9 Questions To Ask Dental SEO Marketing Companies
Featured on Dentistry IQ
Choosing a dental SEO marketing company isn’t a decision to be made lightly. You need to find a team who can help you achieve a positive return on your investment. It’s also important to work with a dental SEO expert whose philosophy, culture, and goals align with your own.
You need to ask tough questions and listen carefully to the answers you receive.
In today’s post, we’ll share 9 questions we think every dentist should ask when researching a dental marketing agency.
Contributions to the Dentistry IQ blog:
1. “Can you explain dental SEO and dental internet marketing to me?”
A successful partnership with dental marketing SEO agency starts with trust. You have to trust they’ll provide you with a positive return on your investment. Will they have your practice’s best interests and long-term success in mind? How can you be sure?
Ask any agency what they do and to explain their approach to online dental marketing. What do they do? How do they do it?
Anyone who really understands SEO and digital marketing should be able to answer your questions clearly and without marketing buzzwords or technical jargon.
“At :Delmain, we want to work with dentists who are invested in their success and excited about the possibilities of online marketing. The more questions you ask, the more we can tell you about what we can do for your practice!”
2. “Who owns the work you do?”
Any reputable online dental marketing agency will do work for you — work you then own. What does it mean to “own” digital marketing work?
When an agency writes content, creates pages for your website, sets up AdWords campaigns, build backlinks — anything at all — the work should be yours to keep forever. If you decide to stop working with the agency, you shouldn’t have to start over from scratch.
You should also be in control of:
- Your website’s domain name (registering it with your own account at a site like GoDaddy, for example)
- Your website’s hosting
- All web properties and social media accounts
The dental SEO marketing agency you work with should have access to, but not completely control these accounts.
Any agency that wants to maintain control over your valuable online assets is one who doesn’t have your best interests at heart.
3. “How long will it take to see results? Do you guarantee rankings?”
There are no immediate, guaranteed results when it comes to dental SEO and online dental marketing.
An agency needs to get to know your practice, target audience, and competitors. Only then can they develop and implement a strategy designed to deliver results. But it won’t happen overnight.
Google rankings take time to improve and you won’t see big changes right away. Plus, the methods Google uses to rank websites changes frequently (even daily), which makes it impossible to guarantee a #1 ranking.
Any agency promising immediate results or guaranteeing top rankings in Google is one you should avoid. At best, they’re making promises they can’t keep. At worst they’re using underhanded techniques which may cause Google to penalize your site.
The damage done to your site’s online reputation can take a long time to repair down the road.
4. “Do you only work with dentists? Can I talk to them?”
An agency’s proven success with other dental practices can help you trust you’re making the right decision. We encourage you to check out our online reviews. Many of our dental clients are happy to speak with you. Ask us for an introduction!
Should your agency only work with other dentists? Or is a well-rounded agency a better choice?
We love working with dentists, lawyers, home remodeling contractors, and other small to medium-sized businesses. What do our favorite clients have in common?
- They draw patients, clients, and leads from a specific geographic area.
- They have an established business they’re focused on growing.
- They are in an industry where an online search is proven to be a valuable source of leads.
The techniques and tactics we use for our dental clients are easily applied to clients in other industries and vice versa.
5. “Do you work with other dental practices in my area?”
Working with multiple dentists in the same community leads to conflicts of interests and poorer results for everyone. For example, bidding on Google AdWords for 2 dentists in the same city can drive up the cost of those ads.
Remember: It’s simply not possible for 2 dental practices to both rank #1 for the same keyword or phrase.
:Delmain has a 1 client per industry per community policy. We will never work with one of your competitors.
However, we do occasionally work with 2 dentists in the same community, but only if:
- There is no overlap in the practices’ specialties. For example, we may work with a pediatric dentist and an oral surgeon in the same city.
AND…
- Our first dental client in the community gives us their approval.
6. “What SEO marketing strategy do you have in mind for my dental practice?”
A one-size-fits-all strategy doesn’t work. It just doesn’t make sense. The framework of a successful strategy may include:
- Original, SEO optimized content and social media marketing
- Online advertising, including Google AdWords and Facebook ads
- Technical changes to your website structure to improve Google search rankings
- Empowering you to improve your Yelp and Google Plus reviews
A great dental SEO company will base their strategy on your practice’s:
- Current online presence
- Goals and key growth metrics
- Local competition
A dental SEO marketing agency simply can’t create a worthwhile strategy without thorough research into your practice. Make sure the internet marketing strategy your practice receives is 100% unique.
7. “How much of your work is done in-house?”
The more work is done in-house, the better.
At :Delmain, we have focused on building a talented team of in-house writers, designers, technical dental SEO experts, and content outreach and promotion managers.
Some other dental marketing agencies have a huge sales team focused on bringing in new clients. Then they outsource the real work (writing, design, web development, advertising) to other agencies or contractors.
When looking for a digital dental marketing company, look for a team where 100% of the work is done by an in-house team.
8. “How can I get ahold of you and when?”
Our mission is simple: to help you get more patients for your practice through your website. We want to allow you to focus on doing what you love: helping your patients.
At :Delmain, we don’t want to flatter ourselves and think you’ll want to email or call us every day! But when you do need us, we’re available and happy to help however we can.
Every dental marketing SEO agency (and dental practice) should value your questions, opinions, and feedback.
However, you should know our core values include maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Outside of emergencies we don’t answer emails or pick up the phone outside of our business hours, on holidays, or during the weekends.
This is a 2-way street. Our team values and respects you. We’ve created processes and systems designed to nip the vast majority of potential problems in the bud. We don’t want you to worry about what might go wrong!
We hold ourselves accountable and send you a monthly report including:
- A summary of our work
- Statistics and data detailing our progress
- Our plans for the future
When you’re searching for a dental SEO marketing agency, ask yourself what you and your practice value most. Do you need constant communications or are you looking for an agency available when needed and always looking out for your best interests?
9. “How much work will I have to do? How much control will I have over the work you do?”
You’re the dentist. A great dental marketing agency knows your time is best spent with your patients.
But an agency’s relationship with its dental clients should be a partnership. Everyone has to invest time and effort to achieve success. For example, an agency should ask for your feedback and approval for written content before it goes live on your website, and advertising copy and budgets.
Do you have an office manager or another go-to person in your practice you trust? You can have them act as a point-person who can work with your dental SEO agency to free up more of your time.
But you shouldn’t expect an SEO dental marketing agency to work completely autonomously. There will be questions you have to answer about your practice and your goals.
Trustworthy dental SEO marketing agencies will never tell you they’re doing something “just because.” They should take the time to explain their thought process, their plans, how they’re doing something, and why they’re doing it.
Your thoughts, feedback, and input should always be welcomed.
Have More Questions? Ask :Delmain!
At :Delmain, we want to turn your website into a tool that actively helps your practice grow.
Let’s make that happen! Contact us online or call (503) 477-9298.