Web design for doctors: 7 recommendations on how to make a practice website stand out more to patients
With this 7-point plan, practices can gain a digital edge to positively stand out from other practices and tailor their services to their target audience.
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Published on
July 18, 2022
Author
Nadia Wiegand
UX + UI Designer
My back hurts, my head hurts, there's been a strange spot on my arm for weeks. Doctor Google helps.
The Internet has become one of the most important sources of information when it comes to one's own health. Almost everyone has Googled for a symptom at some point.
80 % of Internet users search the Internet for health-related topics
But we are also on the Internet when it comes to explicit help with specialists and specialists in our area, so that we get the best possible treatment.
According to Statista, there were around 72,000 medical practices in Germany in 2020, of which around 40% were registered general medical practices.
With this 7-point plan, practices can gain a digital edge to positively stand out from other practices and tailor their services to their target audience.
1. first impression is crucial
The 3 most important seconds
Your site visitors decide within the first 3 seconds whether they will stay on your site, or disappear with a click to the next practice site.
A professional and modern web design creates trust. The look & feel in the presentation is just as decisive a factor as the informative content that is communicated.
The design should meet the needs and demands of visitors.
Communicate at first glance what your visitors would be looking for when choosing a doctor. Address the interest of a new patient already on the homepage.
What services do you offer? What makes you stand out?
Already here you can convince with a first picture of yourself and your practice.
2. design your website
A medical practice website is not bound to a design reminiscent of a sterile operating room.
Make sure that the design of the website is coherent and tidy. You are welcome to use the colors of the practice's corporate design.
Write down goals that you want your website to meet and use that to develop a concept that will help them with the overall design of your web design.
So you can make the website design for a pediatrician's office much more playful and colorful than it might be for a neurologist's website.
Responsive design
The practice website should be programmed responsive for all types of devices in addition to a modern web design.
Content must be optimally displayed both on the desktop and on mobile devices.
Professional web design
Web design for doctors by doctors can work well, provided that you have enough time to take care of it yourself. So often the price plays a role, whether you deal with the design of the website yourself, or hire an agency or freelancer to do it.
This decision is always up to you, to what extent you want to make an investment.
From my experience from many client projects, I can say that you would probably invest more time than a web design agency or freelancer would for web design.
Therefore, calculate what time investment you would make yourself and whether this is worth it for you.
3. accessibility design
As a medical practice, you address a broad target group. This can also include patients who have a visual impairment, for example.
Sufficient contrasts
Ensure sufficient contrast between font and background. WCAG 2.0 recommends at least AA level contrast for texts.
For a contrast check you can use the free tool from ColourContrast. coulourcontrast.cc
The optimal font size for content
To support the reading flow, I recommend using continuous text between 18 pt and 20 pt, depending on the font.
The use of Sans Serif fonts is the best choice for continuous text layout.
Free and good fonts can be found at Google Fonts, among others. Google Fonts.
Here I like to recommend Open Sans and Inter.
For headlines, you can also use display fonts in web design.
Classify headlines according to the common HTML structure.
This not only supports readability, but also lets your website rank better on Google. (Keyword: SEO)
The navigation structure
Choose a clear navigation structure to make content easy to find and avoid confusion. In this way, you increase the user experience and create trust.
While on mobile devices the menu tends to be displayed as a burger menu, for desktop you should display all navigation elements. For this, you can resort to a dropdown menu for a larger content structure.
4. present yourself and your competencies
In addition to your medical expertise, you yourself as a physician are an important reason why potential patients choose you.
Communicate professionally, but at eye level.
In doing so, provide your patients with all the information they need to get a good overview of your services.
This is also where a blog can help you, not only clarifying patients' initial questions about treatments, but also positively supporting your reach on Google.
Using a content management system (such as Webflow*), such a blog can be maintained regularly and easily.
Use suitable photos
Use suitable photos for the web design that show both the team and your practice. At best, hire a professional photographer to create a high-quality visual language for your practice homepage.
Including videos can also support a positive impression of your practice to visitors.
You should avoid cell phone photos or pictures from 10 years ago. Present yourself and your practice in a realistic and approachable way. Create a good basis for a trusting relationship through the visual material.
Of course, you should ask your employees whether they want to be seen on the Internet.
5. enable simple appointment requests
Everyday life in the practice is often very stressful for you and your staff. The phone rings constantly, patients react annoyed to failed attempts to reach someone. Give your patients the opportunity to get in touch with you.
Online appointment request tool
However, you can also offer an online appointment request feature that you can integrate directly into your website. Frequently, providers of practice software make such a feature available in a DSGVO-compliant manner.
This not only allows you to easily book appointments at any time of day for your patients, but also reduces the workload on your professional staff.
The best way to do this is to consult an expert from your software provider.
Changeover of the telephone system
Beyond the website, converting the phone system with on-hold and friendly announcements can help select calls.
6. trust through patient voices
For patient acquisition, reviews on online portals are a good means of choice to strengthen interest and trust.
Link well-known rating portals to your website so that patients can convince themselves even better of you and your practice.
Patients who share their experience are a good multiplier for you.
Update your Google Account
New patients usually become aware of you through referrals or Google search results.
Provide all the information to contact, update the opening hours and absences.
7. maintenance and care
Maintenance of opening and closing times
Regularly update all information on their practice website that is relevant to your patients. Websites for doctors should always make any changes to opening hours, closing days due to vacations or urgent information on, for example, the Corona location should be quick and easy to find.
Technical update
Also maintain and service the website itself. For example, all SSL certificates should be constantly updated, and if you set cookies and use tracking tools, this information must of course be regularly adjusted to the status quo in order to track in compliance with the GDPR.
These works might interest you
Are you ready to set new standards?
Then let's talk.
