Ep. 41: The 4 Elements of a Great Dental Practice Website
Your dental practice’s website is the key to all your marketing efforts, so it’s crucial that your website immediately grabs visitors’ attention and gets them to pick up the phone to schedule an appointment. But how do you do that? What makes a dental website effective or ineffective at converting visitors into new patients? This week, Jeff brings on dental marketing expert Dan Brown to answer that question.
Topics:
1:47 – What should go on your homepage?
19:00 – Why a “smile gallery” is a must
24:26 – How to make a good “about us” page
28:56 – Making your services appealing
33:11 – Putting it all together to get new patients
Links:
Learn more about MGE - https://www.mgeonline.com
The MGE New Patient Workshop - https://www.newpatients.net
Sample release form - https://www.mgeonline.com/sample-hipaa-marketing-release-download
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Questions From This Episode
What's the single most important page on a dental website, and what needs to be at the very top of it?
The homepage, and specifically the very top section, often called the hero area, needs to lead with real marketing elements rather than a stock photo or scenic landscape image: a clear new patient special, a free second opinion offer, and a contact form, each with a genuine call to action, all visible before the visitor ever has to scroll.
What actually counts as a good new patient special?
Something with a low commitment entry point, like an exam and single x-ray for around $49, with fine print noting it's a limited exam, rather than a full exam, cleaning, and x-ray package that assumes a level of treatment a brand new patient may not actually be eligible for. The exact number matters less than making it an easy, specific first step, and the wording has to comply with the practice's own state dental practice act.
Why does a smile gallery matter so much, and how should the homepage before-and-after cases actually be chosen?
A smile gallery functions as social proof, showing rather than telling that the practice gets real results, using large, full-width before and after photos with a short, plain language story beneath each one rather than clinical shorthand. The two cases featured on the homepage specifically should be whatever procedure the practice wants more of, implants, veneers, whatever the actual growth priority is.
What actually belongs on the About Us page, and why does it matter so much?
Real photos of the doctor and team, ideally a professional shot paired with a personal or hobby shot, and short bios that skip the education history entirely in favor of something human, a favorite food, where they grew up, since the goal is humanizing the practice rather than listing credentials. This is usually the third page a visitor lands on after the homepage and smile gallery, and it's where someone decides the practice feels like a genuine relationship rather than a nameless corporate office.
How does website performance actually affect new patient marketing beyond the visitor's experience?
Through bounce rate, how quickly visitors leave the site without engaging, which Google factors directly into search ranking. A site that keeps visitors engaged longer, through real content, genuine imagery, and clear calls to action, tends to both convert more visitors into new patient calls and rank higher in search results, meaning a well built site can genuinely add 20 to 30 new patients a month.
Episode Transcript
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Jeff: We get a lot of questions about websites, specifically what should be on my website, and how can I get my website to actually bring in more new patients. We're not web designers ourselves, but we do help clients point their site in the right direction. When we look at a lot of prospective or new clients' websites for the first time, in a lot of cases they're not really set up to generate new patients at all. It might be a pretty site, it says where the doctor went to school, but there's nothing on it actually built to increase new patients. And the website, especially for a dental practice, is a critical part of the entire marketing effort, it's essentially home base for any online marketing you're doing. So for this week's episode, I wanted to dig into exactly this: what are the four essential elements that make up a truly effective dental website? To help walk through this, I've got a special guest, Dan Brown, who's been on the show a couple times before, episode nine on marketing trends for 2022, and episode twelve on SEO. Dan is a senior consultant here at MGE, our primary speaker at the MGE New Patient Workshop, and a partner at Blumberg Digital, a digital marketing agency. When it comes to dental marketing, Dan knows this subject inside and out, and whenever a client runs into a marketing issue, the answer is almost always, let's get you on a call with Dan. Dan, are you all set up over there?
Dan: Yeah, I think so.
Jeff: Let's get right into it. What are the four elements of a truly effective website?
Dan: Good question. These are the broad strokes, there could certainly be more to consider, but I'll lay these out as four pages, in the order I'd say deserve attention.
Jeff: When you say pages, you mean things like the homepage, the about us page?
Dan: Exactly. First is the homepage, since that's where everyone lands. It needs to be exciting, but more importantly, it needs real marketing elements. A lot of clients come to us wanting us to focus on colors and fonts, and while brand alignment matters, it's genuinely low priority compared to the key marketing elements that actually belong on a homepage. Right at the very top, what we call the hero area, is your most valuable real estate. What I see constantly is a beautiful landscape photo, or worse, generic stock photography, someone smiling who has nothing to do with the practice. What should be there instead is your new patient special.
Jeff: So walk me through that. If I open the homepage, what's the very first thing I see?
Dan: If you want an image there, something like you and your team, faded into the background, works better than a dominant photo you have to scroll past just to find information about the practice. Right up top, before any scrolling, I want to see the new patient special. Some doctors worry that feels like bargain basement dentistry, but if you're trying to attract fee-for-service patients rather than insurance-driven ones, those patients are specifically looking for a new patient special.
Jeff: What would a good example of a new patient special actually look like?
Dan: A lot of practices try an exam, cleaning, and x-ray bundle for one price, but that's a heavy commitment for someone you don't know yet, especially someone who hasn't seen a dentist in a while and might not even be eligible for a cleaning that day. I usually recommend exam and x-ray specifically, with an asterisk noting it's a limited exam, single x-ray, maybe $49. Clients sometimes push back that $49 barely covers the time involved, and it's true, but it gets a person in the door.
Jeff: Does it have to be exactly $49?
Dan: Not at all, I've seen practices do $199 for a full mouth series and initial exam, that works fine too. And the specific asterisk language depends on your state's dental practice act, worth checking. Canada is an entirely different set of rules.
Jeff: So I've got my hero image and my new patient special, in a bold, prominent box, not a quiet little mention.
Dan: Right, dominant, not a whisper. Then a second call to action would be a free second opinion.
Jeff: Let's pause on that term, call to action, since it's something every business owner genuinely needs to understand.
Dan: A call to action is what motivates the visitor to actually do something once you have their attention. So the button says request an appointment, or get information, telling them exactly what to do next. Click it, and it takes them to a page with more detail and a contact form they can fill out.
Jeff: So new patient special, then free second opinion.
Dan: Right, and free second opinion is a strong one specifically. People sometimes hesitate about using the word free, but free is genuinely powerful in marketing. If someone's already been to another practice, been presented a treatment plan, and walked out without accepting it, they're still 85 or 95 percent through that decision internally, they just haven't committed to that particular practice or plan yet. That person is very close to actually getting the treatment they need, a free second opinion offer speaks directly to them.
Jeff: And a contact form right there too.
Dan: Yes, something like looking for a new dentist, need help, with a simple field to fill out right at the top, before any scrolling at all. Moving further down the page, we want to introduce the practice a bit, again, no stock imagery. A photo of the doctor, ideally an interesting shot showing the culture of the practice, the team doing something fun together, even a little goofy, not unprofessional, just human. People choose a family practice because it feels friendly and personal rather than like being just a number. A little bit about the doctor is fine, but I constantly see paragraph after paragraph of education history, which frankly nobody's there to read. People assume you're qualified, that's what the license is for. A short blurb with a click here to read more link works far better, today people would honestly rather watch a two minute video than read four or five paragraphs of text, which is a little scary, but that's genuinely who we are as consumers now. Keep the on-page text big, bold, and brief, with the option to click through for more.
Jeff: What comes next as we keep scrolling?
Dan: Before and after smiles, right on the homepage, sort of a preview of the full smile gallery, which links out separately. Just two examples right there.
Jeff: Why include a couple photos directly on the homepage instead of just linking to the gallery?
Dan: It's evidence the practice actually knows what it's doing. It's a way of saying you're great without saying it yourself, since people trust what other people say about you far more than what you say about yourself. A large before photo on the left, a large after photo on the right, with a short story beneath explaining what was done.
Jeff: Which two cases should someone actually feature there?
Dan: Whatever you want more of. If you want more veneer cases, feature veneers. More implants, feature implants. That's the deciding factor. And right above or below those photos, a prominent button, click here to see more of our miracles, or see our smile gallery, linking straight to the full gallery page, which is the second most important page overall.
Jeff: What comes after that on the homepage?
Dan: A little more why are you here framing, do you have a dental emergency, are you looking to improve your smile, each linking to a relevant page. And I'd frame these in plain language, missing a tooth rather than implant, chipped or cracked tooth rather than bonding, since most visitors don't actually know dental terminology. That used to get abused as keyword stuffing years ago, packing pages with technical terms to rank higher in search, but Google's gotten very good at detecting that now and will actually penalize you for it today, whereas it might have helped five or seven years ago.
Jeff: And further down?
Dan: More about the practice and its culture specifically, community involvement, causes you support, kept generic and soft, nothing polarizing or overtly political.
Jeff: That's consistent with how we talk to clients generally, MGE stays areligious and apolitical, since people come to us for practice management help, not to hear our opinions on unrelated topics. Patients are there to get their teeth worked on, not to find out where you stand politically.
Dan: Exactly, keep those things soft, but talk loudly about community recognition, being voted a best place to work, causes you're genuinely involved in, that's all worth featuring prominently, since it's other people talking about you rather than you talking about yourself. We call that social proof, and it carries far more weight than anything you'd say about your own practice. That includes reviews too, caption some strong Google and Facebook reviews right on that page, and Yelp reviews if you're in a metro area, since people specifically look for those there. Any awards, best cosmetic dentist, Invisalign gold provider, belong here too, more social proof. And beneath all of that, video testimonials.
Jeff: Let me walk back through the whole page so I've got it straight. Hero area at the top with the new patient special, free second opinion, and contact form. Below that, a brief practice introduction with a read more link. Below that, two before-and-after cases linking to the full smile gallery. Below that, a why are you here section linking to relevant service pages. Below that, social proof, community involvement, reviews, awards. And then video testimonials.
Dan: That's exactly right.
Jeff: Just from that homepage alone, without even looking at another page, I could genuinely see myself picking up the phone to call the office.
Dan: That's the goal, the homepage is essentially a sampling of every other page on the site, arranged in priority order.
Jeff: On video testimonials specifically, is that really its own full topic?
Dan: It genuinely is, we'll come back to that in a future episode on exactly how to film a strong patient video, we actually made a video on this for our YouTube channel too. But for now, the simple version: pull out your phone and record whoever has something nice to say about you. It doesn't need to be polished, even a little shaky footage is completely fine, people understand this isn't a giant corporate production, and they actually appreciate that about a smaller practice. I see people get overly precious about production quality when they really don't need to, a recent iPhone or Android phone captures more than enough.
Jeff: Do patients need to sign something for these videos?
Dan: Yes, in the US that's a HIPAA release specifically for marketing use. In Canada it isn't called HIPAA, but the requirement is actually more stringent. We have a sample release we give MGE clients, and we'll put it as a download on the episode webpage, though to be clear, you're fully responsible for having your own attorney check it against your specific state's laws.
Jeff: Great, so that covers the homepage, our first key element. What's page number two?
Dan: The second most important page on a dental website is the smile gallery, again, because it's social proof, showing how good you are without saying it yourself. Mathis Dentistry in Queen Creek, Arizona, one of our top clients, has a genuinely excellent smile gallery worth checking out. They wanted more implant cases specifically, so they built their gallery heavily around implant results, and it's worked extremely well for them. The format: a large before photo on the left, a large after photo on the right, spanning the full width of the page. Some website companies push a slider format instead, one image you drag back and forth between before and after, and while it's a bit of a neat technical trick, I've found roughly 90 percent of visitors don't understand how to use it or don't realize there's a second image at all. Side by side, both fully visible, works far better.
Jeff: What goes with each photo?
Dan: A title, either the patient's name if they're comfortable, or a description of what was done, worded carefully, since even a phrase like all-on-four pushes into dental terminology most people won't recognize. Beneath that is where you actually educate: this patient hadn't eaten an apple comfortably in fifteen years, wasn't happy with their smile, wanted a permanent solution instead of dentures, and received a fixed denture supported by implants, look at that smile now, congratulations to them. Tell a short, genuine story in plain language, never something like veneers placed on teeth six through twelve, nobody understands tooth numbers or necessarily what a veneer even is. You can say dental veneers instead and link that phrase directly to your veneers page.
Jeff: What if someone hasn't built a smile gallery yet and doesn't have a huge case volume, how long before they'd have enough photos to start?
Dan: You can start with just one case, or two or three. It might take a month or two to accumulate four solid photos, and that's fine. In the meantime, for things like whitening or straightening where you may not have your own before-and-afters yet, representative stock photography works as a placeholder, clearly labeled as representative of the work we do, as long as you're confident you can genuinely deliver that result yourself. Swap it out for real cases as soon as you have them, but starting the gallery now, even with one real case, matters.
Jeff: Anything else for that page?
Dan: Sprinkle in calls to action throughout, call for a free implant consultation, or get an Invisalign scan showing what your smile could look like, placed naturally after a cluster of relevant cases, say after four implant cases, then again after some Invisalign cases, without making the whole page feel overly commercial.
Jeff: Great, that's page two. What's page three?
Dan: The third most important page is actually the About Us page. People land there because they want to meet the practice, virtually, before they're ready to actually pick up the phone. Every About Us page I review during the New Patient Workshop, and we make that workshop very hands-on, people bring their own sites for review, tends to have the same problem: seven paragraphs about where the doctor went to school, continuing education, credentials, dental jargon, essentially wake me up when this is over from the consumer's perspective. That's a great resume for another dentist, but it does nothing for a consumer. A genuinely professional headshot is fine, I have no issue with that, but pair it with a real family photo if the doctor's comfortable sharing that, team photos, the doctor with an arm around a patient, high-fiving a staff member, an employee of the month shoutout, the team out doing a community cleanup. That's when people think, wait, these guys seem genuinely great. A short practice walkthrough video works well here too, not a literal tour narrating equipment, but a warm overview, a quick doctor interview, the hygienist and assistant saying a bit about why they love working there, maybe a patient testimonial woven in.
Jeff: What specifically should go on each team member's individual bio?
Dan: Favorite food, where they grew up, something people wouldn't already know about them, nothing about their education specifically. If someone's listed as an RDH, it's already implied they went through a hygiene program, that's what the license itself represents, it doesn't need repeating from a marketing standpoint. Rich and Vera Salvatore's practice in Malta, New York, Bolston Spa near Albany, has a great Meet Our Team page, a professional shot paired with a hobby shot for each person, Vera playing tennis, one of their associates, Dr. Lena, in her lab coat next to a photo of her holding a third degree black belt medal. People see that and think, wow, she's genuinely impressive, it humanizes everyone on the team. Then further down, community involvement photos and general practice photos, so by the time you've scrolled through, you feel like you've actually walked through the office and met everyone, without having set foot inside.
Jeff: Great, and the fourth page?
Dan: Services pages. This is what we do, and specifically what you want more of, implants, cosmetic dentistry, whatever your priorities are.
Jeff: Are these separate individual pages?
Dan: Yes, structured like abcdental.com slash services slash implants, for example.
Jeff: Which presumably helps with people actually searching for those specific services too.
Dan: Exactly right. There's a general services page listing everything you offer, even if it's mostly bread and butter dentistry, whitening, crowns, extractions, emergencies, and then dedicated individual pages for each service you specifically want to grow, with the general page linking out to each of those.
Jeff: Say we're looking at an implant or cosmetic page specifically, what belongs on it?
Dan: Keep in mind consumers today don't want to read heavy text until they're already warmed up, so if you want denser content, put it toward the bottom of the page. Up top, lots of images, before-and-after photos, a testimonial excerpt, a brief bit of plain language text. Something like, I had four teeth replaced by Dr. So-and-so, best decision I ever made, I can actually eat again, I used to be terrified of the dentist and dreaded appointments, but I didn't even realize they'd started the procedure by the time they told me they were finished. That kind of language speaks directly to someone who's genuinely nervous about dental work, which describes the vast majority of people. And the higher the price point, a $15,000, $25,000, or $60,000-plus case, the more testimonial content, social proof, and real imagery you need, avoid dental jargon entirely and keep everything simple. Rich and Vera's implant services page does a nice job of this with an infographic walking through the implant process step by step, along with short educational videos explaining what an implant actually is.
Jeff: Are those videos featuring the doctor personally?
Dan: Yes, so while someone's absorbing the educational content, they're also getting to know the doctor directly, which carries just as much weight as the information itself. If I've decided I'm ready to move forward but need to go home and explain it to my spouse, I can say, here, this is the doctor, and show them the video, which builds real familiarity.
Jeff: That familiarity is genuinely what separates a family practice from a faceless corporate chain.
Dan: Exactly, that's the whole point.
Jeff: This is genuinely great information. So say someone's been listening and wants to start fixing their own site, do they just call their web developer and get going?
Dan: That's a start, though I actually cover this in far more depth during the New Patient Workshop itself, because web developers tend to fall into one of two categories. First, developers stuck in whatever model they're comfortable with, which may have worked well once, but marketing evolves constantly, and you either move with it or get left behind, and that applies just as much to web developers as anyone else. There are plenty of companies churning out the same templated dental website over and over, and honestly, out of close to a hundred web companies I've worked with directly, maybe three or four are genuinely willing to take this kind of direction. So you have to be the one directing your developer, and if they won't take direction, it's time to find a new one. Go through everything we've covered here, pause, take notes, hand that list to your developer, and check the finished site against it before signing off, worth the small extra cost to verify.
Jeff: And the second category?
Dan: Developers overly focused purely on aesthetics, how it looks, which was the priority back in the late nineties and early two thousands, but not today. Today your site needs to load fast and be genuinely skimmable, since that's how people actually browse now.
Jeff: That's fair, I should probably start dropping every third word while I talk.
Dan: People will watch a video or listen to a podcast, but they skim written pages, we've all become that way as consumers.
Jeff: So what kind of actual results have you seen when a practice moves from a purely informational site to a genuinely marketing-driven one like we've described?
Dan: Massive results. When someone lands on a site and actually stays and contacts the practice, that's called a conversion. The step before that is a bounce, when someone visits and leaves without engaging. Bounces are always going to happen to some degree, but your site has an overall bounce rate, and if visitors are leaving quickly, often within ten seconds, that hurts your standing with Google directly.
Jeff: So a high bounce rate actually pushes a site lower in search results.
Dan: Correct, because it signals to Google that visitors aren't finding what they came for and are leaving right away. Google's primary interest is keeping its own users satisfied, not any individual dental practice, so if people consistently bounce off your site quickly, your search ranking drops as a result.
Jeff: So this genuinely helps new patient numbers in two separate ways, converting the people who land on the site, and improving search visibility by keeping people engaged longer.
Dan: Exactly right. When practices actually get this sorted out properly, bounce rate improves, conversion improves, and we typically see them picking up an additional 20 to 30 new patients a month as a direct result.
Jeff: If someone listening wants to fix their site and would like to reach you directly, is it alright if I share your email?
Dan: Absolutely.
Jeff: You can come meet Dan in person at the New Patient Workshop, we'll link that, or reach him directly at danb@mgeonline.com, which we'll also put on the episode webpage. And if you're getting your site revised or rebuilt, feel free to send Dan the link before you sign off on it.
Dan: Happy to take a look and offer a few pointers.
Jeff: Dan, this was fantastic, genuinely informative, thank you for coming on.
Dan: Thanks for having me, appreciated it.
Jeff: Folks, I hope you enjoyed this one. If you did and want to hear more like it, don't forget to subscribe or follow us on whatever platform you're listening on. For more on MGE, we've got a link to the New Patient Workshop as well as that HIPAA release download Dan mentioned, both on the episode webpage. You can also visit us at mgeonline.com or call us at (800) 640-1140. That's all we have for you this week, we'll see you at the next episode.