How to spread the word about this website?

Message

#1 Post by **bbsadmin** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:34 pm

I'm always thinking up ways to help spread the word about this website and message board, but maybe you guys have some ideas I haven't thought of.

So....what do you think is the best way to make dentists and orthodontic patients aware of ArchWired.com? I'd love to hear your thoughts on the matter! Brainstorm away!

#2 Post by **babymetalmouth** » Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:24 pm

I will make a poster and put it up at my college, work, dentist and ortho if you want?

Loads of people would join... there are loads of adults at my college who have braces, I guess they decided they wanted a better education and better teeth!

I could also ask my ortho to have a look and get other orthos to know about it?

Sam

#3 Post by **KriegeR** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:07 am

If it is OK with the boards' moderators, I will conjure up a poster and ask the staff in my oral and facial surgery department if they will put it up on the noticeboard.

Can you approve this moderators / forum owners, and I promise I will send a PDF mock-up of the poster before releasing anything.

* flexes desktop publishing muscles in preparation...

#4 Post by **fitchick** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:36 am

Lisa65 and myself have the same ortho and Lisa has already told him about the site and he is going to inform all his patients. On brace day they give you a letter of do's and don'ts and what to eat etc and I'll ask him if he will add the details of the site to his letter.

What about devising a poster that we could all download, that way the poster will be universal and is more recognisable??

Keep up the excellent work and thank you so much for this site!

Julie

#5 Post by **eoberhauser** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:37 am

This question really takes me back! My boyfriend and I started our own screenprinting business about 3yrs ago. Our goal was to be completely internet based. When we started out, I would spend countless hours online going to band websites and harvesting emails and literally emailing individual bands about our services. I'm talking thousands! We also fight on a daily basis to achieve search engine ranking like google and yahoo. Luckily for the subject of orthodontia, there really is limited info online, so you pretty much already get top ranking naturally. I think this website, while it provides a great service to patients, maybe needs something for the medical professionals of orthodontics. There could be a separate forum section for the dental assistants and orthos themselves. How educational would it be to actually be able to watch the orthos discuss a particular issue!? The possiblities could be endless. As for spreading the word, well you can go guerilla and email blast orthos around the country. Even if ppl on this site would commit to picking 20 orthos in their city/region and sending a quick email, that would be a lot of emails going out. My suggestion for that would be creating a script so that the nature of the message stayed true. This is all just off the top of my head, I'll think about it this weekend and ask my boyfriend (the entrepreneurial guru) about it too. Hopefully I can come back with something.

Erin

#6 Post by **nvcarissa** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 7:20 am

What about devising a poster that we could all download, that way the poster will be universal and is more recognisable??

I think this would be a great idea, as well as creating a black and white card sized handout (4 to an 8 1/2 x 11 page) that could be printed, cut, and put in new patients' goodie bags at the beginning of treatment. That way, the tech putting it together would be sure to only give it to adults receiving treatment. The joy of this place is that it is generally adults and mature teens here!!

#7 Post by **Betty Bat** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 7:22 am

It's kind of a slippery slope, because you want to attract [i]good[/i] attention and users, not the weirdos.

Maybe the best way is to work through our orthos, if possible. My ortho has a web site and I'm sure that many others do, also. If the web page has a section for Links, perhaps we could ask our ortho (or his/her office staff, who is more likely to be doing the work!) to add a link to Archwired. How does that sound to you, Lynn? Would you be willing to have that?

#8 Post by **nvcarissa** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 7:27 am

My ortho has a "web site" which I think he set up through some service, because there is a cookie cutter template feel to it. It's mainly for people to access their own payment records, not a general informational page. I went there once and when they asked for my social security number in order to access my records, I never went back. I think if he had small flyers to put at the reception desk, he would be very open to that sort of thing.

#9 Post by **Chris** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 8:18 am

I second the motion of emailing orthos, but so that it doesn't come across as spam I suggest only Lynn, the moderator write a nice email so that the orthos don't get deluged with mail. We may end up duplicating our efforts. BUT its a lot of work, Lynn.

I second the motion of getting orthos to link this website to their own website. Perhaps that can be addressed in the email Lynn sends out.

Above all, I would like to see more orthos contributing to this site. There are several other dental message boards out there where dentists have a Q & A forum and I have invited some orthos to participate in ArchWired. So far no one has responded.

#10 Post by **Clo** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 9:01 am

I think this site does not have to be huge. Maybe a strange thing to say.
I know. But imagine each day there are lots of new members coming in.
Then I am sure nobody could follow them all. The bigger it'll be, the less
personal it will get. Except for the pro readers here, but for everyone else
it would be very difficult to keep track of lots of cases. I have to admit that
already now, when someone responds to some post, I sometimes have to
go back to see who that person in fact is. I think right now, the site is big
enough to have new members all the time. But not that big that it becomes
just an anonymous crowd.

To get those who are very interested in this topic, I think you could keep in
mind how we would find this site when we are searching for info. So I think
having links to this site on sites of orthos could work. I know I always find
interesting sites by following links. So I second too the idea of Betty Bat.
Interesting about it is that it costs only time. And it is simple to set up a
tryout to see how orthos react.

I said it before, but my opinion is that the value of this site would grow
lots when more professionals would contribute. I really appreciated the
input of Dr Rick, Dr Randall and Dr J. So, I think that the section called
'ask the doc' should grow a lot. There should be a group of orthos who
answer our questions.

And that is now where my 2 points come together. Searching orthos who
want to place the link will get you orthos who will want to know what this
site is all about. And so maybe they could be tempted to contribute.

#11 Post by **Kimber** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 2:20 pm

Have you thought about contacting the orthodontists' associations? Many orthos will belong to their professional association which usually has a website and sends some sort of newsletter or journal to its members on a monthly basis. I just did a search and found the American Association of Orthodontists, Canadian Association and New Zealand, plus some locals.

If you contact their publications dept, they might even be interested in printing an article about the site. Then orthos could read it and let their adult patients know. I've worked with pharmacy and doctor associations and they're usually looking for stuff to write about.

#12 Post by **NotBob1** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:22 pm

Someone mentioned cards. I think that if you, Lynn, were to have cards made that simply show the denta-Kit and website then offer them to us to hand out to others that we come across during the day, that would help. A friend of mine's wife recently got her braces and had no idea about this site until I showed her, She has been thankful to find it for the support, supplies, etc.

My wife has several people at her office in braces and I keep reminding her to mention the site to them. A card to give them would be great. I know that if I talked to someone "on the street" and it was a positive conversation including our braces, I would give them a card.

I think the cards would need to be of high quality to show the integrity of the site, not just something that we can print off of our printers. Maybe include a dozen or so with Denta-Kit orders? I think that I received two magnet-cards with my order, one is on my fridge with some of the "ortho poetry" and I gave the other to my Orthodontist's office manager.

I honestly think that the card offer is the way to go. I don't think that the cost of the cards would be the biggest issue, but the postage and time to send them out would be a large cost issue.

Maybe we can all gang up on our Orthodontists together and tell them about this site. I think that it is possible that with all of the other garbage that is out there on the web that our Orthodontists do not take us seriously when we mention this site! That's my take with my Ortho and her staff. I know that I gave lynn her name as some of the assistants really liked my Denta-Kit, but I have not heard anything about it or seen anyhting relating to it. I know that she (My Orthodontist) has around 80% of her patients as Adults. I would think that this would be a PERFECT thing for this office. It would sure be better than just a bag of loose samples!

#13 Post by **NotBob1** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:47 pm

Here's an other one: We can PM Lynn with Our Ortho's name and address for her to send a letter to and she could mention that one of their patients recommended them to Archwired.

#14 Post by **bbsadmin** » Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:26 pm

Wow, this is quite an outpouring! I don't know what to say!

I would be happy to send some ArchWired cards to whomever wants them. They are very simple cards: they have a photo of a mouth with braces and they say: "ArchWired.com - the website for people in braces - www.ArchWired.com".

I also have matching magnets (those are very heavy to mail, however).

In addition I have some fliers which are a half of an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet and say a lot about the site and the message board. This would be a good thing to put up on a bulletin board or whatever. I could even email you the MS Word file if you wanted to print it out yourself.

If you would like any of this stuff to give to your orthodontist or friends/colleages, email me (webmaster@archwired.com) and let me know. Be sure to give me your snail mail address! I'll enclose a set of Metal Mouth Magnets for you as a thank-you!

If you would rather have me send a letter and some materials to your orthodontist, please email me his/her address and your real name so that I can make the introduction properly.

OK, regarding some of the other ideas....I've been slowly making the various orthodontic associations and companies aware of this site for many months. It tends to be a delicate process, because this site isn't run by a dental professional so it takes time for people in that category to recognize the site's value.

It's actually harder to find docs for the Ask The Doc section than you would think. Most orthos are very busy. Some may not like the potential liability of answering questions online. I'm sure there are also other reasons why they do not want to participate. But I do hope to get a group of docs for that section of the message board, because it really is a lot of work for one orthodontist! I have seen other "Ask the Dentist" sections on message boards that are totally commerical. I think that our board is unique in the respect that it is non-commercial.

Regarding web links, I would be happy to trade links with anyone's orthodontist. The main site has a reciprocal links page which I update monthly. I am thinking of changing that page to include a separate page for "orthodontists who are friends of ArchWired" (or something like that)....

Phew, Ok, that's all I can think of for now.

#15 Post by **babymetalmouth** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 1:05 am

I can ask my ortho if he could maybe spend an hour or two a week answering questions?