Websites II

Another funny story...
My daughter and I had a "Daddy and Daughter Date night" last night.
We usually go out for ice cream and sit outside and eat it. Sometimes we throw in a Go-cart ride or something.
On our way home I had the radio on. And on this particular station the call line is "Music from the 80's, 90's and today". She pipes up and says "why would the radio station say, 'music from the 80's, 90's and Thursday'"?
I got a good laugh. One of those laughs when you are still kind of chuckling 10 minutes thinking just how funny it was. (Not quite as funny as the "I am a big fan of FED-EX" line but funny).

No books or movies this week. Crazy, I know.

Before I forget. AGD Annual Meeting next week. All you Orlando people (all of the Florida people for that matter) that have not signed up and are thinking about it...it is time to commit.
I have been to two AGD Annual meetings and it is always been very well done.
Plus I will be there.

Tell me what you think of this.
The first article I ever wrote was in Dental Practice Report. Trust me it was awesome. It was called You Just Graduated From Dental School, now what? I was looking through the course scheduling and I came across a lecture called You've Graduated, now what?
Coincidence, I think not.
It looks like I am going to have to take someone out this weekend. So if you see a fight on the exhibit floor on Friday at 4:05pm, it is me marking my territory. I think the guy might be in his sixties, but a man's got to do what a man's go to do.

Websites....
Okay, I did get some feedback. By the way some people email me directly so all of you may not be able to see some of the comments. You can too at Jgammichia@aol.com
I have gone on some websites this week. You know the vast majority of sites are about the same.
Not just dental sites. All sites are about the same. The line at the top that says Home, Information about us, Procedures, Before and after photos (that are not their work), Contact us, Downloadable forms, stuff like this.
Now if you are going to have a site, the above is a must for every site, but does it have to be so boring, and the big question is...
Does something like that represent John and Victor Gammichia (and associate).
Well, I think my overwhelming thought is no this is not John and Victor Gammichia. But the force that keeps pulling me is that we HAVE to have a website.
At least get something. If it is the template now and then work on another one that is more like you. At least for now you can have some representation on the internet.
I know, as I was told in a comment, that everyone that is under 30 years old their first inclination is Google. Not yellow pages or a friend, Google.


One of the comments, I think that all of you saw, was to get a student. We have a media school in Orlando, why have I not called them? Well, lets say it is going to take 10 hours of my time to help a professional make a website. How much more time will it take for me to work with a student.
You might scoff at that but I don't really have time. I mean I have down time at night from 9pm to 11pm but all I can do at this time if veg. Totally veg. I can't even work on the computer anymore. I have zero energy left.
My good hours are from 6am to 9pm and pretty much every minute is taken up.
Okay so this what I decided to do.
I went to http://www.theonlinepractice.com/
this is a site that helps with dental websites. There are a bunch of templates and designs..
You pick your design and get started and pay your $39 a month and you have your website. No hidden fees. No software fees. Nothin.
Now you still have to plug in all the information. You still have to take pictures of all your staff. You still have to write all the bios.
You still have to put in all the before and after photos.
And just like if you were paying someone the big bucks you want it to be good.
Your signature is on it. But...it is all done for you. All you have to do is make it yours.
But if you wanted to leave their before and after photos you can.
If you want all the wording that they have, there is almost no work.

Okay so now you have a website.
What the heck are you suppose to do with it. It is up to you to market your website.
You have to put it on all your business cards, your letterhead, your postcards that you send to your patients reminding them of their appointment. If you are advertising in the country club directory you put it in your ad.
So now there is some added pressure for it to be good. Because your website might be the first thing a potential patient sees about your practice.
Do you want someone that doesn't know anything about your practice to see a boring website or a simple website (you know what I mean...this is what is haunting me about using a template)?
But lets say it is a great website and you are marketing it to your patients.

What about new patients that are searching for a new dentist?
Now this is another different animal all together.
Getting your site to come up when someone is looking for a dentist is what people do for a living.
There are companies out there that will work with your website to make it come up when someone googles a dentist.
It is something called search engine optimization.
My friend is paying upwards of $1500 a month to get hits. This particular company guarantees a certain amount of hits and phone calls for his money. He says if I pay more money I will get more hits and more calls.
He even has a different phone number on his website so the company can keep track of how many people are calling (because they call a different number, get it?).
This company even records the calls. The company can only guarantee a call not an appointment, so they record the calls. My friend can go to their website and listen to all the calls that were made to his office at this special phone number. So he can see the kind of person calling. He can see how his staff is handling this call.
WOW!!!
Are you ready for this? Are you ready to delve into this kind of world?
I don't know if I am ready.

Now you know why people made a site and never touch it again. It is too much work. I was fine without it.
They had no idea how this industry was going to move, and they couldn't keep up or didn't want to.

I will have ours up and running in about two weeks I will let you know.
Remember this is only my temporary website until the $5000 one...NOT.

Have a great weekend,
I will talk to you next week.
I am going to Long Boat Key and staying at a resort called the Colony. Beach, fun in the sun, Hilda and I have our own room, reading, movies, it is going to be great.
Then it is back home to the Swan and Dolphin.
See you next week,
john