Should You Optimize Your Dental Website For Google Maps
Many companies tend to think that once they rank Google (and other search engines, for that matter); their days working on their online marketing campaigns are done. Well, it sure is a big step forward but I wouldn’t say it’s finished. After all, online marketing is an ongoing and ever-evolving process. There’s just no end to it to tell you frankly. Various trends come into practice almost every year so businesses also need to constantly update their systems to keep up with the changing times. Marketing has never been a one-time thing. For as long as you operate, you have to keep it running.
However, focusing on the wrong types of campaigns can be detrimental for your business – especially where your marketing funds are concerned. This is why if you want to avoid spending money on unnecessary endeavours, it is best that you first lay out your plan elaborately. Before you start any campaign, you have to ask yourself the following questions:
- Why am I choosing to run this campaign?
- What do I hope to achieve by investing money in this marketing strategy?
- How will this campaign help me realize my business’s ideals?
These are only three questions but I’m sure there are more. It would really depend on what kind of business you are running or planning on starting. Today, I want to specifically discuss how you should go about your marketing strategies when your business is in the dental industry – say, running your own dental clinic for instance.
Marketing For Your Dental Clinic Online
The first thing that you have to note about your business is that it offers services and treatments. This means that you really have to get people coming to your office in the real world. Other online businesses are retail in nature which means that they sell actual goods and products which they can ship out should the need arise. In your case, it’s different. You can’t ship out a dental cleaning or temporary fillings. Offering dental tools and products is one thing but if you’re a dentist who offers services, the only way you can roll the money in is if people avail of your treatments in the real world.
With that being said, your popularity online may not necessarily spell success in business.
Instead of putting all-out effort on digital marketing strategies that aim to entice and encourage general audiences, you should focus more on how you’re going to reach out to specific markets. First consider demographic. Second, think about location. Since your company exists in the real world and performs services in real time, you have to connect with a market that is proximate to your place of business and fits your demographic at the same time. Are you a pediatric dentist in New York? Are you a cosmetic dentist in Chicago? Identifying the role our business plays is crucial in finding the right marketing style for you.
You have to optimize your website in a way that fits your business style.
In your case, two marketing strategies stand out from the rest: Local SEO and Google Maps Optimization.
Local SEO for Your Local Business
As I said earlier, proximity of the target audience is crucial to a business like yours. Ranking for generic key terms will definitely help you boost your website’s authority big time but you have to take note that not all global visitors have convenient access to your clinic’s real world location. They might appreciate the content you offer and all but there’s little to no possibility that they’d come to visit your clinic for real. For that to be possible, you’d have to go to Roofing Marketing Pros to understand how that can be accomplished.
This is why it is important for you to focus on Local SEO as well. Local SEO would involve targeting geo-specific key terms and ranking for them. More often than not, you will be using keywords that are very particular in terms of area, types of services, and line of business. This will help you tap the right audience for your website. The more localized your approach is, the more likely you will get patients through the door in the real world.
But in order for them to locate you, one other strategy must be successfully applied to your digital marketing. It is what we call Google Maps Optimization.
Google Maps Optimization Is Something Your Business Needs
For service-type companies, getting customers to come to the actual place of business is something very important. It is what drives income and profit and what will allow the company to keep on operating indefinitely. With all this being said, it is important that you guide your patients to the right place. Luckily, you have Google’s trusty navigation tool “Maps” to help you out with.
More than just a plain old map that tells you the location of places, GM is also platform that helps customers find high-ranking business. If you’ve ever tried to search for restaurants near your place before, you should see that Google displays results based on your location as well. It also ranks businesses according to reviews and ratings. This means that the more positive Google views your business, the more likely your clinic will be recommended when a similar search comes up. If you optimize specifically for Google Maps, the next time someone searches “dental clinics near me” and your clinic happens to be in the area, it is likely that Google Maps will feature your clinic on top of the search results.
But how do you rank for Google Maps? Does it use the same database as the Google website?
Although Maps is technically a Google app, it still runs an independent algorithm. This means that it has data that may or may not be present in the primary database of Google (and vice versa). This is why optimizing for Google and Google Maps require different processes. GM is likely to depend on geographical and business data it finds in the internet about the business as well as relevant customer reviews and ratings. If you want to do this effectively, it would be wise to seek out professional assistance.
Anyway, to end today’s article, remember to be careful when choosing marketing strategies to launch online. Allocate your marketing funds in methodologies that will give you the most yield. Analyze your business needs first before starting anything.