Evaluating the Costs of a Dental Website

How much should a dental website cost? Well, much like treatment planning for your patients, the cost will vary significantly according to specific needs, and it can range anywhere from free (if you do it yourself) to $20,000+.

For example, a dental practice located in Manhattan, NY will have different needs and goals than one found in the suburbs of Lincoln, NE.

So, one of the first things to consider when evaluating how much you should spend on your website is what it costs your dental practice to NOT have an interesting and relevant website that can compete in today’s market on the internet.

The Value of a High-Quality Website

Your website should be the foundation of your marketing strategy. This is where you start. 

If you don’t have an engaging and informative website where potential patients can get to know you and find the information they need, the rest of your marketing strategies will fail.

For example, you might be interested in paid advertising, effectively driving traffic to your website. However, if prospective patients arrive at your dental website and a page is slow to load, or your information is outdated, they’re certainly not going to stick around to learn more about you.

Conversely, you might spend a lot of time and money creating a beautifully designed website with no focus on search engine optimization (SEO). If your website lacks keywords and geo modifiers throughout your content, or your site structure isn’t user-friendly, it could also cause you to lose the attention of potential patients.

Understanding all the aspects it takes to make a website successful can cost you time and energy, but it’s well worth it in the end when you’re building the foundation of a successful marketing plan.

Who Should Create Your Website?

Once you understand the value of what an excellent website can bring to your dental practice, it’s time to decide how you’ll create it. As you research, you’ll find that the price of creating a dental website with an agency varies greatly and there are a multitude of dental website options depending of how much you want to spend.

You might also consider creating your website yourself. If you choose this route, be sure that you consider SEO optimization, design, and optimization for conversions (making your website both mobile and desktop friendly) when you’re creating your website. These are just a few of the components that can make or break a website’s success.

If you choose to save money by creating your dental website on your own, be sure you take the time to understand all of the necessary elements you need to make your website successful in helping you achieve the best results. Otherwise, you could end up spending more in the long run, having to fix an unsuccessful website design and production.

Should You Choose a Marketing Agency for Website Design?

Since your website is the foundation for all your other marketing decisions, you might want to consider investing in help from a marketing agency. When you work with a marketing agency, they will typically provide all aspects of developing your website for you, including:

• Helping secure a domain name
• Graphic and logo design
• Original content creation
• SEO optimization
• Site optimization for conversions – making your website both desktop and user friendly
• Launching your website

When you’re considering a marketing agency, be sure that the price they quote you includes all aspects of the work that will be done. This will help you avoid surprises like finding other experts, such as graphic designers or copywriters, to help complete the project, which could incur additional costs.

Additional things to consider when hiring a marketing agency to create your website:

• How well do they know your industry? Do they have a proven track record of working with dentists?
• What is their SEO strategy? Do they have an SEO plan that will achieve proven rankings and results?
• Will the SEO strategy include improving local results?
• Can they provide examples of their work and the results they’ve achieved with other clients?

Make sure that you have a clear understanding of precisely what the cost of your website includes and what you can expect before moving forward with any marketing team or agency.

Updating Your Website Content

Keeping your website content fresh, engaging, and relevant is essential to driving traffic and converting visitors into new patients for your dental practice.

You can do this by adding informative blog posts to your website that are optimized for SEO. Updating your website may also include adding pages that highlight new services or technology you’re offering. You can also provide information and highlight keywords by answering frequently asked questions (FAQs) on your website.

An additional benefit of working with a marketing agency to design your website is they may offer ongoing SEO services to help you create new content periodically for your website, or better yet, monthly.

Keeping your website updated and your content fresh will help you reach more potential new patients and build more new relationships so you can grow your dental practice.

Need Help With Your Website?

If you need help with dental website design and execution or other marketing strategies, your team at Great Dental Websites is here to help.

We have a proven track record in dental marketing, and we cover all the bases so you can get back to what you do best – taking care of your patient’s beautiful smiles!