SmileMakers Dental Blog

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a hot topic online these days - it’s all about making sure that your dental practice website ranks high on search engines. If you’re an orthodontist in Omaha, you want to be at or near the top of the list when people go to Google looking for “Omaha orthodontist.”

If you don’t know much about SEO, there are lots of people willing to take your money in return for (hopefully) improving your page rank with the major search engines. But there’s more to the internet than just your homepage. It doesn’t take a lot of work on your part to get yourself and your practice in the news - and that’s free publicity for you! Consider the power of press releases.

First off, you need to start with a newsworthy item. Some examples:

• You or your practice has received an award or honor.
• You’ve gotten new equipment or introduced a new service.
• You’ve done or are going to do something for the community
• Your practice has moved.
• You’ve hired an associate.

In creating your press release, think locally. Be sure the text includes your city, state, and zip code. Including information about where you’re located makes the local media more likely to notice and pick up on your story. You’ll also want to send copies of your press release to the local media - they are your friends! You’ll pick up more clients from a spot in your local news than from any national media.

Make sure your press release is long enough to look respectable - that means at least 150 words. In fact, your release can be as long as 500-1000 words. Keep in mind, however, that most news outlets won’t reproduce the whole thing. That’s why most press releases are written in the inverted pyramid format, which means that the most important information is at the beginning of the document. That way, it reads smoothly even if paragraphs are lopped off the bottom. Remember the old adage: who, what, where, when and why.

Finally, if it’s an option, consider scheduling your release in advance. This gives the local media time to read your release and research your practice beforehand.

Press releases can seem daunting at first, but they’re pretty simple, and they’re a great avenue for publicity. There are lots of sites for press releases out there - a quick internet search will show you hundreds. And don’t forget to include the local media - not just newspapers, but TV stations, radio stations, and popular local websites.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 6:57 am and is filed under Wealthy Dentist. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.