How to Optimize Your Podiatry Clinic’s Website

Your website is your podiatry clinic’s online home.

If the online presence you’ve built doesn’t make a great first impression, potential patients are likely to go elsewhere.

The good news is that by understanding how patients view and interact with your website, you’re able to make the necessary changes. So by taking a proactive approach and optimizing your podiatry clinic website, you’ll gain and retain more patients.

So if you’re ready to create a better experience for your patients to request appointments, pay bills and learn about the service you provide, click to watch the video above or read further to learn podiatry clinic website best practices.

Contents

• The Early Days of Podiatry Clinic Websites
• Websites Have Come A Long Way
• Foundation of Your Clinic’s Online Presence
• The First Impression Your Clinic Makes
• Own Your Podiatry Clinic Website
• Your Clinic Website Is Your Online Hub
• The Patient’s Point of View
• Passive vs. Proactive
• Free Podiatry Clinic Website Checklist

The Early Days of Podiatry Clinic Websites

Websites in the 1990s and early 2000s were designed for desktop computers (yes it was the time before the iPhone). Internet connections were slow and the websites consisted of mostly text information and links.

Most podiatry clinics had a “brochure” style website with shared contact information and paragraphs about the services they provided.

→ Download Now: 6 Clinic Website Tips [Free Guide]

Websites Have Come A Long Way

Because of faster Internet speeds and smartphones in our pockets, today you can do a lot more on the web than reading text-heavy websites. Now high-quality images and videos load quickly and provide opportunities to attract the attention of potential patients. Clinic websites can be built with tools so patients can schedule appointments and pay bills online. 

Not only have these advancements made it more convenient for patients, but a well-built website can eliminate repetitive tasks so clinic staff can focus on creating a superior patient experience in the office.

 Foundation of Your Clinic’s Online Presence

The “if you build it they will come” strategy of building a website has been replaced multi-faceted online approach.

While a website is an essential element of your clinic’s online presence, it’s important to support your online foundation with additional elements to help gain visibility, build trust and communicate with your right-fit patients.

The First Impression Your Clinic Makes

When people jump from Google or another website onto your clinic website, you only have a few seconds to show them that you are a trustworthy, foot and ankle expert who can solve their problems.

I subscribe to the Maya Angelou school of website design, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

The same holds true with a first impression on a podiatry clinic website. If your homepage features a wall of text or stock images, the website visitor will just see you as another foot doctor.

But if you take the opportunity to show authentic photos of you, your staff or you treating your ideal patients, craft a headline for a specific type of patient and show patients how you can help them solve their problems, your message will resonate with the type of patients you want to treat.

Own Your Podiatry Clinic Website

While this might seem like common sense, there are now SAAS (software as a service) and “practice management” solutions that will get your clinic a domain name and build you a website. There’s only one catch. Unless you negotiated it into the contract, once you stop paying for their services, you no longer have a clinic website.

When you own your domain name and website, you have complete control over the content display and have the freedom to work with any provider to build an engaging online experience for your current and future patients.

And while they provide powerful advertising tools and can be a way to show the personality of your clinic, Facebook and other social media channels are primarily “pay to play” these days. You’re lucky if one of your organic Facebook posts is shown to 6% of those who Like your clinic page.

Your Clinic Website is Your Online Hub

Along with owning your website, you want to make sure that every other place on the Internet links to and points back to your podiatry clinic website.

The more time people spend on your website reading about how you can help them and who you are, the more trust you can build that you are the local foot and ankle expert. So whether it’s patient emails, Google Ads campaign, live patient webinars, everything should send people back to your clinic website.

Since you Google Analytics installed, you’ll be able to see what messages and services are resonating with patients in your local area. Instead of getting lost in the Facebook feed or distracted on YouTube, when they are on your website, they’ll have opportunities to make an appointment with you.

The Patient’s Point of View

You spend a ton of time in your practice, so it can be difficult to see your clinic from the vantage point of a patient.

You might first see them when they show up on your clinic schedule, but there’s a whole path that’s leading them to your door. A well-built clinic website is an essential part of the patient journey. A great first impression, providing social proof to build trust and then giving them an opportunity to take action on your website don’t happen by accident. 

Your clinic website can play a big role in taking someone from a stranger that found you via Google to a practice promoter who raves about your care and refers her network of family and friends.

Passive vs. Proactive

I love an 80’s infomercial as much as the next guy, but the “set it and forget it” approach to building a podiatry clinic website doesn’t work in 2021.

Unless you’re in a small and non-competitive market, you need to extend the professionalism and trust you’ve earned in the real world to your online presence. Patients are actively looking and judging who looks trustworthy and is the right-fit provider for them.

A proactive approach with your podiatry clinic website gives potential patients a sneak peek at the level of care they’ll receive from you. If you have a poorly designed, outdated website, they can’t help but assume the same from the care you provide.

Improve Your Clinic Website to Grow Faster

I hope you found this post helpful.

Now here’s a chance to take what you’ve learned and apply it to your podiatry practice. I’ve created a free clinic website guide, so you can see what you’re doing well and where there’s room for improvement.