Just 10 seconds is all it takes for any visitor on your website to decide if they want to stay on it or move on to the next one. Is your website impressive enough to grab the attention of readers?
Consumers have an “online first” approach to almost everything, healthcare being no exception. Creating a user-friendly health website can be a bothersome task for many medical practices and hospitals. A quick checklist will help you make a note of all important features for a healthcare website:
Is your website responsive?
Responsive web design is an approach aimed at crafting sites so as to provide an optimal viewing experience for users. It also provides an easy platform for interaction as the interface becomes easier to read and navigation can be smoothly done with a minimum of resizing, panning and scrolling — across a wide range of devices (from desktop computer monitors, tablets and all mobile devices).
The purpose of having a website is to make information available for audiences anytime and anywhere. If your practice website isn’t responsive and is just designed for computer screens, users may not be able to access it easily on their mobile devices. Website visits can lead to potential conversions as patients may consider booking an appointment with your practice after having a good experience when they visit your website.
Do you have an effective SEO strategy for your website?
A website is only useful if people can find it. Based on your target patients, your area of specialization and the location of your practice, lay out an SEO strategy designed. Use of specific keywords throughout the content of your webpages helps in ranking the website higher on popular search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing. If your website doesn’t rank well in the search engines, it can mean your patients/potential patients may turn to your competitors whose website ranks higher. An effective SEO strategy also helps build a positive online presence and brand equity.
Write actionable content to engage users
Content is more than just simple text and should be informative as well as user-engaging at the same time. Understand the needs of your patients and deliver content tailored to their needs. You can provide them with some basic patient educational materials that can be used to develop infographics, e-books, images, newsletters and videos to attract more readers. The goal should be to give the readers an experience that no other competitor is offering so that they easily differentiate your brand among others and they will definitely want to engage with it.
Does it offer space for online interaction?
An online community is an interactive platform where the two-way conversations facilitate easy communication and interaction, which help promote your practice and engage with online health consumers. Make sure your healthcare website has a special place for fostering online communities.
Make sure to have a separate section offering downloadable/printable content
People are now increasingly turning to the web to educate themselves about their health or related conditions. You can be a partner in their health by providing them useful educational content in the form of downloadable PDF files that users can print or view later.
The list is endless and there are many other features available that can be included according to your customized needs. All these features contribute to your site’s relevance and help boost your rankings. Go sky-high with a “healthy” healthcare website that accurately reflects your practice and the kind of healthcare services you offer. This will ensure that your patients – current and new – get a correct impression about you, your practice and your online reputation.