The Ingredients for a Successful Pay Per Click Campaign

As a subscriber to my Blog, you know that I extol the virtues of organic strategies that increase the visibility of your practice website. These search engine optimization techniques (SEO) work well in most communities and will generate new patient telephone calls from within your local area. But in extremely competitive and crowded geographic areas – whether it be Boston or Manhattan or Orlando – organic visibility is difficult to achieve. In this kind of Internet environment, a well designed Google AdWords campaign (PPC) might be worth your consideration.

Create a compelling offer. “Buy three implants and get the fourth for free” is NOT what most people are searching for. Think about who you are and who you are hoping to attract and build your campaign around an offer that would generate new business. And for sure you need to be aware of what your competition is doing. It doesn’t do any good to offer an implant for $4500 when a similar offer right next to yours is advertising the same implant for $3000.

Your goal is to get patients and not clicks. If the reach of your campaign is too broad, many people who click on the ad will not be realistic candidates to drive to your practice. So it is critical to keep the geography tight in order to increase conversion.

Your ad copy must stand out. Your ad is going to appear next to at least three competitors at the top of the search results page. So your message must be inventive and creative and appealing in order to get what you’re hoping for – prospective interested patients calling your office.

The landing page must be extraordinary. Video and photos are a must, and keep the written paragraphs that describe the procedure short and succinct. When someone clicks on your ad, they will be ported to that specific landing page on your website. That page must be promotional as well as informative in order to compel that patient to call. You absolutely need to include a call tracking telephone number and forms that make it easy for a visitor to this page to request an appointment.

Let everyone on your team know about the campaign. As basic as this sounds, there is nothing worse than having someone answer the phone who doesn’t know about the details of the promotion. And be sure to respond to forms that come in from your offer within 30 minutes in order to significantly increase conversion rates.

Determining the proper budget. Your AdWords budget needs to be adequate to achieve the desired results. A good rule of thumb is to expect at least four dollars in production for every dollar you spend running a pay per click campaign.

I strongly believe that the average dental office does not have the time or the expertise to manage a successful Google AdWords campaign. You need help from experts who do this for a living. My friends at TNT have shared some truly amazing data with me on return on investment from campaigns they have designed and administered. If you are located in a competitive marketplace and are trying to attract patients for specific procedures, I suggest you call Tim Healy at 214-680-1270. You have nothing to lose. The call is free.