A lot of businesses don’t know what their homepage should include. They have usually got some kind of a vague idea about content and pictures, but beyond that they probably haven't really thought it through. However, considering the fact that your website is often your chance to make a first impression it is important that you get it right. You cannot just squeeze in everything you want to include and hope for the best! Let's take a brief look at what a physical therapy clinic's homepage should look like!
The first step in creating a great website for your physiotherapy clinic is of course, choosing the right domain name. If you are lucky, the domain name that matches they name of your clinic will be available for you to purchase, but if not you can try adding the location of your clinic. For example, if JohnSmithPT.com is taken then you could try for JohnSmithPToregon.com. The important thing is to make sure that you don't choose a totally irrelevant name that has no links to your clinic!
When it comes to actually creating the website itself, the first thing to remember is that you need to create something attractive and professional looking. It all starts with the home page of the website. This page needs to have all of the information that a potential patient needs. That means prominently displaying your location, opening hours and contact information – that's both phone and email! It can also be a good idea to embed a map from Google Maps to display your location. Do not be tempted to put this important information on only a contact page, it should be prominently displayed throughout your website.
In terms of the actual style and appearance of the website, opt for a clean design that is not to cluttered with patterns or anything. Most clinics take their colours from their branding so that it all matches beautifully. A clean design will make your important information stand out more.
When it comes to planning the structure of the site itself you need to make sure that it is easy to navigate. Moving around from one page to the next should be an easy process so your navigation needs to be simple, prominent and of course, user friendly. Avoid using Flash in your navigation as this not only takes longer to load, but it is also difficult for search engines to find your content.
Split your website up into relevant sections. Some of the most important sub-pages that you need include :
Services
Staff
Location
Contact Page
Disclaimer & Privacy Policy
Of course, you should also include a blog full of high value content and you might also want to include other elements from our Website Checklist including forms and testimonials.
Integrating With Social Media
It is also useful to integrate social media onto your clinic's website. You can keep it simple by adding share buttons to your site to make it easy for people to share your content via social media, or you can include links to where to fins you on Facebook, Twitter et al. You could even embed your Twitter and/or Facebook feed into your website.
Your website is an important part of creating the right first impression for your PT clinic. We can help you to make sure that it is just right. Why not check out some examples of clinic websites that we have helped bring to life for a better idea of what we can do for you.