Adapted from iHealthSpot’s 5 Must-Haves in Design for Websites for Doctors
More and more, patients have been turning to doctors’ websites as key tools for choosing their medical provider. In the past year, over half of patients consulted multiple sites before choosing a doctor. For healthcare providers, this means that it’s more important than ever to ensure your website is performing as well as possible, as an optimized medical website will drive traffic, increase patient volume, and boost confidence and engagement for current patients. Medical Advantage’s expert practice marketing consultants have compiled the five essentials for any effective medical practice website.
1. Implement Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Medical Website Design
In 2020, the average American has access to more than ten connected devices – those devices being a mix of smartphones, tablets, desktops, or laptop computers. Responsive medical website designs automatically adjust sites to fit all devices used to browse your site. It assures that potential and existing patients visiting your website receive an optimal viewing experience no matter the device being used. Use a responsive medical website design to reach a greater audience and provide the best user experience for patients.
2. Use SSL Security to Ensure Privacy
The amount of personal information passed over the internet is growing daily. Web-users tend to be fairly privacy-savvy, with most undergoing at least some internet security training to learn how to protect their private data. Users are taught to interact only with sites starting with “HTTPS”. These sites utilize SSL security (secure sockets layer, now transport layer security), a necessity in today’s digital world. SSL is a web-based protocol that adds a layer of security to your website by providing encrypted transmission of data from where you have it stored (the web server) to where your website visitors access it (a web browser). As many web-users are taught to only visit SSL sites, use this data encryption method to reach a substantial volume of web-users securely – and increase their confidence that your medical office takes patient safety and security seriously.
3. Provide Online Appointment Requests for Customer Convenience
As our world continues to transform digitally, daily life has picked up the pace – and medical practices are no exception. Many web-users shy away from traditional telephone calls, as it does not feel like a timely practice anymore – especially with lengthy wait times when scheduling doctor’s appointments. Using an online appointment request tool at their convenience is much more appealing.
Providing web-users with an online appointment request tool will ensure every patient has access to appointment scheduling, despite the business of their schedule or the time of day. Convenience and accessibility are the standards in today’s digital world, so make your practice accessible even when your office is closed through your website and online communication tools. Online appointment scheduling has also been proven as a great way to fill empty times in your schedule and increase practice efficiency.
4. Include an ADA Accessibility Tool
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) outlined guidelines for making websites accessible to those who have disabilities or impairments. Blind users, deaf users, and those who navigate by voice, screen readers, or other assistive technologies should be able to use your website. Software like instantly converting text into an audio format can provide the necessary tools for accessibility. Remember, healthcare services are vital to everyone, and ensuring your website is accessible by everyone is important to providing the best care for patients.
5. Leverage SEO so Patients Can Find Your Website
Medical search engine optimization (SEO) will help patients find you online. These optimizations rank websites for doctors higher on search result pages than others. When a user types a search query or keyword into a search engine like Google, they will better find your site after applying medical SEO. Medical SEO can be complicated, as it includes several key factors: keywords, back-linking, meta-data, content writing, and more. Consider engaging a medical SEO and marketing expert to optimize your site and attract more patients digitally.
Medical Advantage Can Help
Are you trying to improve your medical practice website, but overwhelmed with what steps to take? Medical Advantage recently expanded its service offerings to include website practice marketing – because we understand the importance of online presence in our ever-evolving digital world. We can help patients find you better online and improve your online reputation. Contact us today to learn more.
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