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Nearly all patients use some form of technology to educate themselves or coordinate details regarding their health. In fact, research shows that even when referred by other doctors, patients check online reviews and information on a website before contacting the practice.
To attract and treat patients, a website is merely table stakes for practice success.
Unfortunately, the framework for an effective website is not well-understood by most medical practitioners.
A quick search on Google and you’ll likely find advice to include blogs, infographics, videos, and more on your site – but that still sounds more like a grocery list than a strategic approach to patient education and engagement.
So, what type of content should doctors include on their websites for optimization? Good question. Before you answer though, you first need to determine the strategic purpose of your website content and what you want it to do for your business.
The Purpose of Your Website Content for your Medical Practice
Determining what copy, photos, and information you feature on your website start with a solid understanding of the psychology and behavior of the patient.
Patients want to be understood and guided toward solutions so they have experienced a better quality of life. That’s the end goal.
This sounds straightforward – however, this is also in direct opposition to the content you find on many medical practice websites.
Unfortunately, many websites for doctor’s offices fall into the trap of talking all about themselves and their technology, staff, and location – but miss the opportunity to truly speak to the patients. They feature photos of themselves, their logo, and vague statements like “Your health is our purpose” or “Helping you stay healthy”.
Websites like this get compliments from peers because they look nice, yes – but what physician owners and practices want at the end of the day is more patients.
If your website isn’t driving a sizable number of patients into your practice, it’s probably because the site talks about YOU rather than talking to the patient – and there’s little focus on conversion. It’s time to put patient care and wellness front and center if you want your practice to thrive.
The Type of Content you Need to Drive More Patient Appointments
To remedy this and feature content that better connects with patients, we recommend thinking about this in four buckets:
- Understanding the patient’s pain
- Understanding the causes of the pain
- Identifying solutions
- Painting a clear course of action
Let’s go a bit deeper into each of these and how they tie into your website.
1. Content that demonstrates that you understand the patient’s pain.
This type of content needs to be the primary focus of the site, especially on the homepage.
What you say above the fold (the place where the content is cut off and you have to scroll with your mouse) is essentially your first impression. This is your chance to communicate to the patient that you get them, you understand their pain, and they shouldn’t have to live with (insert whatever ailment they’re dealing with).
2. Content that helps the patient understand the various causes for their pain or ailment.
This type of content educates the patient about their condition and helps them understand the root causes for their chronic conditions, pain, or ailment. Many times, patients are self-educated by the health information they find online, so it’s especially important to help them understand how your practice approaches their health and what the truth looks like for their condition.
This may include blog articles, specific sections on a page that offer a piece of insight with an opportunity to go deeper on the topic (like the example above).
You may also patient reviews, consider quizzes, videos, or interviews with the physicians. All of these interactions are also generating positive experiences with the practice long before they pick up the phone to schedule an appointment.
3. Content that walks them through the process to develop a solution.
Once the client can educate themselves, they may need help understanding what the next step is. Do they need a referral from their primary care doc to see you? What if there are some at-home remedies they can try before they visit your office?
Patients with sinus pain, for example, don’t have one single course of action. They could consider several alternatives – and if you don’t help them understand the potential outcomes and implications of each, they talk to another provider who paints a clearer picture for them.
For many patients, finding the right doctor depends on their insurance plan. Navigating the health system can be a challenge for many. Consider adding what health plans, such as Medicare or insurance companies your medical practice accepts.
4. Content that lays out possible solutions and points them toward a plan of action or next step.
Even if a patient is educated about their condition, it can be challenging on some sites to know what to do next! This is why it needs to be clear how to take the next step on every page of your site. The phone number needs to be prominent, as does the “book an appointment online” button.
The content should be chosen based on the patient’s perspective – not the practice showing what they could do!
For example:
An ENT practice may want to feature pictures on their homepage of the latest technology that helps with sinus surgeries. However, what the patient cares about is the ability to breathe better after their procedure. Instead of showcasing the technology or the doctor talking about the procedure, feature a testimonial from a patient who was suffering from an ailment before the procedure and what life is now like afterward.
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Final Tips for Medical Practice Website Content: What Not to Do!
While several articles cover “tips” for your medical practice website, we find it helpful to share some of the no-no’s, or things to avoid. These are often done with good intentions, but if you empathize with the patient and their perspective, they may drive folks away from the practice rather than into the waiting room!
1. Don’t use a medical term library that takes patients off your practice website.
We’ve seen healthcare professionals have the best of intentions in explaining diseases, ailments, procedures, and all sorts of medical conditions – but they link the information to an external source that takes the website visitor away from the practice website altogether. You want to keep visitors on your site (think of them in your “virtual lobby”) and not send them to an external destination. Keeping your search engine rankings high is crucial for not only your SEO but helps new patients find a new doctor.
2. Don’t use pictures of scary-looking medical equipment or huge picture of surgeries or medical procedures.
Again, we know the intentions here are good, but most patients are not medical-minded – they’re thinking about their quality of life. A neat new technology may produce incredible patient outcomes, but it will scare patients if you show just how long the apparatus is that is going to go into their sinus cavities.
If you want to feature photos or illustrations of a procedure, go ahead – just keep in mind how a non-medical professional will interpret it.
The information presented should always help ease the fears of the patient, paint a better future, and move them toward the action of setting an appointment with you.
3. Don’t make it hard to find your contact information
Sounds simple, but in practice, this gets missed all too often.
Your phone number needs to be in the menu at the top and the footer at the bottom (at the very least). Best practices would suggest that you also utilize a tracking phone number in your advertising so you know who’s calling from your website vs a radio ad or Facebook post.
Virtual Care Matters for New Patients
The type of content discussed here will look different for every practice, but if you embrace this framework you’ll be one step closer to engaging patients and converting more appointments on your website overall.
Learn more tips in our library for medical practice marketing guides, videos, and more.