Is Your Dental Website ADA Compliant? Delivering Profit and Peace of Mind

Until recently, most dentists have viewed their website primarily from a new patient generation perspective. The emphasis dentists place on their practice website has been, understandably, effectiveness and performance as it pertains to new patient acquisition. There is an ever-increasing array of current dental patient-facing website functions such as online scheduling, review generation, bill payment, and form submission. Depending on the content, patients of record may consult their dentist’s website to learn more about a contemplated procedure.

This last fact makes the importance of an ADA-compliant dental website all the more urgent and essential. I

Access to your dental website for all means of profit and peace of mind

As many as 27% of adults in the U.S. have some form of disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

WCAG 2.1 adherence is multifaceted

Inaccessible web content means that people with disabilities are denied equal access to information. An inaccessible website can exclude people just as a physical structure without a ramp denies wheelchair-bound individuals access to that structure. Ensuring access to your website for people with disabilities is now a priority.²

The 2017 inclusion of websites in the list of Public Accommodations as defined by the U.S. Department of Justice, the enforcement arm for the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, makes it prudent for, if not incumbent upon, all businesses that maintain a website to ensure they are in compliance with the Act.

Accessibility widgets are available so that people with disabilities who speak a foreign language can use your website in their native tongue.

WCAG compliance is key

First, there are various rules (actually guidelines) that classify levels of WCAG (Website Content Accessibility Guidelines) compliance. The number refers to the standard, while the letter refers to the level of compliance. Level A is considered a ‘must do,’ while Level AAA is the highest level of compliance currently available. Level AA is classified as ‘should do.’

As of the date of this article, WCAG 2.1 AA is the acceptable standard and level of compliance.³

WCAG compliance Is Key

Once you have decided to work toward WCAG compliance, you have three paths available. The first is the free accessibility plug-in route, the second is using web accessibility evaluation tools to make the changes yourself, and the third is retaining a compliance partner.

To pay or not to pay

Several web platforms, e.g., WordPress, offer free accessibility plug-ins. According to an Accessibe spokesperson, “[such free] accessibility plugins are basic. They offer accessibility solely from a design standpoint, and only offer compliance with perhaps 20% of WCAG guidelines.” At best, the plugins are considered an overlay in that they only address issues related to color contrast, discernible links, using relative sizing and spacing, appropriate alt text for images, etc. Most overlays just provide tools that are redundant to screen readers and can actually make websites less accessible or more annoying to use for people who need accessibility. In light of this, I cannot, in good conscience, recommend relying on these free plug-ins to address compliance issues.

Do it yourself web accessibility evaluation tools list

Web accessibility evaluation tools are software programs or online services that help you determine if web content meets accessibility guidelines.

Use a WCAG checklist tool to identify accessibility issues

The tools help you identify accessibility barriers, among other things. Be advised, however, that not all accessibility checks can be automated. To address this, most accessibility tools offer a checklist that guides you or your developer through those checks that cannot be automated. There simply is no substitute for human intervention when it comes to ensuring an ADA-compliant website.

To learn more about web accessibility tools, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bn1XJSjc_qM&t=3s

If you choose this route to convert your dental website to WCAG 2.1 AA compliance, be sure you or your web developer possess the requisite skill set to implement the updates.

“Off the shelf” compliance suites

If you lack the expertise, time, or interest to implement WCAG guidelines yourself, several cost-effective services can take care of this for you. The more robust systems are compatible with the most popular website platforms, including WordPress, Shopify, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, Wix, Sharepoint, and many more.

Several designs for your accessibility icon and the menu disabled web surfers use to set your dental website for optimal personal use are available.

Example of a web-accessible interface

A WCAG-compliant website can be adjusted to better accommodate the needs of people presenting with various impairments related to vision, epilepsy, ADHA, cognitive disability, motor, and hearing.

Compliance adjustments include cursor color and size, text font and color, animation, contrast, audio muting, and deciphering of phrases, slang, and more for those with cognitive disorders.

A robust system will also perform ongoing compliance checks to ensure that any changes to your dental website subsequent to implementing the service are evaluated and addressed.

While no system can guarantee 100% ADA compliance (for example, none can make PDFs accessible, and they cannot automatically transcribe video), many meet or exceed the current WCAG requirements, which provides peace of mind in knowing you are protected from threats of or actual litigation.

What happens if I get sued?

In making your decision about which Compliance Suite to use for your dental website, be sure that it includes a robust litigation support package. That’s because, even if you’ve implemented a web accessibility solution, you may nonetheless be confronted with instances where a lawyer representing the website visitor(s) files an accessibility lawsuit under ADA Title III.⁴ A litigation support package gives dentists the peace of mind that comes with knowing they have everything in place to address the specter of litigation.

Litigation support offers peace of mind

In case of a demand letter or lawsuit, the accessibility statement and monthly compliance audits should be enough to mitigate legal risk. Still, in the rare case they do not, litigation support helps you navigate the situation.

Forbes.com⁵ reports that lawsuits against website owners alleged to have breached the Americans with Disabilities Act have increased rapidly during the first half of 2023 across virtually every metric conceivable. Accessibility widgets and overlays are third-party programs that can be added to websites to automatically scan and attempt to fix identified accessibility errors. The likes of AcceesiBE, Userway AudioEye, and EqualWeb all provide accessibility overlays.

Litigation support should include the following actions, information, and recommendations:

Compliance Audit – Your litigation support package should include a professional compliance audit showing code examples and simple illustrations of how your website addresses the essential accessibility requirements, indicating that it complies with WCAG 2.1 level AA criteria.
Compliance Overview – The Overview should elaborate on how the website and its various components achieved compliance. It delineates compliance requirements, demonstrating how your dental website addresses them at the code level.
An Accessibility Statement – The Statement is a user-facing document, accessed when the user clicks on your accessibility icon (the accessibility interface). It provides general information with adjacent options the user may select to set your dental website for optimal viewing and function.
Presentation of screenshots – These serve to demonstrate that your website accessibility meets of exceeds WCAG 2.1 AA standards, highlighting the most notable accessibility features implemented, for example, showing what your website looks (sounds) like for a blind user with a screen reader.
Purchase Invoice – The invoice demonstrates that you have hired an accessibility service company, and when.
Violations Request Master – This serves as a template you send to the claimant for them to document any alleged violations.
Legal Research – If required, access to a law firm specializing in disability, ADA, and civil rights law.

What to do if you receive a Demand Letter

If you receive a demand letter that questions or disputes the compliance level of your website, the following steps should be taken:

Locate your website’s accessibility statement and any previous monthly compliance audits conducted.
Send these documents to the attorney or plaintiff who issued the demand letter. These documents are a certification that your website has undergone specific changes to be accessible to people with disabilities.
If they refute your website’s compliance, your compliance suite provider should deliver additional information affirming your compliance.

Website Compliance and SEO for your dental website

Google does tend to favor sites that are WCAG compliant. It immediately recognizes that the accessibility widget is present, which satisfies one of its many SEO ranking criteria. It is most beneficial for these enhancements to be performed on the source code level. Most compliance services we evaluated require you to do this yourself or have your webmaster do it for you. The most they will do is add alt tags to images, which do not constitute part of your website’s source code. While adding accessibility code to your source code may enhance SEO, it is, in our opinion, not worth the time and expense to do so.

An SEO-optimized website attracts more dental patients

Summary of benefits of dental website ACA compliance with the ADA Code

A dental website that meets or exceeds WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines serves to positively differentiate your dental website as leading-edge and user-friendly. It opens your dental website to a population of prospective patients who are disabled. It also provides you with the peace of mind of knowing you are resistant to litigation for violation of the ADA Code as it pertains to website accessibility.

A final benefit of implementing an ADA compliance suite is that your practice is eligible to receive tax credits for investing in the service. Consult your CPA to learn more about this benefit.

1 https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/disabilityandhealth/infographic-disability-impacts-all.html

2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5H1JGdqLrWo

3 https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/

4 https://www.ada.gov/resources/2024-03-08-web-rule

5 https://www.forbes.com/sites/gusalexiou/2023/06/30/website-accessibility-lawsuits-rising-exponentially-in-2023-according-to-latest-data/?sh=1b26eaec717f

Direct Mail for Dentists: How to Create and Implement a Winning Campaign

AIM Marketing Direct Mail

Dental direct mail marketing reimagined.

Traditional direct is defined as advertising sent directly to prospective customers via the U.S. Postal Service.

To use a colloquialism, direct mail aint what it used to be.

Direct mail for dentists has undergone a resurgence in popularity and effectiveness, with 66% of respondents to the Vericast Consumer Intel Report* redeeming offers received in the mail. Another Vericast study also found that 72% of millennials routinely read direct mail ads. In addition to the potential value direct mail offers, its intrinsic value lies in its ability to actually put something in your audience’s hand, which, depending on the format and offer, possesses a shelf life, serving as an ongoing reminder to your prospective patient.

Digital and print technology have also made available cost-effective opportunities to customize print and fulfillment to even the smallest business. With the advent of I.P. address appending, hypertargeting, print-on-demand, personalization, and demographic customization, direct mail is now more than simply printing a postcard, affixing a postage stamp, and sending it to people in your service area.

A dental direct mail campaign is a tangible call to action, which goes directly into consumers’ homes. Direct mail also places you in touch with prospective patients whose privacy concerns might make them resistant to digital outreach (email, internet banner ads, Q.R. codes, etc.).

Success with direct mail entails several elements among which are: identification of objectives, setting a reasonable budget, performing benefit/cost and return on investment calculations, establishing your target audience(s), effective design of your mailer, efficient implementation, and establishing a complete and accurate tracking protocol.

The value of direct mail for your dental practice

To be sure, direct mail can help your dental practice grow by attracting new patients. By utilizing market segmentation technology, direct mail can also give you the power to change the composition of your patient base by, for example, targeting elderly individuals with the disposable income, need, and desire for big case dentistry, or attracting fee for service paying patients.

The seven steps to success with dental direct mail:

Your first step on the path to success with direct mail is to Identify Your Objectives. There are two general categories of objective that are appropriate for your dental practice. The first category is an increase the volume of new patients. For example, if your office is presently generating an average of 40 new patients per month and, based on your available capacity and other considerations, you could comfortably absorb an additional 20 per month, your objective would be to “Increase the number of new patients by an average of 50% per month.” The actual increase will probably vary from month to month: it is the average increase over time that is the relevant measure.

The second category of objective is a change in the composition of your patient base. For instance, you may want to change the patient mix from 60% fee-for-service and 40% insurance-based to 80% and 20%, respectively. Or, you may want to attract more patients desiring a specific procedure, such as cosmetic dentistry or dental implants. Whatever objective you choose, make it as specific as possible and commit it to writing.

Successfully connecting with your audience requires recognition and appreciation of the different ways prospective dental patients choose to interact with you and your various marketing messages. Baby Boomers tend to be more responsive to direct mail, while Millennials and other ‘digital natives’ are more responsive to electronic media.

Remember:
When you do not know where you are going,
any road will take you there.

1) Determine Your Budget

Once you have agreed on your objective, you’ll next want to come up with a budget for your direct mail campaign. One quick and dirty way to do this is to simply apply the following results-based rule of thumb: multiply your annual collections by: 2-3% to simply stem attrition, 5-7% for moderate growth, and 10-12% for aggressive growth. To calculate a budget based on your practice situation for a specific tactic under consideration (in this case, direct mail), you’ll want to estimate how many mailers are necessary to achieve your objective, then calculate your cost per mailer and multiply the two.

Let’s say you want to add 10 new patients per month to your practice. A reasonable expected response rate for a new patient mailing campaign is about .25% to .5%. Therefore, choosing the conservative response rate, you will need to send the number of mailers per month is 10/.0025 or 4,000. This assumes your team has the telephone communication skill set to convert 100% of new patient inquiries, which is optimistic even for the best-trained team. A more realistic figure is 80%. Accordingly, you may want to increase your mailing quantity as a function of the actual ‘conversion ratio’ that is, percentage of new patient inquiries your team is currently converting into kept appointments (what we call your Team Batting Average).

Let’s, therefore, assume for this example a mailing quantity of 5,000 (4,000/.80). You’ll then want calculate your cost per mailing. To do this, determine the cost of your mailing list, design, printing, fulfillment (letter shop), postage, and any tracking technology such as unique telephone numbers, website landing pages, etc., then divide by the anticipated mailing quantity. Depending on what, how, and how much you mail, your total cost per mailing can range anywhere from $.50 to well over $1.00. Let’s assume it is $.50. In this example then, your monthly budget is $2,500 (5,000 mailers times $.50).

2) Perform Your Benefit/Cost Calculations

Now that you are armed with your budget, you’ll next want to perform your benefit/cost and return on investment calculations. This is perhaps the most often overlooked step, which is unfortunate because this exercise can show you what you can reasonably expect by way of return on investment (ROI) from any tactic you may be considering, which provides you with greater control over your dental marketing plan, permitting you to tweak, expand, or eliminate a given tactic based on fact, not conjecture.

The exercise involves first determining the annual value to your practice of an average patient, then multiplying that value by your average patient lifetime to arrive at your practice’s average patient lifetime value. Armed with this, you next divide your Program Cost by your Patient Value, which yields your Breakeven Quantity (B.E.Q.). Any results that exceed your B.E.Q. means a profitable program.

3) Implementing Your Direct Mail Strategy

Now that you have a clear picture of your Objectives and Budget and have chosen to proceed with the program based on your benefit/cost analysis results, it’s time to choose who will receive your mailings and how often to send them (frequency).

4) Build Your Mailing List

If you’ve tried direct mail in the past and didn’t see the results you hoped for, there’s a good chance your mailing list was to blame.

Building your optimal mailing list entails identifying your target audience(s), then finding the best ways to secure as many mailing addresses for these people and families as possible. Utilize mailing data compilers to create a targeted list. Look for companies that focus on the healthcare space and are willing to provide you with sample records for review prior to committing to rental (lists are rented based on a certain number of mailings per order).

Some of the demographic variables available from data compilers include:

Income
Carrier and Rural Route
Length of residence
Renter, Homeowner, and Temporary Resident
Single and Multi-Family Dwelling
Marital status
Expectant Moms
Age of Resident(s)
Presence of Children, including their Ages
Wealth Index
Demand for Dental Services
Credit Rating

A relatively new development, which permits you to supplement your mailing list with visitors to your website, is sometimes called digital direct mail, whereby a visitor to your website can have their physical mailing address added to your mailing list. Just be sure your service provider does not inadvertently target retail establishments (for example, a prospective patient may be visiting your dental website from their local Starbucks, which means your mailing will go to the store instead of the prospective dental patient’s home), and that the distance the prospective patient is from your dental practice is not too great (for example, from out of state).

5) Segment and win

Your current and prospective patients are not, and should not be, considered as one monolithic mass. As shared above, individuals respond to different messages as a function of the group to which they belong, as well as where they are along their learning and motivation curve, so be sure your list contains people and families who represent a good fit for your practice e.g. residents living reasonably close to your office if you are a general dentist, families with children if you are a pediatric dentist and older individuals with a minimum level of household wealth for big case dentistry. Do not try to talk about family dental services to Generation Alphas* and, because Baby Boomers (those born between 1946 and 1964) are more responsive to direct mail, this group should comprise a significant component of your ‘marketing mix’ because this group has greater wealth and disposable income and is, therefore, more likely to want and need big case dentistry.

It is also important to recognize that the majority of people who receive your first mailing may not be ready to schedule a dental appointment. Various studies place the number of ‘touchpoints’ required to elicit a response at seven. Fortunately, the larger is your mailing list to qualified prospective patients, the more likely it is that you will present your message and offer to someone who is ready to respond upon receipt of the first, second, or third mailer.

The art and science of correctly segmenting your target audience can mean the difference between dental marketing success and failure.

6) Designing Your Direct Mail Piece

The next step in the process of implementing a successful direct mail strategy is to select your mailer design and content. This is perhaps the most important step, as what you send will, more than anything else, determine the quality and quantity of response to your mailer.

Search for individuals and households who, based on experience, are most likely to respond to the invitation being sent. Polling your current patients is a great way to learn what led to their decision to join your practice. Use these insights to inform your design and copywriting decisions.

Importance of custom direct mailer design

Use a professional designer who is experienced with color and graphic selection, as well as someone (rarely the designer) who is an expert at copywriting.

Elements of your successful dental direct mailer include a headline, offer, graphic, e.g., of happy individuals who match your target demographic, a simple map of your location, website, quick response (Q.R.) code, and easy-to-see contact information. The U.S. Postal Service has specific guidelines concerning acceptable design, so be sure you are working with someone who is thoroughly familiar with these guidelines, or you risk having your mailers rejected and never delivered!

Tips for creating an eye-catching mail piece

Designing a mailer that gets noticed and results in a response depends upon several factors, including the choice and use of color, images, and photographs; the degree of personalization; the mailer type (envelope, postcard, brochure, tear-off, magnet); the offer(s); and, of course, cost. In our experience, an oversized (6 inch x 11 inch) self-mailer has resulted in the highest response rate.

7) Direct mail program structure and implementation

Now that you have a clear picture of your Objectives and Budget and have chosen to proceed with the program and create your winning design, based on the results of your benefit/cost analysis, it’s time to structure your mailing campaign. This entails deciding how frequently to mail and at what time interval. As noted above, search for individuals and households that, based on experience, are most likely to respond to the invitation being sent. A good practice is to ensure the same person/household receives a mailer at least once a quarter i.e. 4 times per year. Again, that’s because a key success factor in direct mail (or any) marketing, is repeat exposure. As noted, the same person typically needs to receive several messages before being ready to respond. The other reality is that people within the same group will be along different stages of their learning and motivation curve. Some folks may just be ‘kicking the tires’ while others are ready to ‘pull the trigger.’

Effective and Ongoing Program Tracking and Evaluation

The final step to achieving a successful and repeatable direct mail campaign is effective and ongoing program tracking and evaluation. Use a telephone tracking number to monitor both the quantity and quality of calls generated by your mailing program. Doing so gives you all the information you will need to make informed decisions.

AIM’s Dental Marketing Dashboard (DMD) provides the means to ‘close the feedback loop,’ that is, to attribute a response to a given tactic or tactics. This means you know what tactic is working, and how well, which means no more flying blind when it comes to your dental marketing program.

Remember, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Be sure that every link in your direct mail service chain is solid!

*https://www.vericast.com/insights/blog/omnichannel-tactics-to-reach-all-of-your-audience/

**Generation Alpha is the name given to the generation of people who are or will be born between 2010 and 2024. Generation Alpha is the first generation to be born entirely in the 21st century. It comprises the largest cohort in human history, which will total over 2 billion people

Keystone Pathogens of the Human Mouth

AIM Marketing Blogroll, Coaching, Continuing Education, Webinars

The presentation’s full title is: Keystone Pathogens of the Human Mouth: The Critical Need for Saliva Testing as was delivered by Dr. Tom Nabors.

From 1970 until 2006 Tom managed a family dentistry practice with special interest in oral microbiology and immunology. He was the first Dentist to use Phase-Contrast Microscopy and DNA lab reports as a Diagnostic and Treatment Model. He began teaching the value of DNA-PCR testing in 2003 to Oral Health professionals, and continues teaching to this day.

In 2008 Tom founded Oral DNA Labs, The first U.S.-approved clinical laboratory using saliva testing for oral infection including periodontal pathogens, genetic variations, HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer, and systemic inflammation. He served as its chief oral systemic scientist & dental officer. It was the first U.S.-based clinical laboratory for both dentists and physicians.

Dr. Nabors has spent over 40 years researching and developing a clearer understanding between a medical grade definition of periodontal infection, and how these infections are directly related to chronic systemic diseases. He has many firsts to his credit, as well as several scientific awards and honors. He is a nationally recognized authority on the use of DNA-PCR as a critical component in both oral and general health & disease issues, and is why we are so excited to have him joining us again today.

Attendees are entitled to apply to receive 1.5 hours of PACE-approved continuing education credit. To apply for C.E. click here.

Questions that were asked and answered following the presentation included:

Why not test ALL Patients?
How many dentists nationwide are already using saliva testing? Is the trend increasing?
Do you assist with the interpretation of test results?
Are you only using SRP as your main therapeutic treatment?
Do you advise that we consult our patients around the specifics of oral pathogens and systemic disease, or simply perform the test and share the results and tx?
Do you make a distinction between Induce and Cause?
Is FN moderate or high risk? What led it to be added to The List?
What is the AAP’s position on the use of saliva testing?
When you state need to validate/measure, how soon after TX should one be tested?

To view the webcast, CLICK HERE.

Get Your Life Back!

AIM Marketing Blogroll, Coaching, Continuing Education, Dental Practice Management, Webinars

The complete title of Dr. Bill Kimball’s talk is Get Your Life Back! Let your practice be the lever that restores balance in all you do.

Bill is co-founder of The Build Up Group, president of Kimball Consulting, Inc., Founding Partner of Integrity Practice Sales, and Lead Wine Educator at Find the Right Wine!

Attendee at this webcast: discovered blind spots most dentists suffer from, learned details about 7 proven systems that save time and increase profits, discovered how to slow down and produce more, gained confidence in becoming insurance free, learned 3 key traits needed to ensure a cohesive team, created a plan to increase the enjoyment of dentistry, quality of care, and take-home income, discussed strategies to take more time off & reach goals each month, and most important, saw real examples of dentists achieving all of the above!

Questions that were asked and answered included:

What do you think are the most important systems of the 7 you presented?
What would be the next step for someone interested in joining your Build-up Group?
Could you tell me a little more about your team-building wine retreat?
Do you offer the wine retreats as a standalone service?
Going out of network with insurance sounds great, but how can you be sure it won’t cause all of your insurance patients to look for another dentist?
What were those 2 books you mentioned by Greg McKeown? Any other books we should be reading?
Did you really take 6 weeks off per year and pay your team?? So what’s the longest vacation you’ve taken?
You mentioned adjusting fees has no downside but what about what economists call elasticity of demand, that is, the fact that as price goes up demand goes down?
When do you recommend the Patient pay for treatment?

To view the webcast click here.

Former Dental CPA Delivers The Goods, Again!

AIM Marketing Blogroll, Coaching, Continuing Education, Dental Practice Management, Webinars

Raymond ‘Rick’ Willeford’s encore webcast titled: Discover Revenue Opportunities and Plug Profit Leaks represented a deeper dive into the world of dental practice finance, and received rave reviews from Practice Perfection attendees.

Willeford, who holds an MBA and CPA, was a practicing dental accountant for 40 years. He has been an avid writer on dental practice finance for Dental Economics, and is an internationally sought-after speaker. After he sold his CPA practice, he immediately dusted off his Electrical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech to develop DentaMetrix – a professional grade data extraction and dental practice finance dashboard program for consultants, DSOs, experienced practice administrators, and of course, dentists. The combination of his knowledge of leading-edge technologies, his deep dental business experience, and his understanding of the practice management side of dentistry, give him a unique perspective to enhance revenues and plug profit leaks in a practice.

Attendees of the presentation: learned why NET new patients is key; find out how much you are leaving on the table with PPOs – and what to do about it; distinguished between being ‘busy’ and ‘productive’ with Production Per Visit, and were exposed to several interesting measures of how well you are managing your practice’s back door.

Willeford demonstrated how to use Key Performance Indicators to unlock the secrets in your practice operations and patient management. We walk through a “Profit Leaks Analysis” to learn how to use KPIs proactively – and learn about some vital KPIs you have not seen before. For most solo practices the analysis reveals from $700,000 to $1,000,000 in potential profit leaks!

Questions answered during the Event included: clarifying the difference between Gross, Posted
and Net Production, why Production per Patient Visit is a better figure for comparing productivity with colleagues rather than just Production Per Day or even Per Doctor, the reason for such a wide range of Case Acceptance figures between practices, especially if measured by dollars, and why, if a doctor’s schedule is always full, he/she might they still need practice management and marketing.

A comparison between various dental practice data analysis systems was also presented.

View The Entire Webcast Here

How to Drop PPO Plans From Your Dental Practice

AIM Marketing Dental Practice Management, General

Whether you are a new practitioner or are well along your dental practice lifecycle, if you’re currently working with one or more PPO plans, and are looking forward to the day when you will become 100% fee for service, congratulations!

The First Step to Successfully Resign from PPO Plans

Committing to a date by which you will be PPO-free is the first essential step. The next step is creating and practicing a verbal and written patient communications plan. The final step is sharing that plan with your patients as you notify the plans of your decision.

You already know that the key to communicating persuasively is demonstrating to the listener why, how, and when he or she will benefit from the proposed change.

Your decision to drop a PPO plan may have a financial element to it, but the reality is you are also making that choice to free you up to practice dentistry in a way that is consistent with your Standard of Care; to act in your patients’ best interests.

This is the KEY POINT you need to convey to your patients. Explain to them that your decision is about being able to deliver the best care possible by being free to collaborate with them in deciding what is in their best interests.

I repeat. To successfully communicate your decision in a way that is accepted by patients, you need to carefully craft, practice, and deliver a written and verbal Patient Communication Plan.

A sample letter to your Patients

The letter you craft about dropping your PPO plan might look something like this:

Dear Patient,

We are writing to inform you of a change in our insurance network here at Practice Name.

As of DATE, YEAR, our status with XYZ PPO will change. Although we will still accept XYZ PPO, we will no longer be what is termed an in-network provider.

This decision has come as a result of our desire to put your care ahead of XYZ’s philosophy concerning patient care. Regrettably, things have changed to the degree where I am considered a “vendor” to them and not a doctor. Consequently, as an in-network doctor, I am forced to treat you, my valued patient, according to their rules, rather than according to your needs, or even how you would want to be treated.

To be clear, we still accept XYZ PPO and are happy to have you continue to keep you as our patient. The change on your end is that you may be subject to slightly different rates for your portion of care.

We have researched this carefully in arriving at our decision and are confident any additional financial responsibility is small compared to the freedom and significantly increased benefits this change affords you, our valued patient.

To help you navigate this change, we are happy to perform a complimentary benefits check for you to demonstrate the effect this change in network status will have.

If you have additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

We appreciate you entrusting us with your healthcare needs and look forward to continuing to help you for many years to come.

Sincerely,

Practice Name

What to say to patients when dropping your PPO plan

In your verbal communications with patients, you want to underscore how your decision will benefit them, so be sure to explain clearly that your decision is based on being able to restore the ability to prescribe optimal care without interference from an outside entity, whose interest is maximizing their profit, not delivering optimal treatment.

Start with a statement like:

“Patient Name, I wanted to make you aware of a change in our working relationship with XYZ Plan. Our decision is based on the fact that their interest has become so misaligned with yours that we can no longer be what is termed an in-network provider. While, in many cases, there is no financial impact, in others there may be, but rest assured that, in every case, we will explore the most conservative treatment option while remaining committed to prevention to avoid expense and discomfort.”

If you offer an in-house dental plan, now is a great time to present, or remind your patient, about it.

This is also a good time to convey to your patients all the extra lengths you went to, without reimbursement, to ensure their safety and comfort during the Covid Outbreak, and any other ‘extras’ you offer your patients that further demonstrate your commitment to their health and wellbeing.

Retain your dental PPO patients with good communication

Be sure to communicate with patients during their re-care visit preceding the planned change, then send written and emailed letters confirming the change. In this way, you minimize any ‘surprises,’ which makes it far simpler to manage the change.

As with everything else, practice makes perfect. Share your proposed letter with your Team and family members, then ask them how the letter makes them feel. You’re going for descriptors like trusting, cared for, heard, understood, and appreciated. Next, perform role plays with your team to give them plenty of opportunities to rehearse communications with real patients.

By establishing a date for ending PPO plan dependence, crafting your verbal and written patient communication plan, then practicing that plan, your shift from PPO to fee for service dentistry will be a smooth one. The ‘secret’ is to get started!

Dental Cash Flow For Dummies Receives Rave Reviews

AIM Marketing Latest News, Practice Perfection

Rick Willeford, MBA, CPA/CFP asks: Why is it your CPA says your practice made a profit last year but your bank account says otherwise? Does it take months before he or she can even tell you that?”

Rick Willeford, CPA/CFP

This webcast helped put attendees back in control by unlocking the power to chart their practice’s destiny.

Rick was a Dental CPA for 40 years. He has been an avid writer for Dental Economics, and is an internationally sought-out speaker. After he sold his CPA practice, he immediately dusted off his Electrical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech to develop DentaMetrix – a professional grade data extraction and dashb

Why is it your CPA says your practice made a profit last year but your bank account says otherwise? Does it take months before he or she can even tell you that?”

This webcast helped put attendees back in control by unlocking the power to chart their practice’s destiny.

oard program for consultants, DSOs, experienced practice administrators, and of course, dentists. The combination of his knowledge of cutting-edge technologies, his deep dental business experience and his understanding of the practice management side of dentistry give him a unique perspective to enhance revenues and plug profit leaks in a practice.

Attendees: learned why most traditional financial statements are not ideal for running a dental practice; came to understand the difference between Cash Flow and Profit; unlocked the Secret Powers hidden in their practice’s financial reports; and turned their accounting software into a dental practice management dynamo.

The event ran ninety minutes and may be viewed HERE

Dentistry Is A Team Sport! Empower your Team to be Champion Performers

AIM Marketing Blogroll, Coaching, Continuing Education, Dental Practice Management, Dental Team Coaching

Clinical and technical skills are critical to your success in dentistry. Equally important to your clinical outcomes and bottom line, however, are behavior skills – the way your dental team interacts among themselves, and with current and prospective patients.

While we cannot always predict what interactions will arise, you can influence your team to adapt and respond in new, and more effective, ways.

World Series-winning pitcher Jim Mecir, and professional speaker, facilitator and applied improviser Ellen Schnur demonstrated how to empower everyone on your team to: Foster a culture that makes everyone feel safe and respected, Deal more effectively with difficult people, Become more aware of their impact on others, Listen like they want to be heard, Adapt to uncertainty and change, Develop greater resiliency, and Learn about conflict transformation.

How a team behaves together matters much more than we realize. Sharpening behavior skills (some call them soft skills) not only boosts morale and affects customer satisfaction, it will affect your bottom line.

“Yes, And…” It truly does take the whole team, starting with the leader… you! That’s right you. Each of us should expect to assume a leadership role at some point in their work with others.

Skills and mindsets these exercises help develop include: Teamwork, Trust, Resilience, Flexibility, Adaptability, Listening, Collaboration,
Self-Awareness, Self-Regulation, Motivation, Empathy, Compassion, Social Skills, Conflict Management, Constructive Feedback, Clarify,
& Non-Verbal Communication.

The webcast allowed attendees to experience how to be better team players, even when things get tough, and discussed how it
all relates directly back to their jobs, their patients, and their life.

Communication and EQ skills are tough to learn just from a book or a lecture.

It’s all about the experience!

ACCESS THE WEBCAST HERE

How dental SEO services can grow your practice.

AIM Marketing Dentistry Marketing, Digital Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Tips, Medical Marketing, SEO

Dental SEO services can improve your website’s search engine ranking, increase traffic, and bring more new patients through your doors. A dental SEO strategy is the best approach to growing your practice by ensuring a steady flow of new dental patients.

What is dental search engine optimization (SEO)?

Dental SEO is the process of making a dental practice’s website appear higher in search engine result pages without having to pay for ads to achieve this.

According to recent research, 53%* of traffic to any website comes from organic search. For your specific location, it might be even more.

The more visitors to your site, the greater the chances you have of convincing someone to book an appointment.

As a result, it is essential to ensure people know where to find you when looking for dental services. The result is higher quality leads (the patients you’re interested in most) and a better conversion rate.

Why should dentists invest in dental SEO services?

Most people looking for a dentist are looking for the best dentist in their area, meaning the words they use to search for you have what is termed “local intent.” A localized online presence is vital because it attracts potential patients in your local area to your dental practice.

Most people who search for a dentist use either “dentist near me” or “(location) dentist.” This is referred to as explicit local keywords since the searcher includes the local intent as part of the search.

But let’s say someone just types in the word “dentist” into Google. Given the type of keyword, Google will most likely assume you are looking for a dentist in your area. This is known as an implicit local keyword.

Potential patients searching online for a dentist will rarely click past the top local search results. Overall, 25% of people click on the first Google search result. By comparison, the tenth result is an average of 2.5%.**

Connecting with Local Patients

Success means connecting your practice location to those searching for a dentist first.

Many dental practices are under the mistaken belief that they must target a larger geographic area before moving on to smaller areas. In theory, it sounds good – by targeting the larger community first, you’ll have more leads. However, it would be best if you did the opposite. That’s because you could end up expending resources getting in front of people who live or work too far from your practice to consider a visit.

With local SEO, your goal is to reach out to the people who live and work closest to you. If you can connect with them first, they won’t have a reason to look elsewhere.

There’s a reason most people click on one of Google’s top five suggested results. Right or wrong, they believe the dentists who show up at the top of the list are better than those who don’t.

Google thinks so, too.

The higher you rank in searches for your services, the more likely potential patients will trust you enough to click through to your website. The more people who visit your site, the more Google counts your site as trustworthy and credible and will, therefore, continue to push your site to the top results.

Success breeds success.

How Dental Practices Rank in Local Searches

To improve your website’s local SEO, you need to fine-tune your online presence by creating an accurate, complete, and verifiable Google Business Profile. Include a detailed description of each treatment and service offered, including your dental practice name and address.

You can select your primary business category and up to 5 secondary categories. Content relevant to your practice categories should be represented throughout your website. If your dental practices are in different locations, create a separate page for each one. Include relevant geo-targeted keywords in your list of keywords.

What’s a keyword, you ask? Answering this question will also demonstrate how successful practices using dental SEO services dominate the local search results and become even more successful in the process.

Start with Relevant Keywords

Keyword research is one of the most effective ways to improve your website’s ability to attract patients.

Dentists must be familiar with the terms prospective patients use when searching for dental services online. By researching the specific words patients are typing into Google, you can get an idea of what dental treatments and procedures they are searching for.

Finding new and relevant dental-related keywords can be done in various ways. Below are some of the most helpful keyword research methods.

When you start typing into a Google search bar, Google’s Autocomplete feature automatically completes the query for you. Google’s algorithm actually predicts your next search, which can help steer your search to connect you with the most relevant results.

Google’s Search Console measures your website’s search performance. It shows how many pages your site has, how well they’re ranked, and how often people click through to view them. You can integrate Google Search Console (GSC) with SEMRush, KeyWordTool.io, or Ahrefs to get all the stats in one spot and better understand and learn from your competitors’ performance.

Google Trends is a tool that helps researchers study the popularity of searches and topics over time. For dental practices, the tool is used to stay up to date with current dental-related keywords.

Some of the most popular trending searches include: dentists open on Saturdays, 24-hour service, dentists who accept Medicaid, dentists for children, teeth whitening procedures, and even DIY dental products.

With your newly acquired keyword list, dental SEO should be easy, right?

Yes and No.

Here are some common pitfalls to avoid when employing your keyword strategy:

Don’t use the same keywords everywhere, from the title and alt tag to the webpage text, the meta description, and the URL address.
Don’t use too many different keywords on one page. Three should be the maximum.
To improve your site’s search engine rankings, develop content that uses semantically-related keywords.
Balance is important. It is best to choose a broad enough keyword or phrase to deliver a healthy search traffic volume, but sufficiently narrow to capture traffic that’s relevant to you.

Claim Your Local ‘Google Business Profile’ Listing

The first step to dominating search engine results is to claim your Google Business Profile. In many cases, dental practices get more traffic to their GBP listing than to their actual website!

The Google Business Profile is a free online tool from Google that helps you increase your business’ visibility on local searches. Your GBP listing appears on Google Search and Google maps.

It’s easy to set up your listing.

First, complete your business profile. Google will use everything you share to help you rank in search results. The more you complete, the better your chances at ranking in more results.

Optimize Your Website for Local Searches

First impressions count. You can’t just create a generic website for a large dental marketing company by copying the site from hundreds of others. Dentists often overlook that websites are meant to be engaging, interactive, and valuable. The actual content of your website is crucial to converting website visits into conversions (phone calls and web form completions). Conversions are the step preceding a new dental patient appointment.

Again, your website’s primary purpose is to drive prospective patients to your practice via phone call, web form completion, or online appointment.

Dental SEO helps your dental practice rank in the Google Local Pack, Google Finder, and Google Maps. The above shows an example of the Google Local Pack, which is the most desired position for driving local traffic to your business.

Your website is your full-time salesperson at work 24 hours a day for your practice. Set it for success by investing the appropriate time and resources into your new website.

You can create a website yourself for only a few hundred dollars. However, it probably won’t attract much attention and convert better than one that is professionally designed, built, and managed.

A professionally designed dental website created by an agency that understands the dental industry and SEO will provide you with the best results. A well-designed dental website can be a great marketing tool for dentists, provided the website has these features:

Clean, mobile-friendly web designs
Simple, clear to understand navigation
An informative blog with content about your services
A team page with photos of the dentists, hygienists, and office staff.
Prominent contact info and location page (including an embedded map)
Reviews and testimonials
A video or photo tour of your offices
Fast load time (see below)
Technical SEO (see below)

You should expect to earn back any upfront costs you incur in building an optimized website in relatively short order. As noted, your website is ‘open for business’ at any time of the day or night, helping you attract new patients even when the practice is closed. As long as you’re marketing your website effectively, you should be able to recoup the cost.

Consider developing a website where patients can schedule appointments online. Ensure your contact information (including email address) is readily available, and be sure to provide multiple ways for prospective patients to get in touch with you.

Technical Dental SEO

Just as important as the content of your website is what happens behind the scenes. Technical SEO for dental sites looks at a website’s technical aspects to ensure everything is working correctly. This aspect of search optimization is often misunderstood or not fully understood by people who don’t work in online marketing. Left unattended, you risk placing your dental website at a distinct disadvantage vis a vis your competitors.

One of the most important parts of dental SEO effectiveness is website speed. As of June 2021, Google now considers the website’s speed essential when ranking sites, especially its mobile version.

Your website needs to be fast enough for anyone to use it on any desktop, tablet, or mobile device. Technical SEO is one of the most important aspects of dental SEO services. The most common reasons for slow site speed are unoptimized images, videos, or multiple snippets of JavaScript, all trying to load at once. If you optimize these areas of your website for performance, you can expect your site to load faster.

Your website must also be mobile-friendly. More than half your web traffic probably comes from mobile devices. Your website must function equally well on mobile devices as it would on desktop computers.

Good technical dental SEO services ensure your website loads correctly and function well on a mobile device. Nowadays, search engines penalize websites that don’t have an excellent mobile version.

Create content that is informative and interesting.

Content is a primary ranking factor used by Google, helping your dental practice rise above the competition. Content includes blogs, social media, news, reports, guides, newsletters, webcasts, podcasts, and more.

Your content must communicate your dental practice personality effectively, and reinforce the critical attributes of Expertise, Authority, and Trust (EAT). Engaging content, backed up by effective keywords, will help increase your website traffic. It will also help extend the time visitors stay on your site, known as dwell time SEO.

Consider how what you have to say, or your areas of expertise, is related to what your present and potential patients are looking for based on current search patterns. This focus will allow you to create tailored posts for the patients you target. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t work. Carefully consider what you want your message to be, and the platforms where you want to deliver your messages. Infographics are effective at grabbing people’s attention. They’re also helpful in informing people about your business.

Blogging is one way of sharing your dental practice’s messages. A successful blog aims to answer patient questions. Doing this consistently will establish your website’s authority as a reliable source of dental and oral health-related information. Adding colorful visuals to your posts is an effective way to improve their quality and engagement. A list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) about your practice and what you can expect from particular dental treatments can be a great way to enhance your patient relationships.

Get More Reviews from Existing Patients

Reviews are essential for SEO because Google’s algorithm relies on them to rank websites.

More importantly, a review provides social proof, which people often use when unsure about a course of action or a decision. Personal recommendations are important when choosing dentists and dental treatment. According to a recent survey, 79 percent of consumers say they trust reviews as much as they trust recommendations from friends or family.***

Getting positive reviews for your dental office is easy when you include an online review request feature. Several services exist that provide this function to simplify dental review management. The system invites patients by texting or emailing them to leave a review. You can also encourage reviews by posting a QR code at the front desk, adding a review request at the bottom of your monthly (electronic) newsletter, including a short survey with a link to your review site, etc.

It’s not enough to simply ask patients to post a review. You must make it simple and convenient for them to do so, especially when they are predisposed to doing so (like when they just saw their beautiful new smile in your mirror). Happy patients are only too glad to share their positive experiences with your practice.

Once your Google Business Profile is accepted, it will automatically appear in a GBP listing whenever someone searches for “dentist” or “local dentist,” displaying important information, along with patient review scores.

It’s also a good idea to have a Yelp profile to help increase traffic to the site. Facebook reviews are helpful as well. Patients need to go to the review tab and write their recommendations.

Finally, include a few hand-picked patient reviews on your website or create a page dedicated to patient reviews.

Off-Page Dental SEO Services

Off-page dental SEO involves things that don’t appear on your website. An example is backlinks – links from other websites to your website.

The more websites that include links to your site, the more authoritative your site appears to search engines. As a result, you begin to rank better than your competitors.

But backlinking is not strictly about numbers. A reasonable number of high-quality backlinks is preferable to a high quantity of low low-quality ones. You want to be associated with other high-quality websites. While your competitors are unlikely to link back to you, local business organizations, health care association/membership websites, and blogs are often good places to find them. If you write a blog post or get featured in a news story, you can usually link to your site from the publication’s online version.

Most likely, you will get most of your links from websites ending with.com. However, it’s worth the extra effort to identify websites that end with .org, .edu, or .gov. These websites are generally regarded as more authoritative and will, therefore, help your site rank higher than relying on .com website backlinks alone.

Building backlinks is an ongoing process, so begin by building a nice, healthy list by linking to your dental practice over time. Caveat: never “buy” links or artificially create backlinks. Google levies harsh penalties for websites that employ such so-called “black hat” techniques.

What’s the return on investment from dental SEO services?

To calculate the ROI of an SEO strategy, you simply complete the following formula:
ROI = Return – Investment
Investment

Return is calculated by multiplying the number of new patients acquired times the average patient lifetime value (APLV). The Investment is simply the cost of deploying your SEO tactic.

Let’s say you’ve calculated your APLV as being $7500.

Now that we’ve established an SEO strategy, your site is delivering five new patients per month. We can calculate those five patients as representing $37,500. At a rate of 5 new patients a month for a year, you’ll add approximately $450,000 in additional revenue just from SEO. If your annual budget for SEO is, say, $12,000, using the above formula, your ROI is 3650%.

SEO is a Key Strategy to Growing Your Dental Practice

Ranking prominently in local searches is key to operating a successful dental practice. Whether you do it yourself, or hire a dental marketing agency to assist, a strategy leveraging dental SEO services can help your dental practice increase organic traffic and attract more patients online.

By pushing your dental practice’s listing higher in search engine results, you drive more traffic to your site which in turn means more new patients through the door.

* BrightEdge Channel Report, 2019
** Sistrix Study, 2020
*** Local Consumer Review Survey 2022

Improve Dental Website Rankings While Creating Practice Ambassadors

AIM Marketing Coaching, Dental Practice Management, Dentistry Marketing, Latest News

Dental Patient Testimonial Videos Are One Key That Opens The Door To More New Dental Patients.

Most dentists and dental team members instinctively understand and appreciate the value of video in general, and dental videos in particular, to help grow their practice.

If you want to improve dental website rankings, the following is a succinct explanation of why dental patient testimonial videos offer such power and potential, and how to ensure a steady stream of testimonial videos for your dental practice.

Step 1. Meet with your Team and confirm their ‘buy in’ of the importance of securing patient testimonial videos.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, video is worth a million! Explain to your Team that dental testimonial videos help engage website visitors far more than mere text can. It not only provides the web surging public with social proof to bolster their decision to call your practice. Video keeps website visitors on your site longer, which is a key determinant of the User Experience (UX) and accordingly, Google’s algorithm for calculating your dental website’s domain authority.

Step 2. Agree on the best place to shoot your video.

Be sure to consider:

Lighting – Is the patient being washed out by too much light, or are they hard to see owing to too little light?
Camera Angle – Eye level is usually best. Too high of a camera angle can make the patient appear small, while too low an angle makes them look supersized.
Background – Be sure your background does not detract or distract.
Ideally, it will be ‘non-clinical.’ Your consultation area is preferable to a chairside view.
Sound quality/acoustics – Surprisingly, it is more often the case that a video is unusable because of audio, rather than video, issues. To ensure high fidelity audio consider procuring a wired lapel microphone

Step 3. Arrange Role Plays using your video camera.

Take turns being the patient. Practice makes perfect. Spend time allowing each team member to be the patient as well as the director.

Step 4. Consider who would be great video candidates

During your huddle, discuss which patients would be great to have as part of your online presence. Consider geography, demographics, and delivered treatment. Strive to diversify your video portfolio as doing so will pay big search engine ranking dividends

Step 5. Prep The Patient

When scheduling/confirming the appointment, ask the patient if he/she would “…mind saying a few words on camera about your experience as our patient.” Expect some initial resistance until you’ve mastere4d your approach/verbiage.

Step 6. Schedule extra time for the shoot to ensure it is not forgotten.

If the patient will be numbed up, consider doing the video prior to the procedure. It’s a GREAT IDEA to add a new procedure code (e.g. Video) into your Practice Management System so you can actually schedule the time for this ‘procedure’ 5-10 minutes is all you’ll need!

Step 7. Practice ‘directing’ the patient.

Questions to have them ponder prior to, then deliver during the video are:
-Who are you?
-How long have you been a patient?
-What do you LOVE about being a patient?
-Why will others enjoy being a patient here?

Step 8. Offer a gift to the patient for doing the video.

It’s worth it because doing so makes them ‘part of the show’ which, in turn, makes them a Practice Ambassador.

Step 9. Upload your video to YouTube.

Be sure to correctly optimize by Titling, Tagging, and Describing it correctly, then posting it to your website, social media, etc.

Be sure to have patients sign a Video Release giving the practice explicit authorization to use their likeness in your promotional materials.

A Dental Patient Testimonial VIdeo is one of THE most effective Dental Marketing tactics because, once you and your Team master the protocol, it becomes as second nature as performing a hygiene check.

For more information call 312-455-9488 or email Info@AIMDentalMarketing.com

The Nation's Most Experienced Full-Service Dental Marketing Agency