Optometric Websites: How To Boost Your Practice With A Web Site

Designing optometric websites presents certain challenges. Having a website can be an instant boost to your practice, but only if it's done well. A minimal website is better than no website, but if you're looking to really increase your customer base with your website, here are a few tips to make your website go the extra mile:

Usability First. Keep your website as user-friendly as possible. It's especially important for optometric websites to follow usability standards since many potential site visitors may have varying degrees of vision impairment. In general, providing a user-friendly experience reinforces the positive feelings that patients will have about your practice.

Don't Overlook the Obvious. It sounds simple, but some new websites (and even some established ones) leave out crucial information, like hours, directions and services. Make sure you're including everything that you'd expect to find if you were a patient. Solicit feedback before your website goes live, and on an ongoing basis, to make sure that you're not missing anything.

Build Trust. Be sure to include some general "about" information: the history of the practice and brief biographies of key staff is a good place to start. Help your patients feel like they know you and can trust you, and your website will be doing its job.

Publicize Your Site. Get the word out to people who don't already know about you. Pay attention to search engine optimization when you build your site so that you have a chance of appearing when someone searches for "YourTown Optometrist" in Google or Yahoo. Sign up with Yahoo Local and Google Maps. Let patients know that they can review you at online business review sites--there's nothing as effective as the testimonial of a satisfied customer to send business your way. Consider buying some pay-per-click advertising to drive non-organic traffic to your site. You can easily determine which ads are cost-effective and focus your efforts on those.

Give Them a Reason to Visit. Be sure your patients know about your website and that they have a reason to visit it. Include special offers, an opt-in newsletter, and other services that people will appreciate. Unlike paper coupons, which can get misplaced, your website offers a cost-effective way for customers to receive your promotional offers--at no extra cost to you.

Offer Extras. What would your client base benefit from? Consider the inclusion of interactive features--a glasses suggestion tool, real-time online scheduling, or other assets that would set your site apart. Get creative, and you might be surprised at the results. Again, test these features before relying on them when they're live.

Most doctors use less than 20% of the potential of their website for gaining new patients. A great looking website is only one part of getting patients from the internet. Are you getting as many patients as you can from yours? You may find the free expert guide, '7 Mistakes Doctors Make When Getting Their Website Done', a valuable resource.