An estimated 65% of American adults have seen a dentist in the last year. How can dentists and orthodontists reach the other 35%? The first step is to make it easier to reach them online.
Believe it or not, the quality of your practice, alone, won't attract new patients. You're also going to need to put your website under the microscope to see if it's laying the groundwork.
We're here to tell you why a user friendly website is crucial for your dental practice and what a user friendly website includes.
Read on to learn more about how dental practice website design can make a difference and bring new patients to your office.
What is a user friendly website? First and foremost, it's a website that loads quickly. You may not realize how important speed is to the overall success of your website.
Not only does a fast response time improve your search engine ranking, but it also keeps online visitors happy. In fact, 40% of web users will leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load. If your website is too slow, you're missing out on new patients who were otherwise interested in your services.
If your website hasn't been updated in the past several years, there's a good chance that it's only optimized for desktops and laptops. In the mid-2000s, this was no big deal. In 2022, it means that you're missing out on a lot of online traffic.
Believe it or not, 60% of web searches on performed on a mobile device. If you've done any research on your phone, then you know that a website requires a different layout and navigational process to work well on a smartphone. Keep up with your patients by upgrading your website to work across devices.
When current and potential patients visit your website, they're typically looking for a few specific things: your services, your scheduling options, and your credentials. A user friendly dental website makes it extremely easy to find all of this information in a matter of seconds.
The best way to create seamless navigation is to create an easy-to-follow menu that guides website visitors to each of your important pages. If a potential patient has to dig through your website to find something like your contact page, they're going to become frustrated at best and look for dental services elsewhere at worst.
Chances are, you are hoping to serve a few primary purposes with your website: providing important information about your practice, getting new leads, and securing both new and returning patients. In addition to clear and easy navigation, there are two tools at your disposal to better meet these goals. Those tools are internal links and calls-to-action (aka CTAs).
What are some of the ways that you can use these tools? Use internal links in your blog posts to guide viewers to relevant pages, like your services or contact page. Use CTAs to encourage viewers to take the next step and schedule an appointment in a few easy clicks.
Remember, your website is, above all, part of your marketing strategy. A user friendly website has both gentle and overt persuasion built into it.
Would you see a medical professional that you didn't find trustworthy? Chances are, the answers are a resounding no. When you're working on dental practice website design, it's important to remember that you're making a first impression that will impact whether or not a potential patient considers you trustworthy.
Updated website design that is responsive and intuitive instantly builds trust because it shows that you take your work seriously. A user friendly website will also include what we call "social proof," or evidence that your services are well-regarded by actual people. Putting things like online reviews, video testimonials, and before and after pictures on your website in easy-to-spot places will go a long way toward building trust with your online visitors.
How can you tell if you're in need of a website upgrade? What are the indicators that your dental website isn't as user friendly as it should be? Let's take a look at three tell-tale signs that you're lacking in user friendly website design.
Pull up your competitors' websites as well as your own. Does yours look older than theirs? Is the graphic design or overall layout less modern than it used to be?
Even if your website is technically functional, an outdated look is going to create doubt for your visitors.
We've talked a lot about navigation and that's because easy navigation is crucial. Ask someone who has never visited your website before to find your contact information, credentials, and services. If it takes more than a glance for them to locate these pages, you've got a problem.
If you've accidentally buried important information, it's time to excavate it with an upgrade.
Take a look at your website analytics. Has your traffic stagnated lately? Are you not going a ton of organic traffic or user clicks?
In 2022, you probably have quite a bit of competition. While location and word of mouth still make an impact, your online presence is more important than ever before. If your website isn't getting a lot of traffic, it's time to remedy that.
How can you turn your outdated website and create a user friendly website that will secure more dental patients? The good news is that you don't need to become a website designer overnight.
The Diamond Group is proud to help dentists and orthodontists in their mission to provide more care for the community. Contact us to find out more about how our web design and marketing services can help.