The old saying, “If it’s not working for you, it’s working against you,” has never been truer than with the modern medical website. Today’s healthcare consumers turn to Google’s search results for most of their healthcare questions and to seek services, so if you don’t have your ducks in a row, your competitors are going to acquire the patients you want – or once had.
For many reasons, you need a modernized website designed for today’s consumers. Most people are using their mobile phones when visiting the internet, so your site should be, first and foremost, optimized for mobile. Consumers also expect a professional look and feel from their medical provider’s website, and they expect to be able to request appointments, pay bills, complete paperwork and see their records. The bottom line is that in order to stand out in a sea of providers, you need to create a better patient experience and engage in more effective marketing.
What Modern Medical Websites Need to Have
Designing your site to be mobile-friendly, secure, ADA compliant, and FAST are a few ways to help patients feel comfortable from the get-go. Essential clinic information should be readily available and easy to find such as location, services offered, contact details, and provider information.
It is important to remember when developing content for the site, that you are not your audience. Clinical information should be lay-friendly and easy to understand. It is also important to include patient education on your site. There is a lot of bad information on the web, so it is critical your patients get accurate information directly from their providers. Having this kind of information also helps tremendously with search engine optimization. Patients also consider insurance when choosing a new provider, so make the insurance plans you accept easy to find on your site.
Patient portals are an invaluable tool for care efficiency, patient engagement, and making it easy for patients to access real-time updates about their care. Be sure your patients can find the portal easily by putting a button in a prominent place on your modern medical website. This also lets prospective patients know you offer this convenient feature.
When considering functionality, make it easy for patients to secure an appointment. Be sure that your phone number is visible at the top of all pages of your site. Also include a secure appointment request feature or form or an online booking widget so that patients can request appointments any time of the day or night. Offer the ability to make payments through the site, and include online registration and health history forms, so patients can complete their paperwork online ahead of their visit.
Make Your Website Ready for Visitors – Both Patients and Google’s Web Crawlers
If you are struggling to gain new visitors, you should put efforts toward making your website search engine friendly. You become more visible to new patients in search when you follow Search Engine Optimization (SEO) best practices. The search engines look for relevancy when crawling a site, so having rich content and keywords related to your specialty, services and location are paramount to being found online. Technical SEO like creating good page titles and meta tags, headlines and descriptions are all also critical to ranking well in search.
Strategic keyword use is how Google understands what your website is about and if its relevant to search queries from users. With the right keywords placed in your website copy, Google knows exactly what your practice does and who you serve. But it doesn’t stop there. You should be adding fresh content to your website regularly (usually through a blog) that is relevant to your audience and provides useful guidance.
Get the Most from Your Website with Digital Marketing
The old adage “if you build it they will come” does not apply when it comes to your website. The best-designed modern medical website isn’t enough. Think of it as THE BEST mousetrap with no bait. Add a call to action of some cheese or peanut butter with a marketing program to drive patients to your site both organically and through paid advertising.
With a combination of social media, reputation management, SEO, and PPC (pay-per-click_ advertising you position yourself to not only be found online, but to effectively engage with and attract new patients.
Get Ahead of the Competition and Boost Revenue with a Better Medical Website Design
iHealthSpot, a Medical Advantage and TDC Group company, is here to help you with website design and marketing services laser-focused on patient acquisition and retention. Unlike other agencies, we specialize in medical practice marketing and our breadth of expertise in healthcare consulting gives us a deep understanding of your operations.
Reach out to us today to set up a free website analysis and one of our consultants will review the results with you. We are here to help you drive new revenue by recognizing and adapting to the needs of your customers. Call 877-709-0999 today!
