If your website has stock content, also known as duplicate copy or library articles, it will suffer the consequence of lower ranking, according to Google experts, like Matt Cutts (and my own research over 15 years). Across the board, with marketing all industries, SEO service providers know that original text is imperative to optimal rankings. But writing copy for a dental website requires more than jotting down a few sentences about each procedure, product, and service.
Hiring an expert dental copywriter, from a respected firm like Identiwrite Creative, is the most practical and affordable option for most busy dentists. (Call 940-395-5115 or email [email protected] for a quote.) However, if you want to write your own website text, you certainly can! Here are some expert tips to get you started.
Know the Rules Before You Begin
Check out the ADA’s website to find marketing guidelines, and refer to your state board’s website for local regulations. A few standard no-nos are: do not compare yourself to other dentists; do not guarantee or promise predictable results; do not use specialist terms for general dentists.
Once you understand advertising guidelines set forth by licensing boards, it will be time to belly up to your laptop and start writing.
First, decide what your page titles will be. These titles must then be organized into navigation for the website. Next, read these tips…
Tips for Writing Search Optimized Web Content
Good, solid, high-ranking dental website content has these attributes:
- Original, informative text: as noted above, original content is job-one if you want your site to rank high in Google Search
- Length: a minimum of 500 words; better results at over 1200 words
- Keywords: integration of targeted keyword phrases, as per Google’s keyword tool
- Linking: strategic links to internal pages, from phrases that relate to the destination page
- Linking: certain linking rules are important, so that Google’s index robots do not become confused about the main ideas on a page
- Heading: instead of just increasing size or bolding headings, h-tags should be strategically incorporated, with just one H1 tag per page
- Meta description: while meta keywords are unimportant these days, a solid, unique meta description is a must for every page of a website
Tips for Composing Engaging Text
Outside of SEO considerations, good content should engage a website visitor and prompt action. We do this by implementing a few techniques:
- Short sentences and paragraphs for quick reading
- Bullet points and section headings that make content easy to scan
- Calls to action in the beginning and end of a page – with phone number, email, address, cities served
- Include visual elements on each page for visual interest, and give a name, description, and Alt-image tag to each image
- Embed appropriate videos for visual interest (housed in your YouTube account)
Now it’s time to write. As an editor, my rule is write, edit, sleep, edit, sleep, edit and publish. Remember, the more people you ask to edit your text, the more opinions you’ll receive. It’s easy to become confused about what’s best, and you may lose your original vision for the composition. Trust your own intuition. You know your patients, what they want from you, and how you perform your work. You know your philosophy for care and mission statement. In short, you know best. (Want expert advice? Call me for editing and revisions: 940-395-5115.)
Uploading the Content
Most likely, your website has a WYSIWYG admin portal. WYSIWYG means what you see is what you get. Basically, the back-end of most modern websites has an easy-to-use panel for adding pages and blog posts. WordPress is well known for their WYSIWYG admin panels. Many smaller web companies that use proprietary templates also offer an easy-to-use admin panel. Ask for your logins, if you don’t already know them.
If your site does not have a novice-friendly admin panel, the technical learning curve increases. You can still load your own content, but you’re going to have to get the instructions from a technician. Prepare to take notes!
Usually, a website company will upload content that you provide, for a fee. Just call your webmaster and ask how to proceed. At Identiwrite Creative, we can load copy for you. Call us at 940-395-5115 for a quote.
Why Don’t They Offer Original Text?
Original text takes time to write. It increases the cost of producing a website by 30-50%. If a company can invest in a library of stock content, though it’s not good for SEO, it will allow for a larger profit margin and/or a less expensive product. Dentists who don’t know better will agree wholeheartedly.
Also, finding qualified writers who have the capacity to learn about dentistry isn’t as easy as it sounds. I own Identiwrite Creative, and I’ve spent the last 15 years hiring and training writers for dental copywriting. Few who apply make the cut. Even fewer last more than three months.
Between hiring and managing great copywriters, and paying their salaries and taxes, most website companies simply say no. The responsibility of coming up with website text goes back to the client (you, the dentist), unless you’re willing to use the provided stock articles – which are no good for SEO.
Why Does Identiwrite Creative Invest the Time?
It’s simple supply and demand. Few companies offer excellent quality writing, with SEO, for dentists and physicians. We don’t overcharge, and we fill a need in the market. In fact, much of our business is composing text for websites built by other companies. We write custom copy for our competitors! That’s how good we are.
If you need website copy that will rank high in Google Search, call Identiwrite Creative today at 940-395-5115. We can work with your current website company to improve your site’s online visibility, so you can get more new patients, stat!
