Well, it is suddenly a busy season for web sites. We have several that are finishing that are ready to debut and even more inquiries for web sites. Today, I’d like to congratulate Millennium Medical Spa on completing their website. You can see it here: anythingcosmetic.com. Most of the web sites we do these days are HTML/Flash blends like this.
Last week, I announced that we were re-tooling The Cosmetic Channel™. Just on the announcement alone, we had some forward thinking doctors and dentists contact us regarding uploading their videos onto the new Cosmetic Channel™. Here are a few more details. We plan to launch the new format by September 1 and all cosmetic surgeons and cosmetic dentists will be able to upload their videos for free. If you have an office tour, an interview, television commercials, procedure videos or any other video talking about your services, skills or approach. If you have video that promotes your practice, you will want it posted and indexed on The Cosmetic Channel™.
The site is going to be a one-stop location for promotional video on elective cosmetic procedures, both medical and dental. Doctors will be able to set up and manage profiles, link directly to their web sites, add contact phone numbers and more. Videos will be linked to profiles but will be searchable in many ways including geographically and by procedure. It will be easy to use and users will be able to watch all kinds of details about procedures and doctors. It will be a great place to have your promotional video. And, the best part is that it is FREE to set up your profile and post your videos.
Next week, I will post more details but if you have video, email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com to be part of the beta test where we will be asking the first group of doctors to upload their videos. If you are among those who have already contacted me about this, you are on the list for the beta test.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
The NEW Cosmetic Channel
In a few months, Dog Star Media is relaunching The Cosmetic Channel™ with a new concept that will bring even more benefit to our clients. Think YouTube™ for Cosmetic Surgery and Dental Procedures.... only with SEO and direct traffic benefits.
There will be no cost to list your video on TheCosmeticChannel.com. And, unlike YouTube™, The Cosmetic Channel™ will be exclusive to cosmetic surgery and cosmetic dentistry. We are building in SEO benefits through backlinking and the direct traffic benefits of a major listing directory. And, of course, it will feature our educational video on cosmetic dentistry and cosmetic surgery procedures.
This re-engineering of The Cosmetic Channel™ is based on the avalanche of video the elective medicine market has loaded onto YouTube™ and their web sites. We are sure that a directory site, based on video content, will be an excellent way for cosmetic surgeons and dentists to put their best foot forward on video and all benefit from creating such a specific repository of video.
Sure it will be a great educational resource but we want every listing to have the most marketing benefit as well. In short, The Cosmetic Channel™ will make it easier for users to find your video on the web. Take the most compelling media you have (video) and make it easier to find (specific search directory) and you improve your use of video for marketing your practice. This will provide more and better information on video to prospective patients searching for information on specific procedures.
Doctors will be searchable by geography and procedure and will be able to list web sites, phone numbers and email addresses. On The Cosmetic Channel™, there will be no jumping through hoops to get to a doctor. See a doctor you like, click to contact.
You can start now. Please contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com if you have any of the following videos. We’d invite you to be the first listings on The Cosmetic Channel™ .
1) Videos on YouTube.
2) Videos on your web site,
3) Videos in your reception area
4) Videos on DVD that you give prospects or patients.
All of these will have a home on The New Cosmetic Channel™.
There will be no cost to list your video on TheCosmeticChannel.com. And, unlike YouTube™, The Cosmetic Channel™ will be exclusive to cosmetic surgery and cosmetic dentistry. We are building in SEO benefits through backlinking and the direct traffic benefits of a major listing directory. And, of course, it will feature our educational video on cosmetic dentistry and cosmetic surgery procedures.
This re-engineering of The Cosmetic Channel™ is based on the avalanche of video the elective medicine market has loaded onto YouTube™ and their web sites. We are sure that a directory site, based on video content, will be an excellent way for cosmetic surgeons and dentists to put their best foot forward on video and all benefit from creating such a specific repository of video.
Sure it will be a great educational resource but we want every listing to have the most marketing benefit as well. In short, The Cosmetic Channel™ will make it easier for users to find your video on the web. Take the most compelling media you have (video) and make it easier to find (specific search directory) and you improve your use of video for marketing your practice. This will provide more and better information on video to prospective patients searching for information on specific procedures.
Doctors will be searchable by geography and procedure and will be able to list web sites, phone numbers and email addresses. On The Cosmetic Channel™, there will be no jumping through hoops to get to a doctor. See a doctor you like, click to contact.
You can start now. Please contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com if you have any of the following videos. We’d invite you to be the first listings on The Cosmetic Channel™ .
1) Videos on YouTube.
2) Videos on your web site,
3) Videos in your reception area
4) Videos on DVD that you give prospects or patients.
All of these will have a home on The New Cosmetic Channel™.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Getting serious about social networking
Yesterday, I was involved in a conference call with our local ReachLocal rep, Jessica Cooper, looking at a new product ReachLocal has rolled out related to social networking. Admittedly, this is a new medium that is changing at very rapid pace. It’s hard to get a hold of a strategy, learn how to work it and make it pay off before the next new thing comes along and changes the game. However, one thing is certain about social networking: it provides connections and connectivity can be fuel for some marketing strategies if you know how to use them.
On Facebook, which is one of the most dominant social networking sites, I see only a handful of cosmetic surgeons or cosmetic dentists actually working it. And, when I check in with them, they tell me that their efforts in social networking are resulting in better relationships and new business. Conversely, I see a lot of people trying halfheartedly and, worse, getting an account started and not participating. Clearly there is room for improvement here, market-wide.
Facebook, Twitter, blogs... these are all content driven ways to get new information on the web about your practice and the benefits of your services. In fact, you can use these mediums to marshall a lot of conversation, buzz and awareness if you have an organized approach to it. The reason why people are not doing it in mass yet is that they do not understand the new wave of communication on the Internet. So, here is a warning... If you think of the Internet as only web sites and email, you are looking at only the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole other, much bigger chunk of Internet usage floating below the surface.
The product (ReachCast) I saw from ReachLocal yesterday does two things as I can see it. It provides a platform for the use of social media with an easy to use dashboard for distributing and monitoring the effects of content on social mediums. In short, it is like a control panel that tells you how you are doing everywhere, not unlike stat reports from Google Analytics. In doing this, I think the real genius of the platform is revealed. It is easy for you, the consumer, to understand the value of social media as a marketing tool. I have found through years of introducing new ideas to my clients, that the biggest obstacle is the client’s lack of understanding of the value of a strategy. Social media is the example de jour right now. So many are not doing it or doing it poorly because they do not understand it. The ReachCast dashboard will help you understand the potential.
With that understanding in place, you just need to have strategies in place to use and manage content through the available channels. You add content. You measure. You react to what you learn. You add more content. And, so on, and so on. Dog Star Media has been waiting for a product like this to come along and streamline the use of social media so we can be an effective strategy and content provider. Now that this is in place, we are gearing up to be our clients’ content provider as a new service. Using the ReachCast platform, we will help guide clients through the everchanging landscape of social networking and help them use the Internet for marketing to its greatest potential.
Here is an example of the sort of detail you will get. “Hello, ReachCast people!” I know you are see me writing about you thanks to your Radar feature on your dashboard. This is how ReachCast users are able to track all mentions of their business on the Internet no matter where it shows. You can have this, too, to understand what is being said and written about you across all online medias.
This month, I will be talking to all my coaching clients about ReachCast this week. If this is something that interests you, please contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
On Facebook, which is one of the most dominant social networking sites, I see only a handful of cosmetic surgeons or cosmetic dentists actually working it. And, when I check in with them, they tell me that their efforts in social networking are resulting in better relationships and new business. Conversely, I see a lot of people trying halfheartedly and, worse, getting an account started and not participating. Clearly there is room for improvement here, market-wide.
Facebook, Twitter, blogs... these are all content driven ways to get new information on the web about your practice and the benefits of your services. In fact, you can use these mediums to marshall a lot of conversation, buzz and awareness if you have an organized approach to it. The reason why people are not doing it in mass yet is that they do not understand the new wave of communication on the Internet. So, here is a warning... If you think of the Internet as only web sites and email, you are looking at only the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole other, much bigger chunk of Internet usage floating below the surface.
The product (ReachCast) I saw from ReachLocal yesterday does two things as I can see it. It provides a platform for the use of social media with an easy to use dashboard for distributing and monitoring the effects of content on social mediums. In short, it is like a control panel that tells you how you are doing everywhere, not unlike stat reports from Google Analytics. In doing this, I think the real genius of the platform is revealed. It is easy for you, the consumer, to understand the value of social media as a marketing tool. I have found through years of introducing new ideas to my clients, that the biggest obstacle is the client’s lack of understanding of the value of a strategy. Social media is the example de jour right now. So many are not doing it or doing it poorly because they do not understand it. The ReachCast dashboard will help you understand the potential.
With that understanding in place, you just need to have strategies in place to use and manage content through the available channels. You add content. You measure. You react to what you learn. You add more content. And, so on, and so on. Dog Star Media has been waiting for a product like this to come along and streamline the use of social media so we can be an effective strategy and content provider. Now that this is in place, we are gearing up to be our clients’ content provider as a new service. Using the ReachCast platform, we will help guide clients through the everchanging landscape of social networking and help them use the Internet for marketing to its greatest potential.
Here is an example of the sort of detail you will get. “Hello, ReachCast people!” I know you are see me writing about you thanks to your Radar feature on your dashboard. This is how ReachCast users are able to track all mentions of their business on the Internet no matter where it shows. You can have this, too, to understand what is being said and written about you across all online medias.
This month, I will be talking to all my coaching clients about ReachCast this week. If this is something that interests you, please contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Fresh Web Sites are Back!
All year long, the hot topic has been mobile web sites. The need for mobile sites has had the most buzz and has been our hottest selling item this year by far. However, in recent weeks, there has been a lot of talk about refreshing and improving standard web sites. The ones we redesigned for clients in the third quarter are making excellent progress on search engines and are getting consistent higher new traffic with calls going up as well. And, lately, people who are tired of their old web sites that have stagnated, are calling about new web sites.
Summer is a great time to rebuild your site. With the longer days, people seem to have that little extra time to do something for themselves and the truth is, a redesign takes a lot less work on the client’s part than when you design a site from scratch. Using the bones of your current site as a starting point saves you time. It doesn’t save the designer any steps but it does speed the process.
Redesigns usually have two focuses. The first is to make technical improvements. It is pretty clear what works for a steady Efficient Keyword SEO approach like the one we employ so redesigns are often focused on making the site more sturdy for ongoing work related to organic search. Secondly, a redesign focuses on improving the graphic presentation and flow of information. When it is available, an analysis of your existing traffic patterns help us determine the best ways to lay out the site. And, often, revising your navigation can help with your relevance for some terms (a factor determined by search engines in determining organic rankings).
What often triggers a redesign? Lately we have seen people choose redesigns because of a lack of performance by the site (failure to acheive better rankings despite being optimized, short visit time, high bounce rate (people leaving the site right away) or dwindling phone calls from the site (which can be tracked best with a dedicated tracking number). Or sometimes, people have the foresight to realize that their site is old and an investment in that first impression makes all the difference sometimes.
For everyone who has interest in redesign, we still have two months left on our summer web site special. That specials is a Flash/HTML web site (the most popular choice among our formats) at regular price ($7500) with four minutes of web drop video for FREE (a value of $4800). This offer is good through the end of August. If you are interested in redesigning your site, please let me know at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Summer is a great time to rebuild your site. With the longer days, people seem to have that little extra time to do something for themselves and the truth is, a redesign takes a lot less work on the client’s part than when you design a site from scratch. Using the bones of your current site as a starting point saves you time. It doesn’t save the designer any steps but it does speed the process.
Redesigns usually have two focuses. The first is to make technical improvements. It is pretty clear what works for a steady Efficient Keyword SEO approach like the one we employ so redesigns are often focused on making the site more sturdy for ongoing work related to organic search. Secondly, a redesign focuses on improving the graphic presentation and flow of information. When it is available, an analysis of your existing traffic patterns help us determine the best ways to lay out the site. And, often, revising your navigation can help with your relevance for some terms (a factor determined by search engines in determining organic rankings).
What often triggers a redesign? Lately we have seen people choose redesigns because of a lack of performance by the site (failure to acheive better rankings despite being optimized, short visit time, high bounce rate (people leaving the site right away) or dwindling phone calls from the site (which can be tracked best with a dedicated tracking number). Or sometimes, people have the foresight to realize that their site is old and an investment in that first impression makes all the difference sometimes.
For everyone who has interest in redesign, we still have two months left on our summer web site special. That specials is a Flash/HTML web site (the most popular choice among our formats) at regular price ($7500) with four minutes of web drop video for FREE (a value of $4800). This offer is good through the end of August. If you are interested in redesigning your site, please let me know at donald@dogstarmedia.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)