Let’s face it, nobody likes going to the dentist. Unless you’re a masochist, it’s just no fun being strapped into a chair and having your teeth drilled. That’s not to say that dentists are bad people. Quite to the contrary, I assume most men and women who become dentists do so because they are passionate about their work and they want to keep their patients healthy.

Unfortunately, this natural negative predisposition about dental care makes dentists an especially attractive target for anonymous Internet attacks. As such, it is very important for dentists to one, offer the best possible service they can, and two, to aggressively monitor and manage their reputations online.

While we can’t help with the first part (if you yank someone’s tooth with rusty instruments, you probably deserve a bad review), we can help you with reputation management. To this end, check out our five tips on promoting and protecting your good name on the web.

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1) Do You Own YourName.com?

If you’re part of a larger dental practice, you might already have a small Internet presence through a small professional biography. While this is a good first step, it is not enough to deter a persistent cyberbully. If you really want to control your reputation online, you should invest in purchasing one or more domain names related to you and your dental practice. Think about how possible new patients will search for you and secure as many variations as you can. For example, if you’re Dr. Joe Smith, DDS, of Smith Dental Associates, you might want to grab DrJoeSmithDDS.com, SmithDentalAssociates.com, and JoeSmithDentalAssociates.com.

From here, it is important to focus on populating each of these pages with unique and search engine-optimized web content. You may be saying to yourself, “But I’m a dentist, what do I know about SEO?” If that’s the case, I recommend consulting with one of your Advanced Client Solutions Consultants at 1-888-784-7770 to see if MyEdge or MyEdge Pro might not be the right solution for you.

2) Consider Starting a Blog

It isn’t for everybody, but if you’re looking for a free or very inexpensive way to leverage the power of your preexisting website, you should consider creating a blog. One of the things that makes blogs such a valuable resource for dentists and other medical professionals is that it gives patients the opportunity to interact with their doctor in a more substantial.

Now, we’re not advocating offering patient-specific oral health advice online, but it could be valuable to have a blog that features generalized information. For instance, if you write a really excellent blog post on why flossing is important for preventing gingavitis, you’re offering something of value to your patients and you’re increasing the range of keywords that a new patient might use to find your practice.

In addition to blogging on the importance of  oral hygiene, you could also take the opportunity to write about updates on your practice. Did you put down new carpet in the waiting room? Did you buy a fancy new X-ray machine? Believe it or not, these are things that your patients would be interested in learning about.

3) Monitor Feedback On Customer Review Websites

Consumer review websites such as Yelp.com are a double-edged sword for businesses. If you get good reviews, the odds are good that you will see a bump in new patients. If you have even a few negative reviews, however, it can unfairly skew the impression of your dental practice. While there is no guaranteed way to prohibit angry patients (or jealous competitors) from writing a negative review, there are steps you can take to mitigate any possible long-term damage that they could cause.

Perhaps the best way to protect your reputation on consumer review websites is to appeal to satisfied patients to leave their own positive reviews. If you’re a good dentist, you probably have more than a few loyal patients who would be happy to share their opinion. Secondly, you should make it easy for all of your patients to leave feedback. If you show that you’re receptive to constructive criticism, you will not only impress your patients, but give yourself the opportunity to identify legitimate problems in your practice.

If you do get a negative review, do your best in tracking down the patient who left it and directly addressing their concern. If you are fast to act, they may even revise their review, which can look even better than a positive review because it shows that you know how to listen.

One important note about soliciting positive feedback: If you’re going to do so, do so sparingly. Yelp, and other consumer review websites, will weed out content that seems inauthentic. One of the ways the Yelp algorithm determines if a user is shilling for someone is if they have only left one review. Rather than asking for positive feedback directly, simply ask your patient if they use Yelp. If they do, let them know that you have a profile and invite them to check it out.

4) Be Ready for Angry Patients

As I wrote in the beginning of this post, no matter what, you’re bound to receive a bad review once in a while. It’s the nature of being a dentist. When you’re poking and prodding the insides of people’s mouths, they’re prone to be in a disagreeable mood. If you accept that you will eventually get a bad review, you can spend less time feeling sorry for yourself and more time doing damage control.

Additionally, you shouldn’t be the only who is prepared for the wrath of a dissatisfied patient. For maximum reputation protection, you should make sure to train your staff to deal with negative online feedback as well. One thing that often happens on consumer review websites is that a small problem becomes a big problem because a misguided employee attempts to defend their employer by insulting the person complaining. Your staff should deal with complaints online the same way they do in person, with tact and professionalism.

5) Don’t Mix Business and Pleasure

This last one goes for pretty much anybody looking to protect their reputations online, but it’s worth mentioning. When a new patient is looking for a dentist, they want to find a professional that they can trust. If you have inappropriate or embarrassing content online, however, you can pretty much kiss that new patient goodbye. While you may have had a great time at last year’s American Dental Association conference, that doesn’t mean you should share your after party pictures online.

When it comes to your online reputation, you have to remember to keep your personal identity and your professional identity separate. If you’re going to share personal content, do it within a more secure environment that is clearly delineated from your professional web presence.