Tips to help you with your website or blog.

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I have been thinking more and more about web presence and the perceptual effect that a site has on a prospective Patient. The following is a summation of my own thoughts and some of the elements that I have noted on the web.

There is a lot of information out there in relation to business web presence and strategy. From using keywords to optimise your site for search engines, to your actual ongoing strategy for having a web presence. The latter is something that a lot of companies just do not think about in a in depth manner. Simply put, why are you on the web and what is your long term strategy for your web presence.

If you do not think clearly about this question and then utilise your strategy effectively, you are wasting your time. I will come back to this subject and explain further the concepts and practices that pertain to long term web strategy in another post.

The overall goal for your website is to attract and keep visitors. If you have undertaken the hard work to have your page highly ranked in the search engines, or indeed you have undertaken some marketing to increase your web traffic, it makes sense to ensure your visitor stays on your site. These tips may assist you to accomplish that goal.

What are some of the ways you can improve the overall chances that a customer will stay on long enough on your website, to become interested in a consultation or purchase?

• Make your call to action obvious on your home page. There must be a clear and concise call to action on your home page. In the case of our industry it could be  a headline such as “Free Hearing Test Provided”, “Providers of Bespoke Hearing Solutions”. Be sure to include the solutions that you are providing also, however, do not get text heavy, detail the solutions as links. If they want more information they can click through to a more in depth explanation. The place to click needs to be obvious, practically shouting “CLICK ME, CLICK ME”.
• Write great headlines. Attracting readers is a big part of your motivation. But don’t write outrageous headlines that do not match your content. Like traditional advertising, you need to ensure that you are not entering into any false advertising.
• Improve readability. Add white space and ensure you are using fonts that are clear and attractive. Get rid of any clutter, think clean lines. Readers are more likely to stay on a site where it’s easier to see the information that they wish to see. Include clear high res pictures on your pages.
• Have videos on the site. In our industry it is relatively easy to source high quality videos from manufacturers, embed them in your site. Several people within the industry are making their own videos, if you do it, make sure your production quality is high, the content is good, the presenter has a relatively decent screen presence and the finished video is edited and outputted in a relatively high resolution.
• Include Patient testimonials. Ask your Patient’s for testimonials, if you have indeed treated them properly and provided solutions to their problems, they will be happy to provide them. Don’t be embarrassed to ask, a large proportion of your Patients would normally be happy to help you in some way. These testimonials will add authenticity and allow a prospective Patient to begin to trust you and your claims, they also may increase the chances a prospective Patient will look a bit deeper around your site.
• Have a blog page on your site. Ensure the content is good, of interest to the potential customer and well written. Your blog the information provided and the tone it is provided in tends to be more informal, it is where your prospective customer finds out about your knowledge and ability to provide advice.
• Keep the important information above the fold. Users need to see the core of your message without having to scroll down.
• Make it easy to find information. Do not make it difficult to find information on your site. If somebody can not find what they are looking for easily, they will go back to the original search and try another company.
• Have a prominent Search Box. Users need to have an easy way to find just what they are looking for. Make your search box enormous, ensure that any and all permutations of a search entered will lead them to what they are looking for on your site.

Look at your site from a prospective Patients point of view. What do you honestly think of your site and what elements on your site would drive you away?

 WebStory: Keep Blogging!