Facebook: Claim Your Places Page
Facebook recently rolled out two new features: Facebook Nearby and Graph Search. Are you making the most of Facebook Nearby? Is your page ready for the release of Facebook’s new Graph Search? For your dental practice to succeed on Facebook, it is vital you have a place page. This page will allow your current and potential patients to search for your business on-the-move, check-in, and rate your business with Facebook Nearby. These actions will help you practice generate more reach and appear in the new Graph Search. Have you claimed your…
Google+ New Layout: What’s Changed
Google has released some new updates to its fast growing social network, Google+, which involves changes to the “About” pages, review pages, and cover photos. These upgrades are mostly visual, but have been designed to improve the user experience and make navigation around the network simple. Throughout this blog, we’re going to highlight how you can take advantage of these updates. Bigger Cover Images Without a doubt, the most noticeable change is the increased size and prominence of the Google+ cover image. The maximum image size has been increased to…
Weekly Links and Tips: March 18, 2013 – Understanding Local Search
The power of local search can make or break any marketing and SEO strategy. Implementing valuable content, accurate listings, and reviews into your social media can influence local search to work in your favor, which is covered in this week’s links. 18 Social & Local Marketing Ideas Based on the Consumer Journey You may already know about the consumer pathway, which focuses on a seven step process – awareness, involvement, active consideration, purchase, consumption, relationship building, and advocacy – a customer endeavors to make a purchase. This excellent entry provides…
Facebook’s Graph Search is Here
Earlier this month, Facebook announced a press conference for January 15. There were rumors flying around the Internet that the social network giant was going to enter the hardware market with a Facebook phone. But, what happened was even more extraordinary! Facebook entered the search industry and threw down the gauntlet on Google by releasing Graph Search. This article will briefly introduce the new features of Graph Search and look at how dental practices can use it. Facebook’s mission is to make the world more connected and open through sharing information.…
Online Reviews: Still Worth the Effort!
Google Reviews have been the hot topic since Google merged Google Places with Google+. There have been multiple changes with algorithms and filters leading many to ask questions similar to: “Does Google hate small businesses?” and “Why doesn’t Google like my reviews?” Well, we are here to tell you Google does not hate small businesses, hooray! Good news at last! On the contrary, Google is trying its best to help small businesses get the best reviews possible. This may seem hard to believe with all the frustration surrounding Google+, but…
Tips on Getting Positive Google+ Local and Yelp Reviews
You have heard us constantly emphasize that getting online reviews are extremely important. Why? It will dramatically improve your SEO and dental marketing efforts. For one, reviews provide feedback to potential patients. According to the Small Business Search Marketing Survey by American Express OPEN, 66% of people use the Internet to find small, local businesses. People go to review sites such as Google+ Local and Yelp to do their research, and 27% read reviews regularly and 49% read them occasionally. In other words, people rely on reviews to determine whether…
Attract New Patients With Google Reviews
It’s no secret that online reviews are a powerful tool for your business. Choosing a dentist can be a daunting task for prospective patients. Reviews greatly influence a user’s decision to choose you over your competitor and now they even impact search results. How? Your Google+ business page is like a “free advertising” opportunity on Google. Reviews on Google have a direct bearing on both local and organic search results. That means that the more Google reviews your practice has, the more likely your website is to show up on…
Apple Announces Apple Maps: What This Means for Your Business
image courtesy of apple.com Last week, Apple announced that their new iOS 6 will no longer use Google Maps as its standard maps application. Rather, they’ve introduced their own maps program. This new program, called Apple Maps, will be on the new iPhone 5 and will be part of a software update for existing iPhone 4, 4S, and iPad operating systems. Google has been in the map business for a long time, and most businesses have been optimized to appear correctly on Google Maps when a user searches for a…
Google+ Business & Local Pages Merge to Google+ Local
We’ve been buzzing about Google+ for a while now, and you’ve no doubt heard your Account Manager mention that Google+ Business pages would be merging (at some point) with Google+ Local. Well, the moment is finally here! If you pull up your Google+ Business page, you’ll now see a verification button. This button allows admins to verify that this page does indeed belong to the business and to merge the page with Google+ Local. We would strongly encourage you to merge your pages as soon as possible! Here is a…
Google+: Setting up Managers
If you are a regular reader of our blog, no doubt you’ve noticed the emphasis we’ve placed on Google+ in recent months. Because of the tremendous impact it can have on your Local and Social search engine results, we strongly believe it is an essential component in a successful dental marketing strategy. In order to effectively use the many features Google+ has to offer, you may wish to assign extra admins (or “managers”) to help you maintain and manage your Google+ business page. Assigning staff members as managers is a…