Oxford, Mar 10, 2019 (Issuewire.com) - According to a study conducted by Yext on how people search for physicians, they found that 76.3% of patients search for individual doctors (or surgeons), while only 29.9% search for facilities. So it is in the best interest for the doctor to be able to be found online, not simply relying on the facility they work through.
People want a doctor that makes them feel like they are being taken care of and are in good hands. A doctor that cares about their individual needs...someone personable yet credible. And credibility matters. According to a web credibility study from Stanford, 75% of visitors make judgement calls on a company's credibility based on the website's design. And your design needs to make the right impression fast, as it takes a visitor only 50 milliseconds to form a first impression of your website. The crucial take from this is, if your website doesn't look credible, your visitors won't think you are credible. And in the healthcare arena, nothing is more important than your credibility.
Here are some solid tips for surgeons and doctors looking to bolster their online image through their own website.
1. Answer Questions, Stop Healthcare Misinformation & Save Time
In this digital age healthcare misinformation is on the rise. From the European Journal of Clinical Investigation:
Currently, there are nearly approximately 17 million articles in PubMed ...1. Popular media also abound with medical stories and advice for patients. Unfortunately, much of this information is unreliable or of uncertain reliability. Most clinical trials results may be misleading or not useful for patients 2, 3. Most guidelines (which many clinicians rely on to guide treatment decisions) do not fully acknowledge the poor quality of the data on which they are based 4. Most medical stories in mass media do not meet criteria for accuracy 5, and many stories exaggerate benefit and minimise harms.
When you are creating a surgical or practice website, take the time to showcase your specialities and go into detail about them. Provide as much accurate information as possible. By doing this it achieves a few things:
1. It answers your patients questions in a reliable manner - they haven't gone and gotten bad information from another website.
2. It shows that you are an expert in your field, thus bolstering your credibility.
3. As an added bonus, if you have answered your patients question online, they are much less likely to contact you via phone or email saving you and your staff valuable time.
2. Let Your Personality Shine Through
As mentioned before, people want a doctor that is personable and they can relate to. Dr. Faye Mellington, an eye surgeon in the UK, is incredibly knowledgeable about her profession and also had a very welcoming demeanor. For her website to be effective it was essential to get that across on her website, so that when people visit it, they get a sense of who she is as a person and when they meet her, this translates. The web design company in Oxford achieved this through the use of smiling imagery, welcoming font choices and created the strapline 'happy eyes are healthy eyes'.
3. Showcase Your Specialities
If you are a doctor or a surgeon in a specific field you need to showcase what areas where you excel. If you have accolades or are regarded as the top in that specific field, even better. Do not shy away from talking about this on your website. Make sure it is clear to anyone reading that you are in fact the best. This is not braggadocious, it is merely another way to show your visitors and potential patients why they should trust you as their doctor or surgeon.
A good example of this is on Dr. Mario Petrou's website. He is a cardiac surgeon who is one of the top authorities in the UK on Marfan Syndrome surgeries. And while Dr. Petrou is pretty much an expert in all things cardiac surgery, it is the Marfan Syndrome surgeries that has him standing out amongst his peers. Crafting the language on any website is an art, and making sure that the tone comes across correctly. Dr. Petrou talks about being 'an authority' in a way that comes across as trustworthy and credible without sounding ostentatious. If you aren't a writer, find a higher end web design studio, they will have staff available to assist you in crafting the perfect language for your website.
4. Credibility & Image
We're starting this again...75% of visitors make judgement calls on a company's credibility based on the website's design. If you are a doctor, and your web designers have used a template, loads slowly or is just plain looks bad, it will not impress, and your visitors will equate the bad design with your abilities.
That being said, when a website is done correctly, it will impress, and give your visitors a sense of your credibility. This does not only help drive business but also has an impact on your overall image within the healthcare community. Your website is not only a resource for your patients and potential patients but for the healthcare community as a whole. A website is an investment in your business and your image, and as such, you should work with a web design company that has the experience to make you look and sound your best online.
At the end of the day, everyone wants the best doctor or surgeon available. If you are a doctor/surgeon looking to make a splash online, when it comes to web design, just like doctors, you get what you pay for. Make sure you work with a web design Oxford agency that will put you in the best possible light, and you will reap the rewards that the internet has to offer.
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01865 582777
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Source :Rare Form New Media
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