I cannot recall the last time that I used a phone book, yet they are still left outside my door on a regular basis. They might make great booster seats or be useful for lining the bird cage, but few people use phone books to search for a local business anymore.
Instead, they’ll look for you online.
What does this mean for your dental practice? Around four out of five people will go to search engines to find or investigate a local business, which means that your practice relies on Google and other services to generate appointments and brand awareness.
Why did dentists of a pre-Google age put ads in the Yellow Pages? They wanted to increase brand awareness for their practice in their local community. Online directories work much in the same way, even helping you move up in the rankings in local search results.
In a digital age, it’s simply unprofessional to not keep your online listings up to date. When patients are looking for their dentist via the internet, unclaimed business pages and absent listings mean that you are losing business to your competitors.
Fortunately, many of the most important business listings online are available to you for free. All it takes is a little bit of invested time.
The Most Important Business Directories
Claim your listings.
Begin by searching for your business on Google and identifying which directories you are already listed in. These are the very places that your audience will first see you.
Start by claiming these pages and optimizing them by listing business hours, uploading photos, and ensuring that your name, address, and phone number are correct.
Check your competition.
After claiming and optimizing existing listings, it’s time to go out there and find where you should be listed. Your first step will be to search for your local competitors’ businesses, identifying which listings they show up in.
You’ll want to take similar steps of creating a listing for your practice and optimizing the page as much as possible. Make sure that you use consistent and exact spelling of your name, address, and phone number on every directory.
Some submissions may take time to get approved, and many sites will want to verify your identity through a phone call.
Check your keywords.
When your target audience is looking for a dentist, what phrasing are they likely to use in search engines? These phrases are your target keywords that you are trying to rank for, such as “Meridian dentist”.
When you search your targeted keywords, you’ll likely see local business directories in the search results. You’re primarily concerned with the top ten results, so create a listing in any directory you find there.
Check your mobile device.
Results for these categories aren’t necessarily the same when using a mobile device. It’s crucial to check these same areas using a phone or tablet to see if any new directories show up that are more popular on mobile.
The VIP’s of Online Listings
If you’ve followed the above steps, you likely will have covered these already. Just in case, here is a list of the must-have directories for your dental practice.
Your Google My Business page is top priority. Google receives billions of search requests every day, and it’s the most likely place for potential patients to find you.
Yelp might get a bit of flak from business owners, but many consumers prefer Yelp over any other service.
While not quite the powerhouse that Google is, Bing is still important as it is the default engine on many devices.
Your goal is to be present where your patients are, and many of your patients use Facebook everyday. Set up a separate profile for your practice and use your channel to promote your blog, specials, or just to connect with people.
Even the phone book company thinks you should be online! Your basic online business listing on Yellow Pages is free, but you can also move to a paid account for premium services and marketing, just like in your old phone book.
Local Business Directories are Vital to Local Businesses
Every directory is another chance for you to be found online. Your local marketing plan involves your practice having a presence anywhere that your patients might find you. Once you’re live on the most important directories, be sure to monitor them for reviews and messages.
~Brodie Tyler