It’s fine and good to make a website; however, having a poorly performing or confusing website can be more harmful than no website at all. In addition, some website designers or business owners mistake their website’s role.
The best websites provide a user-friendly experience to your visitors. In order to discern this, ask yourself:
- What are my customers looking for
- What questions may they have
- How can I provide them
Here are 7 common website mistakes to avoid when designing a website for your healthcare practice.
- 1. Flash
While some may argue that Flash can be a benefit to a website, others believe that the same can be achieved using HTML, CSS and Javascript. Furthermore, websites for healthcare facilities shouldn’t be “flashy,” as it could distract away from the website’s content and away from what your users need.
- 2. Music and/or video on page load
Healthcare websites do not need music or videos to play when a viewer lands on their home page. However, multi-media content (such as videos) can be very useful to your patients if used properly. You should just give your viewers the choice to watch the videos you add to your site.
- 3. De-clutter
The best option for your practice’s website is one that is clear and concise and without clutter. For example, not everything needs to be placed on your practice’s homepage as this can make things hard for your patients to find when/if they need it.
- 4. Make your copy readable
When building your practice’s website, one of the most important things is to ensure your patients can actually read the content that you upload to your website. This is especially true of today’s society where we spend most of our time reading computer screens. Your best bet is to stick with plain black (or grey) text on a white background.
- 5. Avoid having a complex navigation
The worst mistake you can make for your website’s design is to make it too hard to navigate. Nobody is going come to your healthcare practice if s/he cannot find the information s/he needs readily on your site. This especially true of your contact information including:
- Address
- Hours
- Phone number
- 6. Splash page
Many people confuse splash pages with landing pages; however, this is a mistake. Splash pages are used by marketers to advertise websites before they are viewed; whereas, landing pages are used to give more information about a particular topic on a given page. In fact, splash pages are really unnecessary for a healthcare provider. Here’s a page further explaining why splash pages should be avoided.
- 7. Non-relevant content
Only content relevant to your practice should be on your website. This is because non-relevant information could hurt your practice’s reputation. Visitors could become confused by any non-relevant content.
Every good business needs a website – this is no less true for healthcare providers. For assistance designing a patient-friendly website for your practice, help with developing your content or any other various aspects of marketing a healthcare practice online, continue browsing http://www.seomedical.com/ or contact us for more information.