If you think about it for a second, your dental website is the window into your dental practice. It’s the first impression that visitors get about you, your team and the services/treatments you offer. The trouble is there are likely to be any number of similar practices in your area all with websites just like yours. The question is, how are you going to stand out from the competition?
The answer…
By making a good first impression with a great dental web design!
Your website not only needs to look good but also should play a significant factor in how many people call to book an appointment. As a result, it needs to be both well-designed and optimised. With this in mind here are 5 web hacks that will help you to stand out from the crowd.
Be informative
Remember, the key element of any web design for a dental practice is to make a great first impression. So consider that when people are searching for a dental practice, they’re looking for information. This could be information on:
- A specific dental service or treatment
- Where you’re located
- Whether or not you accept insurance
- Opening times, and even,
- Your credentials/qualifications
So make it easy for them. Pre-emp their questions and incorporate this onto the first page they see when they land on your dental website.
Remember if they come looking for information and it’s not immediately available, they’ll look elsewhere and that’s likely to be your immediate competitors!
Be organised
A key part of dental website design is navigation. Just because you know how to access the great information on your site, don’t assume that a new visitor will share your know-how. The bottom line is that people shouldn’t need to feel like they need a roadmap to navigate your dental website.
Instead, consider splitting your services and treatments, for example, into specific areas for ease of navigation. What about a contact form or contact number? Can they access it from the start or do they have to jump through hoops to find it?
Use an intuitive navigation bar with visible drop-down menus so people can see where they need to be at a quick glance.
Also, ensure that they can return back to the Home Page from every page.
As a top tip, put yourself in the shoes of a new visitor and go through your site just as they might. This way you’ll get a clearer picture of what part of your dental web design works and what parts don’t.
Be engaging
Just because you have a virtual web design for your dental practice doesn’t mean you can’t be engaging. In fact, it’s even more important when dealing with virtual visitors to be transparent. A good way to do this is to have an About Us Page.
Whether that consists of a ‘meet the team’ ‘about our clinic’ or a combination of both, people like it when they can feel an immediate connection. You can even include a virtual tour – there is some great software out there that will do just that.
Consider write-ups about team members and the dentists in your practice. By all means, go into detail about their qualifications but make it fun too. What do they like to do in their spare time? What are their likes and dislikes? What’s their favourite foods/cuisine? Above all, don’t forget to include photos. Remember, people engage with people!
Be open
I don’t mean open in the sense of the clinic being open, although that always helps instead I’m talking about being open to feedback. Patient testimonials are probably the most powerful thing that you can put on your dental website and they are undoubtedly the fastest way to earn trust from potential visitors.
As a top tip, try sending out an email after every new patient visit and ask them what they thought of the service and treatment. Don’t forget to ask them if you can share the results publicly. Even if you only get one answer for every 10 emails you send out, you’ll have built up quite a few great testimonials in no time at all.
So where should you put all your great reviews?
Well, you can place them on a specific testimonials page, or alternatively, and this is probably a better idea, you can have them rotating in a carousel feature on your Home page. This is the first page people generally see, so why not make a great first impression and look build some trust from the start?
Be professional
While you may be professional in what you and your team do, your dental web design needs to reflect that. Avoid anything that looks too gimmicky and opt for a design that looks clean, sophisticated and above all, professional.
Look for a clutter-free design with ample white space. After all, nobody wants to be confronted with a great wall of text! Speaking of text, keep it professional and informative but at the same time, easy to read. In other words, avoid any scientific jargon where possible. Finally, use a subtle colour palette with a maximum of 5 colours – colours like green and blue work particularly well.
So there you have it, 5 dental web design hacks that can help you to stand out from the competition.
If you feel like your dental website needs a revamp or you’ve yet to get round to having a website, then you might want to consider talking to Mediboost. We specialise in digital marketing for the healthcare industry. Give us a call on 1300 163 058 to find out just how we can help you. We make marketing easy!
