A website can do a lot for your healthcare business in terms of expanding your business and advertising your services. That being said, effective website marketing has a lot to do with constantly making sure that your website is updated and optimized to provide the best experience to visitors.
In an industry like health care, there are definitely elements to include in your website that are not only essential for marketing, but for the demands of your target market as well. If you’re currently in the process of overhauling or updating your current website, here are a few that you absolutely cannot afford to leave out:
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Responsive website design
As more people are beginning to use their mobile devices as much as their laptops or desktop computers, your website should be adaptable to such gadgets. While a personalized user experience is highly important, a mobile-friendly website is an important part of healthcare website design best practices today.
You need to pay special attention and ensure that your website is responsive and can be rendered nicely on a smartphone or tablet. This is especially critical for people who may still be looking around for healthcare services and stumble upon your website. If they cannot even visit your website or read anything properly on it, this will lead to higher bounce rates and less leads for you.
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Patient-centric content
As the healthcare industry continually becomes more patient-centric, it’s important to include a plethora of content that appeals to them. There is already an existing demand for this type of content and your healthcare company is in the best position to provide it as a trusted and reputable source. You might also want to consider including another section or subdomain in your website for healthcare professionals as they are also a part of your audience. Making content for both these demographics and including them on your website will really help you stand out.
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Details about your services
For a lot of people, finding sufficient information about the healthcare services that they need is a pain point of theirs. They often have to jump through hoops just to learn more about the services being provided by a certain practice because they find little to no data about the services on the website.
Give your clinic a competitive edge by including informative descriptions about your services on your website. You can have short previews on the landing page that lead to a separate page detailing each of your services if the user clicks on the icon. By making the research portion for healthcare services easier, you can increase your chances of getting patients from your website.
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Testimonials
Part of a patient-centric approach to your website is to include patients’ stories and reviews about the services that you provide. Having this social proof of your clinic’s success legitimizes your clinic’s reputation for providing quality care and treatment to others. Additionally, most people choose healthcare providers that have a lot of positive reviews over providers that have none.
Give your testimonials a personal touch by including the patient’s picture or by having a rating system that can be seen on your staff’s bio. Paying attention to how your testimonials are presented on your website will make them more visible and give them more impact on the people that visit your website.
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Staff biographies
Many healthcare consumers want to know what kind of treatment they need and who will provide it to them. They want to know that capable and reliable doctors and healthcare professionals are going to take care of them. Make it a point to provide detailed biographic information about your team on your website that users can easily access. Once they know who they will be consulting with, they will feel more comfortable about scheduling an appointment with your practice.
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Personalized website experience
If your website has a patient portal where users can log in, you can consider personalization in your website marketing. The important thing to remember is to stay compliant with HIPAA and PIPEDA guidelines when implementing it into your website. Your website can use the data stored from different patients to provide personalized advertising or cessation that may be beneficial to them.
A generalized experience is no longer sufficient in this day and age. Leveraging your data to provide personalized experiences for each patient that logs in is much more effective.
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Payment and billing information
For a vast majority of people, medical bills can be confusing for them. As a result, many people tend to delay or forego seeking the care that they need because they can’t find information about payment options and accepted insurance plans on websites. Commit to providing excellent customer service by including a detailed billing section on your website to keep things transparent with current and prospective patients. This helps in building trust and loyalty with them.
Despite how complex and conservative the nature of healthcare is, it is still possible to partake in digital marketing with an up-to-date website. Simply focus on design that is patient-centric and accessible to establish trustworthiness and build strong relationships with your customers to help your practice grow.
