Your website is not generating as many hits as you think it is
Every website host worth its salt should be able to provide real-time access to user activity statistics. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, or you know about this stuff but never take the trouble to read the reports, pay attention to this. Buried in this pile of statistics is a wealth of information that can tell you exactly how much the site is doing for you, and how much you are doing for the site.
Consider this example, a chart pulled from a real December report. This dentist might initially be thrilled that his site has generated over 1000 hits this month. Closer examination of the statistics shows that less than 15% of these people came to the site from a search engine. The rest of the report showed that, of the 150 people who used search engines to reach the site, more than half of them used the doctor’s name as a search keyword.
What does this all mean? It means that 85% of the people on the site this month knew the address of the site and went right there. The web host had nothing to do with this traffic! It was due to the other marketing the practice has going, a smart combination of direct mail, billboards and radio advertising. Of the 15% that did come through search engines, more than half of them knew who the doctor was – they just didn’t know the domain name.
Suddenly the 1000 people the website brought you is less than 100. Sure it’s a good thing that a hundred people found you with a search engine, but it’s much less impressive than the 1000 people your web provider was bragging about.
SO tell me what would the conversation between the dentist and web provider sound like after this information you have shared?
Most of my dentist clients are paying their web host a monthly fee that is supposed to include SEO of some kind. In the interest of efficiency, their current provider should be contacted and given the opportunity to make this right.
The client should first let the host know 1) that they are unhappy, 2) that they want to see improvement, 3) that they’d like to know what steps will be taken to make this happen, and 4) that the business relationship will only continue if measurable improvement is shown.
Very often the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and the customer who just quietly pays his website hosting bill each month gets ignored. Once challenged, I’ve seen some companies take steps to make the site more attractive to the search engines, and I’ve even seen some start a small PPC campaign or buy some other sponsored link at no extra charge to the client.
If the company is unwilling or unable to improve things, the client then must either bring in an outside specialist or move to a new website company.
This is a bit confusing; a Web host serves up a website’s files to the Internet; while the host usually has at least some elementary stats to monitor site visitors, it has no bearing on generating traffic to the site at all.
There are 3 stages of site development:
1) a Web dev builds the site
2) the site is upload to the host
3) an SEO is tasked with positioning the site
While there are a microscopic few who offer to do do all three, the dentist is best served by delegating each task to its respective specialist.
Moving the site to another hosting company would have zero effect on search engine positions. Alternately, after hiring an SEO expert to position the site, the dentist can then monitor the ranking changes to gauge progress.
John Barremore
Houston, TX
The reality is, regardless of what may be best for them, most dentists hire one web company to do everything. Additional SEO services, like those offered by the Visible Dentist, would benefit many of them.
There is a lot of mythology surrounding SEO – what it is and how it is achieved.
Like any other form of marketing, the more you put into it the more you get out. SEO can be elevated through a lot of different techniques, some are effective on some search engines than others. Some are incredibly simple and some are a bit more time intensive to put in place.
The optimization part of SEO is often exchanged for sheer volume. I could dramatically increase the traffic on any website within hours, but what good would it do if those new visitors had little or no relevance to your website content or objective? What if the new volume came from well outside your geographic area of business?
If you are hiring someone to develop a website for you, SEO theories and practice should be on your bullet list of questions. However, like any form a marketing, if you don’t identify your target market, SEO wont amount to a whole lot for you.
I practice in a fairly isolated market of ~150,000, located 70 miles from the next market of a slightly smaller size. I am not seriously expecting to be “searched out” on the net very often. In a market ten times my size, that makes sense. Instead we use our radio and other ads to refer people to our web site. Our intent is that they will find the information they desire without our exposing them to our competitors’ ads, ala the yellow pages. So, am I missing something here by not worrying about search engine activity?
The answer depends on you. If you are happy with your position in the market, and don’t perceive any threats to that position, why spend money on SEO you don’t need? Your website provider and host, IDA, have done a satisfactory job of positioning you already. I just Googled the name of your town and the word”dentist”. Your listing is ranked highly, multiple times. That may be sufficient for a long time. But if you depend on and need the new patients that are generated by search engines, you need to stay aware of your competition, and step it up if someone challenges your position. Bottom line is this – you are well positioned now, but don’t go to sleep on this!