If you’re a dentist, creating your own practice website is a great option for attracting new patients and educating current patients. A website for your dental office is also the perfect way to make timid patients feel more comfortable and informed when choosing your office. If you are considering a new website or a redesign, you can also consider the following options and ideas:

Blog: I recommend adding a blog to any website that deals with the public or with information for several reasons. First of all, blogs are a great way to communicate with your patients. Blogs can be used to educate patients on simple tasks like flossing, highly desired services like teeth whitening, or even gum disease. Second, blogs are a great way for the public to learn about your office. With so many people tired of the dentist’s office, blogging is a great way to let patients see that your office is knowledgeable, friendly, and safe. Finally, blogs are great for search engine optimization. The continual new content that blogs provide allows more pages of your website to be indexed, thus allowing your website to rank in search engines like Google and MSN.

Photos: While other medical offices are limited to photos of their staff and building, dental offices can use photos to exemplify their work. Before and after photos of teeth whitening and other procedures will showcase your practice’s talents and set you apart from other practices.

Specialties: Websites are the ideal place to showcase your practice specialties. If you specialize in a new technique, work with children, or have a new team, your website can be used to describe your talents. This is a great way to attract new patients and introduce current patients to procedures they didn’t know were available.

Newsletters: Instead of sending out printed newsletters each month, dental offices can use their websites as a way for patients to sign up for monthly newsletters (or as often as you choose). Newsletters can be sent automatically to patients, reducing the time, cost and hassle of mailing newsletters outside of your practice.