Dental Websites for Googlechondriacs
Google Suggest providing results for the most popular searches instantly as you type.
Do your patients suffer from Googlechondria? They could be making themselves anxious by self-diagnosing their dental problems on the Internet. More and more patients are doing that. At Dental Focus Web Design, we suspect that patients are more likely to have Googled, than brushed and flossed, before their dentist appointment.
Apparently it takes 10,000 hours to make an “expert”, definitely more to be a Master, Wizard or Genie. A dentist’s VDP first year covers thousands of these hours, mainly learning just one thing: who really needs treatment and who doesn’t (albeit on the NHS). The Googlechondriac can easily and wildly jump to amateur conclusions on how her toothache needs to be treated or how his orthodontic treatment must be done.
The Web is our modern day library at our fingertips. It’s true that the Internet has made patients more interested in their own teeth, health and aesthetics as well as the finer technical details of treatment. It also keeps dentists on their toes, as otherwise their patients may know more than they do.
Your website and Page 1 rankings allow Googlechondriacs to find you. They will probably be more nervous than they should be by the time they visit your homepage. Do you stand out as the expert who will accurately diagnose new patients in their anxious post-Google state? Do your existing patients know you’re there for them with all the answers or will they feel the need to Google?
Dental marketing is all about understanding patients and having the right call-to-actions so they make contact with you, instead of Google, again and again.
Adrian Adler is “the Wizard” at Dental Focus Web Design.
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