Personalising Your Website
Why you need to avoid bland, generic design
There is a good deal of nonsense spoken in the world of dental websites and marketing and trends come and go quite quickly when they are shown to add little value to a dentist’s business.
However, one very positive trend over the last couple of years has been the drive in the UK market towards “personalisation” of websites. So what does this mean and why is it important when it comes to designing high performance websites for dentists?
Engagement
This is another term which is used very regularly in the web design field. In its broadest sense, it refers to how well a website holds a user’s attention and encourages them to make contact with you. So the critical first steps in recruiting a new patient from the web and a key deliverable for a new website. Our data (and numerous independent studies) show that engagement rates are significantly improved where websites are personalised versus where they are bland and generic. Better engagement means a better chance of generating new enquiries; it’s as simple as that.
Personalising your website
This is not rocket science and is fairly self-explanatory. It essentially covers various techniques for delivering the “personal touch” via your web pages which will give your users the confidence they need to join your practice. Here are some of the main methods:
- provide clear, informative content which illustrates how your services can solve the patient’s problems. Whilst it is important to convey your own experience and qualifications, in the first instance the website should be about the patient and not completely about you.
- provide third-party validation of your services. This should include patient testimonials and reviews which demonstrate what is known as “social proof”.
- use bespoke images of the team and support this with video where budget allows. Images work really well when it comes to establishing confidence, but only where they show you, your team and facilities and not some cheesy stock photographs which frankly everyone else uses too. Images and and video also work really well to support “social” proof, so try to incorporate these alongside your patient testimonials and reviews.
- write your text to be patient focused. How many websites have you seen which simply churn out the same style of bland text describing treatments and services? Most of them to be frank. To differentiate yourself and your business, it’s really important to invest time here to convey your personal message and an empathetic overview of your services. Try to illustrate exactly why a potential new patient should join your practice and not the one down the street.
- assuming you have some great facilities, make sure you showcase them. Everyone likes to feel that they are being treated with high-quality, state-of-the-art equipment, so if you have this, then make sure to broadcast it. For example, CEREC technology or the latest scanning systems show that you are investing in your facilities as well as your team.
The other website usability factors are of course very important, so it’s pointless having great personalisation if your pages load like a slug or your navigation is so convoluted that users simply get lost. So ultimately all of these structural factors need to be spot on to form a great base for you content.
Summary
The word “personalisation” is being used quite regularly, particularly in the world of dentists’ websites and it is one of the well-worthwhile design recommendations to pursue. With a little thought and careful crafting of your web content, you can easily stand out amongst the plethora of generic dental sites that are out there.
If you’d like more free advice or to see a range of examples, please call the Dental Media team on 01332 672548 and we’ll be pleased to assist.