Today’s patients depend on healthcare websites for everything right from checking symptoms to remote consultation, locating nearby healthcare providers, scheduling appointments and paying bills. To meet the patient needs, it is essential for all healthcare organizations to build a solid web presence. Good medical website design plays a major role in providing a great user experience and enables patients to easily communicate with their physicians. It is important for hospitals to follow a set of web design standards like – easy navigation, present the most commonly accessed information and files (from a central location) and ensure full accessibility on mobile devices.
With changing times when people embrace new conditions created by the global COVID-19 pandemic, patients are increasingly depending on the internet to locate healthcare providers and avail services. Right from symptoms checking, remote consultation, to locating nearby healthcare providers, scheduling appointments and paying bills – patients are depending on healthcare websites. Therefore, building a solid web presence is essential for all healthcare organizations. A good medical website design plays a significant role in providing a great user experience. In fact, it is the first point of contact between a patient and a healthcare practice. A good medical website design provides a good user experience, and enables patients to easily communicate with their physicians.
Creating a responsive website design for a healthcare facility can be challenging. This is primarily because hospitals often have a large amount of information to present on their website, and struggle to do so in such a way that does not confuse or overwhelm their visitors. In other cases, many hospital websites were created several years ago and hence no longer conform to the present-day design standards, making them quite incompatible or complex to browse on mobile devices and smartphones. Medical website design services offered by reputable firms can help create innovative designs with unique content that help a healthcare practice improve their online visibility.
Why Do Hospitals Need Web Design Standards?
Each industry has its own set of web design standards and in most cases they are very similar. However, hospitals must be mindful of the fact that a large majority of people visiting their website must be experiencing an emergency or will need to find information very quickly prior to a visit. For this reason, it is important for hospitals to follow a set of web design standards like – easy navigation, present the most commonly accessed information and files (from a central location) and ensure full accessibility on mobile devices. When planning for website design for hospitals, it is important to keep these points in mind. Without these standards, the healthcare website may not be able to quickly and accurately serve those people who are in emergency situations, which may in turn lead to them visiting another healthcare provider.
Designing a Medical Website – Tips to Consider
A medical website is the first point of contact between a patient and a healthcare practice. The first impression that this encounter imparts can create a long-lasting impact on patients and build brand reputation and profitability in the long run. Here discussed are some of the top medical website design tips that may help improve patient experience and encourage visitors to spend more time on your website –
Invest in Data Visualization – A unique concept that many organizations in healthcare and other industry have started adopting, data visualization can help patients make sense of their health. In the healthcare industry, the data visualization concept shows user’s complex information in easily digestible format so that they can quickly make sense of it without any assistance.
Simple and Clear Navigation – Navigation is one of the crucial aspects of medical website design. As most users browsing a healthcare website will be searching for information in a hurry, website navigation needs to be easy. Clear navigation will keep visitors engaged with the content and encourage them to spend more time on the website. This in turn can lower bounce rates and send positive signals to Google, which can boost search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. On the other hand, if it does not meet the required criteria, visitors are more likely to leave a website to find a similar site and thus go to a different healthcare practice. Preferably, a medical website must have a menu of about 5-6 “top-level” items that sit at the top of the homepage. When the visitor hovers over each item, the menu can then expand to show additional “sub level” items, all of which can be clicked for additional information. For instance, a medical website design may include items like “Visitors,” “Patients,” “Services,” “Staff,” and “Forms.” When hovering over “Patients,” the menu would expand to show choices like “Forms for New Patients,” “Inpatient Procedures,” “Emergency Information,” and so on. This keeps the menu concise and the homepage clean, but offers a logical organization that can be followed by any visitor.
Source link – https://www.nicklauschildrens.org/medical-services
Responsive and Mobile-Friendly Design – Website design for hospital and medical organizations should conform to mobile-friendly standards. Responsive design is a nearly future-proof form of web design that allows a website to dynamically adjust its display properly on all browsers and devices of all shapes and sizes. It keeps patients and their families who often use their mobile phones in a hurry, from having to scroll and pinch-zoom to find a hospital’s phone number or address. Investing in a mobile-friendly design ensures that the healthcare website provides a consistent experience to all visitors (both now and in the future), no matter what devices are released.
Create Personal User Areas – To make the medical or pharmaceutical directory more customer-focused, develop personal user areas. Developing personal user accounts helps patients schedule appointments, contact a physician or check test results. By creating user areas, a healthcare practice is adding more convenience to their site scanning. For instance, the “MyChart platform” designed by the Children’s Hospital Colorado allows people to sign up by only requesting an access code and entering a few personal details.
Source link – https://mychart.childrenscolorado.org/MyChart/accesscheck.asp
Share Valuable Content – Creating and sharing valuable content to the patient base is a cost-effective opportunity that takes a healthcare website to the next level ahead of the competition. While this will encourage existing patients to regularly visit the website, it will also inspire first-time visitors to click through to other content on the website. If the visitors are likely to find that their medical needs match the healthcare practice level of expertise, they are more likely to schedule an appointment or reach out to learn more. Consider sharing valuable content in the form of regular blog posts and articles, Q&A sections, infographics and patient reviews – as this will serve as a solid foundation for their content marketing strategy.
Include Strong Imagery – Including strong visual content can help convert a medical website design from plain to engaging. In fact, content with effective imagery consistently outperforms text-heavy pages in terms of views and shares. In case of a medical website design, featuring high-quality and original images and videos them to showcase the quality of products and services that they provide, so that prospective patients can determine if the offerings align with their specific needs. Make sure that the images are up-to-par, serve the overall goals, and capable of converting visitors into patients. In addition, share images of physicians so that patients know in advance whom they are booking an appointment with.
Clear Working Hours, Location, and Contact Information – Place your operating hours (for specific departments or offices), full address, phone number, email addresses, and any other contact information on your website. In fact, this information needs to accessible via the home page in a “Contact Us” link in the menu and perhaps sitewide footer. By making these easily accessible and clear, it is ensured that those patients who are accessing a website in the event of an emergency can directly locate the hospital without searching around with the menu or additional pages to find the phone number or any other information. However, it is important to make sure that the contact information is the same across all areas like Google+ listings, social media pages, and even different pages on the original website.
Choose Stylish Designs – Nowadays, patients prefer medical websites with sleek and stylish designs. to create a compelling website design for a medical clinic, choose modern designs that take minimum time to load and have unique color schemes that enhance the patient experience.
Showcase Brand Message – Usually, people visiting a medical website are busy, which means they may not have time to search too in-depth or may give up quickly if the information they need isn’t immediately available. Your medical website design must clearly convey your brand story, what kinds of services you offer and define what makes your healthcare practice unique from competitors in that specific area. Start by making it immediately apparent which specific medical areas that a hospital is specialized, type of services offered, and type of patients treated. This will make people feel more confident in choosing your healthcare practice for their medical procedures.
A medical website customized for a specific specialty and services is important to make your healthcare business visible to potential and existing patients. As the patient inflow increases, the competition among healthcare providers will also increase. To stand out and obtain dominance among other competitors, create a stylish and unique medical website design with valuable content. A reputable medical website design company can help create an aesthetically appealing website with relevant content. This will help increase search engine rankings and the patient acquisition rate dramatically.
An experienced hand in medical website design and SEO, MedResponsive has proudly announced the launch of the redesigned website for MOS Medical Record Reviews.
A service by Managed Outsource Solutions, MOS Medical Record Reviews is experienced in providing medical review solutions for diverse clients including the legal community, insurance companies, physicians, and private corporations among others.
Here’s what our team did to redesign this client website.
Made the Site Responsive with WordPress
Though this client’s old site was responsive, it was a static HTML site. So our team designed this new one responsive built with WordPress. Unlike HTML website, WordPress will let the users to access all the underlying code to the site, making code-free content management easy.
WordPress allows creating a simple website structure for users and most WordPress templates include a homepage with a navigation bar that links to the various pages on the website. Its layout also makes it easy for a website user to look for what they need and click through to the page.
Drastic Changes in Home Page
Compared to the old site, major changes were done in the home page.
With new page layouts, all the main services provided have been highlighted in the home page.
The home page also highlights MOS’ expertise in serving diverse legal entities as well as their clients.
Client success stories are also highlighted. Under Success Stories, website visitors can see how diverse legal clients are benefiting from the reliable medical record review services MOS provides.
Improved Navigation
A lightweight theme was created, as that can improve navigation and page speed for this website.
Engaging website layout and user-friendly navigation structure will help readers find what they want in the website without spending much time.
This new website also offers a variety of enhancements including secure browsing (HTTPS) and improvements to speed and design.
Social Media Icons
Our web designers placed social media icons on the header and footer to improve online visibility. An Instagram feed was also embedded in the home page which will be updated with recent images. This will expand our client’s social media reach.
New Sitemap
The newly redesigned sitemap has drastically improved user experience. This sitemap also organizes the site, helping users and search engine crawlers to find pages not accessible through links on other web pages.
Case Studies Section
We have added clear case study pages, which will instill more trust regarding our solutions in our potential clients. Case studies also help users meet our past clients, learn their issues and the solutions provided.
Quick Contact Form
Along with a dedicated Contact Us page, a quick contact form was added for the readers to reach the company as soon as possible.
Podcast Section
A podcast page was added, which includes a series of informative podcasts from MOS’ management team. Podcasting allows the company to communicate with their captive audience, and thereby establish authority in the medical review industry.
Reworked Old Pages with Fresh Content
Each page was reworked by our copywriters to include information-rich content with clear visual cues and graphics. The content is written in plain language, which is easier to understand and evaluate.
Our development team has tested the site’s browser compatibility and device compatibility. Website readers can also benefit from customized Content Management System, user-friendly pages and social media integration. Along with medical website design services, we are also providing MOS with medical SEO solutions that can highlight their website in the major search engines.
From locating the nearest doctors and healthcare providers to scheduling appointments and paying bills online, patients are increasingly turning to the internet to find their healthcare providers and interact with them. Therefore, a solid web presence is essential for all healthcare organizations. A good medical website design provides a good user experience, and enables patients to easily communicate with their physicians. A medical website customized according to your specialty and services is important to make your healthcare business visible to potential and existing patients. It is also important to build and manage your website adhering to the best practice guidelines.
Mark Brinker, the
president of Mark Brinker & Associates, studied 1,100 medical websites.
After analyzing all the websites he found that:
Many healthcare businesses are doing well with
their websites. They have a modern website design standard that provides
excellent user experience to potential patients.
There were many bad medical websites also that
were difficult to understand or use.
From Mark
Brinker’s analysis, the following are some of the mistakes one should be
careful to avoid while developing a medical website.
Using outdated
design: Outdated design elements such as using unpleasant colours,
cluttered pages with insufficient white space, pages with excessive white
space, non-proportionate web pages, unconventional page layouts etc are a big
turn-off for potential patients. Such outdated designs create the impression
that web owners are not concerned about having a good website or providing
excellent user experience to visiting healthcare consumers.
Websites that are
not mobile-friendly: Today, having a responsive website has
become a necessity for almost all healthcare organizations as more number of
people use mobiles to go online. Mobile-friendly websites went mainstream
around 2013-2014, and in late 2016, web visits from mobile and tablet
traffic surpassed desktop web visits for the first time. Websites
that are not mobile friendly are likely to experience reduced visitor traffic
and conversions. Moreover, Google also prefers mobile-friendly web designs.
Use of wrong
fonts: Make sure that the font size and style are modern throughout the
website. Do not use fonts such as Comic Sans on your website as it looks very
informal and inappropriate. Font size is also important for a website. The
common size of the font is 16 to 20 pixels, some websites use 11 to 12 pixels
but it is very small.
Not using HTTPs
protocol: No matter whether you are selling things online or not, it is
important to have a secure website. Pages that are secure can be identified easily
because they appear with a padlock sign in the web browser. In late 2017, Google Chrome
browser started showing a non-secure error for simple contact forms and search
fields on sites not using the HTTPS protocol.
Bad choice of imagery: Being creative on your website is important. Sometimes websites use low quality pictures or may use wrong pictures of the messages you are trying to convey. Some websites use the same stock imagery with the same models that you have seen so many times before. It is ok to use stock imagery but using high quality images is important.
Unintelligible messaging: From the analysis, many websites do not exactly mention the doctor or the kind of service they provide. Today, potential patients look for quick information and they do not have the time for speculation. So, it is important to ensure that there is clarity about the doctors and services a medical organization offers through their website. It enables easy communication between the potential patients and the medical organization.
Poor loading time: Just like responsiveness of the website, quick loading of web page is also important. The website should load in 3 seconds or less, be it desktop, mobile phones or laptops. Pages that take longer to load could result in rising bounce rate. Three common reasons for poor loading speed are cheap web hosting, bloated code and non-optimized images.
Starting below
the fold: Your ad copy should always be above the fold to ensure maximum
click-through rate. The click-through yield on ads below the fold is lower.
Using Adobe Flash
videos or animations: Adobe
Flash has been in the market for a long time. In 2015, Apple announced that
they no longer use Adobe Flash and the significance of Adobe Flash is dying
gradually.
Do not stuff
keywords: Stuffing keywords is one of the most common reasons for Google
to penalize your website. Google is well aware of this technique and it
devalues the website.
Old copyright
date: There are many websites with old copyright date. There are many
websites with copyright dates of 2009, 2010 etc and this makes you wonder
whether the business is still running or not. So, don’t give your visitors a reason to doubt you. Make
sure your website shows the current year in the footer.
Excessive
animation: Here the animation refers to CSS style (cascading style
sheets). CSS animation allows you to
create motion and transition effects on your website to jazz it up a little
bit. But sometimes websites overuse CSS animation and this weakens the overall
image of the website. The right balance of information and CSS animation is the
ideal combination.
Not informing new
patients what to expect: Any new experience, especially going to a
new doctor, can be very stressful. It’s even more stressful if you’re having a
specialized procedure done like eye surgery or a colonoscopy. In such
situations patients will have several questions. So an FAQ page is highly
useful in such instances. You can also post small videos that explain possible
doubts and concerns of users.
Not addressing
insurance and financial policies: Patients are bound to have questions
about insurance coverage and financial policies but many medical websites ignore
or avoid this topic.
No case studies
or testimonials: None of us want to make a bad decision, so we
depend on the feedback of others that took the plunge before us. But many
websites lack patient testimonials or case studies. Medical websites need
testimonials just like non-medical websites so that the patients can get enough
reviews about the doctors and the services provided. Therefore, you should
ideally have testimonials and reviews provided by your earlier patients to help
enhance your credibility and reliability.
As the patient inflow increases, the competition among medical service providers will also rise. To stand out and obtain dominance among other competitors, customized medical website designwith unique content is indispensable .
The visual design of a healthcare website is very important because that is the first thing that grabs the attention of your targeted audience. This makes healthcare website design highly relevant. While search engine and social media optimization are important, you need to start with a great website design because it can have a considerable impact on your conversion rates. Researchers at Stanford University found that 46.1% of people consider a website’s design as the top criteria for deciding whether a company is credible or not. An aesthetically appealing website can help with conversion rate optimization because people naturally gravitate towards something that is beautifully designed.
A well-planned medical website design creates a good first impression among the users and this attracts more users to the website. Web design can have a powerful impact on buyers and their choices. Studies show that product assessment takes about 90 seconds. The first impressions are about 94 percent design related. How can you ensure an attractive website design while also making sure it is fully functional? Here are some important factors to consider.
Ease of use: Ensure that your website is user friendly and has an appealing layout which makes the user want to engage with the page. It should be easy to navigate so that users can explore and understand the website easily. Choose a simple but intuitive navigation that can make visitors come back for more.
Simple home page design: This will make the audience comfortable. It is best to offer fewer products/services on your home page with more text explaining a particular topic.
Color and white space: Often, color is not given due importance in website design but according to designer Tom Kenny, color can play a very important role in usability as well as convey the overall meaning of a brand as well as the overall mood of the website. Choose a color palette of your preference, but there are a few things to consider. It is best not to use more than 5 colors. The ideal number of colors to use is 4. Red and green are the colors that those with color blindness of deficiency struggle with the most. If your target audiences are women then focus on blue, purple and green and for men choose blue, green and black. Do not use brown or orange since these are considered least effective. Health industries could use calming colors and smart use of white space or negative space. Without white space your website would be virtually unreadable. White/negative space is the space between the larger elements on your page (e.g. between your header and your content; between sidebar and content) as well as that between all the smaller elements on the page such as the space between paragraphs, between lines of text, and the space between letters. Smart use of white space ensures that everything on your site is legible, scannable and easy on the eyes. All this will help increase conversions.
Clear UVP: You should have a unique value proposition (UVP) and your website should communicate this. To arrive at your UVP, you should know which treatments/products/services you excel in and how you stand apart from your competitors. When you have identified your core strengths, you can whet your website’s messaging to reveal your uniqueness. If your UVP is not apparent to your website visitors, make it clear forth right why they should choose your brand. A good value proposition should explain how your product/service can solve a healthcare customer’s problems; what unique benefits the product or service will deliver; and why they should choose you over your competitors. Make sure that you explain your UVP on your landing pages.
Video content: Videos can dramatically increase conversions. Videos can be incorporated into your home page design to introduce your hospital/healthcare organization before a user starts navigation. You can use videos to show a prospective patient around your facility, introduce your doctors, and highlight your value points. Videos can help showcase your research expertise and innovative treatment approaches. Video testimonials of patients can have a positive impact because they are authentic, more engaging and more powerful than written testimonials.
Virtual chats: People now prefer quick online chats while browsing the website instead of picking up the phone or dealing with an option menu. Live chat tools can be used to address any questions your website visitors may have. Since live chats generate an immediate response, they are much more preferable than a contact form. Live chat tools can also be used to gather email addresses.
Headlines: The headline should be such that it should address any concern related to your potential customers or patients. Headlines should be creative, bold and captivating. Consider using bold fonts and ensure that your headline is persuasive.
Stick to minimum information from customers: Customers may not want to give you their city, state, last name or any other information in exchange for a free download, so keep it short. Start with minimum details like name, email and zip code. If you are using a captcha test, you could try turning it off and see if there is a difference in response rate. However, when you turn off the captcha test, it shouldn’t increase your spam.
Free offers: Providing free offers helps to attract more targeted audience to your website. Clearly explain howyou can meet the needs of potential patients and address their concerns.
Trust symbols or badges: Badges as design elements can boost your credibility. Badges from Yelp and PayPal’s certification logo are two examples of trust symbols. You may also have a security seal or any other industry related symbol to share. For example, badges provided by McAfee prove that you have an encrypted link between your website and your visitor’s browser. It means that all information sent through your landing page forms is secure.Testimonials from customers also serve to establish your good reputation and credibility.
Perform A/B Testing
A/B testing helps you to find out what works best for your website. Here is what you can test.
Change the text in your call to action buttons and see if there is a change in response rates. You could also try changing the color of the call to action buttons.
Test different headlines on your landing pages that experience heavy traffic. You could see a dramatic increase in traffic and conversion rate by testing out different headlines.
Replace stock images across your website with photos of your business or employees.
When testing, make only one change at a time. Study your website traffic, wait for a few weeks before analyzing the data and deciding whether to make that change permanent or retain the earlier layout.
Users judge websites within a few seconds of arriving on the website. So make sure that your website is not confusing or cluttered. Healthcare website design requires more creative thinking and innovation. Only such an approach can ensure a fresh and dynamic website that can attract the targeted consumers. Color, attractive typography, and smart use of white space can make a website alive, vibrant and unique. To ensure a healthcare website that conveys your professionalism and state-of-the-art technology, consider partnering with a Long Island SEO company that offers dedicated website design services. Apart from implementing the necessary changes, they will constantly evaluate your website’s performance and work towards increasing your leads and conversions.
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