Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

dental-design.co.uk facebook.com/dentaldesignltd twitter.com/dentaldesign www. call us today on 01202 238 467 and get mobile ready! use your phone to scan this QR code for an exclusive offer! Can you make a call by touching your phone number? You shouldn’t need to zoom in to read your content. Large images & files will take much longer to load. iPhones cannot display flash animation. Is your website September 5-11, 201126 Advertorial United Kingdom Edition D espite advances in mobile usage and technology, the number of businesses in- vesting in mobile websites is stag- geringly low – dental practices, lower still. What kind of mobile experience are you offering your patients? Thanks to the increasing complexity of smartphones, mo- bile websites are the best way to reach an increasingly tech-savvy audience. Available to us on the move, 24/7, our phones – usually glued to us – are the perfect de- vice for getting the information we want, fast. Becausenetworkspeeds,band- width and screen size differ greatly from desktop to mobile websites, there are significant differences in the way in which both sites are de- signed. It’s not just a case of sim- ply resizing your existing website and fitting it onto a mobile screen. In any case, when I use my mobile phone I want to be directed to a mobile website – one that I can navigate and the draw the in- formation I need from, with ease. Your patients will want the same. Is your website mobile friendly? Have you ever taken a minute to see how your website looks on your phone? Don’t make the mis- take in presuming that if it looks good on a desktop, it looks good on a mobile, it’s very rarely the case. Take Apple’s inability to display Flash on any of its products – this will leave iPhone/iPad users with a blank white space in any place that Flash has been used. Key in your address on your mobile, it’s the only fool-proof way to replicate what your patients are seeing when they view your site. Get more from mobile We need to stop sending desktop websites to mobile devices; de- signing for mobile is an opportu- nity to provide a vastly improved service for your patients: 1. Next level technology Mobile phones boast inbuilt func- tionality that will make it easier for users to perform certain tasks – re- moving the need for manual steps: • Make calls: Smartphones al- low users to automatically call a number when ‘tapped’ or ‘clicked’ • See an address on the map: Users can find a location and au- tomatically open the phone’s map application by simply clicking on an address • Find the nearest…: With built in GPS, users can easily identify their current location and seek out the nearest supermarket, cash ma- chine or dentist! • QR codes (Quick Response codes): These unique matrix bar- codes readable by Smartphones are an excellent strategy for driv- ing people to specific pages within your website 2. Quicker, easier info Up to 80 per cent of the content available on your desktop website will need to go – serve your pa- tients the information they need, in simplified format. They will predominantly be looking for any (or all) of the following four things: • Treatments available • Location • Contact details • Opening hours The best thing about mobile? It’s superb value for money. For a one off cost of £750 + VAT, Dental Design can put you on the mobile map – and one call is all it takes. Speak to one of our team now on 01202 238467 or visit www.dental- design.co.uk/mobile DT The time for mobile is now About the author Amy Rose-Jones is the Marketing Man- ager at Dental Design Ltd, the leading website design and marketing agency for the dental profession. With more than 9 years experience in a marketing capaci- ty, Amy has helped hundreds of practices throughout the UK to build and develop a lasting web presence through a blend of creative and marketing skills. Like us on Facebook: www.facebook. com/dentaldesignltd Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ dentaldesign Find me on LinkedIn: www.linkedin. com/in/amyrosejones