Medical Website Design
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
If you’re a doctor or a healthcare provider without a medical website, you’d better consider creating one. According to Doctor.com, 80% of US adults have used the internet to make a healthcare-related search in 2018. Read on.
Why Do I Need A Medical Website?
First, a medical website including contacts and locations allows your prospective patients to find you more easily. Even when they already know about you through referral because it is likely that they will Google you in advance.
Secondly, an appointment booking system on the website to allow your patients to book an appointment 24/7.
Thirdly, folks can find patient reviews and testimonials on your medical website.
Fourthly, you can handle customer service requests via FAQs, an online chat or Facebook Messenger.
Fifthly, nowadays, many healthcare providers have established an online presence. Those without one are considered mickey mouse. Therefore, a medical website allows you to build credibility, corporate image, and brand awareness.
Sixthly, a medical website with the right content can keep your site at the top of search results pages i.e. higher SEO ranking on search engines like Google. Besides, you may share your posts on social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, etc. This can funnel your social media visitors and followers back to your website.
Lastly, a website can tell your audience a lot of information like what service you offer, healthcare provider biographies, and contacts. It can educate, qualify, and convert leads into patients.
What Options Are Available?
Deciding which content management system (CMS) to use to create a medical website is the very first and yet the most critical step. However, there are tons of options available. Below is a summary of the most popular CMS you may use to create a medical website.
- Hosted platforms like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace and WordPress.com where you can find medical website templates
- Self-hosted platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal
World’s Top Medical Websites Use WordPress
WordPress is the world’s leading content management system (CMS) trusted by over 35% of all the website users worldwide. The following are among the top healthcare organizations in the world using WordPress to power their websites.
Barnsley Hospital is a foundation trust and among the leading NHS trusts in the UK. Last year, it cared for more than 61,000 patients in the hospital, saw 268,000 in clinic appointments and treated 78,000 in the emergency department.
The National Health Service (NHS) Leadership Academy is to work with their partners to deliver excellent leadership across the NHS to have a direct impact on patient care in the UK.
The Pitié Salpêtrière University Hospital is a public health organization located in Paris, France and is the leading hospital group in France by its size with 90 buildings spread over 33 hectares and 77 services.
The Quirky Kid Clinic is one of Australia’s leading Child, Adolescent and Family Psychology Clinics.
A WordPress medical website has the following main features.
- Simplicity
- Flexibility
- Publish with Ease
- Publishing Tools
- User Management
- Media Management
- Built-in Comments
- Fully Customizable
- Browser Compatibility
- Multilingual Blogs
- Own Your Data
What Should A Medical Website Have?
First, to serve the aforesaid purposes, a medical website should include the following pages.
- Home
- About the organization
- Physicians and staff with biographies
- Medical services & procedures
- FAQs
- Contact for each location
Secondly, an appointment booking system goes a long way. It allows your patients to book appointments and pay online 24/7.
Thirdly, you may offer a patient portal where patients can download a form to be completed prior to their first visit to reduce check in time and for better preparation, and make payments online.
Fourthly, you may consider using content to market your services. They include blog posts, videos, podcasts, whitepapers, case studies, eBooks, webinars, guides, checklists, and quizzes.
Last but not least, you should also ensure the following in your medical website.
- Good UI/UX in terms of design, colors, fonts, and navigation
- Short and concise calls-to-action that stand out with compelling words
- Website performance optimization
You may even add an online store on your medical website.
Conclusion – The Best Solution
Which is the best solution to create a medical website? If you are just starting up a single-medical-practitioner office, you may try DIY hosted solutions like Wix. If you are looking to modernize your organization with a new website, you may want to scale up your website with customizations and add-on features using WordPress.
