Web design advice for healthcare companies and clinics
Considering everything that happened in 2020 and the impact it had on business success online, it’s never been more critical for companies to start thinking outside the box when it comes to web design. For healthcare clinics in particular, the pressure is on to create websites that are geared towards converting prospects into high-quality leads.
For most healthcare businesses and clinics, the website is now the storefront, with more and more people seeking healthcare products and services via Google searches and online recommendations. So, whether you’re looking to attract new clients through organic search results or optimise your purchasing journey to increase conversions, this blog can help. We’re looking at some of the best ways clinics can implement clever healthcare web design tricks to bolster their client lists, boost revenue and increase web traffic.
Let’s start with the basics:
1. Let people know what products or services you offer
The healthcare world is foreign to many people. Often, when people search for healthcare solutions, they are not familiar with the vocabulary or terminology, so it’s essential to make your products or services crystal clear to the user.
Providing detail about the products or services that you offer is obviously essential, but bombarding your users with medical information right away could put them off.
2. Provide digestible data
Depending on the types of healthcare services you provide, most people will not have in-depth knowledge, nor will they understand the intricacies and nuanced language surrounding the service. Therefore, it’s essential to present information and data in a digestible and straightforward manner that doesn’t require your prospects to do much research.
One of the best ways to do this is to create visual data using pie charts, graphs, and statistics to demonstrate the types of services you offer and their effectiveness. In particular, you can showcase data that demonstrates how well your clinic has performed or how many people you have treated. Positive data is a great way to display trust signals to encourage new prospects to come to your clinic. If you want to go a step further, you can add interactive services that improve the user’s experience and boost conversions.
3. Create a search function
When users land on your website, it’s vital that they can find what they are looking for without having to trawl through all your different web pages or a confusing navigation. Often users will become impatient and bounce if they feel they have to work too hard to find what they need.
The solution: a search tool function!
Bonus tip: Improve site navigation to increase conversions
If you’re serious about increasing your conversion rates, your website needs to be straightforward and easy to navigate. One of the biggest causes of high bounce rates is website navigation issues. Users are there to look for help – they don’t want to have to fight to find what they want.
If you’re struggling with conversions or you feel that your traffic-to-conversion ratio is too high, speak with one of our conversion rate optimisation specialists and we’ll discuss how to make the necessary improvements. As a technical SEO agency, we can also help you improve the functionality of your website.
4. Prove your industry expertise
Establishing authority is of the utmost importance when it comes to healthcare web design. Prospects want to see proof that you can offer a first-class healthcare service that will help them improve their wellbeing.
Depending on the type of healthcare services you offer, make sure that any accreditations or certifications you have received are available on your website. Trust is everything in the healthcare world, and if you’re looking to generate and nurture leads, they need to know that they are in safe hands. A good way to build trust is by showcasing client testimonials.
Often prospects will choose a healthcare provider based on testimonials over anything else, so it’s vital to have any client testimonials or feedback clearly visible on your website. In addition to written testimonials, you can include video testimonials that add a layer of personability where prospects can put a face and a name to a testimonial. You can also share video testimonials on your social media accounts to bring more organic traffic to your website.
5. Incorporate client information forms
Whether your prospects are looking to find out information about your services or they’ve already booked a consultation, client forms can be an excellent design feature for your website.
By having a client form list, you can reach out via email or phone call to inform your prospects about your clinic in more detail compared to what might be available on your website. Alternatively, prospects who have booked a consultation can save time when they arrive at your clinic if they provide you with their personal information beforehand – it’s a win-win!
6. Always include high quality images
Whether you offer a product or a service, your clients will want to see visual proof of your work in one way or another! It goes without saying that it’s important to avoid uploading images that are blurry, off-centre or unprofessional. Prospects will be instantly put off if your images are of poor quality. Make sure you’re sourcing your images from a reliable site, that they fit the theme of your brand and that they are optimised for mobile as well as desktop!
And remember: Keep SEO in mind to improve your healthcare marketing!
Unless people already have a preferred clinic in mind, they will usually use a search engine to find one, so it’s important that your web design is, first and foremost, SEO friendly. Search engine rankings are incredibly important if you’re looking to establish yourself as a market leader that new clients can rely on. You can put new patients off quickly if you ignore your search engine ranking, as prospects are unlikely to trust you with their healthcare needs if your site isn’t among the first results they see.
Ask yourself: would you trust the 8th or 9th result on Google with your healthcare concerns? The answer is most likely going to be no! So, what are some good ways to improve your healthcare SEO?
Capitalise on local healthcare SEO
More often than not, people searching for healthcare products or services will be looking for somewhere to source them in their local area, so it’s essential to pay attention to local SEO.
One of the best ways to maximise your local SEO potential is by ensuring that all your contact details are up to date and your operating hours are available.
You should also encourage your clients to leave Google reviews. Not only does Google value positive reviews, but potential customers are also likely to check reviews before they consider coming to you.
Pay attention to technical SEO
Invest in technical SEO services to make sure that your website is mobile friendly and doesn’t keep people waiting for pages to load. With most Google searches now taking place on mobile devices, you can’t afford to have a website that is not 100% functional on a mobile device or keeps people waiting around.
In mid-2021, Google released an algorithm update (CWV – core web vitals) that takes mobile-friendliness and page loading speed into account when determining their rankings. If you’d like to know more about the CWV update, read our blog to find out more.
To reiterate a point mentioned at the start of this blog: if a large portion of your clients are using online methods to find you, it’s more important than ever to start using web design tactics to make your key pages have even more of a lasting impact. If you’d like some more advice on healthcare web design, get in touch with one of our Brainy web designers, and we’ll discuss how we can help you achieve your goals! We offer a variety of managed SEO services, SEO consultancy packages and also a website SEO audit service to help you understand more about the technical health of your site. We are a specialist healthcare SEO agency who also offer a full-range of marketing services. Get in touch today to find out more.
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