Marketing steals time that you could spend with patients, actually practicing dentistry. However, if you’re a practice owner, you must dedicate time, energy, and part of your budget to publicizing your practice. The written copy (AKA text or web content) published on your website, blog, social media, and even in your Google Business Reviews responses, reflects significantly on your dental practice–especially to prospective patients who’ve never met you.
So let me ask you, does all your web content live up to the level of excellence you require of your clinical dentistry, your team, and your lab? If not, I bet I know why.
There are three main reasons that dentists avoid writing their web content and blogs:
- No time to write: You’re busy running your office, treating patients, acquiring CEs, and living a life outside of work. When on earth are you supposed to find time to write marketing copy?
- No desire to write, read, or edit: You can love education and hate writing. You can also like writing for pleasure and dislike writing web copy for your dental practice. If you ask someone in your office to write the web content, you’ll need to read and edit it to make sure* it conveys professionalism, as well as the level of excellence on which you’ve built your reputation.
- Skill deficiencies in either writing, marketing, or SEO: Perhaps English isn’t your first language, or you may have scored poorly in writing when in school. Maybe a lack of familiarity with marketing, SEO practices, or writing for the web has made you think twice about penning your own content.
Some dentists face all three issues. Take heart, you have options.
Who to Trust with Your Dental Copywriting
I’ve actually worked with a dentist who demanded that her pre-teen write copy for her website! It was surprisingly good for his grade level but not professional or clinically in-depth enough for modern patients. I would tag that adventure as a failure in more ways than one.
Because everyone learns composition while in school, some dentists believe that anyone can write web copy, blog posts, and social media posts. They ask a friend who likes to write, a relative who teaches English, or a part-time office assistant with free time to compose their dental content. This choice can mar your professional image and harm a good relationship if you decide not to use the copy or edit it at length.
Most importantly, trusting a hobbyist writer can seriously jeopardize your reputation.
Improper grammar, punctuation, and spelling will make you look unprofessional. Long sentences that were status quo in college papers will make website visitors feel confused at best, and intimidated at worst. Another potentially fatal error is incorrect word usage. Most site visitors may not notice the use of tarter instead of tartar, but using regiment instead of regimen or both Dr. and DDS on your name can throw up a red flag.
If you’re like most dentists who strive for success, fee-for-service patients are preferable to insurance patients. Those who can afford to pay out-of-pocket for dental treatments usually have a college education and a successful career. This demographic isn’t likely to forgive writing errors on your website and blog, or in articles and social media posts. One or two minor mistakes may be acceptable, but these people expect excellence in themselves and those with whom they conduct business.
If you want to play with the big dogs, as they say in Texas, you’re gonna have to get off the porch.
Who to Hire for Dental Web Content
When it comes to professional copywriting for dentists, you have two options: hire a freelancer or hire a writing agency.
Freelancers experienced in writing medical or dental web content can be expensive, unreliable, and hard to contact after business hours. I’ve managed creatives for years, and I’ve found that many are both temperamental and jealous about their writing. In the copywriting business, writers don’t like editors who “kill their darlings” with red ink that feels like fresh blood. Offend your freelance writer, and you may never hear from her again. (This is the voice of experience talking.)
Hiring a freelancer with no medical or dental experience isn’t a good plan, either. The ADA and state dental boards have specific requirements for advertising, and a writer who’s unfamiliar with these standards could create unusable copy–but you’ll still have to pay for it. Worse, if you publish it and incur a fine, you’ll surely regret the decision.
Also, can you trust that the web content you purchase will be original and not plagiarized? Plagiarism can land you in serious legal trouble, and the onus will be on you, not the contracted writer. It’s your reputation, your license, and your practice at stake. Don’t risk it, friend.
The best option is to hire a reputable dental copywriting agency like Identiwrite Creative to write web content for your dental practice. As a dental copywriting agency with nearly a decade of experience, Identiwrite has a team of dental copywriters and a talented editor who’ll work diligently for you. We also employ an SEO guru!
Why hire Identiwrite?
- Our excellent reputation: Clients give us great reviews, and we can provide references upon request. We also use a special tool to detect plagiarism before delivering content to our clients, so you can trust that the web content we produce is original.
- Our experience: We have nine years of experience, and our owner has over 20 years of combined experience as a dental copywriter, editor, and agency owner.
- Our knowledge: We know the advertising guidelines for both the ADA and individual state boards. Additionally, we train our writers in clinical dentistry, SEO writing, and marketing copywriting.
- Our accessibility: Our clients have the cell phone number of Riese Duty, an Identiwrite owner, and he answers calls after hours, including on weekends. If you must leave a message, someone will promptly return your call. Furthermore, you can reach us by text, email, smoke signal… Well, maybe not by smoke signal.
- Our professionalism: You place your reputation in our hands when we write content on your behalf, and we respect and honor this privilege. If ever you have questions, want to discuss your project, or need copy revisions, just contact us. Our job is more than writing excellent web content; it’s also serving you well.
- Our personal approach: In most cases, we set up an initial interview call so that you can speak directly with a writer or editor about your project. Afterward, you’ll have email access to our editor, Cara, whom everyone adores, and to Riese, the owner I previously mentioned.
More Information
Dentists are scientists, so I understand if you need more information before making a decision on who to trust with composing your web content. Call us today at 972-679-6885 for answers to all your questions, and we’ll be happy to create a custom proposal for your dental writing project. Ask about SEO Power Blogs when you call. Website developers and dental consultants should ask about bulk order discounts.
