In Case you missed it: Dentalcompare from July 2013.
Do you need a dental website?
Do you need a high speed handpiece?
The folks who sell websites to dentists have focused on the marketing and advertising potential of web pages, and as such, many dentists think that is the sole purpose of a website. If you do not feel the need to market your practice then you do not feel a need to have a practice website.
However marketing to new patients is only one of three primary website purposes.
The Purpose of a Dental Practice Website
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Promotional to generate new patients
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Manage your online presence
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Support your existing patients
via Emmott On Technology: Does Your Dental Practice Website Have a Purpose | Dentalcompare.com.
Website developers do not want to merely build you a web site they want you to buy SEO from them on an ongoing basis. SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and some vendors will charge $$ thousands $$ a month for it.
SEO may help if a random surfer is looking for a generic dentist. However at this time it is questionable if SEO has any value for most dentists in a large metropolitan area.
On the other hand most new patients still start with a referral and will type your name into Google rather than a generic key word like “dentist”. That is what you need to worry about, what happens when someone types in your name.
Two items that will give you great “name” results are Google+ and a well-designed web site.
Finally what about established patients? If your site is just for new patients then everyone has a need to go there once per lifetime. Good web pages offer patient services such as online payment and forms.
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