New iPad sites debut

This week, two new iPad sites were launched here at Dog Star Media. One was for cosmetic surgeon Robert Rho, MD in NYC. If you look on your iPad, you can see his iPad site at labiadoctor.com. The other was for cosmetic dentist Amy Norman, DDS. Using an iPad, you can see her iPad site at dreamsmile.com.

iPad user stats are skyrocketing. In the last six months, we have seen iPad visitors jump on most of our clients’ Google Analytics stats to the #2 most used mobile device to view their web sites. Before the launch of the iPad2, iPads were usually well behind Androids and Blackberries and far behind iPhones, which consistently are the #1 mobile device used to view our clients’ web sites.

But, iPad2 changed everything. And, now that so many mobile visitors are coming to our clients’ sites, we are seeing a lot of interest in iPad-specific sites. Generally, a mobile site will play on an iPad, but it will look small, like it would on a smart phone. iPad sites are designed specifically for display on an iPad, so they are large and graphical while smartphone mobile sites are mostly text and not very graphic.

If you are going to keep up and meeting your viewers’ needs you need to know the difference between the kinds of sites and how they work on mobile devices. Most of our clients are now seeing between 10-20% of their web traffic coming in via mobile devices. This is getting significant and with the explosion of mobile users and the improvement in wireless networks, more and more Internet use will be mobile. So, you have to look right despite the kinds of hardware people are using to view your site.

Standard Web Sites:
Meant to be viewed on computers or laptops. The classic blend between graphics and written content. For cosmetic dentists and cosmetic surgeons, Flash is expected to establish a higher level of aesthetic. Also, in the Flash, many will embed video which plays in the Flash element of the site.

Smart Phone Mobile Sites:
Do not play Flash so you have a problem right there. These devices have web browsers, so it is possible to see most or all of a standard web site, but you have to work at it. Resizing, changing orientation and lots of scrolling occur when you try to view a standard site on a smart phone. This is why so many doctors have moved to having mobile sites designed for smartphones. Users on smart phones are automatically shown the mobile site for their kind of phone and those sites are designed to fit and be used best on smart phones. If you have video you want to show, we reformat the video as Quicktime and it plays just fine on the smart phone site. At this point, smartphone mobile sites are no longer an add-on. It is a necessity if you want to show yourself off properly to every web visitor.

iPad Mobile Sites:
The iPhone smart phone template shows on the iPad as a default, but it does not fit nearly as well as a mobile site designed for an iPad. iPad mobile sites take advantage of the great graphics presentation of the iPad. Flash still does not play on an iPad, but these sites are much more like traditional sites, only formatted well for the iPad. This is the fastest growing segment of mobile device use among our client base and it is accounting for a lot of the increases in mobile use overall.

Are you ready to join the market out here with a mobile site? The numbers are reaching a point where you have an outdated presentation online if you are not accounting for the growing segment that are using new devices to see your online presence. If you do not have a mobile site or an iPad site, now is the time. If you would like information on adding a smart phone web site and a mobile web, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

New from The Cosmetic Channel

In the last few weeks, The Cosmetic Channel™ has attracted nearly 200 cosmetic doctors to its new FREE doctor database. Among the hundreds of specific surgical and dental listings, some profiles are featured. Those are the profiles with video attached. Why? Because The Cosmetic Channel is a place to come to watch video. It’s where doctors have a chance to broadcast themselves. Right now, featured profiles on The Cosmetic Channel™ link video from YouTube and other sources.

However, there are a lot of doctors who do not have video of any kind. Video production is well worth the costs but there are many practices that have not made this important investment. Fully produced video is great selling tool and can be used in many venues. Web drops, which are a Dog Star Media specialty, are great for making a direct introduction to the doctor on a web site without creating a full-blown video production. Both are great ways to go but lack spontaneity, which is how video is best used in social media. The ability to post short, informative or interesting videos on demand... now that works with social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter.

The Cosmetic Channel™ wants to encourage use of video on the web... On your web site, on your Facebook profile... Anywhere that you want to be convincing, establish trust or create an image of difference among your competitors. So, now, The Cosmetic Channel™ makes it easy for you to make your quick and easy video for these purposes at a very low price.

If you are a doctor...

who blogs or posts on Facebook and wants to offer more interesting content...
wishing to record patient testimonials on Facebook or your web site....
interested in increasing their search engine optimization for your web site....
interested in increasing the length of time visitors spend on your web site...
interested in making a vast library of procedure discussions on your web site....
interested in keeping fresh, new video content on your web site....
interested in creating fresh consultation-like videos for your web site...

...then sign up today and choose our offering to make your own video on The Cosmetic Channel™’s Make Your Own Video feature. The first 10 subscribers to choose this option can make an unlimited amount of video with this new feature to post on their web sites, social networking sites... Anywhere adding video will help. Just select the Make Your Own Video – Forever Free option when you sign up for The Cosmetic Channel. ACT NOW: Since we offered this yesterday, some slots are already taken. After the first 10 FREE offers are accepted, the cost for this option will go to the special introductory price of $49/month. As always with the Forever Free plan its always FREE to create an account and put your listing into The Cosmetic Channel™. Join our FREE doctor database now!

If you are already listed on The Cosmetic Channel and want this FREE offer, just log in to your account. Go to home page. Select the Make Your Own Video – Forever Free package.

About Make Your Own Video
Use your web cam to record video straight into The Cosmetic Channel™. Fast, easy, blog-style video allows you to make numerous, frequent productions. Replace or enhance written content with video that shows your personality and establishes trust with patients who are shopping and comparing.

We help you make the best quality video by offering:

Examples of successful videos for you to model.
Script templates to get you started.
Direction tips to make sure your presentation looks good.
Easy, step-by-step How-To instructions.
Recommended tips and tricks for maximizing the use of Make Your Own Video in marketing your practice.

By using this tool early, you can be on the leading edge of using video content. There will always be a place for the full production video but how many times can you watch it? Make Your Own Video allows you to make video that is topical and disposable. It gives you a chance to always have something new to say on video. And, there is no better way of instantly catching patient testimonials on video than using this system to record and publish your video to your web site, social media sites and directories. If you would like more information on this feature of TheCosmeticChannel.com or are interested in producing a promotional video, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Video and The Cosmetic Channel™

The response to the new TheCosmeticChannel.com has been more than expected. In just over a month, more than 160 doctors have signed up for the free directory. All the featured listings in the main section have video links from YouTube... which is the main point of The Cosmetic Channel now. Put your best foot forward with media that people want to see: VIDEO!

Can you have a listing on TheCosmeticChannel.com without linking videos? Yes.

If you have a video or videos on YouTube already, should you link it to your profile on TheCosmeticChannel.com? Absolutely.

If you don’t have video on YouTube, should you have it? Yes, now more than ever.

Why Video Now:
We are getting dozens of new listings on TheCosmeticChannel.com each week. Many of them are linking their video from YouTube to their profiles. This tells us some very important things about marketing cosmetic procedures with social media (Yes, YouTube is a social medium... its not all Facebook and Twitter.) There has never been a doubt that video is the best medium for communication. Many doctors resist having it on their web sites due to the time it takes to load. I have maintained that this is a terrible mistake. However, because YouTube is built to show video, no one seems to have an objection to making their video and putting it there. Ironically, video from YouTube still has to load in your browser just like video from your web site... but either way, it seems that more doctors are making video of all sorts and placing it on YouTube.

Embedding:
YouTube gets a lot of traffic so placing a video there is a really good strategy. However, YouTube videos are easy to embed into other mediums. I post YouTube videos onto Facebook all the time. This is one way to use YouTube video and it is the principle on which the new free directory on TheCosmeticChannel.com is based. On TheCosmeticChannel.com, you can see several doctor‘s videos all in one place, kind of like a filter for YouTube which can be searched locally. Embedding makes the value of having video on YouTube even more valuable.

So, finally, video on the web for cosmetic dentists and cosmetic surgeons is coming into its own. And, judging from the response, TheCosmeticChannel.com is going to be a great filter for this. So, yes, the time is now to have video on the web and to embed it to places where your market can find you such as YouTube, Facebook and The Cosmetic Channel. And, if you find yourself needing to make a video to participate in this new wave of video on the Internet, please let me know. Dog Star Media is well known for video production for cosmetic dentists and cosmetic surgeons. Our talented and experienced video production team can offer you many options for making the best impression on video. If you are interested in TheCosmeticChannel.com or video production for use on the web, please email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

Testing the Productivity of Your Facebook Ads

The land rush right now is into Facebook advertising. Early numbers from clients advertising on Facebook have caused the a lot of buzz because they have caused an extremely high number of click-throughs to our clients’ web sites. We are seeing a hundreds of clicks for hundreds of dollars, some exceeding the number of clicks generated by thousands of dollars in paid search investment. This is not to say you don’t want to be involved with paid search but it could indicate that there is a lower cost compliment that can double your productivity in the whole paid Internet endeavor.

Reputable paid search companies set up proxy sites to measure the productivity of their results. In other words, one of their paid links goes to a copy of your site on their servers that measures the results. It is closed loop marketing. They attract the prospect for you and deliver them all in a self-contained environment with excellent metrics including who emailed and who called. This is part of the reason I like ReachLocal. You know exactly what you are getting.

We are setting up the same sort of proxy model for our clients who want to measure the exact results of the Facebook clicks. By placing a version of your web site in a separate directory on your site and using a separate tracking telephone number on that proxy site, we can now measure the number of calls generated from all the Facebook driven clicks. In a month’s time, the clients who are blazing this trail now will be able to make strong budgeting choices on how to convert the vastly increased web traffic they are receiving through advertising in social media. My prediction: the call numbers will be as strong or stronger than paid search.

And, how does this affect your SEO? On our proxy site, we place some code that tells search engines to not index those pages so you do not repeat your content, causing SEO issues. This idea is SEO safe.

The model is coming very soon where you will need a balance of organic SEO, paid search and paid Facebook. Using proxy sites and tracking numbers, we will be able to account for productivity and determine what is best for you to spend where. If you are interested in developing a Facebook ad campaign, it is easy to do and can be very affordable. Most clients are spending the minimum which is $10/day. The proxy site is easy to set up and this month tracking numbers are only $320 and will be good through February. If you are interested in this simple and affordable way make your web traffic jump and measure the results, email me at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

The NEW Cosmetic Channel™

TheCosmeticChannel.com web site has been reinvented. We have created a FREE Cosmetic Doctor’s Directory as the primary function of The Cosmetic Channel. And, we have geared it to be powered by social networking traffic.

In the past few weeks more than 120 cosmetic surgeons and cosmetic dentists have signed up for this new FREE listing service. And, we are just getting started. These practices have created more than 200 listings, itemized by the procedures they perform. We strongly suggest you sign on and create a competitive profile.

The way we will use social networking to drive traffic and business through The Cosmetic Channel will be revealed step by step over the summer. Right now, focus on putting up a profile and being complete in the description of your practice and the services you provide. The first social networking element is obvious... all the videos link from YouTube. YouTube is one of the most popular social sites on the Internet. Being video based, it is very popular because it is so watchable. It has an enormous database of content, allows user comments and links well to external sites. If you have video on YouTube, link it to your profile on the TheCosmeticChannel.com. It will immediately enhance your presentation compared to your competitors.

There is a Facebook and Twitter element to this program that will be released soon. In designing this new concept, we looked at all the other doctor directories out there and listed their flaws. All of those flaws have been eliminated from The Cosmetic Channel. Stay tuned.... the way cosmetic doctor directories work is changing and you are going to want to be on the The Cosmetic Channel!

To create a profile, just click here to start.

iPad sites from Dog Star Media

On an iPad, click here to see the first of several iPad designed web sites from Dog Star Media. Last year, mobile web sites were one of the most in-demand web modifications we saw. The reason was the explosion in the use of mobile devices such as iPhones, Androids and Blackberries. iPads, which were new that year, were being used but at a much lower rate of use than smart phones.

In the last year and a half, the use of mobile devices to surf web sites has steadily increased. Many of our clients’ web sites received more than 12% mobile traffic now with some reaching as high as 18%. And, it‘s climbing. Since March, we have also seen a strong, sustained bounce in the use of iPads to view web sites. This has necessitated the development of an iPad-specific web site presentation.

Here is how it works. A user selects your web site and this “call” is made to the server where your web site resides. The server can tell what sort of hardware is being used. When you have a mobile site, templates are placed on your server for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. Depending on which hardware is identified, the mobile site information is placed into the proper template and displayed. For iPads, the iPhone template is displayed but it looks small and proportionate for the iPhone. When clients were getting a nominal number of views from iPads, this was not a problem. But, now that iPad use is growing, the need for a specific template to maximize the size and graphic benefits of the iPad is necessary. So, with an iPad-specific template, your mobile site info is displayed best for that hardware is made.

So, what assures that everyone viewing your site sees the best presentation for the devices they are using? You need a standard web site that makes a great visual first impression. You need a mobile site with templates for iPhone, Blackberry and Android. You also need an iPad template to make the best presentation on iPads. At Dog Star Media, this is two packages mobile/smartphone and Ipad. The cost for both are comparable and affordable. Our mobile/smartphone and iPad sites are easy and affordable to expand as the need arises. Oh... and we can make your video play on these sites by re-encoding it for mobile devices.

The time is now to bring your mobile strategy up to speed. If you do not have a mobile web site for smart phones or iPads, you are losing ground. More than 50% of Internet traffic occurs on mobile devices and that percentage has been growing past 50% for more than a year now. If you are ready to show your best presentation on the web no matter which hardware is being used to view it, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.

New Web Site from Dog Star Media

Congratulations on Dr. Gregory Roche in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan on the launch of his new web site designed by Dog Star Media. You can see it at drroche.com.

The new site is streamlined, presenting lots of great content with the look and feel of a high end cosmetic surgeon. The site is designed with a content manager which will make it easy to make changes locally if Dr. Roche’s team decides to do that. This option is increasingly popular which is why Dog Star Media has added it into our HTML/Flash web site program as an option at no additional cost.

We are getting a lot of inquiries about new web sites and I want to remind everyone that we are custom designers, so every web site we design reflects a unique image for each unique practice. About 85-90% of the sites we design for cosmetic surgeons and cosmetic dentists are this sort of HTML with Flash site. It has the HTML code that is readable for search engines and enough Flash to establish a high-end aesthetic.

If you are interested in an HTML/Flash web site for your practice, one that is custom designed and that is easily optimized for search engines, please contact me today at donald@dogstarmedia.com.