As a dentist with people to see and mouths to clean, the whole idea of website SEO probably does not arouse a whole lot of excitement in you.  While checking out molars and incisors might be some people’s idea of horror, you have it handled.  So why would you want to practice all this small business SEO?  And even more than that, why in the world would you want to make a video?

While it is true that the majority of society wants to see about a hundred million things more than it wants to see the inside of a person’s mouth, a video can help your business (and the lives of your potential customers) a lot.  For one thing, a video of how your office works, or something to do with dentistry in general, can make oral care into a more approachable territory for people who might otherwise be afraid of it.

While the notion of “dentist as sales person” seems ridiculous – you are a medical professional who has dedicated your life to helping people – you do still have bills to pay.  And one day, you may want to retire comfortably.  So there is nothing wrong with keeping a nice, wide client base, and bringing in a healthy profit through making all those healthy smiles.  So it makes sense that, since your primary motive is not just “making a profit” as it would be with many businesses, your website SEO would be more a matter of helping others than helping yourself.

And that gets right back the previous point.  If you were most businesses, you would just make an interesting or entertaining video (probably involving a singing dog, or something), right along with a link to your web site.  But you are not most businesses, and most small business SEO practices are just not your thing.

As a dentist, you have a unique type of knowledge that most people could find fascinating, if not for one simple fact.  Mouths are gross places, and most people’s mental picture of a dentist’s office is long needles, numb faces, and the horrible sound of the drill.  Seriously, does that drill have to sound so much like an implement of torture?  A video can be how you pull back the veil, and show modern dentistry for what it is – a clean, safe, nearly painless process which helps people to look and feel a lot better every day.

We all know that small business SEO is of vital importance in the modern world.  No matter what kind of business you run, if nobody knows about you in the first place, no one will convert from lead to customer.  And while press release services are great, and directory submission will get you in a lot of different doors, there is an option that a lot of small business owners have never even thought of before.

And that idea, dear reader, is video SEO.  Yes, in this day and age, you can make videos that your target customers may very well stumble upon… and once you have planted the seed in their minds that your company is interesting, and can solve their problems, you will have customers come to you when they need what you have on offer.

Why would you pay for a bunch of clicks?  While PPC management can be beneficial, it is most useful in certain niches.  Every person who can see can use a video, especially if that video offers content which either entertains or teaches something valuable.  Never underestimate the power of the human eye – the experts say that we eat with our eyes, and very often think with our eyes.  So why would we not also buy with our eyes, as well?

When you secure a person’s eye sight and direct it where you want it to go, the organic SEO process you started inside your web site can begin to grow and flourish.  From there, casual observers turn into your leads.  And if a few other variables go correctly, those fresh leads will turn into sales.  And isn’t that a worth while use of your time?

No matter what your product or service offering might happen to be, you can figure out a way to display it through a video.  If you teach something, offer a few free lessons, with the subtle message at the end of “if you liked this, you will love more at our site…”  This is huge, as your niche of customers selects itself right off the bat.  And once they have come to you, the process of getting referrals can also begin.

Have you (or anyone you know) done any really stupid activities at some point in the past ten years?  If so, there is a pretty good chance that you are on YouTube.  That ubiquitous, user dominated site (which naturally sold for millions of dollars) is a prime place for a little cleverly disguised small business SEO.  But you have to think it through, and follow some common sense steps, if you want to get first page placement through the use of videos.

For one thing, you have got to have a plan.  Just like any other part of your organic SEO plan, your YouTube video has got to be a carefully, brilliantly orchestrated work of advertising art worthy of Andy Warhol.  You can not just turn on the camera, stutter for a minute while you think up something you want to say, and then start mumbling or slurring it out.  When it comes to making a great viral video, planning is paramount.

For another thing, you need to know who you are making this video for.  If you are trying to attract skaters, you would obviously want to go about film making from a wholly different mind set than if you were out to attract college professors.  While there is doubtless a bit of overlap between the two groups, you are going to want to understand how your target market thinks – and skaters and college professors likely think way differently.

And for possibly the most important part, make sure you use the right web presenter.  If you choose an actor who is completely alien to your target audience, you had better make sure that the person is alien in a funny and or interesting way.  If you are marketing to college students, for instance, you would most likely not want to employ a circus clown – unless you intended to have him deliver his lines in a completely deadpan way, which would add some subversive ironic value to the piece.

And finally, remember that a viral video is not just an ad.  It has to give some kind of value to your target audience.  People are super sensitive to “that’s just an ad,” and they have the power (and a good reason) to click away if they think you are just trying to sell them something.  While a video can give you great organic SEO, it can also hurt your reputation, if you turn into spam.