7 Things Your Practice Website Needs to Attract and Retain Patients

Your website is an essential tool for any healthcare provider. Not only can it help patients contact you, but it can also be a resource for patients, demonstrating your expertise. It can also help with scheduling, billing, and more. So if you are looking to do a website refresh, here are some essential things to include on your practice website!

1 | Contact Info, Location, and Hours of Operation

This might seem obvious, but sometimes this info can get buried at the bottom of the web page or on some page hidden within your navigation. Consider placing your phone number, location, and business hours prominently near the top of your home page. People hate to click around and scroll for this info, so placing it right up top will help prevent patients from getting frustrated. 

2 | Showcase Your Services

Let prospective patients know what you provide. You can list this right on your home page, or create a section within your navigation labeled “services” to help potential patients locate this information quickly. 

3 | Staff Page

Even a single-person practice should have an about page that showcases yourself and your training and expertise. For larger practices, include your other staff as well. This helps patients get to know you on a more personal level, helping build a stronger provider-patient relationship. 

4 | Offer Online Appointment Booking

Today’s patients, especially younger generations like Millennials and Gen Z, prefer to have an online appointment booking option. Not to mention that having your office manager or receptionist manually book every single appointment can be very time consuming. Having an online option can not only free up your front desk staff for other tasks, but it provides a level of convenience that patients love. There are a few options out there for online appointment booking, so do your research to learn which service is right for you. 

5 | Offer Online Bill Pay Services

Another way to provide a little convenience, and save on paper and mail costs, is to offer online bill paying services to patients. This can be done through a client portal directly on your website which allows patients to easily pay their bills, access payment history, and view the status of a bill. 

6 | Provide Online Access to Patient Records

Speaking of an online patient portal, allowing patients to securely access their medical records is something you should consider adding to your practice website. Having to constantly handle calls and emails requesting a copy of records can be a big inconvenience for your staff and your patients. Allowing patients to log in on their own time to access what they need means they get what they need when they need it, without having to bog down your staff with extra tasks! 

7 | Design an ADA-Compliant Website 

Finally, ensuring your website is designed to be ADA-compliant is a must. This includes:

• Formatting your site so that it can easily be read by a screen reader, including adding alt text to all images that are descriptive and helpful for those patients with vision impairment. 
• Paying attention to color contrast and color palettes so that patients with low vision or color blindness can easily read your site.
• Providing captions for hard-of-hearing patients for any video content you may share.
• Using graphics and imagery in addition to text to communicate information to accommodate those with reading disabilities. 

Final Thoughts

There are other things you might consider beyond these seven tips, including an FAQ section, optimizing your SEO (search engine optimization), and having an online store where patients can buy items they may need (e.g. electric toothbrush replacement heads, glasses cleaning kits, or other recommended products). But revamping your website isn’t just about making it more user friendly for everyone or offering convenience to patients. It’s about optimizing your website to attract and retain patients, as well as retain your staff! By making your website convenient and a place for patients to get much needed information, you’ll find that your patients are happier and so is your staff!