8 Best Practices to Make Your Dental Website More Effective

More and more dental practices are establishing a web presence.  However, too often dentists have a website built without really analyzing what they are trying to accomplish.  For most dental specialists their websites are being looked at by two distinct and very different audiences – patients and other dentists or physicians who are in a position to refer patients.

No matter whom your audience is your dental website should follow the following 8 best practices –

1)      Keep information on your dental website fresh. Merely establishing a web presence and then failing to regularly update its content is a complete waste of your time and money.  Why would anyone continue to use your dental website unless there is something new to read?  As a dental specialist you need to keep adding two types of content – one that interests the patient and another that that makes interesting reading for the referring dentist or physician.

2)      Your dental practice contact information must be easy to find. The name of your dental practice, office address or addresses, telephone number, fax number and email address should appear on each page.  Make it very easy for the website user to contact.

3)      Include directions to your dental office or offices. Providing simple and clear directions makes it easier for the patient to get to your dental office.

4)      Make sure your dental website is relatively fast. Many web developers like to use flash and other gimmicks when they build a website.  However, your dental patients and even some of your referring dentists may still be using dial-up or other slow connections.  There is nothing like a slow website that will cause any user to give up on your dental website and look at another dentist’s.

5)      Make it easy to navigate around your dental website. Your most important web pages should be easy to find.  If a prospective dental patient wants to know about you, your training, what you do, your hours, what insurance you accept and so forth, make it easy.  You are going lose prospective patients and maybe even prospective referrals if your website is not very easy to use.

6)      Keep your dental website error free. It is inexcusable to have broken links, missing graphics or typos.  Errors on your dental website reflect poorly on you.  Would you want to use a dental specialist who has an error filled website?

7)      Validate your website with real users. Have as many people as you can coral test out your site before it goes live.  You can have your dental staff, your spouse, your kids, your friends and maybe even a few fellow dentists try out your new website.  If it confuses them then it is not ready for prime time.

8)      Write for the web. Prospective patients and referring dentists tend not to read on the web in the same manner in which they read a book.  If anything, they tend to scan.  Use numbered or bulleted lists and subheads.  Avoid excessive verbiage.

Think of your dental website as a work in progress.  It will never be perfect or for that matter complete.  In order to stand out from the many other dental websites, it requires regular work.  At the end of the day make sure your webiste reflects the philosophy and quality of your dental practice.