As a dentist business owner, you’ve probably heard of the term “online reputation management” - but what does it mean to you?
Your online reputation is everything someone could find about you on the internet. This includes social media profiles, websites, online reviews, other websites that are linked to you.
How Does Your Online Reputation Affect Your Dental Practice?
This is important when you’re running a dental practice because people looking to become patients will find this information. It’s critical to manage this, and ensure potential patients are getting a positive view of you and your practice. As many practices have discovered, a negative review can directly harm your business in the internet age.
In contrast, favorable reviews and a clean online reputation will encourage patients to call your office and schedule! Whether we like to admit it or not, most people are heavily swayed by what we see about a business online. It’s imperative to keep your online reputation positive so it doesn’t hinder your business potential.
Dentists: The Importance of an Online Reputation
What is the status of your online reputation? Is this something you’re monitoring regularly? Do you feel confident about how to counter any negative information about you or your practice online? Do you have a plan to continue adding positive information about you and your dental practice online?
This is an imperative priority for all small businesses today! We feel strongly that this needs to be a central part of all dental practice marketing. Check out these tips below to start managing your online reputation today!
3 Tips to Improve Your Online Reputation
Here are 3 quick and easy tips to improve your online reputation. Have a look and you’ll be able to get started right away.
1) Privatize your personal Facebook page, and create a separate professional profile for your business associates.
It’s important for you to be able to keep your personal life and ideas separate from your business. I’m always astounded at how many Facebook profiles have most of their information public - and I wonder if people realize that it’s out there for everyone to see.
If you look under Facebook “Privacy Settings” and “Who can see my stuff?” you can use the “View As” tool to see what the public sees on your profile. From there you make your posts and photos private and protect your information.
2) Improve your Online Reviews
Keep a close eye on your online reviews. Common sources are Yelp, Google, Facebook, and Healthgrades. If you get a bad review, make a point to ask happy patients for good reviews to counteract it.
Monitor these platforms monthly, and any additional ones that you’re listed on, and keep tabs on your ratings. Also, it’s important to keep your reviews current - even if you have a 5-star rating, if your last review was 2 years ago, it doesn’t hold as much weight. Develop an ongoing process in your office for asking patients for online reviews so these stay current and relevant.
3) Make it easy for patients to find relevant information about your practice.
Things like your phone number, address, hours of service, insurances accepted should be readily accessible to your patients - don’t make them dig for it! People have very short attention spans and patience for finding information they seek on the web. If they can’t find it on your website easily, they may move onto the next possibility.
Remember too that your website is likely the 1st thing potential patients see about you and your practice is your website - and they often judge whether to call and schedule based on that 1st impression.
We know how important your dental online reputation is to the success of your business! Give us a call if you’d like help revamping or rewriting your website.
We also offer full online marketing and online reputation management services to help your business thrive.
Contact us today!
