Great Chiropractic Websites – 6 Simple Steps
Last Updated: May 3, 2019
Having a great chiropractic website is an essential part of any marketing plan. Your presence online can be the difference between a practice that becomes stagnant over time and one that is consistently introducing the wonders of chiropractic to new patients in their community. We have 6 simple steps that can help you make your website great:
- Professional Pictures
- Simple, Clean Website Design
- Precisely Tuned Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- A Call to Action
- Social Media
- Make it Mobile
We break down each step in the following guide to take your chiropractic website from good to GREAT!
1. Professional Pictures
The best chiropractic site design cannot make up for small, blurry photos or even worse, stock photos of someone else. The first step to a great chiropractic website is getting great pictures of you, your staff and your office. Potential patients want to know that they will feel comfortable with you before they commit to scheduling their first appointment. It may sound shallow, but this is done almost entirely by looking at the pictures that you have on your site.
At Inception, we currently work with over 1200 chiropractic offices across the country and the analytics continue to show that patients spend about five seconds on your ‘Home’ page and about five seconds on your ‘About Us’ page before deciding to contact you or to move on to the next website in their search result. The key here is giving them what they want to see without making them work to find it. By feeding their need for instant gratification you are reducing the likelihood that they will pass you over and continue their search.
It is important that you put some thought into the pictures that you take. A professional photographer can help ensure that your pictures turn out great. Also, choose an outfit that looks professional but make sure that it is comfortable. If you aren’t comfortable, it will come through in the pictures. It’s also a good idea to skip the white coat. The goal is to make you look as relatable as possible. Some of our clients also choose to include their families which can be a nice touch. Whatever you choose to do, make sure that there is plenty of light and that you are having FUN!
2. Simple, Clean Website Design
Take a quick look at your website. Is it easy to navigate or is it cluttered with unnecessary information? Chiropractic websites of the past focused on patient education. They went into great detail about technique, symptoms and anatomy. The reality is that almost nobody ever read any of this information. Having a few paragraphs about who you are and why you do what you do is more than enough. This will allow someone to get to know you without overwhelming them with information. Bullet points are an excellent way to provide more detail while keeping it easy to consume quickly.
It is also important to choose the correct color scheme. Just because certain colors look good in your logo doesn’t mean that they must be used in your website design. Choosing a neutral background with pops of color for emphasis will make your site visually appealing to a wide range of people. You should also try to keep the colors as consistent as possible throughout your entire website so that there is a feeling of continuity from page to page.
3. Precisely Tuned Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
What’s the point of having the best-looking website on the internet if nobody can find it? Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is a very complex subject. The goal of SEO is to make your website more visible when someone uses a search engine, like Google, to find information online. Google is constantly scanning the internet and using an ever-changing algorithm to decide how relevant your site is for a particular search. There are a lot of different things that can be done to make your site look more relevant in Google’s eyes. When this happens, they will display a link to your site higher in the search results.
Unfortunately, Google makes about 250 changes every year to their algorithm and this information is not shared with the public. It is mostly a guessing game and takes a lot of trial and error to figure out how Google is evolving. Over the years our team here at Inception has fine-tuned our site designs to give our clients the best chance at ranking well for chiropractic searches in their area. This is a tireless task, but we are always up to the challenge.
A high-ranking website is imperative if you plan to use it to bring in new patients. Most people don’t get past the first page of search results and many don’t even get past the first few links. This is why it is so important to work with someone who has a true understanding and proven track record when it comes to SEO.
4. A Call to Action
You went through a lot of work to get someone to your site and it looks fantastic. Now what? It’s not enough just to have your name, phone number and email address present. Potential patients need a very clear ‘Call To Action’ to get them to reach out to you. Without this, they will usually click around a few times and even if they like you, they will move on to the next result in their search. We find that providing them with a clear and simple way to take action is the best way to go. This is often done via a ‘New Patient Special’ or ‘Click Here To Schedule Now’ button.
Your “Call To Action” doesn’t need to be obnoxious but it does need to stand out. It should be large and a different color than the rest of your site to make it impossible to miss. A lot of times we find sites have an offer, but it is “hiding in plain sight”. Whatever you do, don’t fall victim to this. Having it blend in may be more pleasing to the eye, but if it doesn’t stand out, nobody is going to click it. This results in missed opportunities for you to get new patients in your chiropractic office.
5. Social Media
Odds are, you have already jumped on the social media bandwagon and that’s a good thing. Different social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ are a great way to increase your presence online and interact with your patients when they aren’t in your office. You need to make sure that all your accounts are properly verified and linked to your website. Once that is done, your focus should be on making posts that give tips and tricks your patients will find to be of value. By positioning yourself as a “community expert” your followers are more likely to be receptive to something you promote or offer in the future.
What about the constant flow of gurus promoting a new way for you to get tons of new patients from advertising on social media? You need to proceed with caution if you are beginning to believe in all the hype about paid social media advertising, especially on Facebook. It’s not impossible to be successful but it is very expensive and extremely time consuming. Your time and hard-earned money can be put to better use elsewhere.
6. Make it Mobile
Today, most websites are at least “mobile friendly”. This means that only some of the content is available, but it is formatted in a way that is easier to view on a mobile device. While this isn’t always ideal for the user, it typically gets the job done. The most up to date mobile website coding is called a “mobile responsive” layout. This allows for all the content to be displayed but the size and shape is tailored to fit the specific device. This provides the most natural user experience and increases the chances that someone searching for you on a mobile device can interact with your website.
Now that you know exactly what it takes to improve your site you might be wondering how to accomplish all of this. Our team here at Inception knows how to make a good chiropractic website great, and we are always happy to speak to you and provide answers to any questions that you may have. Just give us a call at (920) 857-1106. We look forward to hearing from you.
