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Cook Profitability Services

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Strategies

San Antonio SEO Consultant shows 8 Ways Web Sites Sabotage their Search Engine Rankings

Seo Consultant shows sabotage of your own rankingsThe recent public opening of Google+ and the announcement of sweeping changes for Facebook underscore the growing complexity of search ranking factors (SEO), and the need for website owners to ensure they aren’t sabotaging their own sites, according to San Antonio SEO consultant Wayne Baumgarten.

“We see a number of clients who need help in pulling their sites up in search rankings,” said Baumgarten, owner of San Antonio website design firm Cook Profitability Services. “And in many cases, the first step is to undo problems the previous web developers or the clients themselves have created.”

SEO sabotage comes in various forms, Baumgarten says. The most common include:

1)    SPEAKING THE WRONG LANGUAGE

One of the most common reasons for SEO problems is the failure to speak the language of the search audience. For both SEO and for internet advertising, it’s critical to do the research to find out which search terms are being used most to find the goods, services or topics relevant to a particular site. Unfortunately many sites – especially those operated by professionals – often use industry jargon or technical terms, rather than common language that syncs with the way people really search. A good place to start is with a program such as Google’s keyword tool – the one accessible inside Adwords. The first step taken by a good SEO consultant is to research keywords and help the client translate his “professional-speak” into “search English.”

2)    DOMAIN GAMES

There are many non-SEO considerations that go into a domain name – from existing bricks-and-mortar branding to audience retention to perceived image. But for businesses without an existing domain, SEO should be one of the factors. A search engine-friendly domain name isn’t necessary to SEO – there’s significant clout to owning a 10-year-old domain, for example – but it does count. Especially for local markets, geography is important, as well as product or service keywords. If you can snag FortWorthWidgets.com or Denver-Doodads.com, grab them quickly.

3)    IGNORING GEOGRAPHY

The changes and importance placed on Google Places in search rankings underlines how important it is that a site is clearly and prominently tied to a geographical area. If your potential client is searching for “Houston dentist,” the practices that have most closely tied themselves to the Houston market show up at top of the results, tied to the mapping. This year’s overhaul of the Places presentation blurs the line between old-style map listings and “organic” listings.

Claiming your business listing on Google Places is critical. As is prominent placement – in bot-readable text – of the business’s local phone number and address. Geography should also be included in the site title and description.

4)    GIVING IN TO THE DARK SIDE

Any website with contact information only has likely received one or more emails or call out of the blue from a company guaranteeing that its services can push the site to the top spot on Google. The proper response is “No thanks” or delete. This is the SEO equivalent of the Nigerian bank scam.

Google has a well-deserved reputation for dealing harshly with people and sites trying to game its algorithms, and a website desperate to move into stunts and end-runs may well find itself dropping to the bottom of the search results, or even blocked. Such bad practices includes keyword-stuffing (loading a page with repeated keywords), keyword cloaking (hiding repeated keywords with non-visible text colors or tiny sizes), keywords that don’t reflect the actual content of the site, backlink spamming and many others.

5)    LIVING IN A BAD NEIGHBORHOOD

No legitimate business should consider a site on a free host. The web equivalent of perverts, pimps and drug dealers use such hosts for everything from scams to junk backlink sites and unsavory operations of all types. Many legitimate sites have found themselves deleted from search rankings as search engines redline entire servers that host bad sites.
6)    BEING UNSOCIAL

With Google now indexing Twitter and other social media, there is more reason than ever to establish accounts and be active for SEO reasons. The activity is key, because anyone can create a social account in minutes. But creating a presence in any social media is about regular streams of content, whether status updates or newsfeeds or Facebook’s new Timeline. Google+ is also picking up steam, with more than 40 million users.

7)    DEAD CONTENT AND OTHER ONSITE FOLLIES

Google has said repeatedly that its goal is to present the highest-quality sites and pages that match a user’s search terms. Its algorithms are intended to look at on-site and off-site clues to the quality of the site. Most shaky SEO strategies hinge essentially on faking these clues. There’s another strategy: to actually create relevant, dynamic and compelling content, showcased in a site technology and coding that makes it easy for search engine spiders to navigate and index.

Do’s: Take advantage of all standard HTML tags, including image titles and alt text; create page and blog titles and article content that use relevant keywords; use content links to other pages on the site; use links that contain keywords, rather than “read more” or “related information”; use relevant keywords as high in the content as possible; blog frequently and share often.

Dont’s: Overuse keywords; use image-based headers and titles unless you know how to make them SEO-friendly.

8)    IGNORING OFFSITE SEO

Backlinking schemes are grounded in truth: In its quest to put high-quality content at the top of search results, Google considers backlinks to a web site. The more legitimate or authoritative sites that link back to your site, the better for your site ranking. Obviously this is part of the formula that’s open to gaming, and Google works to keep spammy links from interfering with its algorithm. Purchased links, link-trading and swarms of links generated by black-hat companies and backlink software are in dangerous territory. But good backlinks are another thing, and can be nurtured in a number of legitimate ways, from guest-blogging, social media, comment links and others.

“The best SEO is a commitment to a well-coded site with continually updated, value-added content that follows best practices for style, headline writing and keyword placement, along with ongoing outreach through social media,” Baumgarten said. “Taking shortcuts can be expensive, ineffective in the long term, and can even result in penalties.”

Tips from San Antonio SEO Expert Wayne Baumgarten

CPS is a national full-service marketing, new media development and management consulting firm, based in San Antonio, specializing in comprehensive profitability services for dental practices and professional offices.

October 6, 2011 Filed Under: News, SEO, Strategies

Why a Press Release?

You don’t have any big company news to report, so why consider a customized press release?

As a dental or medical practitioner, you’re likely aware of Search Engine Optimization – the art of moving your site up in search engine rankings through an array of strategies.

One major factor affecting search engine rank is quality “backlinks” – a link back to your site from another credible website.

One legitimate strategy is to combine a well-written, compelling news release that will be read for months, or even years. And distributing it on a service such as PRWeb, which offers extensive SEO and multimedia tools. A good article can be picked up by thousands of web sites, including major media sites that provide extremely high-quality backlinks.

A press release get’s it’s own internet listing, creating more on-line visibility for you. It also impacts your search engine optimization by referring visitors to your website.

A good example of a press release impacting search engine optimization is a press release we did for a dentist who had spent considerable time and care to create an eco-friendly office. This release was picked up by some of the major “green” oriented news outlets in the United States and resulted in considerable traffic being generated, a lot of positive feedback, and of course increase search engine optimization for his main website.

Cook Profitability Services includes a Pulitzer Prize-winning veteran newspaper journalism who can craft compelling releases – 210-601-1050.

September 2, 2011 Filed Under: News, SEO, Strategies

NEW Patient Strategies…That Work!

san-antonio-dental-marketing

After having worked with dozens of dental practices on the full spectrum of marketing ventures – including television ads, radio, billboards, Yellow Pages, major newspapers and local publications, websites, internet marketing, direct mail, newsletters and email marketing – we know what gets the best results. Our years of experience gives us insider perspective and context to be able to hone the strategies for attracting the most new patients for the least monies spent.

Why Internet Advertising Should Be the Backbone of Your Paid Dental Marketing

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  • Internet advertising is by far the best method of dentist marketing for new patients. In the past two decades, most prospective customers have come to depend on the internet, not only for online shopping, but for researching, discovering, and comparison shopping of real-world service providers, such as dentists and professional offices. Especially effective is “Pay per Click” (PPC) search advertising, when it is set up professionally.
  •  PPC advertising is very cost-effective and inexpensive compared to broadcast and print media advertising – you only have to pay when someone clicks on your ad.
  •  Search targeting delivers ads contextually – your ads are seen only by people specifically searching for “(your city) dentist” or “cosmetic dentist.” And these ads are seen above and to the side of the search results.
  •  Search ads can be targeted closely by geography, and in some cases, by age, gender and interests.
  •  More than any other media, search ads can be tracked and analyzed. Results can be continually tracked and integrated with analytics, allowing quick monitoring of ROI. This means your ad performance can be tightly controlled and adjusted on the fly.
  •  The internet is always “on” and accessible to customers. It doesn’t depend on a customer being in front of a television or listening to a radio at the time your advertising airs. It also does not depend on a customer turning to a particular page of the newspaper.

You can set your monthly budget at whatever level you want and it won’t overspend.

Find out how internet marketing can make a difference in your practice with a free internet marketing evaluation.

Second best is direct mail, which traditionally has a high response rate, and is relatively inexpensive. Direct mail can also be tightly targeted to a specific geographical area and also to specific income levels. Direct mail however has to be well done, or your postcards and brochures simply slip into the mass. Postcards can be very wasteful if not well planned. We have found that humourous cards get better response. People get too much regular promotion in their mailboxes so if they get a card that is more alive, humorous or in some way engaging, it gets a much better response. Don’t do plain or boring. 

Special Offers- Reduced Cost Exam, Cleaning or Whitening

Special offers have an upside and a downside. The downside is that you don’t want people travelling from all over town to take advantage of your special offer and then going back to thier regular dentist the rest of the time. This actually damages your office because it ties up your staff doing the introduction process for patients who will never be coming back to you anyway.

The upside is that special offers DO get new people coming into your office and this can lead to a lot of repeat business.

The Secret: You must strictly control your special offers to the geographical area directly around your practice. Do NOT put special offers on your website or in your internet advertising. Definately DO put special offers in postcards and brochures that are being distributed locally. If it’s going out local- put the special offer. If it’s going out wide- do not.

Use special offers to pull in people who are close to you anyway. Then it is very likely you will be seeing them again for more services. 

Referrals are Free. So “Care to Share” and “Spread the Smile”! 

Of course referrals are the bread and butter of all dental offices. They form the foundation on which a dental office rests. So anything you can do that increases referral is a good thing.

We often will print a 6 month supply of “Care to Share” cards for as little as $250. These cards can contain some simple (and acceptable to the Dental Board) incentive to “Spread the Smile” by referring a friends and family to your dental clinic. Any program that is pushing for referrals is a good thing. Cards with incentives just help the process along. If your patient appreciates your work, they won’t throw it away. They will give it to someone. Someone that you might be seeing in a month or two. Get something printed up. Postcard size is good, some practices like business card size. Either way it is more than worth the couple of hundred dollars to print these up. 

 

September 2, 2011 Filed Under: Dental Marketing Tips, Internet Marketing, News, Strategies

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