Allied Health: Questions to consider before redesigning your website
If you’re a healthcare professional, it’s important to know that your website is not just an additional way for patients to find your practice. The internet can also be your marketing platform and sales tool. It’s no secret that businesses are shifting their focus on digital marketing these days, but few of them consider how this impacts those in the allied health industry. In this blog post, we will discuss some questions that should be considered before a website redesign from an allied health perspective.
What is the goal of your practice?
If you’re an independent practitioner, the goal of your website is to provide information about yourself and attract potential patients. If you’re a larger clinic you need to promote all your services, staff and locations.
What services do you provide? Of all these services, which are your top 5 services / could be most profitable?
It’s important to identify your most profitable services and promote them with this focus. For example, if you have a specialisation in rehabilitation or orthopedics, then make sure you highlight this strength on your home page.
It’s also important to know who you are and what type of clinic or service you provide. For example, if your site is for a family clinic in the suburbs that also provide complementary services to your main service. EG. If you’re a physiotherapist and you also provide myotherapy – then promote those services on your home page so patients can quickly find them!
Do you have a vision or mission statement? Do you have a core set of values or principles for your brand?
If you do, then make sure they are clearly displayed on your site. This information is great for the about us page.
If you don’t then consider the following: Why do you do what you do? Who do you serve and what image do you want to portray?
Then when it comes to practice brand (logo) you would want to consider; what are you or your practice is well known for and what message do you want to communicate.
Do any of your target audience have misconceptions about you, and if so, what are they?
How can these be addressed in ways on the website that visitors will notice immediately upon arrival?
Do any of your target audience know anything about you or what you do? If you want to target a specific demographic, is there an age range or gender that your site should be designed for? What are the benefits that come from doing business with you and how can these be highlighted on your site?
What makes you unique/different from your competitors?
What are the top three things you want visitors to know about your company that you feel is different to your competitor? What should be their first impression when they visit your website? How can these impressions align with what prospective clients/patients are looking for in a medical provider, and how does that relate back to who you’re trying to reach on social media platforms as well.
Conclusion
You need to identify what your practice offers that is different from the competition. What can potential patients expect when they visit your website?
Once you have these questions answered, it will be easier for you to design a new site that will make the most of its intended audience.
A good way to get started with a website redesign or coming up with ideas for a new site altogether would be brainstorming and mapping out all routes people could take in order to find what they’re looking for on your website – also known as “site map.” A site map lists various pages and their corresponding links on one page so visitors can quickly scroll through and see where everything is at. It’s an easy way not only to plan how users will navigate around your site but also to help you understand what content is required for the site.
We have put together a PDF list of questions for you to help with this process.
If you’re looking for professional help to brainstorm ideas our SEO package kicks off with a strategy session that covers all these questions in great detail. All we need is an hour of your time!
