How to Sell Websites to Dentists

Straight up: dentists are a harder sell than plumbers or barbershops. Almost every dental practice already has a website. Many of them are locked into a contract with a marketing company that specializes in dental. And the person who answers the phone isn't the person who makes decisions.

So why bother? Because when you do land one, it's usually a better client. Dental practices understand paying for professional services, they need their site to look trustworthy, and a lot of the sites out there are in rough shape. You just have to pick the right offices and go in with realistic expectations.

Pick the right practices

Skip the big group practices and the offices that obviously have a polished, recently built site. Those are handled, and you won't win them with a cold call.

Look for these instead:

• Solo practices, especially ones that have been in the same spot for decades.
• Offices with a site that's clearly old. Tiny text on a phone, a design from another era, a copyright year that's way behind.
• Practices that changed hands. A newer dentist who bought an existing practice often inherits a site with the old dentist's name and photo still on it.
• Offices with no site at all. Rare, but they exist, usually in smaller towns.

Before you call, run the practice's URL through the Website Checkup. It'll flag missing https, no tap-to-call, slow mobile speed, and an outdated copyright year. If you want to learn to spot the rest by eye, read how to spot an outdated website. Having two or three specific problems in hand is what gets you past the front desk.

You're really selling to the office manager

The dentist is with patients basically all day. The person you'll talk to is the front desk, and the person who often handles vendors and marketing is the office manager. Treat the office manager as the decision maker, because in practice they often are, or at least they're the one who brings it to the dentist.

Timing matters. Avoid first thing in the morning when patients are checking in, and avoid the end of the day when they're closing out. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon on Tuesday through Thursday tend to be calmer. Many dental offices close at lunch or are closed on Fridays, so check their hours on Google first.

Email works better here than in most trades. Offices are used to handling things in writing, and the office manager can forward it to the dentist. A short email with the preview link and the specific issues you found is often the right first move, followed by a call. The email template for selling websites is a good starting point.

What a dental preview should fix

Patients choose a dentist based on a few practical things. The preview should make those obvious:

• Insurance accepted. This is one of the first things people look for. A clear list (that the office confirms) saves the front desk a lot of phone calls.
• New patient information. What to bring, what to expect at the first visit, and downloadable or online forms. Keep forms on the preview to basic contact requests. Anything that collects health information has to be handled properly by the practice's own compliant systems, so don't build a patient intake form yourself.
• Hours and location, with a map and parking info.
• A call button and an appointment request button at the top on mobile.
• Services, grouped simply: cleanings and checkups, fillings, crowns, cosmetic, emergency visits.
• Emergency dental line, if they take same-day emergencies.
• Real photos of the dentist, the team, and the office. A friendly team photo does a lot for nervous patients.

Keep the language plain and careful. Don't write "best dentist in town" or make any health claims. That's the practice's call, and some of it is regulated.

How the call sounds

Offering to email it gives the office manager an easy yes. If they ask you to stop calling, stop. Never say you're with Google, an insurance company, or a dental association.

Objections you'll hear (and honest answers)

"We already have a marketing company." Very common. Ask if they're happy with it and what they pay. Some are locked into contracts they don't love. If they're happy, thank them and move on. You don't have to win every office. For more ways to respond, see how to handle objections.

"The doctor handles that." Ask the best way to get the preview in front of the doctor. Usually it's an email to the office manager.

"We're too busy to deal with a website change." That's what you're for. Explain that you handle the setup and they just review and approve it.

"Our site is fine." Show them the specific problems on a phone. Most office staff only see their site on a desktop computer at the front desk.

What to charge

Dental sites usually have more pages than a trade site (services, new patients, insurance, team, contact), and the practice expects a more polished result. That justifies a higher setup fee than you'd charge a barbershop. Many freelancers use a one-time setup plus a monthly for hosting, edits, and keeping things like hours and insurance lists current.

Be realistic. Some practices are paying dental marketing firms a lot more than you'd charge, and they may be getting things you don't offer, like ad management. Position yourself as the simpler, more affordable option for an office that just wants a clean, current site without a long contract.

Rover's list puts the businesses with no site or an outdated one at the top, so the stale dental sites are easy to spot. It builds a preview with the practice's name, colors and photos in one tap and writes a call script, voicemail, text and email you can adjust for the office manager.