Think of it this way, a bakery or clothing store has tangible goods and products for the consumer to try and experience before they purchase. However, with a service business that is typically not the case.

Visual marketing is the first impression of your business. When you flip through a magazine, typically the first thing that catches your eye is an image. Visual marketing carries great power.

Options to Enhance Your Visual Marketing

There are several avenues to consider when boosting your visual marketing. The good news is, cost doesn’t have to be an issue.

• Use Professional Stock Photos : There are multiple websites available that supply quality images at an affordable cost.
• Hire a Professional Photographer : Though an Investment, this option will add a personal touch and allow you to use the images for other areas of your business.
• Take the Photos Yourself : Although cost efficient, this option is only recommended if you have the tools necessary to take quality images, otherwise you may want to reconsider.

Types of Photos to Consider

1. I have keywords in the <title> tag  

Page titles are very important. Everything in the title <title> tag shows up on the search engine results page (SERP) as your page title. Titles should be relatively short (~65 characters) with the keyword at the beginning or near the beginning of the title.

Be sure not to “keyword stuff” your title tag. For example: Omaha Dentist – Dentist in Omaha – Omaha Dentistry would be considered a spammy title tag. While it’s important to use your title tag to tell the search engines what the page is about, it also needs to appeal to the person doing the search so they are motivated to click through to your website.

2. I have keyword-rich URLs, page and file names

Having your target keyword present in the domain name, URLs and page names is very important.  For instance, a dentist in Lubbock, TX might choose a domain name like CosmeticDentistinLubbock.com because the keywords cosmetic, dentist and Lubbock all appear in the URL.

If you already have an established domain name that doesn’t contain keywords you can still take advantage of page URLs for optimization. For example, if your domain name was CitySmiles.com you could setup page URLs that contain keywords such as CitySmiles.com/cosmetic-dentistry

3. My keywords appear in anchor text (text links)

Links to other pages in your site (and links to your site) should include keywords that are relevant to the target page. For example, a link may say, “Read More Here” whereas “Read More about Six-Month Orthodonitcs” would be a much better choice.

4. I have keywords in Page Headings (<h1>,<h2>,<h3> tags)

Keywords that are placed in the section titles are very important for SEO. If you have more than one targeted keyword on a page, create a paragraph of unique text for each one with a section title over each paragraph.

5. I have keywords in the first sentence/paragraph of each document

Usually the first paragraph on a given page indicates the content for the rest of the page.  Search engines also value the first paragraph of text.  Be sure your target keywords appear in the first sentence and set the tone for the rest of the page.

6. I have keywords in image <alt> tags

Googlebots and other “spiders” cannot read images and ascertain whether they are contextually appropriate or not. By completing the “Alt” tag for each image, you can describe the image and add relevant keywords. Bots will credit your site with having both text and images supporting your keywords.

7. I have unique content – relevant to my keywords

For each targeted keyword phrase, consider having a page dedicated to that phrase with 250-300 words of well-written, unique content.

8. I will frequently update my content and build unique content

Google loves fresh content. Blogs and social media feeds are a great way to add fresh subject-matter to your website. Just be sure that the posts and comments are relevant to your keywords.

9. My site and each page has a singular theme

You can imagine the “Google Chaos” if a dentist shared a website with a car mechanic. Keywords could range from “Dental Implants” to “Engine Overhaul” and everywhere in between. By the same token, a page that focuses on many procedures and cases is not as effective as a single page that emphasizes a particular case. For each keyword phrase, build strong, unique content and give it its own page.

• Google predicts mobile search will surpass desktop search at some point by 2015 (Google 2011)
• 9 of 10 mobile searchers make a phone call or take some other form of action
• 7 of 10 mobile searchers take action within an hour (Mobile Marketer 2011)
• 6.8 billion people live on the planet. 5.1 billion of them own a cell phone, but only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush  (Mobile Marketing               Association Asia)
• 95% of smartphone users looked up local information, and of those, 61% called and 59% visited the business (Google 2011)

What does all of this mean for you?

By not optimizing your site for mobile search you could be missing out on a huge number of new patients.  Many areas of the mobile community show much higher levels of conversion than desktops or laptops, especially the local community.  Mobile is changing the way consumers interact with businesses.  Mobile marketing is in its infancy, so now is the best time to get involved.

Mobile SEO

In order to bring in new patients from mobile search, they have to be able to find your site.  Mobile search engine optimization (SEO) is very similar to SEO for your main website.  We are able to optimize your mobile site so that it looks and functions similarly to your main site, but will come up higher in rankings for people doing a search from their smartphones and tablets.   We are also able to track the number of visitors you receive to your mobile website so that determining value is easy.  Places listings also play a large part in mobile SEO, but we’ll save that for another day.

Mobile PPC

If a paid search campaign is on your internet marketing consideration list, it would be wise to add mobile pay-per-click (PPC) to that list.  The current mobile PPC landscape is full of potential.  Because of the lower levels of competition in mobile search, the average cost-per-click (CPC) is considerably lower than for the regular search networks.  Also, mobile users are wanting and looking for a strong direction from your ad, like making phone call.  Google and Bing now offer mobile-only campaigns, so even if you have no desire to enter a PPC campaign full force, you can just stick a toe in with mobile PPC.

Mobile is making considerable waves in the industry, and it’s not going anywhere.  Many even believe mobile search to be the next frontier of search marketing, and the statistics back up this belief.  If Google’s predictions come true, mobile search will take over the internet marketing landscape in just a few years.  Maybe it’s time to give mobile marketing some serious thought.

After looking up a local business on their smartphone, 61% of users called the business and 59% visited – Explore Online Marketing Conference presentation

Mobile search volume was up 4x last year, accounted for 14% of all Google searches in 2011 – Explore Online Marketing Conference presentation

By 2013, mobile phone will be the most common form of accessing the web – Gartner Research

YouTube drives 84% of all video traffic – Explore Online Marketing Conference presentation

49% of all internet users utilize a search engine on a typical day – Pew Research Center

91% of search engine users say they always or most of the time find the information they are seeking when they use search engines – Pew Research Center

52% of consumers use review sites to find local services.  45% have submitted reviews.  55% of those who have submitted reviews in the last 30 days submitted more than 1 review. – 15 Miles / Localeze

Almost 8 in 10 global marketers rate search engine optimization (SEO) as either excellent (31%) or good (48%) in terms of return on investment (ROI), followed by email (70%), PPC (56%), social media (44%) and mobile marketing (44%). Offline direct marketing came in at 36% and offline display advertising at 28%. – Econsultancy / Adestra

86% of tablet computer users made a purchase from their most recent tablet-based local search – comScore

Only 1.3% of fans actually engage with brands on Facebook – Ehrenberg-Bass Institute

In January 2012, 16.3% of all visitors to our dental clients websites came from mobile devices – Bullseye Media

For dentists, this concern would translate to “can’t I get the same number of visits by being on the first page organically for dentist my city without paying for ads”? It turns out, the answer is no. Paid ads can lead to additional visits from prospective patients, they don’t steal visits from your organic (free) listing.

Google’s researchers studied organic click volume when search ads were live and when they were turned off. They calculated that the increase in clicks from paid ads (on average 89%) were in addition to the free organic clicks, not taking away from them. In other words, they would not have gotten these additional clicks if they were not running the paid ads.

They just released an update to that research study where they analyzed an additional 390 campaigns. This study supported the findings of the 2011 study and concluded that even with a #1 organic ranking, an average of 50% of visits came from paid search ads.

In conclusion, even if you rank #1 organically, you can double your traffic with a paid ad campaign. The lower your ranking, the greater the potential increase you can gain. 

If you are not satisfied with the amount of new patients you’re receiving from the internet, you should consider utilizing both organic online marketing (SEO) and paid online advertising (PPC) to maximize your online potential.

Before launching a new campaign, be sure and read our recent post: Dental PPC – How to Maximize Your Investment

It is estimated that for the first time ever, US online advertising spending will surpass print ad spending in 2012 and almost double it by 2016.

The average click through rate (frequency as a percentage that an ad is clicked) on Google was up 48% from Q4 2010 to Q4 2011. Meaning, more people are clicking on paid ads.

One reason for the increase in clicks is that Google has been making it more difficult for consumers to differentiate between paid and organic listings on their results page. In the past, the paid ads would have prominent background shading that made them stand out from the organic listings. Recently, that shading has become almost invisible, leading to more consumers clicking on paid ads without knowing they are paid ads.

While the number of paid search platforms is almost unlimited with the majority of high traffic websites offering the opportunity to pay to have ad space on their website, Google is still king. Google’s Adwords network is the largest in the world. Google currently collects 74% of all US search ad revenues, and that is expected to increase to 79% by 2014.

If you haven’t done so already, you should seriously consider reallocating your offline advertising budget to the web. Your ROI will thank you. Click here to learn more about the Paid Search (PPC) process.

We have noticed recently that Google Places results are showing businesses further away from the centroid. This is good news for those dental offices who are located on the outskirts of their city as they will have a better chance of their Google Places listing (dot) being included in the results.

As you can see from the example screenshot, dentists not only from Denver, but surrounding suburbs are represented, albeit with smaller dots. In the past only the largest balloons would have been shown.

To take advantage of this be sure your Google Places listing is claimed, optimized (add photos, videos, office hours, etc.) and that you have citations (your office listed on local directories).

The most significant for dentists & other local businesses is the Venice update which more aggressively localizes the organic results and further integrates local search data.

In Google’s words:

“…Improvements to ranking for local search results.[launch codename “Venice”] This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal.

“Improved local results. We launched a new system to find results from a user’s city more reliably. Now we’re better able to detect when both queries and documents are local to the user.”

What that really means:  Based on the location of the searcher, they will see more localized results even if they don’t type in the town/city when doing a search.

Here are two examples of searches in Dallas, TX and Atlanta, GA: (Click to enlarge)

In the past, if a geographic modifier such as city name wasn’t included, Google would serve local results in the PPC (Ads – why these ads?) section and the Google Places/Maps section, but the organic section would result in strictly national search results. As you can see from the examples above, even the organic results are now localized.

The key to taking advantage of this change is to have your website properly optimized for local search.

This would include:

• Having your location in the meta tags of your pages (title tag, H1 tag, image tags)
• Using Schema to markup your address and business information
• Building links with your location in the link titles (anchor text)
• Submitting to local directories
• Claim / optimize your Google Places listing and link it to your website

The most significant for dentists & other local businesses is the Venice update

In Google’s words:

“Improvements to ranking for local search results. [launch codename “Venice”] This improvement improves the triggering of Local Universal results by relying more on the ranking of our main search results as a signal.

“Improved local results. We launched a new system to find results from a user’s city more reliably. Now we’re better able to detect when both queries and documents are local to the user.”

What that really means:  Based on the location of the searcher, they will see more localized results even if they don’t type in the town/city when doing a search.

Here are two examples:

In the past, if someone searched “dentist” vs. “dentist Atlanta”, Google would serve local results in the PPC (Ads – why these ads?) section and the Google Places/Maps section, but the organic section would result in strictly national search results. As you can see from the examples above, even the organic results are now localized.

The key to taking advantage of this change is to have your website properly optimized for local search.

This would include:

• Having your location in the meta tags of your pages (title tag, H1 tag, image tags)
• Using Schema to markup your address and business information
• Building links with your location in the link titles (anchor text)
• Submitting to local directories
• Claim / optimize your Google Places listing and link it to your website

For our case study, we used a website from a Nevada-based practice.  You can see a screenshot of their site here.

1. Go wider

While looking at your website, If you see a large margin on either side of the content area, consider expanding it by 200 pixels or so.  Today’s high resolution monitors can easily handle wider layouts.  Even iPads neatly display websites up to 1000 pixels wide.  Better yet, with 3 easy steps you can change your website to a “responsive” layout which displays nicely on any device.

2. Go bigger

Now, with the layout stretched a few hundred pixels, there is plenty of room to “go bigger.”  Increase the size of your section headers with a large, bold font (1). This is the first text in the “body” of your site that the visitor will read, so make it count.  As an <h1> tag, this is also one of the most important elements on the page to Google.  Now, bump up the font size of your copy to at least 14pt (2).  This means that all of your potential patients can easily read every word on your page.  Finally, with all that extra real estate, you make those pictures bigger (3).  Notice how the faces in the photo are hardly even recognizable.

3. Accentuate your assets

Be sure to draw attention to the most important assets at your practice: your doctors, staff and facilities.  Research has shown that dental website visitors are most concerned with meeting the dentist and the dental team.  Plus, if you have a beautiful practice, why not show it off?  This will certainly influence phone calls.

4. Simplify your navigation

With two sets of navigation (one set above and one below the main picture), one navigation bar is likely to be ignored or go unnoticed.  Instead, consolidate the two sets into one concise navigation bar.  Your navigation bar should have no more than seven links.  Any more than seven can be frustrating to visitors.  Make your navigation bar stand out from your site by giving it a contrasting color and placing it prominently on the page.

5. Use the “hero” graphic effectively

In the graphic design world, the main image that is placed on CD, DVD or magazine covers is called the “hero” image.  This image draws the attention of the visitor and gives them a visual indication of the content inside.  Be sure that your hero image gives the visitor a clear indication that your site is a dental website.  Photographs of people are especially effective in conversion if they represent a cross-section of your patient demographic.  With today’s javascript technology, it is also easy to add multiple images to form a slide show where visitors can see several images related to your practice.

6. Use calls to action (CTA)

Contrary to popular belief, website visitors “do what they are told.”  If you want potential patients to call your office to make an appointment, you must tell them to “Call Today for An Appointment.”  Links that read, “More Information,” “Our Office,” “Appointments,” are not near as effective as links that read “Read More,” “Contact Us” or “Call for an Appointment.”  Make room on your site for a clear “call to action” that appears on the screen before the visitor has to scroll down.

7. Make your contact details stand out

Your name, address and phone number are very important.  A future patient may visit your site 3-4 times before arriving at your office, as they look for information and contact details.  Your contact details should be easily found.  Your phone number should be highly visible at the top of every page. To aid in finding your practice, add a dynamic map.  Both Google and MapQuest offer free maps to embed on your website.

With these simple changes, your website will look fresh and functional.  More importantly, it will have a more positive user experience which will mean more phone calls.