New Dental Web has worked with dentists and professional writers to create standard website content.  The content we provide with the initial dental website setup can be used by your practice.  Many dentists do not have time (or want to make the time) to sit down and write out an entire website.  For this reason, our content is very helpful and provides dentists with a great start.

That being said, dentists have many differing schools of thought about services and procedures.  We recommend that dentists run through the website and edit any content that does not fit their beliefs.  In addition, we encourage dentists to write with the personality of their practice in mind.  Personality can go a long way and will help to establish a stronger dentist-patient relationship.

Email newsletters can be a powerful tool for dentists.  If your practice is like the majority of dental practices, it’s either not using a newsletter or it’s not using the newsletter effectively as the marketing tool that it is. 

Newsletters should be used to build your relationship with patients, educate them about dental hygiene and your practice, and offer them services that they might otherwise not know about.  Just as important, it gives you the ability to cost-effectively stay in touch with them.  Timing is everything and monthly email newsletter keep you in front of your patients.

Below are some of te benefits and tips to help create a more powerful marketing package.

1. Educate Your Patients and Cater the Newlsetter to Them
   All to often, practices create newsletters as a brag book.  They discuss awards or talk about practice happenings that are not relevant to the patient.  Patients will quickly start deleting your email if it does not interest them.  Write interesting, educational materials that will spark their interest.  Discuss the main causes of teeth discoloring or introduce gum sculpting as an easy option to completely transform a person.
2. Personalize Your Newsletter
   Most dental practices do not find the time to write email marketing campaigns and prefer to use cookie cutter templates and pre-written content.  While this method can still be effective, we encourage you to use some personality.  A monthly newsletter gives you the opportunity to bond with your patients and build a relationship.  Included personality and emotion can work wonders.
3. Make It Brief and Visually Appealing
   You will only have the patient’s attention for a couple minutes (if not a couple seconds.)  Make it visually appealing to attract them to read the newsletter and then keep it brief and interesting.
4. Send the Newsletter Often, But Not Too Often
   Timing is everything.  If a friend makes a comment on a patient’s teeth and he walks back to his desk to an email newsletter with a solution then he may pick up the phone.  However, if you send daily newsletters, then it won’t be long before you are considered an annoyance and patients send you to their spam box.  Once a month is just fine.
5. Promote Your Products and Services
   At the end of the day, you do want to use the email newsletter as a selling tool.  While you shouldn’t send patients a list of specials without content, you should offer monthly specials and promote services through patient education.  Discuss the top five things that cause teeth discoloring and in the same breath offer a solution and a special: “Quick in-office bleaching.  $100 off for the month of June.”
6. Include Your Contact Information and Make It Prominent
   Patients know how to eventually get a hold of you but they may not call or forward your information if they need to go find it. 

New Dental Web will host the website.  However, the dentist has complete ownership of the domain name and is able to point the domain elsewhere at anytime without penalty.  There is no charge to leave New Dental Web and the dentist will never need to purchase the rights of the domain name from New Dental Web (because they already own the rights.)

Dentists are able to host their own email addresses or create emails through New Dental Web.  Dentists may have up to 20 email addresses.  Additional emails can be purchased.

Both are a good option.  It really depends on the purpose of the website and the dentist’s preference.  Please read below to learn more and see what option fits your practice.

Dental Template Websites

The templates that New Dental Web offers are custom created by our designers to the specifications of a dentist.  So in a sense, the template website is a custom website. However, it was created for a particular dentist who may or may not have the same sense of style and practice that other dentists have.  In addition, templates are available to all dentists so if thousands of dentists choose the same template, then that template may not seem very original.  That being said, most dentists do not have a very large territory so hundreds of dentists across the country are probably not competing anyway.

Benefits of Dental Template Websites

• Very quick completion time
• Low upfront costs (professional website at a fraction of the cost)
• Content Management System included (allows dentists or employees to update the site content on their own)
• Numerous online tools and features are included that would otherwise be costly for a custom-built website
• Ongoing support, maintenance, and simple changes are included in the monthly price

Benefits of Custom Dental Websites

• The website is completely unique
• The website is created to the dentist’s specification and will perfectly match marketing efforts
• The upfront cost is much larger but the ongoing monthly costs for hosting and/or email are much lower

Custom-Template Websites

A good mix between the template websites and custom websites is a custom-template website.  New Dental Web offers clients the option of choosing a particular template that we then alter to the dentist’s specifications for a much lower cost than a completely custom website.  This results in:

• A more unique website
• Lower upfront costs than a custom website
• Quicker completion time than a completely custom-built website
• Content Management System included (allows dentists or employees to update the site content on their own)
• All of the online tools and features are included that would otherwise be costly for a custom-built website
• Ongoing support, maintenance, and simple changes are included in the monthly price

Yes.  New Dental Web offers a robust content management system for your dental website that allows you to login from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection.  You can personally add articles, links, text, images, etc… 

Additionally, many people opt to have a “blog” that is completely customized to match the website and will allow you to create articles and your own categories very quickly.  Blogs are an example of the Web 2.0 tools that we offer to clients.  They are search engine optimized and allow you to create steady, up-to-date content so targeted patients can find you on the internet.

Content can include articles, press releases, specials, recommended services, educational materials, and more.  Because we customize the blog to look exactly like your website, it appears as if you are just creating regular pages on your website when in fact you are creating a highly search engine optimized, easily navigable blog.

For more dental website tips and answers to your questions please call (888) 937-5552

Most companies will charge you anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 and more for websites, another large fee for hosting, and then another large hourly fee for maintenance (changing text, adding images, etc…)  If a company charges you $79 a month for “maintenance fees” then this may just include telephone support if you have a problem with the website.

New Dental Web offers custom-designed templates for a low monthly price (starting at $99) that will give you the option of editing text and adding images yourself.  The content management system allows you to edit your pages from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection.  As soon as you hit save, your changes are live!

For our monthly clients, the $99 includes the website design, hosting, emails, content management system, and maintenance (support calls and help editing your text and images on existing pages.)  If you need extra pages that weren’t included in your package, you can always jump up to the next package or add on other products (flash banners, dental service animations, email newsletters, etc…) with our low-priced add-ons.

We offer a number of products at very low prices and we always try to price our products well below the industry standard.  That being said, I personally think that the Woody Oakes Special is the best value on newdentalweb.com.  Woody Oakes is one of the best dental speakers/coaches in the country.  We sat down with Woody to determine the bare bones essentials for what he would like his dental students to have.  Based on our meeting, we offered a negotiated special that includes a Flash Banner, Search Engine Optimization package, and additional Dental Services.  We then dropped $300 off the package price.  In fact, after I had one of our programmers add the special he said, “I don’t get it.  If you advertise this then why wouldn’t everyone get it?”

The second best value on the site is probably the annual package.  We like to give people the option of a low monthly price with no cancellation fee to let the world know that New Dental Web is committed to make dentists happy.  However, as soon as the dentist is content with the site, I personally recommend buying a year up front to save 10%.  This will often save up to $200 or more depending on the chosen website package.

The majority of the photos on our New Dental Web sites are from vendors specializing in stock photos.  We have hand-picked photos based on feedback from our dental clients.  However, there are countless demographics; cities and states can vary more than countries; and some dentists just have differing person preferences so we have created a cost-effective way for dentists to choose their own stock imagery.  In addition, we highly recommend professional, personal photography.  Due to the importance I’ve dedicated the entire last paragraph to just that.

Stock Imagery

We recommend istockphoto.com and shutterstock.com.  These websites give dentists the ability to choose the images that fit their practices best, and the rates and quality are second to none.  New Dental Web charges a small fee for the incorporation of images into the site that varies on a project to project basis.  We are more than happy to give you an immediate quote based on the imagery desired.

Personal Photography (Very Important)

For many dentists, their website serves as their first impression with clients.  We highly recommend hiring a professional photographer for the dentist, practice, and team photos.  Let me repeat, we HIGHLY recommend hiring  professional photographer.

People are terrified of the dentist and you need a professional, warm photo that gives them peace of mind and makes them feel comfortable with you and your practice.  Dark photos or photos that do not do justice to dentists will turn patients away or immediately put them at a disadvantage.

If you have more questions about New Dental Web photography or dental photography in general, please feel free to visit www.newdentalweb.com, email contact@newdentalweb.com, or call 1-888-937-5552.

Websites have a number of different uses.  They can be used for education, online stores, new business, and a host of other things.  If one of your main goals is to bring in new dental patients, then you need to start marketing your site.  I could spend days and write a book on this subject alone so what I’ll try to do is summarize the different ways to market your site and give a brief description of each method.

Internal Marketing and Dental Practice Management

Internally, you can put your website address on everything- forms, bills, business cards, brochures, etc…  You can encourage people to go online to schedule an appointment or learn more about the services you offer.  Add monthly specials to your website and tell patients to go online every month to see the different specials you offer.

Cost for Internal Marketing: Time.  You are already paying for business cards, forms, etc…  You just need to add the website.  The real cost is time and it takes very little time to tell people “you can now schedule online!”

Organic Website Marketing (Search Engine Optimization)

Most people do not use phone books anymore- certainly young families that the majority of dentists target.  Once you get your website ranked at the top of the search engines, people will find you for free.  Imagine always having the first, most prominent ad in the phonebook but on the internet… for free!

Cost for Organic Marketing: Free

Cost to make it to the top of the search engines: This totally varies based on the search terms and the practice location.  $395 for standard search optimization is a great start.

Paid Website Marketing

Google Adwords, Yahoo, and MSN are all great companies to use while you are getting your website ranked at the top of search engines.  Though it may cost you money for each click, it’s the easiest (and only) way to get ranked at the top immediately.  Once you have perfected the search engine optimization on your site and rank organically, you can stop the paid website marketing.

Additionally, you can run ads on other websites.  Costs vary greatly and you should make sure that your target audience is visiting those websites.

Cost for Paid Website Marketing: Pricing starts at 7 cents a click but will generally be more.  You can decide how much yhou want to spend each month and Google/Yahoo/MSN will make sure you do not cross that amount.

Direct-Mail Campaigns

While online campaigns and email campaigns seem very cost effective, direct-mail campaigns are still very strong marketing campaigns for dentists.  By sending mailers out once every month for a year, you establish yourself as a household name.  10 patients each month out of 2,500 mailers will still pay for itself.  Those patients will, in-turn, bring new patients to your practice.

Cost for 2,500 Direct-Mail Campaigns: $1,789 ($270 for a list of 2,500 residents (unlimited use for one year) within your chosen radius and demographic, $299 for a professional postcard design, $720 for postage and mailing services, $500 for double-sided printing on quality, glossy postcard.)

There are a number of other effective ways to attract new patients.  To learn more, visit www.newdentalweb.com or call 888-937-5552.

Whether you call it bad breath or halitosis, it’s an unpleasant condition that’s cause for embarrassment. Some people with bad breath aren’t even aware there’s a problem. If you’re concerned about bad breath, see your dentist. He or she can help identify the cause and, if it’s due to an oral condition, develop a treatment plan to help eliminate it.

What you eat affects the air you exhale. Certain foods, such as garlic and onions, contribute to objectionable breath odor. Once the food is absorbed into the bloodstream, it is transferred to the lungs, where it is expelled. Brushing, flossing and mouthwash will only mask the odor temporarily. Odors continue until the body eliminates the food. Dieters may develop unpleasant breath from infrequent eating.

If you don’t brush and floss daily, particles of food remain in the mouth, collecting bacteria, which can cause bad breath. Food that collects between the teeth, on the tongue and around the gums can rot, leaving an unpleasant odor.

Bad breath can also be caused by dry mouth (xerostomia), which occurs when the flow of saliva decreases. Saliva is necessary to cleanse the mouth and remove particles that may cause odor. Dry mouth may be caused by various medications, salivary gland problems or continuously breathing through the mouth. If you suffer from dry mouth, your dentist may prescribe an artificial saliva, or suggest using sugarless candy and increasing your fluid intake.

Tobacco products cause bad breath. If you use tobacco, ask your dentist for tips on kicking the habit.

Bad breath may be the sign of a medical disorder, such as a local infection in the respiratory tract, chronic sinusitis, postnasal drip, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, gastrointestinal disturbance, liver or kidney ailment. If your dentist determines that your mouth is healthy, you may be referred to your family doctor or a specialist to determine the cause of bad breath.

Maintaining good oral health is essential to reducing bad breath. Schedule regular dental visits for a professional cleaning and checkup. If you think you have constant bad breath, keep a log of the foods you eat and make a list of medications you take. Some medications may play a role in creating mouth odors. Let your dentist know if you’ve had any surgery or illness since your last appointment.

Brush twice a day with fluoride toothpaste to remove food debris and plaque. Brush your tongue, too. Once a day, use floss or an interdental cleaner to clean between teeth.

Mouthwashes are generally cosmetic and do not have a long-lasting effect on bad breath. If you must constantly use a breath freshener to hide unpleasant mouth odor, see your dentist. If you need extra help in controlling plaque, your dentist may recommend using a special antimicrobial mouth rinse. A fluoride mouth rinse, used along with brushing and flossing, can help prevent tooth decay.