Imagine the experience that your patients and prospective patients have when visiting your website.
Designing a website is one that is planned in an optimal manner with precise sequencing. While every site needs fresh content, throwing it all up on the screen, hoping that some resonates, will only serve to create needless clutter and anxiety.
Ideally, your site includes the 3 I’s. It is:
- Inviting
- Informative
- Interactive
When a viewer lands on your site, it should be clear as to:
- How to contact the practice
Telephone number, fax number, email addresses and location are crucial bits of information. Providing a Contact Us page gathers all this data in one place.
The telephone number of the practice is so important that not only should it be very visible, it should also appear prominently on every page of the site. When prospective patients want to make an appointment, don’t make them hunt or frustrate them into remembering where the only number appears.
- Who you are
Prospective patients are researching online all about physicians within a practice nowadays before an appointment is even made.
Include a bio page that names each physician along with medical school diplomas, and hospital trainings. Be sure to include fellowships and additional certifications.
Most importantly, if you are certified in a specific area of medicine, this should be prominently displayed.
- Services you provide
List the procedures that you provide with descriptions that are understandable to patients including specification as to which ones are performed in the office, and which ones are done in the hospital or surgicenter. Links to videos showing techniques in depth are quite helpful.
- Insurance plans and Billing
List which insurance plans that your office accepts along with how payment is received including which credit cards you take, checks, PayPal or any payment plans. Invite prospective patients to call about any coverage they have that is not listed.
- Hospital Affiliations
List all hospital affiliations that your practice works with along with location information and any links to them.
- Coverage
Inform viewers whether your practice is covered by associated physicians or strictly with doctors within the practice. Inform them what they should do after office hours or in an emergency.
- Office and Staff
Prominently display office hours and days of the week that the practice sees patients (including any special call hours if there is such a policy).
Include photos of nurses, nurse practitioners, medical assistants and other office staff along with a description of their function and their bios. This way, new patients are already familiar with the flow of the office even before the first visit which decreases stress and tension.
- Website Navigation
Include a tab bar with titles and links to various pages so that viewers can transition between pages they are seeking with only one or two clicks.
- Instructional Forms
Include links to various instructional forms written in PDF format. These would include:
- Preoperative and Postoperative instructions
- How to prepare for an examination or procedure
- What to bring to the hospital or office
- What to expect prior to a procedure
- What recovery periods look like including duration
- Most popular F and Q sheets
Having these forms available, keeps patients more informed and more comfortable while cutting down on frantic calls to the office.
- Online Services
More and more patients are tech savvy and want an instant connection to your practice so that they can connect on their own time. Delineate what you offer such as:
- . Online appointment requests
- . Patient personal history
- . Prescription refills
- . Questions
- . Lab results
- . Connection with their smart devices
- . Telemedicine/ e-visits
- Web Portal Services
To meet the criteria of meaningful use, a minimum of 5% of your patients must be interactive with your practice through a patient portal although it is a good idea that all your patients have access to one.
Provide a link on the home page to the web portal and have a portal area, complete with log in and password for security. When patients make entries, responses should be forthcoming.
- Blogs and Social Media Interactions
Having a link to your blog posts enables you to let your viewers know about the latest medical breakthroughs, latest medical trends, and any ongoing information that you would like to let your patients know about.
You can add entertaining stories and case studies related to your practice. Let your personality shine through so patients feel that they know you. This is a place where fresh content can be constantly added which helps patients, keeps viewers returning to your site and increases your ranking on various search engines like Google.
YouTube is a great place to showcase medical and surgical procedures (taking care not to disclose a specific patient in any way).
Instagram, which is growing in popularity, allows you to add photos of equipment and various techniques.
Your website will determine how successful your practice is at attracting prospective patients and converting them from mere lookers into active, engaged and happy patients.
Contact me for a free consultation at 516-647-3002. I would be happy to discuss your needs and how to successfully get you there.
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