We recently came across an article written by a local dentist who made a great point: most dental websites (and other private practice Medical Marketing websites for that matter) are saying the same damn things to “attract” customers. These poor websites are being polluted with content like, “We use the latest technology,” “We are [enter city name]’s leading [enter practice type] practice,” “We are dedicated to serving our patients” or derivations of these abhorrent claims (in terms of marketing).
Websites need to be as unique as the practice Healthcare Website Design they represent in order to be memorable and attractive to visitors; this is marketing 101.
Is this really a problem? Well, we did some research to validate our opinion. We Googled “New York Dentist” and read through the sites that turned up. Here are examples of the content we came across (all of them were on the first page of the Google results):
Practice A is dedicated to helping patients achieve the sense of wellbeing and increased confidence that a healthy smile can bring.
Welcome to Practice B of Lower Manhattan, a leading Dental Cosmetics and Specialty Care practice in New York City. At Practice B we understand the importance of a healthy, beautiful smile – that’s why we offer a comprehensive array of dental services…
Our Practice C dental office is dedicated to providing the best possible dental care experience to our patients. Focusing on the individual goals of each patient, we deliver comprehensive dentistry in a convenient, relaxing and comfortable state-of-the-art setting.
So, what do you think? Are these exciting or boring? Are these memorable or forgettable? Do these make you want to schedule an appointment or contact the office for more information or do they make you want to keep surfing or close your browser altogether? We’re guessing they don’t excite you. They didn’t excite us.
Answer your visitors’ questions
Content like this is completely wasted space because it doesn’t do anything to differentiate its practice from competing practices. In fact, this language is so bureaucratic that it may even turn some of today’s web visitors off. This jargon is a complete contrast to the content that savvy web users consume and love (consider tweets that are limited to 140 characters, Facebook’s status updates, and news tickers on a variety of news and investing websites). Today’s visitors are looking for instant, short bursts of quality content. They are arriving to websites asking questions like, “What problems does this practice fix?”, “What results has this doctor produced?”, “What makes this practice better than my other options?”, “How can I schedule an appointment?”, and “Where are they located?”