Practice Cafe has provided dental website services since 2006. We’ve worked long and hard to hone our craft and web offerings, and we do our best to stay competitive in the saturated dental marketing landscape. We think we offer some of the best custom websites for dentists that you’ll find anywhere! We have many clients to thank for partnering with us along the way. We’d love the opportunity to create an awesome, custom dental website for your practice. Whether you choose Practice Cafe for your website partner or you end up going with a different provider that’s a better fit for you, here are 10 “Be’s” to help you survive and thrive during the website process:
1. Be selective.
Your website is a virtual representation of your office’s patient experience. You carefully designed your practice’s approach to customer service, and you’ve probably spent considerable time and effort training your team to provide patient care that’s up to your standards. Likewise, carefully choose a website partner that can effectively convey your practice’s brand and patient experience in a way that’s in line with your standards. Many of the Best Dental Web Design Agencies, including Practice Cafe, are featured in agency networks like DesignRush. Set aside time to look through such directories and do other relevant research online, making notes about what you’re looking for in both a website provider and your practice’s actual website. DesignRush’s network directory is a good example of a reputable online resource that can help you learn about dental website options all in one place. Interview multiple dental marketing companies to find a good fit for you in terms of website style, approach to the development process, and budget. Not all website processes are created equal!
2. Be thorough.
The more information we’re given about your current website, hosting, domain registration, and email setup, the better we’ll be able to serve your needs for your new website. There’s really no such thing as too much information about your current site, web hosting, domains, and email provider. If you think it might be relevant for us to know, then it is! If you don’t have a current website, be thorough in the information you give us about your practice, your vision for your marketing, and your preferences for the web process. Our team wants to see examples of design, content, and user experience styles that you like so we’re equipped to deliver on your expectations.
3. Be responsive.
Just like you, we want to create and launch your new website in a timely, efficient manner—and we want it to be awesome, both for you and for your patients! Responding to questions or requests from your Practice Cafe client rep as soon as possible, and sending needed information and items by the dates specified, will help ensure that we can keep your website schedule (which has many steps) on track. We do our best to be responsive and attentive to you, too! If you ever feel like we’re not communicating with you often enough or clearly enough, please let us know so we can do better.
4. Be honest.
If at any point in the website design and development process, you start to doubt or dislike something about your site’s design or functionality, please tell us immediately! We want to address any questions, concerns, or downright problems before we all get too far along in the process to easily course-correct. Our goals for the website process include staying on the same page with you, avoiding unnecessary scheduling delays, and spending our time on the things that matter most. Candid communication throughout the process helps us work together towards the smoothest, most successful site launch possible for your practice.
5. Be patient.
At Practice Cafe, we’re not recycling themes to produce your practice’s website—instead, we’re creating your dental website theme from scratch so it’s unique to your vision and business. This does make the website process slightly longer than with some of the other agencies you have to choose from. Some of our competitors simply plug and play your practice’s contact info into a prefabricated site template with service pages from a library of content that’s duplicated across multiple clients’ sites. We think you often get what you pay for, and final products reflect the time spent on them. With Practice Cafe, you’ll get the confidence that comes from a custom website that sets you up for greater digital marketing success now and in the future.
6. Be kind.
The website process can require a lot from everyone involved, from the client and web designers to the content strategists and web development team. Many clients comment that they didn’t realize just how much goes into the creation of a new website. At the dental cafe, we understand the smorgasbord of thoughts and feelings that tend to occur during the web process. And we understand the temptation to become short-tempered or even mean-spirited. Stay strong, though! Never underestimate the power of kindness, both for the website process and for life in general. When you give feedback on your website in progress, please remember that the Practice Cafe team members working on your site are human beings with feelings. We care about our work, we care about your website, and we care about your satisfaction! We’re on your team! Feedback can be both honest and courteous. If you’re not sure how to articulate your criticism in a constructive manner, tell your client rep that you’re struggling to find the right words. We’re here to help.
7. Be savvy.
Your current and future patients have more marketing savvy and customer power than any generation before them. Meet their expectations with practice marketing that’s equally savvy, up-to-date, and visually powerful. Your website should be seamlessly responsive to different mobile devices, because that’s where people are searching for you. Your photos should be well-staged and professionally taken—they’ll be worth the investment! Consider getting a practice video produced as soon as you can reasonably make it happen. Make it so your target patients find what they’re looking for when they find your practice. (Speaking of photos, don’t inflict bloody before-and-after pictures on patients. Save the impressive, yet graphic case photos for colleagues.)
8. Be optimized.
Search engines are demanding. We feel the pressure, and maybe you do too. If your dental practice website isn’t up to search engine standards, they’ll disregard it and move on to competing practice websites that are optimized. This means more future patients will see those competitors’ websites over yours. As much as you might resent it, keeping up with search engine standards takes time and investment. When you have your practice website created, it should have initial onsite SEO established, but once is almost never enough when it comes to the web. Your practice’s local SEO needs will likely only be met with some sort of ongoing program. Contact us to learn about Practice Cafe’s pro-level dental SEO.
9. Be generous.
With all Practice Cafe services, we aim to provide the most value we can. We do our best to create stellar designed and expertly coded websites. We strive to be generous with our effort, communication, guidance, and revisions. In return, if you like the hard work that we’ve done for you on your dental practice’s website or any other marketing project, please leave us a review! Generosity of spirit and positive feedback puts good vibes out there that will hopefully make their way back to you sooner than later.
10. Be open to enjoying the process!
We know from personal experience the hard work as well as the satisfaction that can come from a well-planned and well-executed new website for your business. With an open mind and a little enthusiasm, the website process and the final outcome can be both successful and enjoyable! You could be only a few months away from an awesome, custom new website for your dental practice. Reach out to get started!
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