PPC Basics: Common Mistakes Dental Surgeries Should Avoid
Running a successful dental practice isn’t just about keeping your patients happy and healthy; it’s also about ensuring you’re getting your practice out there to potential new clients. This is where pay-per-click (PPC) advertising comes in, allowing you to reach a larger audience instantly. However, diving into PPC without knowing the ropes can be a bit like drilling into a cavity without numbing—painful and costly. That’s why dissecting the most common PPC mistakes can save you both time and money, and help you make the most of your marketing efforts.
We’ve put together some crucial insights to help you navigate the potential pitfalls of PPC advertising, especially for dental surgeries. After all, for effective Dental Surgeries PPC, understanding how to avoid these common mistakes can greatly help boost your online presence. Let’s take a deeper look into these errors, so you don’t accidentally let your marketing budget go down the drain.
Ignoring Negative Keywords
One of the most common slip-ups is neglecting negative keywords. Imagine you’re targeting “affordable dental implants,” but your ads show up when someone searches for “cheap dentures repair.” You’re paying for irrelevant clicks. Negative keywords help you filter out such unwanted traffic, saving your budget for the right clicks. Regularly review your search term reports to find irrelevant queries and add them as negative keywords.
Poorly Designed Landing Pages
Nailing your PPC ad is only half the battle. If your landing page doesn’t deliver, potential patients will leave quicker than you can say “root canal.” Make sure your landing pages are relevant to the ad copy, easy to navigate, and have a clear call to action. Highlight services specific to what your audience is looking for, like “Emergency Appointment” or “New Patient Special”, to keep them intrigued and on your site longer.
Not Tracking Conversions Properly
How do you know what’s working if you’re not tracking your conversions? Simply put, you can’t. Ensure there are conversion tracking codes on your site to monitor how patients move from clicking an ad to making an appointment. Analysing this data can help identify which keywords and ads are driving real results and which might need adjusting. There’s no benefit in spending money if you don’t know what’s giving you a return.
Overlooking Local Targeting
For dental surgeons, reaching local clients is key. It doesn’t make sense to target someone hundreds of miles away. Focus on local PPC strategies by using location-based keywords, setting up geo-targeting in your ad settings, and including your address in ads when possible. By honing in on your immediate area, you’re more likely to attract visitors who want easily accessible dental services.
Setting and Forgetting Your Ads
You wouldn’t perform a dental procedure and then never follow up, right? The same goes for PPC ads. Regular maintenance is critical—you need to keep testing, analysing, and optimising your ad performance. Bid strategies, keywords, ad copy, and landing pages should be frequently reviewed and adjusted based on the data you gather from past campaigns. This can provide fresh insights into how to optimally target your future efforts.
Ignoring Mobile Traffic
In this era, a significant portion of your potential patients are browsing on their phones. If your ads aren’t optimised for mobile or your landing pages don’t function well on smaller screens, you’re missing out. Ensure your website and ads are mobile-friendly with fast load times. Test them on multiple devices to confirm everything works seamlessly.
- Ensure your phone number is clickable for easy appointment calls.
- Leverage ad extensions to enhance mobile appearance and provide quick links to key sections like booking or services.
Running Ads Without A/B Testing
Not all your ideas will be brilliant, and that’s okay. A/B testing helps determine which ad copy, keywords, or landing pages work best. Split your campaign across variations to see which garners more clicks or conversions. This data is invaluable and can direct your future campaigns, saving you money and tell you precisely what resonates with your target audience.
Conclusion
Running effective PPC campaigns for dental surgeries takes time, patience, and a bit of know-how. Avoiding these common mistakes can improve your click-through and conversion rates, ensuring you get value from every penny spent. By focusing on negative keywords, relevant landing pages, and local targeting, you can develop a solid strategy that brings new patients to your practice. Just remember, PPC isn’t a one-off activity, but a continuous process of refinement and optimisation.
For detailed guidance and support on making your campaigns more effective, visit our page on PPC management for Dental Surgeries and discover how we can elevate your practice.
