that they start to take an interest in the different tools that can make this more successful.

For clients who want to give themselves the best chance of success on Google it’s about having a Google Mobile Friendly up-to-date website, that is keyword and content rich, created using industry standard coding, which incorporates a blog, YouTube and social media feeds.

Most clients still say that word of mouth is a big factor in attracting new patients. The reality is that when patients are recommending a practice to their friends and family, those friends will still go to the web and search for the practice before they take up the recommendation. So dentists who want to attract the best friends of their patients need to take account of the power of an effective website and five-star ranking.

Call Dental Focus on 020 7183 8388 or email us today to have a chat with Krishan Joshi, Founder of Dental Focus.

The post Five Star Websites for Google Page 1 first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

The two largest Internet giants are Google and Facebook, so it is no surprise that billions of actions occur on each site every single day. Through these platforms, there lies the opportunity to advertise your dental services to potential clients.

The most popular option is to bid on a click on your advert and only be charged for the click. The click is the action by the potential client accessing your site from the respective platform. This is the pay per click (PPC) model. Advertising this way can be very cost-effective if the right strategy is put in place, as PPC is trackable and measurable and can be focused on a specific geographical audience. Google PPC can also provide instant gratification; by this, I mean if you are willing to offer the highest bid per click you can appear at the top of the page.

While many dentists might have embraced Google PPC in the last five years, not many seem to be aware that there is a similar option available for Facebook. I am not referring to buying likes, which is actually more of a vanity strategy and does nothing to bring value to your patients. Why would one advertise on Facebook, you may ask? Consider that 890 million people (as of December 2014) log on to the social media platform, generating 4.5 billion likes every day. It is estimated that there are 217 million active users in Europe, of which 24 million are active in the UK alone. Worldwide, there are over 1.39 billion monthly active Facebook users. These are impressive figures.

With Facebook PPC, dentists can run trackable, measurable, location-specific campaigns as with Google. There is also a myriad of options to allow one to be more niched and specific. Specifically, dentists can target their audience based on their likes, habits, education, salary levels, and even the phone they are using. Imagine running a campaign for orthodontic treatments targeting Facebook visitors who accessed the site using the latest iPhone. Would it be safe to assume that they have expendable capital and are ideal patients in terms of ability to pay?

Facebook PPC is significantly cheaper than Google PPC. The difference is pennies on Facebook compared with pounds on Google. Aside from having a good call to action, relevant adverts and a strong landing page, dentists should have a responsive site to maximise their success, as the majority of Facebook (and Google) users will most likely engage with them via a mobile device, like a tablet.

Facebook has taken strides in developing the advertising side of the platform for the last two to three years. Ensure your success in online marketing and make sure you are not left behind.

For more information call 020 7183 8388, or visit www.dentalfocus.com

About the author:

Naz Haque, aka the Scientist, is Operations Manager at Dental Focus. He has a background in mobile and network computing, and has experience supporting a wide range of blue-chip brands, from Apple to Xerox. As an expert in search engine optimisation, Naz is passionate about helping clients develop strategies to enhance their brand and increase the return on investment from their dental practice websites

The post Online advertising: Why Facebook matters first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.

Look at the examples below and think about which one looks better.

Once you create a G+ page for your business, you are automatically given a URL for that page. This URL contains a long sequence of digits, not making it very user-friendly or memory-friendly for that matter!

What are the benefits of having a URL with your business name in it?

• Easier to remember
• Easier to share
• Builds more trust in people
• Easier to use
• Inspires online sharing

Please Note: Before you claim your personalised URL there are certain criteria you must meet.

• Your page must have a profile photo
• You must have at least 10 followers
• Your account must be at least 30 days old
• Your account must be linked to a website (this is important!)

If all of the above gets a tick, well done!

Once you’ve logged in to your G+ page using your Google ID, you should get a notification at the top of the page explaining that you have been preapproved for a custom URL.

Click “Get URL” button which will show the screen as displayed below:

Tick the box to agree with the “Terms of Service” and click “Change URL” button. Now the URL will be changed!

The post What is a Custom Google+ URL and Why You Need One first appeared on Digital Marketing for Dentists in UK | Blog by Dental Focus.