Most website development companies only offer canned writing for dental websites. Library articles don’t work well for SEO, and they don’t convey a dentist’s uniqueness. So how can you find a quality dental writer in the United States?
For two decades, Shauna Duty has been writing, editing, and publishing text for dentists. Today, Shauna and her team of dental copywriters help dental practices reach page-one ranking on Google for various keyword phrases. They implement proven SEO strategies into well-written, clinically accurate, high-quality text for websites and blog posts.
What’s the difference between a writer, dental writer, copywriter, and ghostwriter?
All people who write are writers. Anyone who writes for a career or who has been paid for writing can be considered a professional writer.
A writer who composes text that isn’t attributed to the author is a copywriter. This text could be for a shampoo bottle, website, brochure, or ad (among many other things).
Ghostwriters, like copywriters, don’t take credit for their work. However, the content produced by a ghostwriter is credited to someone else. You’ll see this in non-fiction books, most often the biographies of celebrities (who are not professional writers).
A dental writer composes text about dentistry. Good dental writers should have a complete understanding of clinical procedures, diagnoses, symptoms, technology, and treatments, and he or she should be able to research dental topics. A dental writer does not take credit for his or her work.
An understanding of the advertising guidelines set by the ADA and state dental boards is extremely important for a dental writer. A dentist is responsible for everything in his or her marketing, so a poor dental copywriter can cause serious problems for a dentist if guidelines are breached or if content is not clinically accurate.
What goes into good copywriting for dental websites?
For website visitors, who are your potential patients, web text should be scannable, easy to understand, and it should answer their questions. Good writing reflects a dentist’s mission, vision, and patient care philosophy, so readers feel they’ll be treated effectively and comfortably under the dentist’s care.
Dental writers must weave together various styles and purposes when composing content for dentists’ websites. The words must market to the patient, prompting a call to the office followed by an appointment booking. (This is called conversion.) The text should also provide education on clinical dentistry and dental healthcare.
Each page plays a different role on a website, and the writer has to understand and effectively achieve the goals of those roles through text. For instance, the “about the dentist” page is the second most visited page on a dental website; the homepage is the most visited. The about page must share the dentist’s education and vision, but also make the potential patient feel drawn to the dentist, professionally and personally.
As for administrative issues like financing, insurance, new patient paperwork, HIPAA, and what to bring to an initial appointment, including a “new patient” section on your website is a good idea. Specifically, regarding insurance and financing, information has to be shared in such a way that the reader feels the policy and options are in his or her best interest, even if the doctor is out-of-network.
Here’s a list of pages you should consider putting on your site:
- Home
- About the Dentist
- About the Team
- About the Office/Technology
- New Patient Information/Financing & Insurance
- Dental Services (overview and list with links)
- Preventive Dentistry (Checkups, Cleanings, Periodontal Care, Oral Cancer, Brushing and Flossing)
- Children’s Dentistry (Fluoride, Sealants, Kids’ Ortho/Invisalign Teen, Wisdom Teeth Extractions)
- Restorative Dentistry (Crowns/Inlays & Onlays, Bridges, Partials, Dentures, Root Canal Therapy, Extractions)
- Cosmetic Dentistry (Bonding, Contouring, Teeth Whitening, Veneers, Smile Makeover, Invisalign)
- Orthodontics/Invisalign
- Dental Implants/Prosthodontics/FMR
- ·FAQs
- Blog/News/Education
- Make an Appointment/Contact Us/Locations
How can good writing help my website rank on page one of Google?
Google gives priority to websites that offer educational, informative, original text, as well as unique images and videos. Let’s start with copy, which some dentists call the text or script for a website.
Dental website copy needs to be optimized for search based on keywords generated through research. The most popular keywords for dentists have to do with symptoms and services, cost, and location (“near me’). Keywords and pertinent optimization information should be based on quality research, not guessing or trial and error. Enough data is available to create strategic copywriting plans based on facts.
In addition, competitive research can reveal ways to take advantage of search tactics other local dentists have missed. This can significantly help a dentist’s website rankings, and as a direct result, site traffic should improve.
When it comes to SEO, copy is king. However, images and videos are extremely popular with users. Google places emphasis on visual elements, as well as words. Your images, original or stock, need solid alt-tags for SEO.
Videos should have scripts and keywords on the backend, so Google understands what they’re about and how to index them. We usually opt for hosting videos on YouTube, then embedding them on websites. This helps keep website load time down, which is good for site visitors, SEO, and conversion (of viewers to patients).
Choosing a Dental Writer
How do you find a good copywriter who has experience with:
· SEO strategy (metadata, alt-tags, structuring text for search)
· dental marketing
· keyword selection
· deciphering and leveraging data that impacts search
· clinical dentistry
· breaking down complex information for readers
· dental marketing guidelines by the ADA and my state dental association
· conveying a dentist’s unique message
Good question. Big ask.
Shauna Duty and her team of writers, led by Mandy Wilson, a 10-year veteran dental assistant, are well trained and have helped dentists all over the world by providing top-quality copywriting. The Identiwrite Creative team can deliver exactly what your website needs to rank high and for you to have the reputation of a patient-focused professional.
If you need a dental writer for:
- Website pages
- Articles
- Blog posts
- Social media posts
- Print copy
- Video scripts
- Phone scripts
- Manuals
- Other special writing projects
…call us today at 940-395-5115 or email [email protected].
