Untangling Web Marketing by Sam Harbison

As part of my tenure as a web professional, I've built hundreds of websites, set up an equal number of online marketing strategies … and heard thousands of questions from clients who need guidance about everything from the basics of owning a website to the specifics of search engine strategies.

If your practice has an online marketing strategy—or plans to develop one soon—you should ask yourself these questions, and make sure you're comfortable with the answers. (If not, rather than muddling through it yourself, it might be time to search out qualified professional assistance.)

Why would I need to worry about hacking? Do I really know my site?
It can be tough to jump into the technical ins and outs of the web. You don't have to be a programmer, but understanding the more critical components of your site is essential if you want a successful web presence.

For example: If you don't know which platform your site lives on, it's time to dig a little deeper. Many dentists are using platforms such as WordPress, which my company almost exclusively builds in. It's critical to understand that your website is a living, breathing component of your online marketing: Every year—and, actually, I'd recommend it every three months—you should complete a quick "health check" on your website. This means the following:

• Do you have a recent backup of the site?
• Have your plug-ins or other add-ons been updated to help prevent potential security breaches?
• Does every "fill-in" form on your site still work, and does everyone included on the form actually receive the messages or emails sent from the site?
• If a cellphone user clicks the phone number on your website, does it dial your business?
• Do you have the login information to your File Transfer Protocol (FTP), website administrative backend and hosting platform?

If you pay a company to manage your site and hosting, oftentimes this is just a phone call making sure it has all of the above in place. However, if you've recently transitioned to a new vendor or have taken a portion of your website management in-house, embed these bullet points in your internal procedures. Over the past few years, a number of large security breaches came from hackers leveraging out-of-date website technology to spam or create havoc. These security breaches can prevent emails from being received and, in some cases, I've seen people lose entire websites.

I know it sounds like an excessive amount of caution, but dealing with hackers and spammers is a reality in the web today. Luckily, a quick health check can avoid the hassle and stress of dealing with almost any type of security issue. Avoid downtime and stay effective online by hitting those checkpoints often.

I keep hearing about online directories. I have a website—isn't that enough?
Having a website is a great start, but to maximize its reach you also should "legitimize" that site by setting up accurate profiles on sites such as Yelp, Google Local, Bing Places, Superpages and Manta. Why they're important:

• People use these listings to find your business, read reviews and make their ultimate decision. If your address is wrong or your hours are inaccurate, you could lose business.
• Search engines such as Google see these listings as "trust signals" that your site is in good standing. Listings and profiles will contain links back to your website, and Google likes important backlinks.
• These listings build a protective wall when someone searches your brand. When someone searches your company name in a search engine, they'll find results you control.

This is one of the most overlooked components of a business's online presence. My company runs through the most important directory listings as part of every website launch, but many other places don't specialize in this … and you may have launched your website and never looked back.

Treat these directories as extensions of your website rather than secondary aspects of your marketing. When potential customers search for your services, they want to find consistent hours and an accurate address and phone number no matter where they look.

This step is critical if you haven't reviewed this information since you launched your website or if you recently moved your business. Don't overlook online directories, because they relate to organic rankings—and increased conversions.

How do I track the results of my online marketing?
You can't push forward in your online marketing efforts without tools in place to help you measure effectiveness. It can be tough to decide where to put your marketing dollars, so before you even make that decision you need a mechanism to track and evaluate the results you're getting. I recommend using a combination of the following tracking tools.

Google Analytics
This tool reports how much traffic your website gets on a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis—for free. It takes only a few minutes to set up the most basic aspects; we often do this for free for potential customers because the information is so valuable. If you're being charged hundreds of dollars to simply add Google Analytics to your website, you're getting charged too much.

You can take this technology further by tracking conversions. I recommend first understanding the data and its basic trends: Do you know your busiest web traffic day each week? Do you know what time of year drives the most web traffic? You should know the answers to these questions.

Phone tracking
If you're running AdWords, Yelp advertising or any other paid marketing, you should be tracking and recording calls, which is easier than ever.

Why is this important for your office? You're probably like most busy professionals—the phone rings while you're with a patient, and you may have a new receptionist or several different staff members answering the phones.

You should have a lock-step process for answering phones to get important data such as name, phone number and email address early in the conversation. Your marketing efforts can get the phone to ring, but handling the calls is just as critical.

Conclusion
Most important, don't let your website and online marketing overwhelm you and your office. Take all of this in steps:

1. Check your website. It's the foundation of your online marketing, so make sure it's up to date and working properly.
2. Track your marketing. Have something in place to evaluate how your website is performing.
3. Try new promotions. Start experimenting with different online marketing efforts (see "Signals and Drivers" sidebar) and keep a close eye on the numbers.

And if you decide to get the help of a web professional, get at least two or three quotes so you can find the right fit to guide your marketing to the next level.