Tips for Effective Health Website Design
Every day, individuals are turning to the internet to better understand their options and validate their decisions. Did you know that over 70% of internet users search online for health-related information? Your presence on the internet reflects directly on the services that you have to offer and your practice’s website design should not be under-estimated. Does your website help your patients manage their health better? Does your website reflect the goals of your practice? It doesn’t take long to make a good impression on visitors, in fact, research shows that it only takes around 5-7 seconds before a visitor will decide whether to stay or leave a website. So here are a few tips that can help you to create and maintain an effective health website design to keep visitors coming back:
- Tip 1 – Define your website’s purpose
The first step in achieving an effective health website design is to have a clear and definite purpose. Essentially, this means how and why you need visitors to engage in your brand (in this case, your practice). What do you have to offer that stands out from that of your competition? Do you wish to sell services, create leads, or build credibility? Strive to map out your intentions to deliver better user-experience and to help your practice achieve its goals. After all, the most important thing about your practice’s website is your goals.
- Tip 2 – Create a website that is user-friendly
If your website is cluttered, hard to follow or too slow, chances are that visitors will become frustrated and leave. For this reason, it is important that you create a user-friendly web design that is easy to navigate through and accessible on different types of devices. Keep in mind that 80% of individuals use smartphones nowadays and 30% are likely to leave a website if it is not suitable for mobile browsing. Moreover, be sure to include your practice’s phone number, email address, and location so that visitors (prospective patients) know where to reach you or look for you.
- Tip 3 – Post high-quality content
If you want to create a website that will attract visitors, you need to include high-quality content that is readable, credible, useful, and reflects what you audience is looking for. In this case, your practice’s website should represent your expertise, the services that you have to offer, patient success stories, the technology that you use, as well as the staff members that prospective patients will get to meet. Search engine ranking depends greatly on content and if you want your website to appear on the first few pages of Google, you need to present effective and quality content.
- Tip 4 – Make your website an educational tool
The high quality content that you post needs to attract and educate a variety of visitors. With health websites, consider making your website an educational tool where visitors can check their symptoms, receive healthy lifestyle hips, learn about different types of diets and exercise programs, and more. Being a healthcare professional, the possibilities for you to raise awareness and educate the public are endless. Take advantage of them because visitors are going to listen to you, the expert – guaranteed.
- Tip 5 – Include visual design
Did you know that 80% of visitors are likely to read content posted on your website due to visuals? Images, clear features, videos, and virtual tours are great ways to make an impression on visitors and it gives them an idea of what they can expect before walking through your door. However, while it is important for visitors to have visuals to draw their attention, it is equally important that you do not go overboard with flashy graphics, complicated animations, or piercing music. You want the visuals to represent your professionalism in the best light and like it or not, you only get to make a first impression once.
- Tip 6 – Choose the right colors for your design
Colors are extremely important when it comes to drawing in visitors and holding their attention. For instance, the colors red and orange give off an ‘urgent’ vibe. Being that you are creating a health website, it is best to use such colors when talking about dangerous health-related topics that require immediate attention. For other health and lifestyle topics on dieting, proper exercise programs, the use of vitamins, and more - consider using friendly colors such as greens, which represent life, health, and tranquility or blues, which represent peace, honesty, and reliability. Most times, it is the little times, such as being color conscious, that can set you apart from your competitors.
- Tip 7 – Use social media to your advantage
The power of social media should not be underestimated. In today’s day and age, social media can help you to connect and communicate directly with current and prospective patients. Moreover, it allows you to empower patient engagement, raise health awareness, market your practice, as well as improve your services.
- Tip 8 – Consider digital marketing
While traditional marketing is still a great way to promote your practice, nowadays, digital marketing holds more power. Digital marketing allows you to publish content and ideas, as well as control analytics and data so that you can further improve the customer experience and build bonds. Every digital marketing channel tells a brand’s unique story and helps raise awareness of the brand among the respective community and beyond. If you want to increase your practice’s online presence on the evolving marketplace, digital marketing can offer great benefits and high value, so use its power.
- Tip 9 – Include easy to find patient forms
A doctor website should include patient forms that prospective patients can fill in to book appointments, ask questions or send in their concerns, as well as request other vital forms that they need before stepping into your practice. Make sure that you have a separate section for these forms and that they are easy to find – such as a link on your home page.
- Tip 10 – Offer the option of live chat
A live chat feature is a great way to give your website a more human side to it. Research shows that offering live chat can increase signup rates by over 30%. Moreover, a visitor of a health website is more likely to turn into a patient if he or she interacts with a healthcare professional, such as you, through live chat. The live chat feature will help you to understand the needs and preferences of prospective patients and they can offer you feedback that will help you to improve your services.
Above all, keep it simple. While every visitor looking at a health website wants to read information that is reliable and credible, they also want to see that the website’s layout is simple and easy to navigate through. For instance, help your visitors find the information that they are looking for by linking pages instead of having several different tabs that they should open.
Visitors will always make assumptions about your practice and whether to seek care at your hands based on the quality of your website. If your website is not user-friendly or responsive, then they will assume your care is neglectful as well – even if this is not the case. Today, technology has nowhere to go but up and it is crucial that you stay up to date with the latest advancements. By establishing an effective health website design, you place your practice in the best light to increase search engine rankings and generate traffic. Moreover, you place your practice in the best position to engage with current and prospective patients. By doing so, you are showing prospective patients a side of your caring nature for their welfare. Your website represents your practice, meaning that it represents you. These health website design tips will not only help you attract visitors, but surely turn your visitors into actual patients.
