Pay per click, also referred to as PPC, is a popular form of online marketing and is growing rapidly in the dental industry.
Today, it is important that anyone who utilizes PPC advertising have a good idea of what they are doing. Of all the search engines, Google’s PPC program, Adwords, is the most popular and has the most reach.
PPC advertising has several notable advantages. It is extremely targeted and charges are only incurred when a visitor click onto a business’ website. Some pay per click search engines, such as Google, allow advertisers to only target people who live in a certain geographical area. The ability to set a budget and limit the amount of money a person pays per click, are additional benefits.
The pay per click marketing system isn’t without its problems, one of the chief being, click fraud. Click fraud rates are believed to be as high as 15% to 20%. People that click on PPC ads they have no interest in, with the sole purpose of inflating the advertising costs of the marketer in an effort to run them out of business, are engaging in click fraud, whether they do it themselves, pay others to do it or use a program to do it for them. There’s very little to worry though as Google works hard to quickly identify click fraud and reverse any fees that the advertiser may have incurred as a result of the fraudulent clicks.
The inability to break into highly competitive markets is another drawback. Keyword bidding rates can be very expensive for some markets, for instance, insurance, mortgages and many of the financial industries. Dentistry is also a pretty competitive niche, so it’s important that you work with trained professionals to help you setup and run your campaign.
When done correctly for your dental office, an effective PPC campaign will help you have a steady stream of new patients flowing into your office.
A Quick and Dirty Guide to Pay Per Click Marketing
1. Decide what keywords to target: It will be important to choose the most targeted keywords possible. For instance, a Dentist based in Kansas City will want to choose keywords such as “dental services Kansas City” of “Kansas City dentists.” Choosing targeted keywords lowers costs and increases the likelihood that one’s ads are getting in front of the right people. It is important to stay away from general, single-word keywords, like “dentist”. Google’s free, keyword search tool is helpful in finding quality keywords. There is also a number of quality, paid tools.
2. Target local buyers: Only advertise in those geographical areas where potential customers reside.
3. Write a great advertisement: You have a limited amount of space to get your message across so choose your words carefully and always test, test and test some more! Also be sure to use your search terms in the title and in the body of the ad. Doing so helps to improve conversions.
4. Set a budget: Be sure to set a budget. Put caps on the amount of money you will spend on keywords and set a limit for your daily budget. If your conversions are good, you may want to spend more money, to get more clicks and subsequently, sales.
If you’re looking for dentist marketing or dental practice management solutions, contact us today at (888) 659-9299!
