Your website might be getting a lot of traffic but of those visits how many patients are contacting your office to schedule appointments? Scheduling an appointment is considered a conversion on a medical practice website. Search optimization brings patients to your website and conversion optimization helps ensure that they take action such as contacting you by phone or sending a form.
When your medical practice website is optimized for conversions, it offers answers to your visitor’s questions, provides evidence to support those answers, and has a clear call to action for them to contact you.
Think about what questions potential patients have for you. Provide answers to those questions. Support your answers with testimonials and information about credentials your physicians and practice have achieved. Your website visitors will take action or not depending on whether they get the information they need. Visit your site as if it were new to you and ask, “Does this site offer the content I need so I want to make an appointment?”
1. Start Improvements on Your Home Page
Your home page receives more website visitors than any other page on your site. Make sure it is performing its best. Did you know that website heat map data shows that about 73% of website viewers never scroll down to view content beyond the bottom of their screen? Your most important content should be above the bottom of the screen so it won’t be missed. Your “call to action” is probably a link to your appointment contact form and your phone number. Make sure they’re prominent and “above the fold” or bottom of the screen on desktop and mobile devices.
Does your medical practice website feature a slideshow prominently on the home page? This can be a problem since most visitors won’t wait to see more than one slide. Your important information might not be seen if it’s on the second slide. Don’t let your slideshow be a lost opportunity for website navigation.
Don’t hide your glowing patient testimonials on a reviews page. Feature them on your home page and throughout your site for the best effect. Reviews that feature keywords you’re targeting are especially helpful.
2. Put Trust Signals on Your Website
What are trust signals? Trust signals are details that provide proof to visitors. They include facts about your practice. For example, “Trusted by Over 5,000 Patients in Your Community” or “Our Doctors are Board-Certified”. Displaying a certification seal or license information that pertains to your business that links to the certifying entity.
Feature proof of happy patients throughout your site – Testimonials show visitors that patients are pleased with your practice and willing to recommend you. Don’t hide your testimonials on a separate page that most visitors will not visit.
3. Use Descriptive Headlines and Navigation Items
Products, Services, About, Blog, & Contact are generic navigation items that don’t distinguish your site. Try using more descriptive terms like Meet Our Physicians, Skincare Products, Dermatology Care, Skin Health Blog, Make Appointment, Our Location.
By using descriptive navigation labels you increase relevance for visitors and search engines. Headlines that are clear help people to get the information they want faster.
Make your Medical Practice’s Website Standout in Searches
Click to view our simple tips for search engine optimization of medical websites. We would love to talk to you about more ways to market your medical practice.
