If your existing dental website is no longer cutting the mustard and you need a revamp, where do you start? After all, great websites offer the perfect combination of responsive website design/development and persuasive content that collectively, drives patient acquisitions. So, if yours is far removed from that, it can be difficult for dentists with little or no experience in web design and development to spearhead such an initiative.
The good news is that if you are attempting to tackle it yourself or get a handle on what you need to do then here are 5 website development ideas you really should follow.
Compare your dental website with a high-quality dental crown. In both cases it’s the part that everybody notices first and therefore needs to represent you in the best possible light. As such, must-have web development features need to include:
User-friendly and intuitive navigation
As common as it is to say, ‘don’t judge a book by its cover’ this really isn’t the case when it comes to dental websites, or indeed any website for that matter. Unfortunately, websites are notorious for being subject to extreme levels of snap judgements and this stands to reason when you consider the multiple search results that get returned every time you type in a query. The sheer amount of choice drives down tolerance for poor or shoddy web development.
The way to go about improving your website design/development is to look at it from a user’s perspective and go through every aspect with a fine tooth comb.
- How slow is the load speed from page to page?
- How easy is it to navigate from one page to another and back to the home page?
- Can you find the information you need pretty quickly?
A good dental website should be…
- Easy to navigate with as few clicks as possible to get you to where you want to go
- Quick to load – Ideally a good web page should load within 1-2 seconds. Stats suggest that a further 2-second delay on this results in 85% abandonment
- Instantly adaptable across all forms of devices – including desktop, tablet and mobile
Limit the number of photos/ images you use
A digital photo album full of before and after smiles may help people relate to your dental practice but ultimately, too many pictures will slow down your load speed. And, as we already know, that’s not great for your bounce rates. Instead, the best website development ideas for dental websites are those that intersperse quality and knowledgeable content with the odd image which collectively helps you to win and retain new patients.
Keep it consistent
When it comes to website development and design, one of the key factors you should take note of is brand consistency. You don’t want your dental website to look like it’s just come straight out of a Jackson Pollock collection.
Instead, try to ensure the same fonts, colours and layout styles are used across all website pages. Ideally, you should be looking to carry those same website design creations throughout all your marketing material. Whether that’s advertising material, business cards or your dental website, consistency is key if you want to build a brand.
Speaking of colours for dental websites, web developers or designers typically utilise hues such as blues, browns and greens which are known to evoke feelings of trust, calmness and warmth. But while you don’t necessarily have to stick with these colours, you might want to avoid jarring or clashing colours.
Ensure any backlinks are all present and correct
If your site has backlinks, a key part of a web development role is to ensure that whatever pages you link out to, they still exist or are relevant. You don’t want your visitors smacking into a 404 error when they click on a link from your site. Nor do you want them to click through to a page that has nothing to do with dentistry. You’d be surprised at how many websites have broken or unsubstantiated links. Unfortunately, problematic links can cause many dental websites to slip down the search engine rankings.
As a top tip, you might want to invest in broken link checking software. This is a tool that many web developers and web designers use to ensure a website continues to run at optimum capability.
Ensure an easy route back home
Talking of links, one of the most fundamental errors that you can make on your dental website is to not have an obvious navigable link back to the home page.
Often a web developer or designer may decide that a simple site logo is sufficient enough to enable users to navigate their way back to the home page. In truth, this only serves to confuse people.
On the contrary, the presence of a text-link leading back to the home page gives easy and precise instruction as to where a visitor needs to go next. Ideally, the link should be on every single page.
Use call tracking
Have you ever logged onto one or more of your competitor’s dental websites and noticed a contact number that changes when you view it on a different device? That’s because it’s probably got call tracking.
Call tracking is one of the best website development ideas for medical and dental practices and one you really should incorporate. Most new patients will check you out online irrespective of how they heard about your dental practice. But unless you ask them directly, you have no way of knowing how many people called as a direct result of looking at your website online. Call tracking gives you that information but also it allows you to tell if calls are being answered promptly and just how effective your team is at engaging potential patients and getting them through the door.
So there you have it, 5 simple but effective website development ideas that will help you to turn your website into a 24-hour marketing machine.
If you would like to find out more about how to revamp your website, then come and talk to the team at Mediboost. We help dental and medical practices to increase their patient footfall using customised marketing techniques that work.
Book a consultation today or call us at 1300 163 058 to see just how we can help.
