Design your way

Healthcare websites are an important representation of your practice. This is because medical websites share the services you offer as a practitioner. Creating well structured medical web sites will bring in new patients and increase the profitability of your practice.

The best healthcare websites are easy to use. Users are often anxious or worried while searching for information online. As a result, successful healthcare websites must be able to:

Assist users to find the right practitioner to assist them with problems.
Access their medical and health records or test results.
Pay bills online.

When creating healthcare websites, it helps to have a good knowledge of User Experience (UX). If your users find your website helpful and easy to use, you’ll create a helpful site. However, if your users struggle with your site, they will disengage, finding another source of information.

Here are some tips to follow when creating healthcare websites:

Create a HIPAA compliant site

All healthcare websites must be HIPAA compliant. This means that you will need to make sure that you have technical, administrative and physical safeguards in place to keep protected healthcare information safe.

When creating healthcare websites, it is important to consider what your viewers will do. Will they send you emails, chat online upload documents or fill out forms? Will they be able to access a patient portal which will give them access to medical information?

If your site will make use of protected healthcare information in any form, it will need to be HIPAA compliant – this includes simple but confidential information such as setting up a doctor’s appointment through your site. However, healthcare websites which don’t collect any confidential medical information, you won’t need to worry about HIPAA compliance.

Create a site which is easy to navigate

When your site is easy to navigate, it will help take pressure off anxious clients. Top health websites such as Mayo Clinic share a great deal of information, but because they are well organized they are popular.

Top rated websites help clients to find the right person to assist them and offer up educational posts. A hospital website may provide access to practitioners, accept forms from patients as well as enable patients to set appointments. You’ll also be able to access practice information and addresses from medical websites.

Provide contact information, office hours and location.

The best medical websites make it very easy to understand where to find a practitioner, practice hours as well as contact information. The best healthcare websites make this information easily accessible and well laid out.

When your user accesses your site, your goal is to provide practitioner information easily. When users have to dig into your site to find information, or alternately locate a ‘Contact page’ they might never find the information they need. Healthcare website users are often anxious. Top rated websites therefore place this information on a home page for easy access.

Make your services easy to understand

Healthcare websites work well when your viewers can easily understand and digest any information offered. Share your services clearly and concisely so that viewers understand what your practice is about.

You can explain any information which appears complex, breaking it down into small and easily digestible chunks. You can offer up links so that your viewers can find more detailed information, should they need to. You can also offer insights or additional information through blog posts.

If you are a psychologist, for example, you might offer information about your therapeutic practices as well as difficulties you treat, such as anxiety or depression. A nutritionist may provide information about healthy diet, weight gain and nutritional recommendations. Patients can learn a lot from these pages. By sharing information online, you will also be able to establish yourself as an expert in your field.

Introduce your staff

Hospital websites, as well as medical websites for a practice benefit by introducing each provider. Create a dedicated page so that each provider can be properly introduced. This will help your SEO as well as create a space for each practitioner to share services, specializations, qualifications and activities.

Add a photo for each practitioner. By creating a page for each practitioner, you will be able to create traffic for your website when people search for your practitioners online.

Make patient information as well as downloadable forms easy to access

Not all healthcare users are highly computer literate. However, each patient may need to access healthcare information, medical records, appointment details and invoices. If you use an online portal, make sure that it is easy to use for all clients.

You could add a forms section to your homepage, as well as to your menu. By adding links to your forms you will be show clients where to find them. New patients could be offered up a link to forms while on the ‘appointments’ page. Placing forms where they are most visible and relevant will make your healthcare website design user friendly and efficient.

Using Call to Action Buttons

When you design healthcare websites, you do so to get more patients. If you intend to encourage patients to set appointments, make this your call to action. Remember to keep your call to action bold and highly visible. Add a large button declaring “Book Your Appointment Now’ which is highly visible to all patients, no matter where they are on your site. The best health websites have clear calls to action. Don’t hide yours away.

Welcome your patients

A hospital website should provide accurate information to your clients, adding a human touch. Healthcare websites attract vulnerable patients. By adding a personal touch with professional photos, they will feel less intimidated.

A professional photographer will be able to create photos of your staff helping or welcoming patients. You can pose outside of your hospital so that it is easily identifiable to patients. You could overlay these images with quotes of appreciation from your clients.

This is also a great space to share the values behind your practice. By providing personal or caring images or videos, your patients will know that they can expect to be cared for when attending your practice. What better way to share this than on your healthcare website.

Use patient testimonials to build credibility

If your patients are willing, you can ask them to share testimonials about your healthcare practice. You might need to create a strategy to generate new patient reviews. Show these reviews on your homepage as well as on any testimonials page. Instead of simply sharing a written review, you could also show a video testimonial to show the full impact of your care.

Many patients will feel relieved to see people have been through similar procedures, and that the results have been positive. Whether you offer health and fitness plans or aesthetic procedures, showing before and after photographs will also enable your clients to see how top class care produces excellent results. Try to include patients of all ages on your medical web page.

Use Medical keywords to boost your SEO

Good websites for health use keywords to attract customers to your site. While creating your content, perform a keyword analysis to understand what your customers Google in order to find you. By performing a keyword analysis you will able to target your webpage to appeal to clients. This will help your clients to find you when searching for treatments.

When you use keywords to boost your SEO, do this on a page by page basis. This will help you to create accurate descriptions, add labeled images and use links. Healthcare websites will benefit by appealing to local SEO. This is because many of your clients will search for healthcare using a local location. Include your location on your home page. It is also important for your practice to be listed in these online directories.

Create a Google My Business page. Ensure that your practice information appears accurately and consistently across the web so that your patients know exactly how to find you.

Create a responsive site

Good healthcare websites are responsive. This is because many people now access the internet through mobile phones or tablets. As a result, a healthcare web design needs to be easy to use on any device. Ensure your font size is large enough to be legible, and that users can use your buttons on a touch screen. Buttons should be easy to click on. Your site should also be easy to navigate using a mobile device.

Include a career site

Good healthcare websites often have a careers section to appeal to new talent. This will show the benefits of working for your practice. You’ll also be able to describe the values and culture of your organization. The goal is to attract talent by sharing how wonderful it would be to work at your hospital or practice. You can also advertise any job openings and create online applications.

Ending thoughts on these healthcare websites

We hope these tips for healthcare websites help you to set up a thriving practice. Use them on your website to create one of the best healthcare websites in the industry. This will help you to draw traffic to your site as well as develop your online reputation as an excellent medical practice.

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