Basic Tips for Medical Web Design

Make sure your medical website design looks professional and is visually pleasing to your visitors.  Use neat layouts, uniformed navigation and keep your text in colors and sizes that are easy to read and in a web friendly font.

Make sure the website displays and behaves properly on all major web browsers in various versions:  Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Google Chrome and Safari.

Be sure to optimize each page with include page titles and headings, use bullet points and shorter sentences when possible and include relevant keywords on all pages.

Do not auto-play music or videos.  Users overwhelmingly prefer to start these actions on their own.  If they are forced on them, more often than not, they will leave your site.

Be sure content for your medical website is relevant to what you do and include lay-friendly patient education on your services and treatments.  Double and triple check spelling and grammar.

Be sure that the contact phone number is in the header of all pages on the website.  If you have multiple practice locations, each with a different phone number, have a clear ‘Contact Us’ section that is accessible from any page.  Have a clear call to action for Appointment Requests on your pages.

Don’t overload the pages with heavy graphics and videos.  They may cause some user’s browsers to operate slowly or crash.

Always remember the obvious.  Include office hours, information on after hours contact, and insurance information.  If your website features downloadable forms, make sure that they can be opened from any platform.

Where possible, offer online appointment requests.  This insures that you capture those that visit your site during your off hours, at nights and on weekends.  If you are closed they can’t call, but if there is a form to complete, they will use it.

Be sure that all hyperlinks (both internal and external) are clearly visible and that they function correctly.

Add a mobile version of your medical website.  The latest statistics tell us that 1/3 of internet traffic is now done on a mobile device.  It is important to offer those visitors a version of your site that works within the phone, fits the phone screen and allows for easy tapping of phone numbers and maps.  Also be sure you use code that detects when a visitor is coming to your site from a phone and automatically directs them to that version.