Facebook Special

There are several cosmetic surgeons out there that are doing a good job on using Facebook to cultivate a following and generate leads for surgery. I know because I see many of them. But most of the Facebook attempts I see right now are practices reinventing the wheel and not getting very far.

Here is a quick primer on using social networking to generate leads, not just benefit your practice from a visibility point of view. Start by showing some personality, not just making business posts. In a business like cosmetic surgery or cosmetic dentistry where trust is so important, it gives you a huge advantage if people like you going in. It is possible to use your Facebook account to propagate information and promote certain specials but HOW you do it more important than what you are saying. The posts that turn up leads are part of bigger ongoing conversation and you have to be present for that conversation in this medium. Otherwise any offers you put out there are just another ad, unlikely to get a response.

Next, you have to embrace the immediacy of the medium. Most people who are active on Facebook check their accounts several times each day. They scan for what is interesting and move on. So, you have to be timely and know that responses will be timely. This means deadlines. Put an offer out there and have a short deadline on it. If no one bites, try the next day with something else.

Finally, making your offer available for redemption on Facebook will encourage others to reply or get involved once they see others doing it. Facebook has a high Monkey-See, Monkey-Do quality about it and one comment can open up all kinds of discussion or commentary. Staying involved in that conversation opens up new relationships or gives you greater understanding of existing relationships.

Here is an example. The hottest seller at Dog Star Media right now are mobile web sites. This is probably because everybody’s mobile traffic went up in the last month and some jumped significantly. So, I chose this high interest item for this example. Today, to coincide with this blog, we are running a Facebook-only promotion. Offline, we are running four special offers right now at Dog Star Media ranging from $4000 off a Flash/HTML web site with 4 minutes of video, to first month of coaching or SEO free to 5 additional pages for a new starter mobile site. However, today only on Facebook, we are offering 10 additional pages on a new starter mobile site for the first three who respond here on our Facebook page. If you have any interest, I would hurry up because of the limitation on time and spaces available. Just say you want it in the comments under the offer.

So what happens if no one replies today? Nothing is lost, only the one-minute it took to write up the offer. You have to have that mindset going in. My prospects and clients move a lot slower on Facebook than yours simply because what you are selling has such an emotional impact. If you can get people talking about cosmetic enhancements, you can really get the ball rolling online. Maybe a few people will get a great deal on a starter mobile site today but at the very least, you have template you can copy to get your offers going. And, use this advice to make it personal.

If you have any questions about mobile sites or social networking, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

SEO numbers are in for April

April saw some pretty big jumps in web traffic for our clients. Dog Star Media SEO clients experienced a 6.6% increase in web traffic last month. That included some pretty big jumps by some clients and, for others, it meant the continuation of steady progress.

And, the story continues to be mobile device uses. Today Apple released news that the 1Millionth iPad was sold. And, today, following analysis of their SEO results, I had to inform two clients that they had reached the 5% mark (5% of site visitors coming on mobile devices), which is the point where you should have starter mobile site. One client jumped solidly up to the 10% mark. And, no one slid backwards on mobile devices referencing their site. It appears this trend is continuing and being reinforced by the new equipment that is out there.

We are offering a special this month on mobile sites that includes 5 additional pages on a starter 12-page mobile site. We have also loosened our restrictions and will now place three Before/After cases on a page. And, more and more clients continue to come to us for mobile sites right now. Mobile site orders are outpacing web site orders by a rate of 10-1 over the past two months.

If you are interested in starting a mobile site strategy, please let me know. You can contact me directly at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Most requested item lately: Video

It appears that video is back. In the past few weeks, we have had an unusually high number of requests for new video. I attribute this to two things. 1) Generally, everyone is reporting that business is going well and in most cases on its way up. And 2) most video on our markets’ web sites is old by now. Whatever the motivators, more people are improving the video content they have on their web sites and reception area

Video is one of the most valuable tools for a web site. It is an opportunity for the doctor or dentist to make the best possible first impression. Properly designed into a web site, video can offer an insightful and high-quality look at the doctor and the practice on demand. Whether you do this with a tour video, testimonial video, educational video, or narrative video where the doctor appears in video as part of the web site presentation, as a rich medium, video cannot be beaten.

The most popular video we do, we call a “web drop.” We coined that phrase early in the decade when we introduced Flash Video to cosmetic dentistry and cosmetic surgery with sites we designed. With a web drop, we shoot video of the doctor against a green screen background. Under our expert direction, we assure that the lines are delivered properly and with confidence in order to make the best first impression. This is a key element in our process as the performance must be good to be convincing. In post-production, we eliminate the green background and can them import just the doctor’s image into the web site as video.

The result is the doctor speaking with a transparent background that makes it look like he is part of the web site. This is a relatively simple technique but it requires good video skills and good web design skills. Most clients who order this like the fact that video is on the site without a video area or a traditional video box. This sleek design, when built into a web site is very convincing. This is why we are running a special through May 22 of this year on new HTML/Flash/Video web sites. If you want to know the special, email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com to get information on the gift card special.

If you are interested in refreshing your video or adding video to your site, just ask. You can contact me at donald@dogstarmedia.com or by phone at 888-321-4004.

New Mobile Site plus Tracking Numbers

Congratulations to Faisal Quereshy, MD in Ohio on the launch of his mobile web site. You can see his main site at www.visagefacialsurgery.com and you can see the mobile site at that address on a mobile device.

Lately we have had quite a run on tracking numbers. This is such a good sign. Even though the economy is picking up and I have had several surgeons and dentists tell me that they are busier than ever, it is good that many of you have learned lessons from the Recession. Tracking telephone numbers are the #1 marketing tool I recommend. They reveal so much detail about productivity that not using them just seems like a huge mistake.

Tracking numbers are easy to use. They are unique numbers that allow you to measure the specific number, detail and value of each call. The biggest misconception about tracking numbers is that they are just a dedicated number. This is not the case. A tracking number must be acquired from a tracking number service.

When you use these numbers, you can track the volume of calls from a given location, whether or not those calls are answered or unanswered, the length of the call, the caller ID information if that is available and the length of the call. You can also listen to the calls online if you choose the recording feature. Listening to these calls helps you determine the value of the incoming calls. Also, listening to the calls helps you monitor how calls are going at the point of first contact with patients: your front desk. All in all, there are just too many benefits to tracking numbers. If you aren’t using them for everything, I think it means you just don’t want to know what is really going on.

If you are interested in a mobile web site or using tracking numbers for your marketing, please email me today at donald @dogstarmedia.com.

More new mobile sites

Mobile web sites continue to be the hot item this spring. The iPad release has caused another wave of interest as doctors are concerned about making the best first impression regardless of the device being used to view the Internet.

You can see new mobile sites by Dog Star Media at www.labiadoctor.com and www.sdavidbuck.com on your mobile device. When I was in Tulsa over the weekend at Dr. Cuzalina’s surgical course, many of the doctors looked their own sites up on iPhones and Blackberries to compare their presentation with the mobile sites we design specifically for use on mobile devices. This is a good test for you to perform on your web site, as well.

More mobile sites are coming. Please let me know if you are interested in maximizing your potential on mobile devices by emailing me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

The New DogStarMedia.com

So many people are getting new web sites right now, I thought we should join in. I invite you to visit the new www.dogstarmedia.com.

We have designed this site to feature the most common messages I have for clients and prospects in video, offer quick and easy access to our featured projects and portfolio and to make it easier to connect with us and gather/exchange information with us. I invite you to click around and possibly learn some things about us that you did not know before.

You can see the latest headline from our Twitter Feed at the bottom left and join our online community on Facebook on the lower right. Below that, new visitors can sign up for my marketing blog and email alert that goes out each Tuesday. With this design, we have streamlined our most important information and elements while giving users as many options as possible to join us for vital information in the future.

The iPhone design is reminder that mobile web sites are important and a subtle hint to use that phone to call us. Plus, the iPhone is cool to use and we wanted your experience on our site to pick up on that.

It’s time to get more aggressive with presention on the web. We are noticing clients getting more aggressive with their paid searches and their SEO. Those using tracking technologies are aware of the difference a better design can make and they are making adjustments.

This is why DSM is running a special promotion this month in conjunction with our new site launch and next week’s CME course at Tulsa Surgical Arts. We will be issuing 200 gift cards worth a $4000 credit toward a 30-page HTML/Flash web site with four minutes of video. This is a highly optimizable web site that has all the aesthetic value of a Flash site and includes the trust-engendering video of the doctor talking or a four-minute tour video. It is an aggressive web site, built to be competitive on all fronts. The gift cards are going out to a hand-picked group of clients and prospects but if you are reading my blog and you want one, please let me know by clicking here. The gift card offer will be good until May, 21, 2010. This is the best deal you will find on this sort of web site. If you want to be more successful on the web, we want to do our part to help you take that step.

Do you value every call?

There are several layers of value in tracking telephone numbers. First and most obvious, tracking numbers are a way of counting the number of calls you get from a unique source. Place a tracking number in an ad and find out how many people called from that ad. However, there is much more in the science of tracking numbers than simply counting.

Our tracking numbers can be programmed to record incoming calls. A “whisper” is spoken prior to connection, letting the caller know that calls may be recorded for quality purposes. Then, once the connection is made, the calls are digitally stored online for 30 day on your tracking number dashboard. When logged in, you can listen to those calls and evaluate how each call was handled. Of course this will keep your front desk on its toes, identify the need for communications training and maybe even force some changes about how incoming calls are handled. But, this is only the beginning. Recorded calls lead to much, much more.

Using recorded calls can lead you down two very important paths. And, frankly, small businesses usually do not have the will power to go down these paths. When they do, however, it is a healthy step in the right direction business-wise.

Healthy businesses... sales-oriented businesses... do the math. In other words, they know their conversion ratios. How many incoming requests come from each plank of our marketing campaign? How many of those calls convert into consultations? How many of those consultations conver into patients? How many of those conversions no-show? And, most importantly, how much is each call worth?

By listening to the calls you can begin to complete this formula. Along the way, we will help you with improvements to the online tools and advice. But, make no mistake, doing the math will affect your decision making when it comes to marketing.

The second path this new wrinkle of information sends you down is one of value. Every phone call is not the same. Some are for high price, high margin procedures. Others are for everyday procedures. Listening to calls will help you determine the value of each incoming call and, by extension, a large group of incoming calls. Knowing this allows you to make adjustments that create balance and help you avoid making mistakes.

So, this is the next step in how you should be using tracking numbers. The answer to the question “Do you value every call?” should be YES! If you are not doing this, you simply do not want to know the most important marketing information available to you. If you wish to order a tracking number for your web site and/or your marketing purposes, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com. If you wish to learn more about how to develop conversion ratios and value systems for your marketing responses, I encourage you to email me, too.