It’s no surprise that many of us proactively get online and surf websites to research our medical conditions and healthcare concerns.
We’ll even check out the websites of the different healthcare providers that we’ve been referred to or are interested in contacting. This trend has grown hugely of course since the pandemic began, as has the number of websites offering healthcare information and healthcare services.
If you are a healthcare provider looking to get online, or who already has a website, you’ll undoubtedly want your website to be a success. But just having an online presence, doesn’t mean that patients will stay and browse or contact you. There are many elements to consider with healthcare website design, but getting the right recipe of these will go a long way to making your website a success. So, let’s take a closer look at what some of these website elements are, and what impact they can have with visitors.
The right look and feel
Your website colour can make or break it for visitors. Whichever colour you choose, it should also fit in with and compliment your business’s logo. Many companies cleverly use one or a combination of colours from their logo; the results provide a real consistency and uniformity to the website. Don’t go too personal with your chosen colour scheme either: it needs to appeal to all members of the target audience you want to make contact with.
Information, information, information
You need to think of your website as a tool that works alongside your everyday business activities. You’ll want that tool to work for you in effectively informing visitors about who you are, and what healthcare services you specialise in. How information is displayed on your website will be an integral part of the web design process, and your chosen web designer will be able to give you some innovative ideas on how this can be done.
Perfectly pitched
Keeping with the topic of information, it should be perfectly pitched for your target audience. Text and images should be inclusive and fully engaging. You may know your subject matter inside and out, but your visitors may not. That’s why you need to keep all information clear, concise and readable. Keep in mind also, that many people browsing your website might be nervous or worried about their medical or health condition. Employing a friendly, welcoming and informal tone in your text content really will help in combatting this.
Accessibility
Of course, you’ll want your website to be accessible and readable for elderly and disabled people too. That’s why your website should be built to comply with UK web accessibility laws. There’s great advice to be found at the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) website, to ensure that all visitors coming to your website receive a similar intuitive and informative browsing experience.
Connecting with people
Your website will be the front window of your healthcare practice, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Visitors will not only want to read about your qualifications and experience, but they’ll also want to see pictures of the real you, your team and what you all look like. Making a connection with patients before they meet you is key, so investing in some high-quality photographs will be more than worth your while.
Using video
Keeping with the connection element, nothing works better a short professionally shot video. In just a few minutes you can easily reach out and connect with new patients by introducing yourself, sharing your company’s values and perhaps showing your reception area and treatment rooms. Your video can easily be embedded into your website, which makes it convenient for visitors to watch.
Easy to make contact
Whilst people browse different areas of your website, make it easy for them to contact you regardless of what page they’re on. Again, your web design company will be able to advise you with some great ideas to do this. Why not even think of providing an online booking feature? This is easily achieved and will fit in perfectly with visitors who may be browsing your website during your out of office hours. You may even want to consider a payment option to, where visitors can pay in advance for their appointments.
Using just some of these above-mentioned elements for your own website can make a huge impact with visitors, and increase new leads for you!
