Many dentists struggle with maximizing the potential of their website. Whether it is outdated or not relevant in search engine queries, it doesn’t produce the results that are expected. When we look at results from having a website, we look at converting web searchers into appointed new patients. These are the three goals we shoot for when designing and optimizing a website; Make sure they find you  Make them like you  Make sure they are who you want  One of the ways to increase your search engine rankings is to drive traffic to your website. The basic ways to drive traffic is to spread the word to your current patients. Here are a few simple ideas to drive traffic that don’t take any SEO knowledge: Add your web address to all marketing collateral  Link your website to your practice management software  Send your patients to the website to fill out forms  Request that patients visit your website  Run promotions/contests with entry forms on your website  Link to social media sites  Use third party questionnaires/review forms. We have outlined some basic steps that, at a bare minimum, should be done on every site. But the fact of the matter is that search engines are dynamic and changing constantly. Nobody knows the true inner workings of the major search engines and how they rank one site above another. The only way to consistently be at the top of search engines is to work your SEO on a daily basis. For an average business owner, this is not possible. If you want to rank on the first page, and ensure you stay there, give us a shout and we can help 904.443.0095.

Google has now started loading search results for videos.  When you search for a dentist in your area,  you may see that any videos show up towards the top of your search results.  This is good to know for increasing the amount of clicks you get to your website and for getting your name out there.  If you have any videos…if you need help see our last post…add those to youtube, and it may help your Google rankings/search results.

A new bill signed into effect March 18, 2010 offers employers two tax breaks for qualifying new employees hired in 2010.  The first exempts companies from their share of Social Security payroll taxes, usually 6.2% of a workers wages, when they hire a new employee that was unemployed for at least 60 days prior.  The second tax break gives companies an additional $1000 or 6.2% of the wages paid to the employee in 2010 (whichever is less) for each employee retained for a full year.  According to Obama, Section 179 was created to assist small business owners who might not want to hire on a new employee during these tough economic times. The legislation also extends provisions to allow small businesses to write off as much as $250,000 of their capital expenditure in 2010.  To learn more about Section 179, click here or contact your qualified tax preparer to determine what tax credits may be available to you.

“The ADA is recommending that dentists review and revise their Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance programs and make any necessary changes to their Notice of Privacy Practices and to Business Associate Agreements”- www.ada.org The new HITECH rules deal with sending electronic patient information.  Most offices do this now to increase efficiency with filing insurance claims and other processes.  We are also recommending all our clients review their HIPAA policies at this time.  Please check our website in the upcoming weeks for information about an upcoming seminar we are holding to discuss these new rules.

I feel like we have beaten this issue like a dead horse, but it couldn’t be more important.  Backing up your data as frequently and as reliably as possible can – and probably will eventually for most of you – save you lots of time and heartache in the long run.  Just simply having the peace of mind that your data is being backed up on a regular basis without your time and attention is worth the expense. We are now offering our new BDR backup and disaster recovery system..  It is a great in office and remote backup option.  We actually had a client that used the in office backup today to restore data that had been corrupted and it took 15 minutes to get them back where they needed to be…without this solution it could have taken days, and they would have lost at least half day’s data. The BDR backs up your office data every 15 minutes to a separate skeleton server in your office and it also sends the information to 2 remote data centers in the United States in case of a physical disaster at your office.  If you want more information call us at 904.443.0095!  This is a MUST HAVE for all dental offices!!

When deciding to go ahead and get a website designed for your practice, one of the big decisions is your domain name. Basically this is your address on the web such as www.firstcoastsmiles.com. This can be difficult to decide on because many names are already taken, and you have to get creative. Here are some good guidelines to follow. 1. Make it short. You want the domain name to be easy to spell and easy to remember so if you tell someone to visit the site, they can remember it easily. 2. Use a .com. The other extensions like .net or .us are really not popular, so you may end up telling someone to go to your site www.firstcoastsmiles.net, and then they end up typing in www.firstcoastsmiles.com instead and go to a totally different site. Stick with .com as much as possible. 3. Don’t use punctuation. I have also had clients try to cheat the system by adding a “-” like www.first-coast-smiles.com so they can get the .com name. This is really not a great idea because the dashes also make it hard to remember to tell someone. Most likely they will end up at the wrong site. So basically, keep it simple. Stick with .com and use a short simple name with no punctuation and you should be good…Now get creative!!