Rent A Site Model - Getting Traffic - Not getting callers?

58 replies
Hey guys,

I see I am getting some traffic to my site, around 1-2 hits per day (some days I don't get a hit) for a dental site in a small area around where I live.

The problem: I am not seeing many callers from these visitors. If I had 30 calls per month I would be estatic, but wow - not many callers to show for it at all.

XXXXXXXX is the website. Improvements? What Can I do to make them pick up the phone? Change the whole look of the site or?
#callers #model #rent #site #traffic
  • Profile picture of the author mrmatt
    I think the site looks nice.

    What I think you are missing is an offer.

    If someone is looking for a new dentist why not offer them a bunch of free stuff for becoming a new patient.

    • Free teeth whitening
    • Free electric toothbrush
    • Discounts on fillings if they are discovered during the exam
    • Free toothpaste full bottle not the little ones
    • Discounts for other family members
    • Free cleaning
    • etc.
    Hope that helps.
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    • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
      Originally Posted by mrmatt View Post

      I think the site looks nice.

      What I think you are missing is an offer.

      If someone is looking for a new dentist why not offer them a bunch of free stuff for becoming a new patient.

      • Free teeth whitening
      • Free electric toothbrush
      • Discounts on fillings if they are discovered during the exam
      • Free toothpaste full bottle not the little ones
      • Discounts for other family members
      • Free cleaning
      • etc.
      Hope that helps.
      I have two dentist sites as well and get similar traffic, but the dentist that I have listed on my site (no contract with this dentist, but just testing to see if people actually call him from coming to my site). I use a tracking number which forwards to this dentist and the stats show no calls at all.

      You mention offering something for free, but since I have not actually made a deal with this dentist and don't know if he actually provides any of these it is not possible to make such a claim on the site? Any other suggestions on how to increase the calls when ppl land on the site? I tried this way because I wanted to find out for myself if I had made a deal with a dentist how many calls they would get a month and they would be happy with the deal.
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  • Profile picture of the author ZachWaldman
    There's some garbled code on the bottom you may want to fix.

    Also, there's no sales page.

    It's weird to me that everybody here reads sales letters all of the time and knows the power of them, yet they fail to use them.

    One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was because of advice I took for a guru.

    He saw my website and said, "I don't think people want to be sold on entertainment."

    He suggested I remove my sales page and just have my demo video autoplay when people arrived.

    My sales plummeted.

    Then, I remembered the advice of Marlon Sanders, who said people have been selling every imaginable product and service for over a hundred years using sales letters.

    Duh! I don't know how I let the "guru" convince me that a sales letter wouldn't work for a comedian.

    I put my sales letter back up and even though my site itself is in great need of an overhaul, it continues to get me gigs.

    The bottom line is, use a sales letter.
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  • Profile picture of the author Voasi
    I have to tell you... I would NOT want to call that dentist.

    Let's think about the psychology of your image for 1 second. You're telling people, "Hey, when you visit, we'll be drilling your mouth so bad that I have to wear this ridiculous face should to protect my pretty face from all the gingivitis you're mouth will be spewing at me".

    Customers/Clients don't want to be reminded of what's going to happen... they want to remember the outcome. NO ONE WANTS to go to the dentist, in fact, I'd guess that 95% of people HATE going. So remind them of the benefits of going to the dentist:

    - Clean teeth
    - Nice smile
    - White teeth
    - Possibly a date because you don't have bad breath anymore

    People want BENEFITS, in service-based marketing, as well as product marketing.

    Secondly, getting 1-2 hits a day is not a lot. Here's a thought - most people will search for a dentist name. Try buying up some PPC keywords of dentists in the area. That will probably boost qualified visitors.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrmatt
    I understand so here is a very simple remedy.

    Sit down with the dentist and tell him/her that are willing to offer them all the leads/calls for free if they agree to be your guinea pig.

    If they agree to that then start asking things that they could offer in order to get people to take action. If they are unwilling go find someone else.

    The biggest thing to find out is how much a new patient is worth to them. Once you know that number it should be fairly easy to come up with a bunch of freebies to get the prospective patient into their practice.

    I asked my dentist what the stick rate is for offering this kind of stuff - all the things i mentioned. He said he was at about 85% but the industry standard is 60%.

    If an average patient is worth $2500 and you got 10 of them to take action in a month and 6 of them to stay that is $15,000 of future income.

    Assuming you give away $100 in product and services you spent $1000 to get $15000.

    The thing is that once you get a model down that is working you then just replicate is over and over again. If this dentist is not willing to work with you go find someone who is.

    Also what Zach mentioned. Sell the appointment and sell the free stuff.

    Like I said your site looks nice. The problem is it looks just like every other dental website with no sales pitch, no offer, no call to action, no strong headline, no reason to call right now.

    Make them an offer they can't refuse. Getting them in the door is your job, getting them to stay is the Doctors.

    There was a thread here on the WF about someone doing teeth whitening leads for a dentist and was making a killing. Same principle. Free teeth whitening got them in the door and the dentist needed to sell them on staying and becoming a patient.
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  • Profile picture of the author Alex Makarski
    I agree with Zach: You need a sales letter. Have you been to that dental office? Are you their patient?

    Think Claude Hopkins and his ad for Schlitz Beer (Copywriting: Claude Hopkins Schlitz Beer Ad) -- he simply explained in detail what all the breweries do anyway... it just happens that other breweries fail to explain it. It's the case a creating a USP where there is none.

    Another thing to try would be click-2-call. This usually increases a number of calls from a website.

    Also, how about adding a popup with a very brief survey? It should help you to get into their head and understand more about what they are looking for.
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Hi guys and thanks very much for the feedback!

    #1 Regarding the code at the bottom of the site, that's very weird. I have had one guy tell me the same thing once, but I cannot see it, no matter if I am logged in or out of the site as wordpress admin, I cannot see anything at the bottom of the site. Hmm, not sure how to fix it!

    #2 In regards to a sales letter, do you guys think that it is appropriate for a dentist? I am all for a sales letter if it will increase the conversions, but isn't a sales letter a typically 1 page website. Do you guys mean to make it a 1 page website with a call to action? Or keep it as a simple 5 or 6 page site but with the home page being a more 'sales' letter type of page?

    I was afraid of putting too much content on the home page that maybe the visitors don't want to read the content and then they buzz off else where. So it's why I chose to put a small amount of content.

    Keep the suggestions coming, especially perhaps some more ideas on the sales letter since it was mentioned more than once. I am very open to trying anything to get more callers out of these. As someone mentioned, 2 hits or 1 hit a day isn't much, but to a dentist that is a crap tonne, if I could give him 15 clients per month he/she/they would love it - and right now I could potentially do that, I just need these guys to pick up that phone.

    Perhaps a whole design overhaul or something. I am not great with web design (I just used a theme for my website which I felt was nice looking) but maybe I should be paying someone to make a custom dental-niche/industry website designed to try and get as many callers as possible.

    Keep the ideas coming guys, I really need them!!
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    • Profile picture of the author ZachWaldman
      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post


      #2 In regards to a sales letter, do you guys think that it is appropriate for a dentist? I am all for a sales letter if it will increase the conversions, but isn't a sales letter a typically 1 page website. Do you guys mean to make it a 1 page website with a call to action? Or keep it as a simple 5 or 6 page site but with the home page being a more 'sales' letter type of page?

      I was afraid of putting too much content on the home page that maybe the visitors don't want to read the content and then they buzz off else where. So it's why I chose to put a small amount of content.
      And there it is. What you're saying about sales letters is what everybody that doesn't know their power says about them.

      I've been guilty of this too. Remember, I told you I took mine down because I was convinced that people, "Don't want to be sold on entertainment."

      So, yes, I meant to put up a one-page sales letter site. Since your goal is to generate leads, you want them to opt-in or leave. By adding other pages, you're only going to confuse them.

      Again, when it comes to the length of the content, we already know that people will read a long sales letter and in fact, the longer it is, the better.

      One of my clients is a physical therapist and I had to convince him about sales letters. Now that he's generating leads, he's thanking me. I bet they're one of the only physical therapy clinics using a sales letter.
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      • Profile picture of the author Alex Makarski
        Again, when it comes to the length of the content, we already know that people will read a long sales letter and in fact, the longer it is, the better.
        The sales letter should be as long and it takes to get them to do what you want them to do, and not any longer. Some things, sometimes, can be sold without one.

        In this case you have a prospect looking at the website thinking:
        -Should I really call THIS dentist?
        -Should I really call them NOW?
        -What if they can't give me an appointment for several weeks, and I need help today?
        -How do I know this one is any good?
        -Wonder if he/she good with kids? (elderly)
        -Wonder if they will take my insurance?
        -Wonder if they accept credit cards?
        -Wonder if it's going to be painful?
        -and on, and on, and on.

        Your sales letter has to answer these and many other questions. Until it does, you can't expect the phone to ring very often.
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        • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
          Originally Posted by Alex Makarski View Post

          The sales letter should be as long and it takes to get them to do what you want them to do, and not any longer. Some things, sometimes, can be sold without one.

          In this case you have a prospect looking at the website thinking:
          -Should I really call THIS dentist?
          -Should I really call them NOW?
          -What if they can't give me an appointment for several weeks, and I need help today?
          -How do I know this one is any good?
          -Wonder if he/she good with kids? (elderly)
          -Wonder if they will take my insurance?
          -Wonder if they accept credit cards?
          -Wonder if it's going to be painful?
          -and on, and on, and on.

          Your sales letter has to answer these and many other questions. Until it does, you can't expect the phone to ring very often.
          Hi Alex,

          Definitely liking the ideas. I am getting a clearer image with every post people here are contributing. I love all of the help, support, etc. It's great

          Those set of questions is very good and no doubt probably few more important ones that need answering in there too.

          Right now I am contemplating between just fixing the current issues with my website (ie - changing the picture that everyone hates ) and then adding a more sales type / content on the home page for them to read (to address such concerns as you have listed) and probably some type of "call to action" with some type of discount or something offered on the website also.

          Hopefully with all of that, it should pick up the conversions. Perhaps I won't be needing the pop up survey, but I am still going to have a search around to see if I can find a good suitable one!
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        • Profile picture of the author GerryLee
          Originally Posted by Alex Makarski View Post

          The sales letter should be as long and it takes to get them to do what you want them to do, and not any longer. Some things, sometimes, can be sold without one.

          In this case you have a prospect looking at the website thinking:
          -Should I really call THIS dentist?
          -Should I really call them NOW?
          -What if they can't give me an appointment for several weeks, and I need help today?
          -How do I know this one is any good?
          -Wonder if he/she good with kids? (elderly)
          -Wonder if they will take my insurance?
          -Wonder if they accept credit cards?
          -Wonder if it's going to be painful?
          -and on, and on, and on.

          Your sales letter has to answer these and many other questions. Until it does, you can't expect the phone to ring very often.
          Good job John,
          I've never heard it or read it said any better than than!

          gerryLee
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      • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
        Originally Posted by ZachWaldman View Post

        And there it is. What you're saying about sales letters is what everybody that doesn't know their power says about them.

        I've been guilty of this too. Remember, I told you I took mine down because I was convinced that people, "Don't want to be sold on entertainment."

        So, yes, I meant to put up a one-page sales letter site. Since your goal is to generate leads, you want them to opt-in or leave. By adding other pages, you're only going to confuse them.

        Again, when it comes to the length of the content, we already know that people will read a long sales letter and in fact, the longer it is, the better.

        One of my clients is a physical therapist and I had to convince him about sales letters. Now that he's generating leads, he's thanking me. I bet they're one of the only physical therapy clinics using a sales letter.
        Hi Zach,

        Thank you very much for your clear example. The sales letter I am starting to feel will work and I will work to implement that very shortly. However, I will admit that I am a little confused about just have a 1-page website instead of 'imitating' a real business with a 'multiple page' website.

        I have seen sales pages before and some of them very effective, but Im a little apprehensive to think people might find a dental website with a single page to be 'legitimate' if that makes sense? Hope I am not being silly!

        I don't care in the end of the customer believes that the site that they have landed on is THE actual dentist or just some other form of material, I just want them to pick up the phone and ring it (rather them ring than fill out a form - but email leads would also be welcome).

        Given the above statements, would you say that in your professional opinion, a single page sales letter is what is needed for this? In such a case, I wouldn't actually need my whole nice template but rather something a little 'cleaner' and suited to just a single page site?

        I Can definitely see how a single page system might work for other industries like contractors/building, but I guess I am a little silly because I cannot see it working too well with a dentist, for example Please clarify if you have some spare time, it is greatly appreciated (along with all of the other replies here)
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    • Profile picture of the author PhilaPM
      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

      Perhaps a whole design overhaul or something. I am not great with web design (I just used a theme for my website which I felt was nice looking) but maybe I should be paying someone to make a custom dental-niche/industry website designed to try and get as many callers as possible.

      Keep the ideas coming guys, I really need them!!
      I like the theme and design. Maybe just change out the picture. What theme did you use for this? Also maybe incorporate some type of call to action. They need a reason to call.

      Patrick
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    PS: I will be removing the image shortly. Will need to think about what to replace it with. Anyone had any nice dental niche/sites made that are converting well, I wouldn't mind paying someone to make a nice wordpress design/site that I could carry on over to my other existing domains (which pretty much look identical so I didn't bother to post them all).
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Makarski
      1. I don't think there is anything terribly wrong with the website. The picture is probably not good. I would expect the dentist picture to be the best option. In lieu of that, a stock image of smiling female model is probably your best bet.

      2. Who says sales letter should only be one page? The only thing required of a sales letter is to produce a phone call.

      3. The biggest issue is you don't really know why they have come to your site. You don't know what problem they are trying to solve. Are they new to the town and kid's need braces? Or did the cap fall off and it's an emergency? That's why I recommended a survey. You can even take them to a different landing page (doubling as your sales page) based on what they are looking for. That should help you with conversions A LOT. If you decide to use PPC, you should create different ads for different problems and send clicks to different (relevance) landing pages.

      4. There is so much stuff on copywriting out there. I'm sure you know it: Have a kick-ass headline, take them by the hand and walk with them, have a compelling call to action. Use AIDA or problem-agitate-solution or whatever. It's still going to be better than other dentist's site kuz those don't have any sales letters. If stuck with your copy, grab one of Gary Halbert's oldies-goodies and re-write it for your dentist. You're likely to end up with decent piece even if you know nothing about writing copy.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Makarski
      About the picture... it has to make you feel good. Usually pictures of kids and women work best. And in most tests I read about, pictures of models work better than those of normal "civilians". So try a mom + baby picture, big smile, no less than 50 teeth each (kidding).

      And by the way, you can test all this. If you add a click-to-call you can count the clicks. Otherwise use several phone numbers (at least 2 - ver A and ver B). This way you can test pictures, headlines, offer, testimonials, etc.

      Keep in mind that all the suggestions you have received here are only ideas that you should try out / test. Don't read this stuff as God-honest truth. It's marketing, and in marketing you're more often wrong than you're right. Whatever works for someone else may or may not work for you. So use this forum as a source of ideas to test. Guess less, test more.
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Thanks very much Alex. Now that you have specifically emphasised the idea of having a survey pop up asking them what they need and then redirecting them based on their specific need to a relevant sales page - it really does make sense to me. I guess such a survey would only apply to dentists and other related health industries (not so much maybe some other businesses? but hey no big deal as I am trying to close a few dentists for starters anyway).

    I just don't actually know how to do the whole 'pop up' thing but if I am lucky, there might just be a Wordpress plugin to take care of that (I'm not so confident, but who knows) and if there is I will get started on that stuff ASAP! I actually like the idea of the whole survey thing. Makes a LOT of sense to me. Would take a lot of time to write up a unique sales copy/info for each specific case but I think it might just be time worth investing!
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Makarski
      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

      Thanks very much Alex. Now that you have specifically emphasised the idea of having a survey pop up asking them what they need and then redirecting them based on their specific need to a relevant sales page - it really does make sense to me. I guess such a survey would only apply to dentists and other related health industries (not so much maybe some other businesses? but hey no big deal as I am trying to close a few dentists for starters anyway).
      Well, how about this as a game plan...

      1. Pick one problem, create one landing page, write one sales letter, and buy some PPC clicks to get the phone to ring.

      2. Once the first funnel works, sell the leads to a local dentist.

      3. Go nuts with SEO for specific keywords that you have identified and tested with PPC.

      3. Do #1 and #3 repeatedly for a different problem / funnel.


      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

      I just don't actually know how to do the whole 'pop up' thing but if I am lucky, there might just be a Wordpress plugin to take care of that (I'm not so confident, but who knows) and if there is I will get started on that stuff ASAP! I actually like the idea of the whole survey thing. Makes a LOT of sense to me. Would take a lot of time to write up a unique sales copy/info for each specific case but I think it might just be time worth investing!
      If you follow the game plan above, you don't need a pop up. And if you don't like the game plan and just want to fix your current site, think like your prospect would think. What would you be looking for? What information would be the most relevant to you when you get to the website?

      The reason you need a sales letter is because another dentist's site is only a click away. It's not enough to bring them to your site. You need to give them what they are looking for (and for most of them, it's NOT the phone number, at least "not yet").
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Thanks Alex! I'm trying to avoid the PPC at the moment. I am mainly trying to get the current organic search visitors to pick up the phone and call. For that, I think a better sales letter on the home page might help the phone ring. I probably have the wrong idea that people don't want to read much more than a paragraph or two when they're looking for a dentist - so I'm going to need to try it out and see for myself.

    What is it in order is definitely changing the picture. The dentist on the site isn't actually a client of mine yet (they just agreed to have their info on the site) and the number is a tracking number that I own and can track redirects.

    So I will change the picture, and write up something a bit more sales like, but I do like the pop up idea if I can find a workable solution to that. I'm very interested in getting the current visitors to pick up that phone!
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    • Profile picture of the author GerryLee
      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

      Thanks Alex! I'm trying to avoid the PPC at the moment. I am mainly trying to get the current organic search visitors to pick up the phone and call. For that, I think a better sales letter on the home page might help the phone ring. I probably have the wrong idea that people don't want to read much more than a paragraph or two when they're looking for a dentist - so I'm going to need to try it out and see for myself.

      What is it in order is definitely changing the picture. The dentist on the site isn't actually a client of mine yet (they just agreed to have their info on the site) and the number is a tracking number that I own and can track redirects.

      So I will change the picture, and write up something a bit more sales like, but I do like the pop up idea if I can find a workable solution to that. I'm very interested in getting the current visitors to pick up that phone!
      Hey krzysiek,

      How you been, My Man? Doing well I hope.

      Just thought I'd throw in my couple of pennies worth.

      I agree 100% that you should display an eye catching, and thoroughly positive image in your sales letter. In fact, the more upbeat and uplifting the better...anything to create the old "Warm & Fuzzies", and draw attentionto your first call to action.

      Add all the things that Alex listed, plus another call to action or two. Include an attractive give-away to incentivize ( maybe placed near the cool image), and you should be good to go.

      It's been mentioned previously, and shouldn't be overlooked: A sales letter will set you apart from your competitors in the off-line world. Aside from an Ecommerce site here and there, so few small, local, off-line businesses or professionals that are actually doing any SELLING on their websites.

      The typical site is cute, or nice, or whatever: "See my building, see my truck, here's my dog...we're nice, we're dependable, you might like us". They seldom present a clear "call to action". They seldom ask for the call, or the sale, even in their content. In short, what most of these sites fail to do is build a compelling case for picking up that telephone and dialing the number!

      Can't really blame 'em. It's not their fault. They're just doing what everyone else has done for the last 15 plus years. These people aren't marketers, Hell, they don't have time, and the people that they depend on to build their sites certainly aren't either. It's like turning your marketing over to a YP rep and expecting them to return effective sales copy for the ads they charge through the nose for...ain't gonna happen!

      These folks should be identifying, and even creating the pain, the problem, the desire, etc. Next, they should demonstrate how they can provide the solution, NOW, no need to wait, best to act NOW!


      So, there's our opportunity...to jump in and fill the void...to show these business owners how to get the jump on their competitors, or at the very least, how to keep from falling behind. Effective sales copy on the landing page, is a great way to do it, whether it's a one page site or more. Put the dog and the truck on page six, in the "About Us page, right?

      And as a side note, I'm not suggesting a bunch of cheezy, sensationalistic crap...we can be subltle an still be compelling. We just need to talk like regular people, trying to help other regular people solve their problems and/or achieve their goals.

      Geez, I didn't mean to write a novel here...got carried away in my enthusiasum for the subject. I'm not much of a techie, but I've been inolved in "straight world" marketing, advertising, etc. in one way or another for a long time.

      Sorry to ramble on... I just hope there was an idea or two in this mess that might turn on a light bulb or two.

      GerryLee
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      • Profile picture of the author mrtrance
        Originally Posted by GerryLee View Post

        Hey krzysiek,

        How you been, My Man? Doing well I hope.

        Just thought I'd throw in my couple of pennies worth.

        I agree 100% that you should display an eye catching, and thoroughly positive image in your sales letter. In fact, the more upbeat and uplifting the better...anything to create the old "Warm & Fuzzies", and draw attentionto your first call to action.

        Add all the things that Alex listed, plus another call to action or two. Include an attractive give-away to incentivize ( maybe placed near the cool image), and you should be good to go.

        It's been mentioned previously, and shouldn't be overlooked: A sales letter will set you apart from your competitors in the off-line world. Aside from an Ecommerce site here and there, so few small, local, off-line businesses or professionals that are actually doing any SELLING on their websites.

        The typical site is cute, or nice, or whatever: "See my building, see my truck, here's my dog...we're nice, we're dependable, you might like us". They seldom present a clear "call to action". They seldom ask for the call, or the sale, even in their content. In short, what most of these sites fail to do is build a compelling case for picking up that telephone and dialing the number!

        Can't really blame 'em. It's not their fault. They're just doing what everyone else has done for the last 15 plus years. These people aren't marketers, Hell, they don't have time, and the people that they depend on to build their sites certainly aren't either. It's like turning your marketing over to a YP rep and expecting them to return effective sales copy for the ads they charge through the nose for...ain't gonna happen!

        These folks should be identifying, and even creating the pain, the problem, the desire, etc. Next, they should demonstrate how they can provide the solution, NOW, no need to wait, best to act NOW!


        So, there's our opportunity...to jump in and fill the void...to show these business owners how to get the jump on their competitors, or at the very least, how to keep from falling behind. Effective sales copy on the landing page, is a great way to do it, whether it's a one page site or more. Put the dog and the truck on page six, in the "About Us page, right?

        And as a side note, I'm not suggesting a bunch of cheezy, sensationalistic crap...we can be subltle an still be compelling. We just need to talk like regular people, trying to help other regular people solve their problems and/or achieve their goals.

        Geez, I didn't mean to write a novel here...got carried away in my enthusiasum for the subject. I'm not much of a techie, but I've been inolved in "straight world" marketing, advertising, etc. in one way or another for a long time.

        Sorry to ramble on... I just hope there was an idea or two in this mess that might turn on a light bulb or two.

        GerryLee
        I agree with your comments. I wish someone could post a sample url that achieves this sort of thing especially in one of these medical niches (dentists, chiropractors, plastic surgeons, etc.) where people are doing this whole rent-a-site thing and getting good results. I've come across many of these sites that just has general info on the homepage and nothing like what you are mentioning. I guess I sort of fall in that group as well since one of my sites gets about 60-70 unique visitors a month, but hardly any calls (by tracking the through a forwarding number). It would be great to see a good example of this in action to get a feel for it.
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    • Profile picture of the author RentItNow
      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

      Thanks Alex! I'm trying to avoid the PPC at the moment. I am mainly trying to get the current organic search visitors to pick up the phone and call.
      I highly recommend following alex's advice. The PPC is to test which keywords respond so you will know where to point the big guns. So many IMers misunderstand the use of PPC.

      I would also add analytics. Make sure you start collecting data as fast as possible so you know where the market is coming from that most responds to your offer.
      Signature
      I have no agenda but to help those in the same situation. This I feel will pay the bills.
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  • Profile picture of the author social joe
    Some solid advice above. I agree with most of what been said up until this point.

    1. Nice, clean website.
    2. @ Voasi - Couldn't have said it better myself! The image on the homepage represents that nightmare moment at the dentist when they pull out the drill. Get rid of that image for an alternative which promotes an offer.
    3. Contact the dentists and tell them what your doing and that you'd be happy to send them free lead for x amount of days. In return you'd like to run one of their offers to test the market.

    The Internet is THE most competitive marketing environment on the planet, and consumers are armed with all mighty back button! If you don't impress, grab attention or give them an instant reason to use your business over another you miss your chance.

    You have the makings of a nice little earner there, make some of the changes suggested above and you will make a success of it.
    Signature

    Happy to be amongst like minded warriors!
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Thanks Joe. I will make the changes as soon as possible!

    When you said, swap the dentist image out for an offer, do you think I should completely not show any human in the photo and just like a special "10% OFF" or something, or have a smiling lady/female with a great smile there and like a "10% OFF" sticker sitting on top of the photo?

    Just trying to gauge some ideas since I don't really have anyone else to ask. I am going to try and make these improvements as I need them to call the phone!! If I had 80% of them calling I would already have enough clients to charge the dentist $300+ / month and the SEO is not even done yet.
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    • Profile picture of the author social joe
      Go with an image of a good looking gal with an even better looking smile and a sticker over the top with your offer. The face will draw the eye and the offer will satisfy the desire for a deal.

      Keep us updated on your progress, the offline community members here are great at helping each other out.


      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

      Thanks Joe. I will make the changes as soon as possible!

      When you said, swap the dentist image out for an offer, do you think I should completely not show any human in the photo and just like a special "10% OFF" or something, or have a smiling lady/female with a great smile there and like a "10% OFF" sticker sitting on top of the photo?

      Just trying to gauge some ideas since I don't really have anyone else to ask. I am going to try and make these improvements as I need them to call the phone!! If I had 80% of them calling I would already have enough clients to charge the dentist $300+ / month and the SEO is not even done yet.
      Signature

      Happy to be amongst like minded warriors!
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  • Hi i like the theme of your website im wanting for my distribution business were can i get this?

    thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
      Originally Posted by creatorlogo View Post

      Hi i like the theme of your website im wanting for my distribution business were can i get this?

      thanks
      Please PM me and I'll have you on your way. It's no secret, but rather than have non contributors use this theme a lot I'll share it with those if they PM me!
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Originally Posted by jodib View Post

    Hi,

    I actually like the 'clean feel' of your site. I agree however with what has been mentioned above. The image needs changing which you mentioned you were taking care of.

    There is no call to action at all. To me it is just a page with information on it; nothing to get excited about or make one want to visit!

    To give you an example, here is a site of mine that I am busy implementing for a client. It is not finished yet, but see what you think about the images etc. May give you some ideas too.

    Brentwood Dentist - Denitist in Brentwood

    Best Wishes,

    Jodi
    Your site definitely has a different feel to it, I definitely like it. Might need to take a few things from that and add to mine, as well as a more sales type of page too.
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Thanks Gerry! & everyone else with their replies.

    I am going to try and get around to changing the things over today actually, if time permits, and then ask your opinion on the changes and what you guys think of it all. So many good suggestion here, I plan on putting all of them in to good use.

    With the PPC, I guess to test out which keywords are working would be a good thing, but in fear of sounding stupid: I already have a WP plug in that is showing me the exact keywords that people are typing in to Google to find me (and as such I have about 4 main KW's which I know people are using to find me mostly). So do you think there would be much benefit to use PPC in such a case? (curious honestly)

    I can see how PPC would be good for split testing though, as it would allow you to quickly (at a cost) to generate some test results to see which copy is working better?
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  • Profile picture of the author redlegrich
    I know PPC can help but I always preferred to rely on SEO. But I started working with a guy who was a PPC first, SEO second guy. Now, I see the light. It will juice the results almost immediately and you can fine tune things to moderate your expense while keeping the client happy. As your site gets better, the cost of your clicks will go down as well.

    But.... do improve your site based on the awesome suggestions in this post. It really bites when you pay for a click and it converts poorly.

    Read Perry Marshall's Ultimate Guide to AdWords about 4 times. Once you do you'll be in may the 85th percentile of AdWords knowledge, maybe even better in Melbourne!
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  • Profile picture of the author MatthewBass
    I've done a few of these, and the most important thing you can do is to record a short video of the dentist telling patients "why they care about them" and "how they can help them". Position the video in the upper left. End it with the phone number.

    Also have the phone number placed to the right of the video.

    Adding office hours and the phone number again in the sidebar has worked well.

    In my experience, these things have made people pick up the phone.

    Edit: Basically, you need to warm your site up a bit. I have to like you before I'm going to call you.
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  • Profile picture of the author MatthewBass
    Originally Posted by jodib View Post

    Hi,

    I actually like the 'clean feel' of your site. I agree however with what has been mentioned above. The image needs changing which you mentioned you were taking care of.

    There is no call to action at all. To me it is just a page with information on it; nothing to get excited about or make one want to visit!

    To give you an example, here is a site of mine that I am busy implementing for a client. It is not finished yet, but see what you think about the images etc. May give you some ideas too.

    Brentwood Dentist - Denitist in Brentwood

    Best Wishes,

    Jodi
    Great site! I mentioned adding a video of the dentist speaking in another post. What you've done with the images achieves the same thing.

    It builds trust which leads to the future patient picking up the phone and making an appointment.
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  • Profile picture of the author WillDL
    bolding mine
    Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

    Hey guys,

    I see I am getting some traffic to my site, around 1-2 hits per day (some days I don't get a hit) for a dental site in a small area around where I live.

    The problem: I am not seeing many callers from these visitors. If I had 30 calls per month I would be estatic, but wow - not many callers to show for it at all.

    Dentist in Essendon - Essendon Dental - 03 8644 8265 is the website. Improvements? What Can I do to make them pick up the phone? Change the whole look of the site or?
    I haven't checked out your site, but this jumped out at me. From what you say it sounds like you are averaging 30-45 hits or so per month. So you need at least 2.223% conversion rate to see one phone call a month.

    The problem might not be with the site. You might want to think about the amount of traffic you are getting versus your goals. Thirty calls a month would mean converting between all and two thirds of your traffic. If you can get better than a 66% conversion rate you need to drop lead gen and go into copy writing.
    Signature

    Occasionally Relevant.

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    • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
      Originally Posted by WillDL View Post

      bolding mine


      I haven't checked out your site, but this jumped out at me. From what you say it sounds like you are averaging 30-45 hits or so per month. So you need at least 2.223% conversion rate to see one phone call a month.

      The problem might not be with the site. You might want to think about the amount of traffic you are getting versus your goals. Thirty calls a month would mean converting between all and two thirds of your traffic. If you can get better than a 66% conversion rate you need to drop lead gen and go into copy writing.
      Unfortunately, being in Australia with a lot less people and a lot smaller cities (unless going for the capital cities like Melbourne, etc) then the traffic you get tends to be pretty low.

      Luckily for me, I have not yet finished SEO'ing the site completely and I would probably be seeing around 100/hits month by the time it is done.

      You're definitely right about the conversion % though, I'm going to need to work and get that as high as possible.

      It may sound silly... but I actually disregarded the whole 'conversion' thing, I just thought SEO the site get it to the top and the traffic will come. Well yes, the traffic comes - but the calls do not.

      This has literally opened up my eyes that SEO is one thing, but it won't produce crap if the site doesn't convert. Completely new to me. Yes, spare me the flames haha.
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      • Profile picture of the author WillDL
        Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post


        ...Luckily for me, I have not yet finished SEO'ing the site completely and I would probably be seeing around 100/hits month by the time it is done.

        You're definitely right about the conversion % though, I'm going to need to work and get that as high as possible.

        It may sound silly... but I actually disregarded the whole 'conversion' thing, I just thought SEO the site get it to the top and the traffic will come. Well yes, the traffic comes - but the calls do not.

        This has literally opened up my eyes that SEO is one thing, but it won't produce crap if the site doesn't convert. Completely new to me. Yes, spare me the flames haha.
        No flaming needed I just wanted to make sure you didn't sink a lot of money into it if thirty conversions a month was what you were looking for and 45-100 hits per month was a reasonable place for traffic to max out. I'm honestly surprised no one else pointed out that expectation was unreasonable (or if they did I missed it).

        Best of luck and if you manage to average 30 conversions a month on 100 hits drop me a line. I'll have a job for you as a copywriter.
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        Occasionally Relevant.

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  • Profile picture of the author V12
    I recommend that you read 'The Irresistible Offer' by marketer extraordinaire Mark Joyner.

    Do a Google search for the free PDF version, it's quite easy to find.

    Put an 'irresistible offer' on your site (after reading the book you should have no trouble coming up with a great offer) and see the difference.
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Thanks Opportunex, I am just about to start brainstorming for the sales letter so your comment came at a good time. Will throw a read at that PDF right now!
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Hi Will,

    Thanks for your input! I am now seeing how I was being unrealistic, specially with all you guys helping me out in subtle ways to see how naive I was being, haha!

    Well If I am getting around 100hits/month and I get 10 of them to call, I would be quite happy (but I would then feel like I am wasting a potential 90/month haha). But I'm going to give it a go, will do my best.

    I have already made a change to the picture and added a small call to action on the picture of the lady. I think it is looking a bit more appealing already.
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    • Profile picture of the author Alex Makarski
      Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

      Hi Will,

      Thanks for your input! I am now seeing how I was being unrealistic, specially with all you guys helping me out in subtle ways to see how naive I was being, haha!

      Well If I am getting around 100hits/month and I get 10 of them to call, I would be quite happy (but I would then feel like I am wasting a potential 90/month haha). But I'm going to give it a go, will do my best.

      I have already made a change to the picture and added a small call to action on the picture of the lady. I think it is looking a bit more appealing already.

      That chick is hot! And I want her teeth!
      Signature

      "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand." -Confucius

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      • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
        Originally Posted by Alex Makarski View Post

        That chick is hot! And I want her teeth!
        You are the second one to tell me that, haha. Still working on the sales letter!
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  • Profile picture of the author byte
    Hey, I just wanted to show you the error I get from your site. So hopefully you can fix it.

    Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Compilation failed: nothing to repeat at offset 1 in /home/dentiste/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wassup/wassup.php on line 3954

    Warning: preg_match() [function.preg-match]: Compilation failed: nothing to repeat at offset 1 in /home/dentiste/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wassup/wassup.php on line 3954
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Hi Byte,

    Can you clear your cache and reload my site. Does it still produce the error?
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Error is fixed now
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    What do people think of the changes so far?
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  • Hi krzysiek,

    I have not received any email ? would you be able to let me know were you have got the theme from,

    thanks
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    • Profile picture of the author midasman09
      Banned
      Here's something that has worked to bring participating Dentists (1 in each town)....OOODLES of NEW PATIENTS!

      Background:
      Dentists usually charge a "New Patient Fee" which includes, "Cleaning, X-Rays and consultation with the Dentist....and they charge an "average" of $185 for this (some more, some less)

      Now....put yourself in the shoes of someone who's just moved into a new home. NOT a New House! A new "Home"!...which could be an apartment, condo, mobile home or a house. Even if they moved just a few blocks from their old "home"....they would probably like to receive a "Welcome To The Neighborhood" Card from a Dentist!

      Well....on this Card is also a mention that they can receive a "FREE Teeth Whitening!....just by calling and making an appt! (There's also a "Before and After" Photo of a mouth showing what an amazing difference a "Whitening"!

      Now...the dentist usually charges around $200 for the "Whitening" procedure (some charge $600)....which costs about $10 in materials and 20 min of Time for his assistant.

      So....by offering a "POWERFUL FREE INCENTIVE" ...something WORTH $200 or more.....to make an appt with THIS dentist....they CALL!

      Then....the receptionist explains the "New Patient" fee of $185 which includes etc...etc...etc.

      Now....for YOUR SERVICE to;
      1) Make up the Cards
      and
      2) Mail the Cards to "New Movers"
      ....your fee is $75 for each Appt.

      For each patient that comes in for their "Free" whitening....it costs the dentist;
      $10 in Materials
      10 min of an asstnts Time
      $75 to you

      The dentist collects $185 so...he Nets $100 less 20 min of asst time AND...the dentist....HAS A NEW PATIENT!

      Whala!

      Don Alm....STILL out there sellin'
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      • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
        Originally Posted by midasman09 View Post

        Here's something that has worked to bring participating Dentists (1 in each town)....OOODLES of NEW PATIENTS!

        Background:
        Dentists usually charge a "New Patient Fee" which includes, "Cleaning, X-Rays and consultation with the Dentist....and they charge an "average" of $185 for this (some more, some less)

        Now....put yourself in the shoes of someone who's just moved into a new home. NOT a New House! A new "Home"!...which could be an apartment, condo, mobile home or a house. Even if they moved just a few blocks from their old "home"....they would probably like to receive a "Welcome To The Neighborhood" Card from a Dentist!

        Well....on this Card is also a mention that they can receive a "FREE Teeth Whitening!....just by calling and making an appt! (There's also a "Before and After" Photo of a mouth showing what an amazing difference a "Whitening"!

        Now...the dentist usually charges around $200 for the "Whitening" procedure (some charge $600)....which costs about $10 in materials and 20 min of Time for his assistant.

        So....by offering a "POWERFUL FREE INCENTIVE" ...something WORTH $200 or more.....to make an appt with THIS dentist....they CALL!

        Then....the receptionist explains the "New Patient" fee of $185 which includes etc...etc...etc.

        Now....for YOUR SERVICE to;
        1) Make up the Cards
        and
        2) Mail the Cards to "New Movers"
        ....your fee is $75 for each Appt.

        For each patient that comes in for their "Free" whitening....it costs the dentist;
        $10 in Materials
        10 min of an asstnts Time
        $75 to you

        The dentist collects $185 so...he Nets $100 less 20 min of asst time AND...the dentist....HAS A NEW PATIENT!

        Whala!

        Don Alm....STILL out there sellin'
        Very good way of going about it, the only difficult part I see is how to effectively monitor all new 'movers in' in a specific town/industry. Sure, I know it would work but I am just not sure how you could find all the people who just moved in.

        Could you kindly share any tips on that at all?
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        • Profile picture of the author jimbo13
          Originally Posted by krzysiek View Post

          Sure, I know it would work but I am just not sure how you could find all the people who just moved in.
          Krzysiek

          You approach the Estate Agents.

          Estate Agents know who is moving and they know where the movers are coming from ie whether from across town or from out of town.

          Dan
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    • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
      Originally Posted by creatorlogo View Post

      Hi krzysiek,

      I have not received any email ? would you be able to let me know were you have got the theme from,

      thanks
      I just realised that you probably cannot send PM's yet (makes sense). I will PM you now.
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  • Profile picture of the author SubUrbanHype
    I would say try and use a sales video instead of a sales letter. Because I honestly don't give websites that have a big sales letter from the jump a chance at all. But a video I might stay for a second and watch.

    Also I would say play around with some new ways to get some more traffic to come to the site, because 1-2 people a day is very low.
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    • Profile picture of the author fuzzycorleone
      I always thought it was better to go after smaller cities because there's less competition. You won't get #1 for "dentist in new york" or "new york dentist" anytime soon.

      Luckily the 'rent a site' I'm working for targets a medium-sized city with a population of approximately 100k. My primary keyword has a search volume of 73 with 2 of my secondary keywords at 46 a piece. I'd imagine if I'm ranked #1 for all three keywords I would get good traffic (above 100 a month)?

      Another point I'd like to make is that I think a sales letter is a bad idea. Maybe have a sales video instead and have some pictures. People generally don't like to sit there and read an essay, but they're more than likely to watch a video. Maybe put up a fake video testimony of some beautiful girl on the site saying how awesome your dentist is.
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  • Profile picture of the author rotten72
    Are you getting 1-2 unique visitors a day, or is it you checking the website? Looks like you're probably getting a whole lot of visitors recently just from this thread. But how many of these people live near your clients office? One of the problems everyone seems to be looking past is search volume.

    You should ONLY work with clients if you can help them MAKE money if they use your services. Charging someone $1000 a month when you can't produce customers for them is going to get you nowhere fast except a BAD reputation. I don't work with people whose only keywords have a low search volume. They picked their profession and their location, I can't help them with that!

    How are you tracking the conversions? That is how do you know when someone contacts them? Unless you have a system in place that can track it, you'll never know. I have multiple clients I sell leads to. Tracking is critical!

    One of my clients told me the leads I was sending him were crap. I showed him that almost every call he got was under 2 minutes. The secretary must not be using the phone script I wrote for her, and she wasn't recording the calls. One of my rules is, if you want to dispute it, it needs to be recorded. Guess what his secretary was NOT using the phone script, was not professional she was costing him money. Next month she FORGOT to record the calls again. He gave her one last shot and now she is looking for a job. He is now closing more of the leads I send him and he has actually raised his prices.

    Local SEO Renegade
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    • Profile picture of the author rsteadm2
      Originally Posted by rotten72 View Post

      Are you getting 1-2 unique visitors a day, or is it you checking the website? Looks like you're probably getting a whole lot of visitors recently just from this thread. But how many of these people live near your clients office? One of the problems everyone seems to be looking past is search volume.
      You nailed the problem on the head.

      Small town practitioners are not going to get the traffic/interest/search volume that a offline niche from a larger city would get.

      So you have to adjust your strategy, increase your value. With low search volume there is little value to the customer/dentist.

      Don't quit, just adjust your approach and raise your value.

      My .02

      Ray S.
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      When You're Ready to Put In the WORK and Do! Click This Link! - ...Free Webinar Guides you Down the Road And Gives YOU A Real Blueprint for Affiliate Marketing Success Showing You How To Start, "doing"!
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Hi Rotten,

    The 1-2 visitors per day (sometimes I get 0 for that day but usually I get 1-2) is based on traffic directly from Google. I can see the referrers from Warriorforum, but even before this was posted here I was getting 1-2 per day. SEO is not yet complete, so I anticipate around 4-5 per day at minimum once I have everything going the way I plan.

    You say that a lot of people are looking past the search volume (and therefore making a mistake) and I do think that for the most part you are correct. However, unfortunately (or fortunately, whichever way you look at it) I live in Australia and we have around 15 times less people than you guys in the US. The result is that these local search terms in our towns are much less than you guys in the US.

    Don't get me wrong, there are some MAJOR cities I can target but that is a LOT of SEO work and there are really only a handful (or a tad more) larger cities where there is a substantial amount of traffic. Otherwise, I am forced to go with the local towns/suburbs which have the lower traffic.

    But at 100 hits per month and a conversion of 10%, that is definitely worth something to the dentist - especially the $300/m I plan on charging.

    I do only plan on working with businesses that I want to help. I am not going into this business for the short term, that is why I am asking all of the Pros (yourself included) for advice on what I should be doing. I have not yet charged a dentist a dime, I am still in the process of getting everything to the top of Google and getting the hits and calls coming in. Once I see for myself I am getting a profitable amount of calls coming in for a specific area, then I will proceed to rent it out. Don't worry, I have the right work ethic and business mindset in place, I am not like some dodgy people trying to sell with no benefit.

    I am able to track all calls made because the number on the site is a number I rent which is set to redirect. So I am able to see dates, durations etc of all calls made. So tracking is no problem in that sense. Probably will be adding an email opt in soon (just not sure how I would use that properly without desensitising the list).

    Thanks for your reply!
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  • Profile picture of the author krzysiek
    Hi Ray,

    Thanks for your comment. While I agree with you and Rotten about the clients, I want to put emphasis again that I have not yet finished SEO work and that will likely come out to be around 100/hits month so around 3-4 per day. Actually, with all of the search volume according to Google keyword tool and only a small amount of them going to my site, I could probably achieve around 200 hits per month, but for now I am trying to be realistic.

    I am sure a dentist could turn a profit on 10 leads (100 hits @ 10% conversion). I am just trying to better my lead generating sites as much as I can!
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  • Profile picture of the author Michael Forey
    I would consider a call to action video. If your site was working as sales page, you can use a video as the "sales letter" however I could keep it short. 1 - 1:30. Im not sure a free toothbrush is powerful draw.
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