Nowadays, almost all businesses need a presence online. With more people from all age groups searching the internet before making key decisions, it is essential for your practice to also have it’s own space on the web for people to find out about who you are, what you do and most importantly how you can help them.
Are you portraying your practice as a quality healthcare provider?
The quality of medical websites online ranges significantly.
Those with a strong brand and a clear desire to position themselves as a quality healthcare provider, invest sensibly in creating a modern website, with bespoke content and some means to communicate regularly with their target audience.
On the other extreme you will find websites that are simply a page or two, with basic information about the location of the practice, really just there should a potential patient happen to stumble on it.
There are still a good number of private medical practitioners without a website at all.
Wherever you sit on the scale, there are a few things that distinguish a professional website, which is likely to engage patients, from the rest.
(1) Consider your Patient Journey
The patient journey is the proverbial road that you want your web visitors to go down, whilst browsing your website.
A well thought-out patient journey means anyone visiting your site will feel at ease with what is being presented to them.
They will be able to easily find the information they need and this will seamlessly lead them to uncover more in-depth research, or explain more about the process they are looking for to get help with their medical condition or health concern.
The patient journey starts with a thoughtful Site Map. This is the navigation of your website and includes things like:
– How the menu system will be presented
– Key pages and sub pages
– Links between pages
The patient journey also needs to have clear Calls to Action (CTAs). These CTA’s directs the visitor where to go next, in a logical, non-intrusive way.
Ultimately, the route should lead them to a beneficial end point, where they will have gathered all the details they need to be able to make an educated decision. The aim is to educate, and impress your visitors enough so they make contact.
(2) Use patient-focused language
If you are considering creating the content for your website, it is important to do keep the focus on the patient.
Whilst you naturally have the medical knowledge, it takes a certain skill to communicate technical, medical information in a way that patients can understand and relate to.
Websites that are most likely to create engagement with a potential patient, are those where the content is written in a way that the reader can understand enough to know that they are going to be in good hands if they come to you for help with their medical condition.
Yet, it is essential that they do not feel overwhelmed, confused or made to feel like they should know something they don’t.
It is also effective to use language that is focused on the benefits to the patient, not just listing off your own, or your practices’s accolades.
The patient is really interested in what you can do for them, and this needs to be clearly demonstrated in your written communications.
(3) Make sure your website is “responsive”
More and more people search for information on their mobile phone so these days it is important to develop your website to be responsive for use on mobile phones, as well as tablets, such as iPads.
This is only going to be more important in the coming years.
Therefore, if you are considering designing your own website using one of the online systems that are now available for consumers, ensure your site is “responsive”.
