The biggest marketing asset you have to promote your medical services is your website. If you are not receiving traffic and new patients, then you should analyze your healthcare website design and figure out why.
Modern-day consumers look online for information about services, and they expect a professional healthcare provider to have a professional and clean website. If your website design is low-quality or outdated, people will think the services provided are outdated as well.
Studies have shown that over 85% of patients today are confident they are responsible enough to care for themselves through access to online material. Therefore, healthcare providers are no longer the key to health decisions.
In the past, hospitals and treatment centers could depend on market share, brand, or the consumer’s health insurance choices to bring in new business. However, with consumers being empowered with digital resources, medical marketing strategies need to focus on giving patients the ability to make the right decisions easily and conveniently. All of this begins with a high-quality website design.
Over 75% of patients depend on search engines to locate a healthcare provider or medical center. Over 89% of users search for solutions to healthcare questions.
Healthcare Website Design
Because your website is the first thing potential patients will see, it is important that it is professional, quick to load, and easy to navigate. The following are some examples of the best healthcare website designs we have found so far and why we believe the design is efficient.
All Professional Healthcare Website Designs Have:
Online Bill Pay, Scheduling, and Refill Requests
When visiting your website, patients want to be able to access these common features easily. When prescriptions run out, they expect refills to be an easy process, along with bill pay and future scheduling appointments.
Studies show 71% of millennials prefer scheduling appointments online, and others are enjoying the feature more as they get used to using these features. Therefore, online booking has become an expected feature. Self-scheduling tools also free up time for staff to get other work duties done.
Olathe Health is a great example of this, as they make it easy to find almost any of the features a patient may be needed, including online bill pay, booking, and a search field.
Messaging Center and Virtual Appointments
Telecare is a newer feature offered by many healthcare providers, especially after the 2020 pandemic. Not all issues are serious or require time driving to and sitting at the doctor’s office. Many times it can be a simple symptom or concern.
With a messaging center, patients can quickly log in and ask a question for their doctor to respond. Also, setting up virtual appointments is another option that allows patients to get care from home or on the go.
According to a 2017 survey, over 78% of patients were interested in virtual healthcare and appointments. Therefore, without these features, your website will appear outdated.
Michigan Avenue Primary Care has a clean website that offers patients the ability to easily schedule virtual appointments right upfront.
Patient Portal
Patients prefer convenience, and a patient portal provides an easy way for them to gain access to their medical records, scheduled appointments, and other information. If your healthcare website design does not offer this feature already, you need to speak with your developer about adding it.
Emergency Room Wait Time
One thing people hate is waiting, and waiting, and waiting more, especially if it is not a serious issue. That is why all the best hospital site designs offer a wait time counter. This way, people can easily get an idea of how long they will be waiting.
If you offer maps of your hospital, that is a bonus feature, especially if you’re a large hospital. Alliance Health is a good example of a wait timer and map.
Internal Search With Doctor Or Specialist Lookup
Doctors go to school and practice for years to memorize symptoms, ailments, and illnesses; it would be hard for the average person to quickly self-diagnose accurately. But, they still try. That is why having a database and internal search feature is important, as it allows patients to access trustworthy information. It also helps them learn about the doctors or specialists they may need to visit.
Mobile-Friendly, Responsive Website Design
If you haven’t already updated your healthcare website to be responsive, you are way behind the competition. Responsive design is a must for any professional service provider, especially the healthcare industry.
Around 62% of people use mobile devices to research healthcare information.
A Google study stated over 77% of mobile users searched for local healthcare services using their smartphone, while 79% stated an easy to use mobile healthcare website would encourage them to return. Check out One Medical for an example of a professional, responsive design that is mobile friendly.
Proof Of Medical Expertise And Authority
Even in the digital age of self-diagnosis, people still want to receive the best medical treatment when they need it. However, people tend to be impatient too, which limits the amount of time you have to convince people that you are the best service for them. To do this, you need to provide the following on your home page:
- Notable achievements
- Awards
- Doctor pedigrees
- Affiliations
- Associations
- Testimonials
- Rank in ‘Best of’ publications
- Links to research studies or papers
- Other authority or specialization information
For an example of this, check out Mayo Clinic, which barely requires people to scroll down to find this information.
SSL Certificate, Fast Page Load
People do not like waiting around, and that means online too. It is important that your website loads quickly to keep potential patients on your page. When we say fast page load, we’re not talking less than 5 seconds anymore. New studies have shown that people expect pages to load within 2 seconds, if not faster!
When a person is browsing a hospital website or a healthcare provider’s site, they want to find information quickly. Also, they want to know their information is going to be safe and secure when they register.
Your website should have an SSL Certification, which means the URL will show as HTTPS instead of just HTTP. Without this, people will see it as a red flag for potential risk, so all website designs in the healthcare industry should have this already. If, for some reason, your website is still not secured, you should get that SSL upgrade.
Content Optimized for Search Engines – SEO
Not getting the traffic or generating leads that you should be, and your website offers a professional design and features mentioned above? Then the issue could be your content not being optimized. When it comes to SEO for healthcare providers, this should be a no brainer. Patients always have questions and more than 89& search for answers on Google or other search engines.
Have a blog or article section and provide answers to those questions. For example, “Why does my back hurt?” or “Why does my eye twitch?”.
Start with commonly asked questions you get, and from there, simply head over to a search engine and type in a search, and look at the related questions people ask.
Out Of Town Patient Section
If you are located in an area that gets tourists, this is an important section to add to your website. For example, if you are in Florida, California, or another popular vacation spot.
Let’s say someone is on vacation but begins to have chest pains. This alone can be scary and stressful, but now imagine being 100s or 1,000s of miles from your doctor and never being to the area before, not knowing where the closest hospital or medical center is located.
If you add a section targeted to people from out of town, you can help ease this concern. Let them know they will be well cared for while away from home in their time of need—for example, Cleveland Clinic is located in Mami, Florida.
If you have not added all of these features to your healthcare website, it is time to begin considering an updated website design. However, if you have these features already, and you are sure the website is easy to navigate and modern, it is likely an SEO issue.
For the best results, reach out to Sage Marketing and speak to a professional. We can help get your website content optimized for search engines, including local SEO, to help increase website traffic and bring in new patients.
