Friday, June 2, 2017
The Internet is the intersection of data and convenience, and more than ever before, people are looking online for information about healthcare. In a recent study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 72% of Internet users said they looked online for health information within the past year.
While most dentists understand the importance of an effective website, the process of going about creating one might seem overwhelming. In fact, some might say effective web design is a bit like dating. You want to put your best foot forward, but there are so many decisions to be made. Some are obvious – parachute pants are NOT flattering – and others are more difficult – should my practice address be on every page? If you’re already hyperventilating, just take a slow, deep breath. We’ve broken out the basics below and, if you read between the lines, you might even come away with some helpful tips on social interaction (that you could pass along to a friend, of course).
The Dos
Be Relevant - Select Photos that Speak to Your Audience
Photos speak louder than words. More than any other type of messaging, the right photos can immediately put prospective patients at ease by conveying the idea that “this practice treats people just like me.” If you’re defaulting to the first stock photo that comes up, you may be missing an opportunity to connect with potential and existing patients.
Before choosing any old stock photo, consider your target market. Are you speaking to parents of urban teenagers who need braces? Does your practice specialize in esthetic dentistry for the patient who has everything? It can take hours of searching to find the right stock photo, but the payoff is well worth it.
For example, a practice located in New York City may opt for a photo that incorporates city landmarks or a scene in a crowded coffee shop. An office in Colorado would do better to incorporate mountains in the background. Patients have come to expect personalized, authentic marketing, and they interpret carefully curated images as an indication the practice will treat them as an individual as well.
Like a waiter asking how you’d like your steak tartar, a cover image that doesn’t immediately resonate with your audience is irrelevant. Make sure your photos reflect your patients’ age, ethnicity, location, and treatment needs.
Know What You Want - Create a Site that Converts
You’ll often hear designers talk about conversion, which is the art and science of prompting a website visitor to take action. At its most literal, conversion means making a sale or turning a website visitor into a patient.
Before starting the web design process, you should first take a good hard look at what you want to accomplish by presenting yourself online. What’s the action you want your prospective or existing patients to take when they visit your website?
Some dentists prefer visitors complete a contact form that routes to the office staff for follow up. Other practices prefer real-time phone calls so they can answer patient questions and schedule appointments on the spot. Once you define your desired call to action, you can build your website to direct visitors accordingly.
Just like life, if you don’t know what you’re reaching for, you’ll never grasp it. By establishing your goals upfront and designing a site for your specific needs, you can create a site that converts.
Access Is Everything: Go Mobile
Scanning your Facebook feed during a dinner date may be a faux pas, but having a website that isn’t optimized for mobile viewing is worse. Aside from not being easily accessible to current and prospective patients, non-responsive sites (i.e. not adaptive to mobile device screens) rank lower in search results, making it more difficult for your practice to be found.
Responsive design is a must-have because it automatically adjusts to present the best user experience possible regardless of the device used (i.e. smartphone, laptop, tablet, or desktop computer). Keep in mind that more Google searches now take place on mobile devices than on desktop computers, and to retain the traffic you’ve attracted, your site needs to look good on any browser and any device.
“Consumers, particularly on mobile devices, now have higher expectations than ever before – they want everything right, and they want everything right away,” notes Google’s official blog. “This requires that marketers answer their needs in the moment, whenever and wherever they are.”
Remember, your website needs to function just as well on a smartphone as it does on a computer, and incorporating responsive design is the key to great user experience and Google rankings.
The Don’ts
As any etiquette coach will tell you, the “Don’ts” of social interaction are just as important as the “Dos”. The same is true for website design. Now that you’ve got the “Dos” under your belt, read on for a few critical “Don’ts”.
Don’t Bury Information
Unlike some potential dates, most website visitors have a pretty straight forward agenda. They want to know:
- Location
- Hours
- Contact information
- Practice expertise
Don’t bury this information on a secondary page. Make sure it’s on your home page or clearly identified in the primary navigation.
Don’t be shy
Sometimes it’s ok to be bold, and this is one of those times. Highlight patient testimonials in prominent locations throughout your website. Patient reviews are powerful, so make it easy for patients to share their positive experiences and for visitors to see them.
While calling attention to those great reviews, don’t forget to shamelessly plug the other ways people can connect with your practice. Including a “Let’s Connect” section with icons that link directly to your practice’s profile is a great way to promote the fact that you’re on social media, and increase followers.
But don’t be too much either
Like the guy at the bar wearing a neon sweat suit, too many esthetics will turn visitors off. While you may feel artistic creating a website with multiple colors and fonts, chances are visitors won’t share your enthusiasm. Remember, colors should be complementary and fonts need to be easy to read.
Don’t waste people’s time
Some experiences, like waiting for the speed dating bell to ring or a website to load, seem to slow time. While you want to engage visitors, over doing it with animation or videos has the opposite effect. Everyone is busy and 40% of visitors will leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load.
Your practice website is often the first impression you offer to new patients. Maximizing the experience for visitors with a welcoming and informative site that makes key details easy to find and use is the biggest “Do” of all, and in today’s competitive dental industry it’s a must.
Website design isn’t easy; there are a lot of components that need to work well together. For more on this topic, download the free eBook 10 Best Practices for Creating Great Dental Websites to see if your site is on track.