7 Features Your Healthcare Website Needs – Stat!

A website is like a spine—it provides the framework to properly hold up your content and messaging. A good website attracts leads to your company, provides the information they are looking for and offers them ways to further engage with you. Like the human spine, though, your website needs constant attention and exercising to keep your brand from aging prematurely.

Gone are the days when websites are built and then sit static for years at a time. Today’s digital world is fast-paced, and exciting new changes in design and web programming crop up every day. Many experts say that websites should be redesigned every 12 to 24 months.

Your website should be constantly evolving to meet your healthcare company’s needs and goals. And to ensure proper posture, here are 7 features your healthcare website needs. STAT!

1. Responsive Design

Your potential customers most likely have a smartphone or tablet, or both. Our research at Pyxl shows that leads often view a website from multiple devices, depending on what time of day it is. There’s also the key factor that Google now prioritizes mobile-friendly websites in search results. If your website isn’t responsive, you’re missing out on reaching a large part of your audience.

For a more in-depth look at responsive design for healthcare, take a look at our recent blog post, “The Case for a Responsive Website in Healthcare.”

2. Quality Content

What questions can you answer with your unique perspective? What problems can your products or services solve? Keep those questions in mind as you write content for your site. Build your content strategy around answering real questions for real people. Your website visitors (and Google) will thank you for it.

3. Calls-to-Action

Now that you’ve created quality content, make sure you call attention to it. Think about how users interact with your content and what material is top-of-the-funnel versus what material is most likely to close leads in the final decision stage. Then, design calls-to-action that will entice leads to click to see more. Use these calls-to-action to funnel leads to premium content, gently guiding them along their individual buying journey and providing them with valuable information.

4. Quality Photos & Graphics

If you really want to set your website apart from the competitors, make sure to include high quality photos and graphics that are unique to your organization. These design elements will give your healthcare website personality. Ditch the stock photography wherever possible and incorporate custom designed elements.

5. Videos

Videos are one of the most consumed types of content online today and yet, most healthcare companies aren’t utilizing them to their full capability. Think about how you can incorporate video naturally into your site. Motion graphics are a great way to illustrate complex ideas or processes. Weekly Q&A or fact videos are a great way to keep people coming back to your site, and can be especially effective in the healthcare field since patients are looking for answers from medical professionals. Just remember, keep your videos short and to the point. Most people want to spend less than 2 minutes watching a video, so be sure to get your key message out there early on in the video.

6. Social Links

While your website allows you to offer in-depth content to leads, your social sites are where you can post a bit more informally and interact with customers and potential leads. Nowadays, your social media status is a key factor in your online authority, both in terms of how Google ranks your website as well as how the consumer perceives your brand. Be sure to include links to all of your active social media platforms on your website.

7. Frequent Updates

Healthcare is an exciting field to be in because new research and innovative procedures are happening every day. Whether you are directly speaking to patients or you are a B2B healthcare company working with hospitals and doctors, you need to show that you have the latest information at your fingertips. Frequent updates to your website can help project your position in the vanguard of healthcare and your commitment to state-of-the-art medical practices.

Take a few deep breaths, sit up straight at your desk and run your website through the stretches above. How does it hold up? Does it need a little work?

If you’re ready to take it one step further, download our eBook on responsive web design and learn how to optimize your website across all viewing devices. Ready to get started? Let us know – we’d love to help!

Updated: Apr 13, 2022