October 26, 2015
Beware, dear reader, and steel your nerves before continuing further in this article. The stories contained herein are the unfortunate tales of dentists and patients attempting to connect with each other through mismanaged and long-neglected practice websites. Let this be a cautionary tale, and take heed, lest a similar gruesome fate befall your own practice.
It Came From 2005
It took almost half a minute, but when the dentist’s website finally shambled out from the darkness of the loading screen, the patient gasped. It was hideous. The unsightly configuration of mismatched and outdated design elements shuffled forward on two poorly constructed footers like an HTML Frankenstein’s monster.
“Welcome to my website,” it croaked, its cobwebbed mouth opened wide, revealing teeth in much need of a good dentist.
The patient nearly gagged as the unresponsive mass lurched forward, oversized images dragging behind its lopsided gait. It was almost enough to make her pity the aberration, but there was no time. She had to escape, to find a dentist with a modern Web presence. After all, if this is what the website looked like, there was no telling what outdated horrors lay within the practice itself.
In Cyberspace, No One Can Hear You Tweet
Dr. Igor had nothing but good intentions when he set out on his new experiment. The goal? Using social media to promote his practice and start generating referrals. He set up a Facebook page and a Twitter handle and started posting regularly. All might have gone well had he not made two crucial mistakes—failing to integrate social media buttons on the main website and never encouraging a patient to “like” his practice in person.
Dr. Igor has not been seen by a patient online since 2011. Legend has it that on some clear nights, if you turn up your speakers and listen very hard, you can just barely hear the whimper of his social media posts mumbling about the importance of semiannual exams.
There is still time for you. The horrors described here need never haunt your own practice. With the help of a company like the CDA-endorsed Web presence provider, Officite, your practice will be safe and sound with cutting edge responsive mobile design, integrated social media and search engine optimization—the tools your practice needs to survive.
About the Author: Kevin Rach is the marketing communications manager at Officite.