Get Your Dental Practice on Yelp Immediately

Yelp is one of the top social media platforms in the world, and is a great arena for dental marketing.‍

Let's start with an experiment. Google your favorite pizza joint. Chances are, within the first three search results you’ll see its Yelp link.

With 83 million desktop users and 74 million mobile users, Yelp is one of the most popular sites for consumers to learn about businesses.

Moreover, it's where consumers determine whether a business is worth their time or not. And they’re basing this all on reviews. In fact, 70% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

And here's the kicker: Yelp isn't just for night clubs and pizza places! It is set up to be an information hub for all of a community's local businesses.

Yes, even dental offices. Heck, especially dental offices.

Dental Marketing Through Yelp

You may not associate Yelp with dental marketing, and you're not alone. Only 53% of dental offices are on Yelp.

The site often gets pigeonholed with restaurants simply because of the frequency people eat out — four times per week, compared to two dental appointments per year.

However, this is a platform you cannot afford to ignore.

For one, there's great value since competing practices likely don't view Yelp as an agent for dental marketing.

Beyond that, it's free!

A wonderful thing about Yelp is that the platform and its loyal band of reviewers do most of the work for you. They locate your business and insert any information they have into the directory.

From there, it’s your job to either let your page speak for itself, or claim your business and take an active role.

Which, for the record, you should 100% claim your business and not even think twice.

Claiming Your Yelp Page

According to the Boston Consulting Group, research suggests that businesses who claim their pages increase annual revenue by $8,000.That's a nice chunk of change. And it makes it even crazier to believe that only about half of all dental practices on Yelp have a verified page.

Remember: this is a free platform! There are very few opportunities in life where you can earn an extra eight grand just for showing up.

Should you choose to pay for advertising on Yelp, then your annual revenue could increase by $23,000.Again: this is crazy good ROI!

More Reasons To Claim Your Yelp Page

• Patients want to know you’re up-to-date with technology
• Any response you leave for a negative review shows you care about both your reputation and your patients
• Your information may need to be updated (hours, address, services offered)
• If your Yelp name says “Dentistry” but your official business says “Dental,” patients may not be able to find you. Keep your brand streamlined
• By sharing photos of your office, you are providing a reason for patients to stay on your page longer (Yelp says they stay twice as long)
• Photos also make patients feel like they already know your office and staff before setting foot in the door

How To Claim Your Yelp Page

Yelp makes dental marketing so easy for you!

Click on your Yelp link (or search for it here) and if it says “Unclaimed,” click that.

From there, the platform walks you through the process using your company email. It even walks you through updating your information and uploading photos.

If you get stuck, Yelp has a great support section.

Managing Your Yelp Page

Now that you're all set up, it's time to manage the page. For the most part, this is pretty easy.

Make sure your contact info is correct, add in some recent pictures, and just keep the thing spruced up.

And About Those Reviews ...

Reviews are part of the game. Good or bad, they make your practice appear authentic. You may not always have 5-star reviews, but you can always handle them like a champion.

For negative reviews, courteously and professionally respond. You can also encourage some of your most loyal patients to submit positive reviews to drown out any of the negative outliers.

Check out our handy tips for other ways to combat bad reviews.

When it comes to positive reviews, respond to those as well! Thank the person for being a patient, and explain just how much you can't wait to see them again.

And there you have it!

If you don't have one already, go claim that Yelp account.

And if you do, make sure that thing is looking pretty.

People are looking for you out there; it's time to put your best (virtual) foot forward!

Learn more about how RevenueWell improves case acceptance and creates more close-knit relationships between dentists and their patients.