And yet, in spite of being one of the more conspicuous tools available to every real estate marketing professional and the obvious benefits of online video to any real estate marketing effort, the majority of real estate marketing professionals do not use online video to promote their listings consistently.

The primary reason for this seems to be that online videos are not quick and easy to shoot, edit, and publish. It can take hours to go through each of the steps you need to go through. And you need some skill. It’s not easy to make an online video that really jumps off the (web) page and grabs somebody’s attention, which can mean that, in the end, a real estate agent could invest hours of what precious little “disposable” time he or she has in a marketing effort that does little or nothing to accomplish what it was intended to accomplish.

A Click, Drag, Drop Solution to the Online Video Problem

It doesn’t have to be this way. Shooting a “perfect” video doesn’t have to take lots of skill and time. Editing a video doesn’t have to be the equivalent of an exercise in pulling your hair out. Publishing a video to the Web doesn’t need to be a painstaking, time-sucking process.

And getting a great return for your investment of time – that is, creating an online video that comes alive on a webpage and really engages – can actually be quite easy. And it only has to take a few minutes.

All you need to do is check out a relatively new entry into the online video space called Animoto.

Animoto is an online video software program that allows users to create stunning – yes, that’s right, stunning – videos with zero skill and in a minimal amount of time. In fact, you don’t even need video to create an online video with Animoto. It can take regular images and turn them into a dynamic show – twisting, turning, scrolling, bending, fading, and so forth.

Animoto also allows users to boost the emotional hook of an online video by adding music – from their library or from your own – at the click of a button.

Animoto also makes publishing of an online video a breeze as it creates the video for you and converts it into popluar publishing formats so that you could add your online video to your own website or upload it to an online video-sharing site like YouTube.

Animoto also allows you to leverage the power of the social Web by enabling one-click sharing of your online video on dozens of the major social networking sites, so your online videos gain maximum exposure across the Web.

Below is an example of an Animoto video production I created for another one of my websites.  I used virtually no video in it (only a couple of seconds in two instances).

Imagine what you could do with one of your listings, and how you could make the rooms of a home come alive with an Animoto online video – especially with the addition of the right music (which probably isn’t the music I added to the video above…:))

All it takes to make a stunning online video using Animoto is to shoot some video and/or still images, choose an Animoto theme template, upload the video and/or images to your Animoto account, drag and drop video and image elements to organize them, add text element if you wish, select music, and then click on publish.

Animoto then does all of the work for you, producing an online video that is sure to thrill you.

And if you’re not thrilled after the first production, then you can either click a button to simply remix the video or opt to go through the editing process (with the wizard) again

Bottom Line With Animoto and Online Video

You know you need to do more with online video. You know that it can help you sell homes faster. You also know that it can probably attract more listings, as people see how “switched on” you are, compared to your competitors.

If the only thing that’s really been stopping you from taking advantage of online marketing has been a lack of time (and, perhaps, a shortage of skill), then Animoto is the solution you need.

Click on the link to see demos of Animoto’s online video demos – including demos of online video for real estate marketing – and to learn more about what Animoto’s online video solution can do to boost the efficiency and effectiveness of your real estate marketing efforts.

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You’ll find that AgentPress is worthy of serious consideration for a number of reasons.

First, you use it with WordPress. This means that your website will be extremely easy to install, configure, update, and maintain. WordPress is the essence of simplicity. If you can type and click, you can use WordPress (no need to know anything about coding or programming whatsoever; WordPress turns your website, in many ways, into a word processor).

Second, because it was built to be used with WordPress, you can extend your website’s functionality by adding any number of the tens of thousands of free plugins (they are the “apps” of the WordPress world) that are available. Do you want to add a Facebook “Like” or “Share” button to your website quickly and easily? There’s a plugin for that. Do you want to be able to upload video to your website quickly and easily? There’s a plugin for that. Do you want to be able to optimize your website for the search engines quickly and easily? There’s a plugin for that.

Third, AgentPress looks great. It was designed to be highly visually appealing without sacrificing any functionality whatsoever.

Fourth, speaking of functionality, AgentPress comes with loads of it. It’s designed to create a great experience for prospective buyers and sellers and, of course, to produce great results for real estate agents.

Fifth, there’s an AgentPress forum that’s populated by AgentPress users – fellow agents – who share best practices, design tips, and trouble-shooting ideas.

Six, the AgentPress theme costs less than $100.

Seventh, under the end of November 2010, you can get the AgentPress theme for a 25% discount. Just enter the code WPSV25 on the order form and click on the “Update Cart” button to claim your discount.

So whether you’re upgrading your existing website or a first-time buyer, the AgentPress real estate website theme for WordPress is a great choice.

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But Web search isn’t just for the benefit of people seeking content from any source anywhere in the world. Many people who use search engines actually use them because they are looking for information about places close to where they live or work or plan to visit.

The Importance of Local Web Search

Local Web search has been alive and well – and growing – for years now. In fact, according to information published on Google’s blog, about 20% of all Google searches have a local intent to them (that number rises to about 33% for Google searches via the mobile Web).

A Kelsey Group study form May 2010 found that 97% of all consumers use the Internet to find local business information – of whom, 90% use a search engine.

Seekers of Local Information Take Action

People who use search engines to find local business information do not search just for the sake of searching. They search for the sake of finding. And when they find, they take action, as a Nielsen Net Ratings-WebVisible study found:

• 70% will call the phone number on a website
• 60% have referred a business they found on the Internet to a friend
• 52% always or often research online first, then follow up with an offline purchase from a local business
• 14% will send a business they found online an email
• 11% will fill out an online form

How do those conversions compare to your Yellow Pages listings, radio and TV ads, and direct mail campaigns?

Google’s New SERPs Display Integrated Search Results for Local Businesses

It should be no surprise that search engine giant Google – ever obsessed with delivering a better quality search experience for its end users – has been working hard on improving its local business search facility and results for quite some time now.

And this week, Google rolled a new version of its search engine results pages (SERPs) that represent a significant change in the way universal search results are displayed whenever the search engine detects implicit or explicit local intent to a search query.

The new SERPs have eliminated the Local Business 3-7-10 packs in favour of an integrated search result. The new search results for local businesses now combine information traditionally displayed in the Web search results listings (page title, page description, and URL) with information previously displayed only in the Google Places Page listings (pushpin corresponding to locations on the map, customer ratings, reviews, and link to the business’ Places Page).

The map that used to appear to left of the Local Business 3-7-10 pack listings has now moved to the right – directly above the vertical paid search results. It has also been made “sticky,” so it remains in view as you scroll down the page.

Consolidated Web/Local Ranking Algorithms Will Have Implications

Importantly, according to a post on Search Engine Land, Google claims that the ranking algorithm for local/place search has been improved and refined. Moreover, the previously distinct local and Web search algorithms have now been merged or consolidated.

This could have significant implications for businesses that have held, in the past, top rankings in Google’s local business search results and Google Maps.

Local Businesses Have Been Lagging Behind

Local businesses have been – to their detriment – slow to embrace Google Places (witness the fact that about 90% of the 50 million+ Google Places Pages that Google had created in September 2009 were unclaimed, according to the most recent available data). As a result, businesses have forfeited top rankings – and Web and physical traffic that top rankings can drive – to competitors that have only had to make a modicum level of effort at SEO for their Places Pages.

With the new SERP display, local business results take on new prominence on the first page of Google. No longer will they appear as some aberration at the top (or in the middle) of the search results. Now they are the search results.

The Time is Right to Get Your Local Search Marketing Effort in Gear

If your business has enjoyed top rankings in the non-local organic search results – but has done little or nothing with its free Google Places Page – you could be in for a big surprise.

If, on the other hand, your business has been shut out of the top search results – local or otherwise – the time is right for you to make some moves.

The message is clear: it’s time to get off your butt and get your local search marketing efforts in gear.

Local online marketing is big business. And it has been for a while. Local businesses have been painfully slow to embrace the Internet as a marketing tool. This means that there is opportunity for businesses that “strike first.”

Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. The new SERPs were just launched this week. Beat your competitors to the punch and cash in on all of the benefits of getting your search marketing act together before they do.

If you need more “convincing,” then enter your contact details into the form at the top of the sidebar on the right of this page to download a free copy of the Local Search Marketing report, which outlines the opportunity for local businesses to cash in on local search marketing in detail.

Additionally, you can contact me personally for a free and painless – relatively speaking – consultation.

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And this means more phone calls and foot traffic to your business – which can translate into leads and sales. And because online PR services are one of the most inexpensive forms of advertising and promotion – paid services like PRWeb will distribute your press release all over the Web for as little as $80 – the return any individual press release generates can be many times over the investment.

This makes online PR the proverbial “no-brainer” for anyone who understands the benefits of getting content ranked at or near the top of Google’s first page (the top two to three results on Google typically capture more than 50%-60% of all of the clicks).

How Press Release Distribution through Online PR Services Works

The process for using press releases to promote your business through online PR services is simple and straightforward:

• Create a free account with an online PR service like PRWeb
• Write something about your business or the products and services you offer that is timely and interesting:
• Submit your content to an online PR service like PRWeb (there are services that distribute press releases for free but they come with limitations in terms of reach and what you can do with the content)
• The online PR service distributes your press release to major search engines, news wires, journalists, influential bloggers, and other important media channels
• Your news release gains visibility in the search results and sends traffic to your website or local business listing
  • Promotions or sales
  • Grand openings or in-store events
  • Limited-time offers
  • New services or product lines
  • Local events
  • Sponsorship of a team or a cause
  • Staff appointments and promotions
  • Seasonal developments

Of course, there’s no guarantee that your press release will capture a top ranking in Google’s search results (or the search results of other search engines) no matter what online PR service you use. That depends upon how well you optimized the press release after you wrote it.

Online PR Could be the Best Money You Ever Spend to Promote Your Business

Distributing a press release through an online PR service like PRWeb costs anywhere between $80 for basic news release distribution to $360 for premium news release distribution (with a couple of price points in between).

Although there are, of course, differences in what each PRWeb online news release package offers, all of them come standard with the following:

• Positioning on the PRWeb website
• Indexing in major search engines
• Positioning on major online news websites
• Placement on industry news feeds
• Placement on regional news feeds
• Embedded website
• File attachments
• $50 Google ad credit

This means that it’s possible for an $80 investment in online PR to help you capture a top position in the search results. And, with it, all of the highly motivated search referral traffic that comes, in large part, as a result of a top position in the search results (research shows that people who use search engines have a high propensity for taking action).

Click on the image below to visit the PRWeb website and get a 10% discount on your first news release.

Ultimately, online PR is a great way to create local buzz about a business and, more importantly, generate a sudden – and significant – surge in traffic to a business’ website or local business listing.

If you’ve been on the sidelines up to this point, make sure you give online PR a try.

If you’re ready to try online PR right now, act now and click on the link to claim a 10% discount off of your first online press release with PRWeb.

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PRWeb distributes online press and news releases to a number of key channels:

• Major search engines
• Industry and regional news feeds
• Online news media channels
• Bloggers and journalist (through RSS feeds)

PRWeb also publishes the news and press releases its clients submit to the PRWeb website.

PRWeb Serves a Broad Cross-Section of Organizations

More than 40,000 organizations all over the world use PRWeb to help them generate buzz and drive a lot traffic to their websites. PRWeb is especially popular with the following organizations in the following categories:

• Arts & Entertainment
• Associations & Non-Profits
• Authors & Book Publishers
• E-Commerce
• Local Business
• Real Estate
• Restaurants
• Technology
• Travel & Hospitality

Marketing professionals, SEO and social media professionals, and, of course, PR professionals are also heavy users of PRWeb.

PRWeb is Easy to Use and Offers Lots of Flexibility

PRWeb accounts are quick, easy, and free to sign up for. There are no set-up fees or monthly charges. You pay PRWeb only when you submit a news or press release for distribution.

Click on the image below to get started and claim a 10% discount off of your first PRWeb news release.

PRWeb offers four different press and news release distribution packages – from $80 for the basic package to $360 for the premium package (with a couple of price points for other packages in between).

A basic online press and news release distribution package through PRWeb will get you:

• Positioning on the PRWeb website
• Indexing in major search engines
• Positioning on major online news websites
• Placement on five industry news feeds
• Placement on two regional news feeds
• Embedded website
• File attachments
• $50 Google AdWords credit

If you go for PRWeb’s premium online news and press release distribution package you will get everything that the basic package offers plus:

• Five additional industry news feeds (ten in total)
• Three additional regional news feeds (five in total)
• Distribution to PRWeb media subscribers
• Enhanced visibility with the blogging community
• Distribution to two media lists
• Positioning on premium websites
• Positioning of images on Photobucket
• Distribution via Associated Press to national media
• Positioning on local news websites
• Posting to Twitter and social bookmarking sites
• Call-out “boxes” for quotations
• Keywords in the anchor text of links
• Custom URLs
• Image optimized for search engines
• Embedded video
• Additional $25 Google AdWords credit ($75 in total)
• Next-day distribution

PRWeb also offers a number of upgrades that are designed to extend the reach of a news release even further and, in so doing, generate even more online buzz. You’re offered these options as you build out your news release.

PRWeb Offers a Great Return on Investment

A small investment in the distribution of an online news release through PRWeb can result in some very big returns for a business. If you optimize your news release effectively, you’ll have a great chance of ranking at or near the top Google’s search results. Since the top positions on Google’s first page capture 40% or more of all of the clicks for any search, your new release could send a lot of traffic to your website – provided, of course, that you’ve optimized your news release for the right keywords (those that have a healthy volume of searches).

And since the data show that people who use search engines have a high propensity for taking action, you’re likely to see a lot of these visitors convert.

What’s one new customer worth to your business? What about ten? What about 100? What about 1,000?

PRWeb can make it happen – quickly, easily, and consistently.

Click on the link if you want to learn more about online PR and online press and news releases in general or about PRWeb in particular.

Or if you’re ready to get started with online PR and want to submit your first online press release today, then click on the link to claim a 10% discount off of your first news release.

Click on the image below to get started and claim a 10% discount off of your first PRWeb news release.

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• Just two  or three positions at top of Google or somewhere on Google’s first page – since Google typically serves up 10 search results per page, two or three positions represent only a 20% or 30% “share of the page,” which is a far cry from dominating Google (in my view)
• Obscure search terms that have very little search volume and very little value to anyone even if he/she did dominate Google for them – this wouldn’t be so bad if they at least acknowledged the fact that the search terms for which they’re dominating Google were practically worthless
• Search terms are enclosed in quotes (e.g., “dominating Google”) – quotes around a search term direct Google to refine search results to only display  pages that include a match to the phrase that was searched for, which always results in far fewer search results being displayed and, therefore, makes it much easier to dominate Google (a search for the phrase dominating Google without quotes returns 1.32 million search results while a search for the phrase “dominating Google” with quotes returns 20,300 search results)

This kind of misrepresentation generally leads to two results:

• First , aspiring Internet marketing entrepreneurs and established small and medium business owners empty their wallets so they, too, can dominate Google just like they were told they could
• Second, those same Internet marketing entrepreneurs and small and medium business owners stop believing that it’s possible to dominate Google after it does not happen

This is unfortunate for a number of reasons – not the least of which is that people lose out on the very real opportunity to not only achieve multiple positions at or near the top of Google, but also to literally dominate the first page by taking over 50% or more of Google’ first page of search results.

The example that follows is one of many that provides proof-positive that dominating Google is not only achievable, but it is also realistic within a short timeframe.

Dominating Google for a Worthwhile Search Term

Skills for Growth is a workforce planning and development initiative run by the State Government of Victoria (in Australia), open to all qualified small and medium businesses in Victoria. And even though the government has been promoting the program and has a website where business owners can gather more information and register, there are still people who go to Google every day looking for information specifically about Skills for Growth.

I’ve chosen this one from a number of different examples I could have used for a couple of reasons:

• There is no commercial value to me because I’m not part of any business that can benefit from the program – so I’m not giving anything away of any value to me
• There is no commercial value to any client of mine because no client of mine is currently involved in the program – so I’m not giving away anything of any value to a client (which, of course, I wouldn’t do under any circumstances)

And while the search term skills for growth does not have a particularly high monthly search volume – about 3,600 global broad-match (no quotes) searches every month – people who are looking for information about the Skills for Growth program are potentially very valuable to the businesses that are on the panel of suppliers – due to the fact that the suppliers are “fighting it out” with one another for a slice of a $52 million pie (that’s the total funding behind the program).

This means that, if you happened to be one of those suppliers, dominating Google for the term skills for growth could potentially be very valuable to your business.

Video Evidence That’s it’s Possible to Dominate Google

The screencast below was recorded on October 6, 2010 – approximately one month after I wrote a basic overview of the Skills for Growth program and published it to one of my websites. I followed this up by converting the content into some different formats – PDF, PPT, and video – and publishing them to different Web properties shortly thereafter.

Click on the link to see a high-definition version of the “Dominating Google” screencast

As you can see in the screencast, in the month since I first created and published content about Skills for Growth, my content is dominating the first page of Google’s search results for a search term with 3,600 broad-match global monthly searches –  currently holding:

• First position
• Second position
• Third position
• Fifth position
• Sixth position
• Seventh position
• Ninth position
• Eleventh position (although Google typically only displays ten results on the first page, it’s increasingly common to see additional search results on the first page when Google serves up “universal” content, such as videos, news, images, and so forth)

Strategies for Getting to the Top of Google and for Dominating Google

My strategies for getting to the top of Google and for dominating Google are, of course, completely confidential. And while some of the savvier Internet marketing minds might be able to divine some of the elements of my strategies, there’s no way to unravel the full “mystery” of how to dominate Google.

My time and expertise are, however, available.

So if you are interested in getting some of your website’s content to the top of Google – or if you’re interested in aiming even higher and dominating Google – click on the link to get in touch with me to see if – and how – I can help you.

If the content had been published to com.au TLDs, then there is little doubt that it would hold a similarly dominant position in Google Australia’s search results.

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Google Places could be your ticket to the top of Google

Google Places – formerly known as the Google Local Business Center – is a great resource for people in need of local business information because Google serves up local business search results in response to any search query that has a “local intent” to it. The local business search results are displayed on the first page of search results – either on top of the organic search results or somewhere towards the middle of the page within the organic search results – and feature a map alongside a box of business listings that link to each business’ website and Google Places Page.

Google Places strives to make it as easy as possible for searchers to find relevant information about local businesses.

Google Places Enables Local Businesses to Tap Into Huge Online Demand

Google Places is also a great resource for businesses that depend upon local clientele because it helps them tap into the huge online demand for local content, which, according to Google, is responsible for about 20% of all Google searches (that number climbs to about 33% for Google searches via the mobile Web).

When you consider the fact that Google’s search volume for August 2010 was a little over 10.2 billion searches in the US alone, you can begin to appreciate just how significant the demand is for local content.

The Importance of “Places” at the Top of Google

Content that ranks at or near the top of Google’s first page of organic Web search results gets the lion’s share of all of the clicks for every search query (according to all available data and studies, the first page of Google gets about 90% of all of the clicks for every search, with more than half of all clicks going to the first three search results). So a top Google ranking for a keyword with a high search volume can cause a huge increase in traffic to a website.

But getting to the top of Google’s organic search results has, historically, been challenging for a number of reasons. It can also, in some cases, take a long time.

Google Places Could be Your Ticket to the Top of Google

Because Google only ever serves up local business search results on the first page of search results – and commonly on top of the organic Web search results, Google Places opens up another entry point to the top of Google.

Moreover, since Google Places is still in its “infancy,” it is entirely possible for a business to come along, claim its Places Page, make a few, simple tweaks to it, and end up at the top of the local business search results – at the top of Google’s organic Web search results.

And because Google indexes Places Pages differently than other web pages, modifications can have an immediate effect on the ranking of a Places Page.

All in all, Google Places is an excellent way for a local business to “get found” on the Web by people in need of what the business sells. If you haven’t already claimed and optimized your Places Page, make sure you don’t wait any longer. Thousands of people in your city are searching the Web for your type of business – right now. Make sure they find your business before they find a competitor’s business by establishing a solid presence in Google Places.

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Dental practice marketing efforts should include Google Places

If your dental practice marketing efforts do not currently target Google Places, you are losing out in a big way by forfeiting a lot of free and easy-to-win business to other dentists who are either lucky – in some markets simply having a Google Places Page with the right keyword in the title is good enough to get traffic – or who have at least made a modicum level of effort to ensure that Google Places is a core part of their dental practice marketing efforts.

Google Places could easily be the best investment of time and effort any dental practice marketing practitioner makes – be it a do-it-yourself dentist-as-marketer or a consultant or agency that offers dental practice marketing services – for three very good reasons:

1. It’s free to list a business with Google Places

That’s right, unlike all other dental practice marketing efforts, Google Places doesn’t have to cost a cent – and it doesn’t have to take up much time. You can claim your Google Places Page (odds are good that it already exists because Google creates them automatically for most businesses) in a matter of minutes and you can effectively manage your account by spending only about a half-hour per week on it.

2. People in need of dental services are heavy users of the Google search engine

Check out the search volume (taken straight from Google’s free Keyword Selection Tool) for just five keywords people use to find dentists, dental practices, and dental procedures in the city of Houston:

• 8,100 monthly searches for the phrase “dentist Houston”
• 6,600 monthly searches for the phrase “Houston dental”
• 3,600 monthly searches for the phrase “dentist in Houston”
• 2,900 monthly searches for the phrase “Houston dentist”
• 1,300 monthly searches for the phrase “teeth whitening Houston”

That’s 22,500 searches for just five keywords – out of dozens or, possibly, hundreds – that people use to find dentists, dental practices, and dental procedures in the city of Houston every single month (and it’s highly likely that you’ll find similar results in your city, wherever that may be).

3.It’s usually somewhere between “extremely easy” and “relatively easy” to capture a position at the top of Google’s organic search results with a Google Places listing, depending on the market you’re in

Since the first page of search results captures about 90% of the clickstream for every keyword search (with more than half of all clicks going to the first three search results), the first page is the only place you want to be. And since Google serves up Google Places Pages as part of their three-pack, seven-pack, or ten-pack of local business listings that only ever appear on the first page of search results, a Google Places Page can give you the opportunity to capture a share of the clickstream for a number of high-value keywords.

When you put it all together – free and easy + huge consumer demand + easy rankings – you should really be able to begin to appreciate the benefits of adding Google Places to your dental practice marketing program.

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Is there a role in dental practice marketing for social media?

Lately a growing number of dental practice marketing practitioners – from dentists-as-marketers to marketing and advertising agencies that specialize, or claim to specialize, in dental practice marketing – have been raising questions in online dental practitioner forums about social media marketing. Specifically, they’ve been asking their peers and others about whether or not they think that it would be a good idea to invest some of their dental practice marketing time, effort and money into establishing a presence and – marketing their practices – in social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

And why wouldn’t they be curious – especially when they’re exposed to such big numbers:

• Facebook has more than 500 million users
• Twitter has had more than 24 billion – that’s right, billion – messages posted to it
• YouTube gets an average of 2 billion video views every single day

They’ve obviously also been exposed to the fact that a growing number of businesses are leveraging social media as part of their broader overall marketing efforts, and they don’t want to miss out on what could be the “next big thing” in dental practice marketing.

What Nobody Says About the Role of Social Media in Dental Practice Marketing

While the consensus among people in online dental practitioner forums seems to be that social media is worth the time, effort and money, it’s important to understand that many of the voices that are weighing in on the issue belong people who are in the social media marketing business. Therefore, they have a vested interest in promoting social media as an effective dental practice marketing method (their voices are also likely being heard in other online professional  forums where similar questions are being raised).

There are, however, a number of things they’re not saying –such as:

• The “big numbers” like those listed above are absolutely meaningless at a local business level – the fact that Facebook has 500 million users globally has no value to a dental practice whose patient base is limited by geographical boundaries
• Social media marketing takes a fairly significant investment of time, effort, and money (for dentists who need to outsource or use automation tools) – while setting up profiles in a few of the more popular social media sites takes only a few minutes, participating in the “conversation” can easily consume many hours every week
• Social media sites are, by definition, “social” – as a rule, people visit social media sites to stay in touch with friends and family, not to find businesses to buy from; when they want to do that, they use search engines, online review sites, and the Internet Yellow Pages
• Getting a lot of followers and fans can be totally useless – if the people in a dental practice’s social circles are not targeted, then they’re not going to do anything for the dental practice (targeted, in this case, means that they are the type of people who are “dental practice promiscuous” and that they live or work close enough to a dentist’s office that they’ll make the trip – which, for about 72% of people, is a 20 minute drive, according to a study on local consumer behavior by Nielsen/WebVisible)
• Attracting “fans” and “followers” that are relevant to any local business is a long and hard journey – this is especially true of local services businesses like dental practices, law firms, real estate agencies and the like (and going the other route – asking people to become followers or fans isn’t altogether different from traditional interruptive marketing, save for the channel)

The last point is probably the most important consideration. Think about this from your own perspective. How likely are you, personally, to seek out a local business on a social media site and become a fan or follower – while being open to the possibility of ultimately becoming a customer of that business?

Probably not very likely – unless they’re recommended by someone you already know, like, and trust or unless their profile has somehow caught your eye. And this is what makes it a long and hard process.

Social Media Should Ultimately be Seen as One Part – of Many – in a Broader Dental Practice Marketing Program

In the end, while social media participation can add value to dental practice marketing, how much value it can add – and at what cost – remains to be seen. So rather than falling for the hype about social media marketing being the “next big thing,” dentists should set their expectations realistically and understand that social media is simply one in a number of different marketing channels – each of which should be seen as part of a broader overall dental practice marketing program.

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• They move
• They change benefits providers
• They grow dissatisfied with an element of the service or price
• Etc, etc etc

The key to the success of a dental practice, therefore, is to make every effort to minimize patient attrition while, at the same time, endeavouring to continuously attract a steady stream of new patients. This is where dental practice marketing comes in.

Dental Practice Marketing Ensures Survival and Drives Growth

Dental practice marketing provides for both the survival of a dental practice – if patients who leave the practice aren’t replaced the practice will simply cease to exist – and for its growth, provided that its marketing efforts are effective at attracting new patients at a faster rate than it loses “old” patients.

Effective dental practice marketing should prevent "empty chair" syndrome

And yet,  in spite of the obvious importance of marketing to the success of any dental practice, the majority of dentists seem to make some pretty poor decisions when it comes to how and where to spend their marketing dollars. They spend their marketing dollars mostly the same ways they always have – “if t ain’t  broke, don’t fix it” – and mostly only dabble in anything outside their dental practice marketing “comfort zone.”

Well, the reality is that “it is broke” and it needs to be fixed. The audiences that dental practices market to have moved away from the places where they spend most of their marketing dollars – consumer usage of the Yellow Pages, for instance, continues to fall dramatically year after year – and twords places where most dental practices have little or no “strategic” visibility, such as search engines and Web 2.0.

Search Engines Trump Web 2.0 Sites as Targets for Dental Practice Marketing Effort and Spend

And even though Web 2.0 sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the like generate most of the buzz these days – and with good reason because the high-level (but meaningless at a local level) numbers are, frankly, jaw-dropping – they’re not where a dental practice should be directing a lot of its marketing effort or dollars for the simple reason that people visit Web 2.0 sites primarily to connect/socialize with friends and family. They’re not there to look for products and services and are certainly not there to be marketed to.

Search engines, on the other hand, are where people turn when they’ve got an itch to scratch:

• 8.8 billons searches were conducted in the US in July 2010 – Nielsen Wire
• 90% of the 239 million US Internet users who use the Internet to find local businesses use search engines to do so – the Kelsey Group
• 52% of people who use search engines to find local business information usually or always follow up their online search with an offline purchase  – Nielsen/WebVisble
• 39% of people who used a search engine to find a local business were looking for medical/dental services – Nielsen/WebVisble

When you look at what’s going on in the search engines at a local level – in this case, in the city of Vancouver – you’ll see that the numbers make a compelling case for dental practices to invest more of their marketing effort and dollars into search engine marketing.

The following numbers are taken from Google’s Keyword Selection Tool which, among other things, tracks and reports on monthly keyword search volumes:

• 4,400 monthly searches for “dentist Vancouver
• 2,400 monthly searches for “Vancouver dentist”
• 1,900 monthly searches for “Vancouver dental”
• 1,900 monthly searches for “dentists in Vancouver”
• 1,600 monthly searches for “dental Vancouver”
• 1,300 monthly searches for “dentists Vancouver”

That’s 13,500 monthly searches for just six keywords – out of dozens – that people use every month in their efforts to find dentists/dental practices/dental services in the city of Vancouver.

An Effective Dental Practice Marketing Strategy Must Include Search Engine Marketing

Search engines, very simply, connect people in need of products and services with businesses that sell the products and services they need – at the precise moment when their needs are at a peak level. That’s why they’re searching on the Internet in the first place. They’ve got an itch to scratch – such as a tooth ache – and they need it scratched – and usually pretty urgently.

And not only are search volumes for dentists and related terms already high, more and more people are turning to search engines to help them find dentists than ever before – searches for dentist and related keywords reached their highest volumes ever July and August 2010 – as you can see in the image below from Google Search Trends.

The message is clear: your dental practice’s patients of tomorrow will not be found where you were investing time, effort, and money to find them in the past. They’ve moved online – and continue to do so.. And unless you move more of your dental practice marketing efforts online – in a strategic and cohesive way – your dental practice simply will not be found.

Click on the link to download a free copy of the brand new 25-page report Local Search Marketing: Let the Power of Search Engines Drive the Growth of Your Business’ Growth” (no opt-in required).

Click here to contact me for more information or a complimentary initial consultation.

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