The Best Dental Lab Websites: What’s The Blueprint?

Dental labs – the brains behind the operation?

Or is it the brawn?

The engine to the dental practices’ vehicles?

Or the driving force behind them?

Whatever the answer may be, one thing is certain – you can’t have successful dental practices without dental labs.

But at the same time, you can’t have a successful dental lab without an online presence!

That – first and foremost – means building a dedicated website.

But what should your dental lab website look like? Should you go custom or stick with pre-built templates?

And what separates the best dental lab websites from garden-variety cases?

All good questions that we’re going to answer, so let’s not waste any more time.

Why does your dental lab need to be online?

A dental lab, as you surely know, covers any place where restorative, prosthetic, cosmetic, and therapeutic dental devices or orthodontic appliances are fabricated, altered, or repaired.

Crowns, bridges, dentures, ortho appliances – you name it.

Dentists define the functional and esthetic parameters and the technicians in dental labs make sure those parameters are met.

But of course, before this match is made, one has to find the other.

And, today, that means looking it up online. If you aren’t showing up on Google, business partners are never going to find your lab.

So yes, all dental labs have to be online – no two ways about it.

A solid website is a necessity, not a luxury.

And, sorry to spoil it so early, but that website should be custom-made.

But, before we arrive at why, let’s figure out the difference between custom-made and template websites.

Custom dental lab websites vs. templates

Custom websites, as the name suggests, are custom-made online spaces. Because they’re tailored to a client’s needs and wants, these sites take more time and resources to make, but they’re also more effective.

To elaborate, when you go custom, you can make that website look any way you like it. The colors, the graphics, the content, all the different pages, and the general layout – the choice is 100% yours. Every part of your brand is in your control.

In other words, you can make your website reflect the unique value of your lab, and show customers – old and new alike – the side that you’d like them to see.

Template websites are the complete opposite. Since they’re based on rigid, pre-built, ready-to-ship frameworks, these sites allow for minimal customization.

You might be able to move around some parts, change the colors, and adjust the content, but that’s pretty much it. Slap a stock photo on and, et voilà, the site’s ready to go.

Or is it?

Because, time and time again, we learn that these ready-made, cookie-cutter, cardboard-cutout websites don’t work.

In fact, studies…Click to learn more in a new window… suggest that, when users reject or mistrust websites, the reasons are design-related in 9/10 cases.

Design turnoffs for customers include:

• Cluttered layouts;
• Uninspired visual content;
• Text overload;
• Corporate (read: sterile) look & feel.

Want to take a whack at it and guess what these factors and template websites have in common?

We’ll give you a hint: everything.

It’s a tale as old as time: When you try to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one.

So, needless to say, custom dental lab websites are worth the investment. But it’s not just because the alternative is a template website that drives people away. It’s because a quality custom website makes all the difference.

Search engines prioritize unique content

Google doesn’t keep this one a secret: The company’s biggest product dislikes duplicate content as much as the next search engine.…Click to learn more in a new window…

Because that’s the case, unique content gets promoted, while carbon-copy content gets the boot.

And, as we’ve established before, template websites are riddled with repeat content.

Ranking, visibility, conversions: These aren’t just fancy tech words. They’re the difference between prospective clients seeing your site and choosing your services or not seeing it (or worse, finding it lacking) and going with someone else.

Most clients can spot templates from a mile away

Alright, let’s imagine Google slipping up and putting a template website first.

Do you think visitors will trust it?

Because most people are pretty tech-savvy these days (to an extent 😅), even if they don’t know it.

They’ve seen these templates before. More than once, in fact.

The design that screams corporate. The stock photos. The lazy content that doesn’t address the customer’s concerns.

No, most clients aren’t going to choose a dental lab with a site like that.

Now, what about a website that:

• Clearly outlines your UVP (Unique Value Proposition);
• Showcases the latest dental technology;
• Addresses your clients’ worries & concerns, and;
• Makes you look like someone they can trust?

Yep, that’s the one they’ll choose. That’s the website that will pique new clients’ interest and keep ‘em coming.

Custom websites make scheduling easy

Fine, say a miracle happens: The client finds a template website and it doesn’t scare them away.

Are you sure they’ll be able to contact you?

True, most people are more tech-savvy than you’d think.

But they’re also more impatient than you’d think (on the internet anyway).

Be honest – you’ve been there before as well. You find something you like, but, unable to secure it (be it a product, a service, or anything in between), you call it quits two minutes into your search.

Custom dental lab websites (the good ones) take that impatience into consideration. Template sites do not.

By choosing the custom route, you can tell the people in charge to:

• Add a link to get directions to your office via Google My Business;
• Put your new patient forms on the site;
• Add a form to encourage clients to email your lab;
• Display and link to your phone number so that people can easily call your lab from any device;
• Enable online payment (if that’s something you support);
• Include many more user-friendly features;

And that’s just scratching the surface. There’s also the part where all of these things should be equally easy to navigate on all devices, which is seldom template websites’ forte.

Custom websites: Always the right choice

Because your website should work as hard as you. While you’re busy collaborating with dentists to give people a reason to smile, your site should be busy attracting new people to the lab.

And there’s no carbon-copy blueprint – the best dental lab websites are the ones that capture, highlight, and amplify your personality.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but I’m not sure I have enough Benjamins in the budget,” you say?

We understand that, 100%. But try this on for size:

• Flexible pricing based on customizations (starting at $4,500);
• 12-24 month payment plans;
• 0% financing.

Sounds good enough? 😉

Then feel free to schedule a no-obligation call with Shannon (she has a modest 20+ years under her dental industry belt, and will be happy to help you out).

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