Tag: dental blogs

Rule #1: Everyone’s time is important, not just yours!

No Time to Say Hello, Goodbye, I’m Late, I’m Late, I’m Late!!!

Do you ever feel like the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland?

We all have busy schedules, and sometimes we wake up early, go to bed late, and fill every free minute with work. It’s all part of investing yourself in your business. Today, communication is “easier” than ever; we have smart phones with email and texting; we have instant messenger; and we have social networking. While these tools make communicating more convenient, they can be a mixed blessing. If it’s easy for your patients, colleagues, contractors, employees, family, and friends to get in touch with you, you’re going to have a lot of people expecting your response.

When it comes to customer service, empathy for the client or patient is imperative. While your time is invaluable to you, theirs is also to them. Here are a few tips to help you stay on top of communication and keep everyone feeling special, without sacrificing all of your precious time:

On your website, don’t include your personal phone number or email address. Funnel calls through your office line. Hire an after-hours service so that a human handles calls when you are not in the office, or you can invest in an office cell phone and pay employees an on-call wage for answering calls after hours. If a caller has an emergency, the person answering the phone can use their best judgement for offering your cell phone number. As for emails, funnel them through a main office account. I recommend you set up a Google email account for the office, since Google never fails. Domain-based email can be a real headache. Read More

Blog Commenting… What’s the Point?

It’s a great question. At first glance, commenting on a blog post seems kinda like throwing your two cents into a conversation where you don’t know the players. If you aren’t the type of guy or gal to butt into a conversation you weren’t invited to, you probably don’t post comments. In addition to feeling uninvited, commenting on a blog is a risk. You’re putting your name out there with your opinion…and what if you find out later that your opinion was wrong? If you throw in your two cents, will you have to eat your words?

Stop feeling scared or weird about posting comments. As long as you post kind responses, useful information, and gentle opinions, it’ll be fine. Never rant, berate, belittle, or fudge the truth.

If you follow the golden rule, commenting on dentistry or community-focused blogs is great—no SUPERB—for business. Here’s why:

  1. The comment can link back to your website
  2. The comment gets your name in front of people (great for publicity)
  3. The more comments you have out in cyberspace, the greater the SEO benefits
  4. Commenting can lead to mutually beneficial relationships (with patients, doctors, or industry professionals)
  5. When you post comments, people often reciprocate by posting comments on your blog… which looks great to visitors

“Well, that’s all fine and good,” you say, “but where do I find dental or community-focused blogs to comment on?”

Another great question. Here’s a great answer:

  1. WordPress.com
  2. Blogged.com
  3. DentalHeroes.com
  4. On your Facebook Fan page
  5. US.LoadedWeb.com

That should be enough to keep you busy for a while!

And if your next thought is, “Time, woman! I have no time!” then I’m glad you’re here. I’m also not offended that you referred to me as “woman.” I take it as a compliment. My dental copywriters and I would be happy to post comments on your behalf if you have an MDPM website blog. We’ll also setup and maintain the comments on your blog, as well as your Facebook account and local listings. It’s a sweet deal. We do it all. Read More

Facebook & Social Networking Tips for Dentists

  • The Facebook movie, The Social Network, will be in theaters this October.
  • America Has Talent is doing a show on the best of YouTube.
  • Tosh.0 has almost 1.5 million Facebook fans.
  • Half of all Americans use Facebook.

Listen, Doc, I don’t want to bring you down, but if you don’t see that social networking is deeply embedded in our culture; if you think it’s a fad that you’ve chosen to avoid; if you will not leverage social networking to market your dental practice…you are putting big steel walls around your practice’s potential growth.

And, thing is, just having a Facebook page won’t do the job.

On the Modern Dental Practice Marketing fan page this week, I’m sharing daily tips and insight about social networking and social marketing. I’m not sharing the tips on the MDPM Dentists page because I want to draw people to the fan page. Why? Read More