Howard Speaks: What Does Your Website Say About You? by Howard Farran, DDS, MBA, MAGD

I check out at least a dozen new dentist websites every day because when I’m replying to readers’ emails, I check out their websites to get a better sense of who they are. And I have to tell you: I’m stunned.

The average dentist’s website looks like it was conceived in the late ’80s at some convention where he gave someone $1,000 to throw together some cookie-cutter site. The thing is, I know how great a lot of these dentists are from Dentaltown! He may be an implant guru, and she’s answered hundreds of questions about cosmetic dentistry for other dentists on the message boards … but their websites are totally generic. Nothing but dentist headshots and a list of what schools they went to. You learn nothing about the doctors—nothing that really matters to a patient.

But the guys and gals who are crushing value-driven, higher-margin dental procedures are a different story. Go to their websites and you’ll realize how they’ve mastered the use of photography (or maybe their assistants have). Their sites have great clinical photos—not the kind dentists like, with all the blood and guts, but before-and-after shots of patients with a case of this or that. And in each one, all the patients end up smiling and happy. When you go through a website like that, you instantly get a feeling that you’re buying the dentist.

Looking good takes work

I interview dentists every day for my Dentistry Uncensored with Howard Farran podcasts, and almost all of the successful ones say the same thing: They rolled up their sleeves and got involved in their websites. They realized that they needed to show before-and-after photos not just of cosmetic dentistry patients, but of those who had crowns and bridges and implant work done, because other patients are out there looking for people who can perform those procedures on them. The websites specifically say whether the dentists are experts in sedation dentistry. In a nutshell, their websites sell the dentists themselves, not just their experience and service prices.

Nowadays, you can hop on a plane for a hundred bucks and fly anywhere in the country. Dentists get patients from other states—even other countries—who have done their research online and made a connection with a particular dentistry practice. I’ve always said that when it comes to dentistry, half of America makes their decision based on price—but the other half buys the doctor … buys the value (which is entirely different than the price).

Whenever I’m sitting next to passengers on a plane, I start a conversation by asking them where they were born, and to tell me about their dentists. They always have stories about things that went wrong—with the staff, the hygienist, the assistant, the dentist.

When they’re ready to find a new dentist, they go to search engines and punch in, say, “Topeka, Kansas dentist,” and then bounce from site to site to site, trying to find someone they think they might connect with.

That means your website has to convey instant trust—instant credibility. When I’m on your website, looking at pictures of you and your staff and examples of your work, you need my reaction to be: “Man, I trust this guy.”

Show, don’t tell

I’ll give you another example: The Phoenix metro area, where I practice, is packed with cosmetic surgeons. (I mean, think about Scottsdale alone—c’mon!) But if you went to most of the area’s cosmetic surgeons, they’d just give you a generic brochure that tells you what school they went to, or how many honors they graduated with.

But the people who are ruling all of the cosmetic works—the stuff that falls outside of Obamacare, insurance, etc.—have all mastered digital photography. If you go into their office and you’re a 40-year-old woman and this is your issue, they’ll show you 10 cases of female patients around your age who came in with the same issue. There’ll be great before-and-after photos, nicely displayed in a portfolio and online, and you’ll be amazed and on board, because now you’re buying what that doctor can do. You’re not going to buy off of a generic brochure.

Right now, look up your website and tell me the last time you updated it or added to it. When was the last time you went on Dentaltown and took a dental photography course? I’ve done so many podcasts and courses about dental photography— everybody in your office should master photography and know how to upload images to the website. And get serious about having the entire office on the website—your hygienists, your assistants, everyone. For the new-patient experience, everybody sells trust in the dentist, so patients can finally say they found a dentist they trust.