In the present digital age, most of the information the average person consumes comes from searching for it on the Internet. Because healthcare is so significant to quality of life, it is extremely vital for a healthcare website to have relevant, precise information that is easy for the user to navigate through. It is not enough anymore to merely just have a website, the website must be designed to reach your audience effectively.
There are many ways to make your website stand out, but before that there are several things that every healthcare website needs no matter what.
Clear Navigation
Every person has most likely experienced the frustration of trying to find information on a poorly-designed, non-intuitive site. In many cases, people will simply just leave the website to find the information they’re looking for elsewhere. Because there’s so many options for healthcare providers nowadays, a cluttered and confusing site can be a distinguishing factor in a user’s decision to leave or stay.
It’s a good idea to imagine your site from the perspective of someone who has never visited before and knows nothing of your services. Is the most important information easy to find? How many clicks does it take to get there? Where is your primary navigation menu located? Key information must be straight-forward and easy to spot, wherever the user may be on the site. Consolidate links and group relevant information to streamline your navigation.
Coherent Content, Understandable Language
Health is complicated, so it’s not hard to believe the healthcare industry can struggle with communicating content in a coherent, understandable-for-all way. The last thing you want is to confuse a potential patient with overcomplicated language about your services. While other industries may have more freedom to market with flowery speech and jargon, it’s important for healthcare websites to meet the user at the most basic level of comprehension. Text should be short, direct, and specific.
Mobile Friendly
When looking for a healthcare provider, most people make their first search on a smartphone. This means it is absolutely essential for your healthcare website to be designed to be responsive and modify to any screen size. Along with that, it should be designed so that key information is simple to find, and all links and buttons should be large and easy to click.
Showcase Testimonials
As a healthcare provider, you know that your services are effective and your staff is great, but a user won’t always take your word for it. They want to see proof. Showcasing real patient testimonials, people who have experienced and can speak to your services is an excellent way to prove you’re the real deal.
When a potential patient is considering multiple providers, they’re more likely to go with the one providing a variety of positive testimonials from existing patients. In fact, 88% of consumers trust online testimonials and reviews as much as recommendations from friends or family.
Testimonials in healthcare successfully establish trust in the practice and attract new patients, especially because it’s one of the few times in marketing the person speaking to services is not getting paid to do so.
How to Make Appointment
Besides providing important health information, one of the main points of having a healthcare website is to get people to come into your practice and use your services. Because of this, it is essential to include a stand-out section on how to make an appointment, or better yet, the ability to make the appointment right on the site.
Like everything else, this section should be very easy to find, and should be included in the main navigation menu. It would make sense for this information to fall under the “Contact Us” section of your website, but this is not necessarily intuitive and a new patient may not know that’s where you can make the appointment, so a separate section with the exact “Make An Appointment” phrasing might not be a bad idea.
Conclusion
It is a proven fact today that the way a healthcare website is constructed plays an integral role in the success of a practice. These methods are all essential to providing a painless and informative website experience, and will strengthen your online reputation while also attracting new patients.
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