Your practice website is your digital shop window, so when looking at it objectively, do you think it’s working as hard as it can be to convert prospective patients into new members at your practice?
First things first, focus on the goal – attracting new patients – this is key as it effects the content, design and actions you want your visitor to take.
This guide will help you create a professional looking homepage optimised for user engagement:
- Immediately identifiable
Visitors should be able to land on your website and immediately know they’ve got the right place. Don’t rely on users to click around to find out who you are and what services you offer, this needs to be on your homepage. Does your site consistently use your logo and practice colours throughout? This is your chance to show your identity and set yourself apart from your competition.
- Define your culture
A good home page is a reflection of your team, your intentions and social values and the environment you provide for your patients. Instead of using a generic welcome message, have your principal dentist introduce the practice ethos – similarly, instead of stock images, use pictures of the team, the practice environment and you interacting with your patients.
- Less is more
Get rid of busy content, colours and pictures that make your home page appear cluttered and confusing. The use of white space, concise content and headlines emphasises your most important information, making it simple for users to glean the information they need with minimal effort.
Follow this simple layout:
Headline – Your practice mission statement
Sub header – What do you do and offer?
Call to action – What do you want the user to do after visiting?
- Fully responsive for different devices
More and more users browse the web on their mobile phones instead of desktops or laptops, so your home page needs to automatically resize itself for optimum readability.
- Cut down load times
Web browsing happens at a much faster speed than other forms of marketing. Web pages that take over eight seconds to load risk losing users out of frustration. Not only this, the faster your load times, the better your Search Engine Optimisation will be.
- Signpost the way
If you want users to take a particular action, ensure you signpost the way with multiple points of navigation. If you want them to fill in an enquiry form or book an appointment, use buttons on each page rather than relying on them to look through the search bar. Make the process as easy as possible.
- Utilise your current patients
People respond more to other people, so having social proof from unbiased sources reinforcing that you are a good service, will increase the possibility users will end up joining your practice. Testimonials and treatment case studies are a great way to reinforce your brand and make you more appealing to new patients.
Consider these tips to get new users to stay rather than leave your site and watch your new patient enquiries increase.