Healthy Smiles, Stunning Sites: Dental Website Design Best Practices
There are few things more essential to your business than a good website. A company without a website is like a fish without enough water: it can survive but never thrive. And just like a fish needs clean water, your website needs quality design to attract visitors.
Dental websites can give your practice a revenue boost by becoming the first point of engagement for your potential clients. It can even help you stand out from your competition. According to Statista, there were 159,246 active general practice dentists in the US in 2021. This shows fierce competition; a successful website can put your dental care practice ahead of several others.
In this article, we will look at some best practices for designing dental business websites for maximum engagement.
Understanding Your Audience
Understanding your audience is the first step in creating a great dental website design. Who are they? What do they need and want from your practice? Where are they in the services buying process? And how can you reach them through digital channels like social media or search engine optimization (SEO) rankings?
The answers to these questions will help guide how you build your website design plans. For example, suppose most of your patients still get their dentistry information from word-of-mouth recommendations. In that case, it’s important for potential patients who come across your website to easily contact someone who can answer their questions.
Moreover, dental websites with a blog can help educate readers and spread awareness about dental hygiene. This can help attract potential clients to your website for information about dental health. If they find they have any problems by reading about some symptoms mentioned on your website’s blog, they will contact you.
You can then convert them to customers and even encourage them to have timely routine checkups. It will be beneficial for both you and the readers of your website.
Mobile Responsiveness
Let’s face it: more and more people are using mobile devices to access the internet. Whether it’s a smartphone or tablet, you need your site optimized for these devices.
If you have a website that is not responsive, you can use a website builder service like Squarespace or Wix. It won’t cost you much because most website builders offer many options. For instance, Wix’s pricing starts from a free one and goes up to $159.00/month or even more.
Moreover, these website builders also allow you to make your website mobile-friendly with some simple steps. To begin with, they have an automated option to make all your website’s landing pages mobile-friendly. This means a single click can get you started on this journey.
It’s easy to build a website on your own using such builders. However, according to Harris & Ward, every site is different, and a basic one might not greatly help your business. Hence, you should seek help from professional website builders. They will have the knowledge, expertise, and resources to build your site from scratch. However, ensure finding someone with prior experience building websites for dental businesses.
Clean and Intuitive Navigation
Navigation is one of the most important aspects of a dental website. It’s what leads visitors to the content they’re looking for, whether it’s your services or information about dental hygiene. For example, if the visitor wants to schedule an appointment, having a clearly visible chatbot across the website for that purpose is crucial.
It’s also a good idea to ensure your navigation is consistent throughout the site. If someone finds something interesting on one page, they shouldn’t have trouble finding it again if they navigate back through the site.
When designing navigation elements like buttons and menus, remember that users’ eyes are drawn toward contrasting colors and gradients. You can use these principles to highlight certain areas or draw attention where necessary without overwhelming users with too many choices.
Visual Appeal and Branding
Website visitors usually have a short span of attention. They can create an impression about your business within a few seconds after looking at your website. Hence, it is important to create a visually appealing site.
A good logo and color scheme can help your customers remember you. It’s also essential for them to see that your website looks professional and well-designed. You can use high-resolution dental images and videos to ensure visitors remember your website as related to teeth.
Visual appeal can increase engagement on your website. Consider the example of websites like Apple. Every product on the Apple website is listed on a separate page with amazing photos and videos. This engages the viewers and makes them spend more time on the website.
You can do something similar, like adding dental hygiene videos and infographics and creating a beautiful user interface. Also, ensure the website is not cluttered and has enough blank space.
Compelling Content
Content is vital for the success of your dental website. A visitor will come to your site if he or she finds it among the top results on the Google Search Result Pages (SERPs). Content can help you rank high on SERPs so potential customers can find your website.
Here are some tips to create compelling content:
- Use images to break up text. Photos tell a story and can help you capture your visitor’s attention. If you have a lot of text on your page, consider breaking it up with images that illustrate your points.
- Write in a conversational tone. Dental websites need to sound professional but don’t go overboard on formality. Your website’s content should still feel conversational and easily understandable. You can accomplish this by using casual language and friendly tones throughout your copywriting.
- Use video where appropriate. Video is one of the most powerful tools to create an engaging website experience. However, it’s not always necessary or appropriate for every page on every site. They’ll increase engagement rates significantly because everyone loves watching videos over reading paragraphs about procedures or services.
Testimonials and Reviews
Testimonials and reviews are a great way to build trust with potential customers. This is especially true in dentistry because it relates to an individual’s health. If you don’t have a lot of social proof about your services’ quality, people might not trust you enough.
A BrightLocal survey shows that around 98% of people read online reviews for local businesses. The number clearly hints at how big a deal testimonials are for your dental practice.
If you don’t already have testimonials on your website, it’s time to start collecting them! If you have testimonials that aren’t easily accessible, consider moving them closer to where people will find them more useful.
Appointment Scheduling and Contact Information
Contact information should be easy to find on the website. Include email, phone, and address contact information. Also, include a map of the office location and a contact form so people can send you messages directly from your website.
If you have specific appointments or business hours, ensure this information is visible on your site. This will help patients know when they can expect to speak with someone who can assist them in scheduling an appointment.
Security and Compliance
If you are collecting patient information through your dental business website, it is vital to consider security and compliance. Your website should be secure and compliant with regulations. If a customer is going to hand over their personal information, they want to know that it will be secured.
The law also requires this. HIPAA governs all the health information stored on dental sites. The standards are 256 AES bits for storing and TLD 1.2 for transmission. Not complying with such regulations can impact your brand’s reputation, negatively affecting your business.
Conclusion
The point is that dental websites are a powerful tool. They can help you connect with patients and build trust in your practice. But that’s not all; they also have the potential to increase leads and boost sales and referrals. They can do this by providing information about what sets your practice apart from others in their area.
