When developing your PT website, you want it to be easy for your customers to use and get to the right place they are looking for. But how can you make your PT website more customer-friendly? The most important thing for you right now is to get customers to visit your website, then stay when they arrive. The usability of your website is key to keeping your visitors on your site and navigating from one page to the next.
There are many different things you can do to improve your website and make it a great site for your customers to visit and easy to use. There are lots of factors involved in making a site user friendly and you need to address many issues to get your website just right. But where should you begin? Here are ten tips to make your website friendlier for your visitors.
You want the first impression to be a good one, so having a design that is easy on the eye and stimulating for the right reasons are key. The design of a website can put people off straight away or make them want to know more. Create the design in keeping with your brand using the right logos and design that make you recognisable. Make it easy to see what the website is about. It needs to be clear that you are a physical therapy business and that you offer a range of services the visitors will be interested in. Choose a design that is right for you and how you want to portray your business.
Your website not only needs to look good but your visitors need to navigate around it easily too. To start with having a search bar at or near the top of the page is essential. This visitors to your website can find the pages they need quickly and in good time. You also need a good site map which makes it easy to flow from one area of the website to the next. A site menu should be easy to find and show sub folders with everywhere clients need to navigate to on your website. Easy navigation will prevent your customers moving away from your site and help them find exactly what they need in just a few clicks.
As well as a good design, the layout of your website is important too. Especially the landing page, you don’t want the layout to be too messy and complex as soon as you arrive at your website. Your title should be easily readable and stand out and the boxes should flow easily from one to the next. If you have a sidebar make sure you it is not too cluttered and it is not full of advertising. Put boxes here for your social media and any text that you want your visitors to see on each page. Put your privacy policy and copyright details in the footer as this seems to be the best place and don’t forget about the navigation as above.
Every page on your website should have a call to action. Your customers need to be able to book or contact you quickly and easily as soon as they land on your physical therapy website. The top of the page is usually the best place so it is immediately visible to your visitors. Then you should make sure the call to action link is within each body of text that is talking about certain treatments you offer to find out more. Use anchor texts such as ‘contact us here’ or ‘book now’ to make it obvious where the link will take you. Call to action is really important as this is how you get conversions from visitors to customers.
One of the biggest turn-offs when visiting a website is the load time. If a website takes too long to load the visitors will move on or get frustrated with your business. If your site takes more than three seconds to load, then you need to look at ways to increase your loading speed. Think about what is taking the time to load on your page such as videos, images and advertising. Make changes to ensure you maximise the speed your site loads. Also, check your updates are all actioned to make sure any fixes are in place and all settings are up to date. A fast website is seen as a sign of a trustworthy brand so make sure it is at optimal speed.
The colours of your website can say a lot about your brand. Choosing your colour scheme carefully ensures you give off the right message to your customers. Cool and calm colours are best for a website for a physical therapy brand. Avoiding bright colours or brash patterns that might be too overpowering and in conflict of your vision. A white background is often preferred too as this gives the impression of professionalism. It also ensures you have clean lines between your subject boxes and images stand out within the body of your site. You should also consider the needs of those with disabilities and check your website colours for enhancement for the visually impaired.
More and more website visitors today are from mobile devices. So, it is important to check your website is mobile friendly and compatible when loaded on different types of devices. It is not enough just to check it when you first launch your website, you need to keep on top of this every time you make any changes to your site. Make sure the most relevant content is shown first when the scrolling changes from desktop to mobile mode and that your side bar either shows after the main items or does not feature depending on how important it is. Customer experience using a mobile device should be just as easy as using a desktop.
It might be tempting to pepper your website with advertising with a view to making extra revenue, however it can also be detrimental to your site if you use too many. Place your adverts on your website carefully, choosing the right space on each page. You should also limit the number of popup type ads on your website, in fact if you can avoid them, this may be a good idea. One or two adverts within blog posts and perhaps on the sidebar should be enough to help you make money from your site but avoid it looking too spammy. Also try to ensure the type of adverts are in keeping with your website and offer something that your customers will want to see rather than perhaps just what pays the most.
It is not only about the way your website looks but importantly, the content that you are sharing on the website too. It might look amazing but if your content is poor then your visitors will leave and look elsewhere. Concentrate on creating excellent, relevant and in-depth content for your clients and they will keep returning to your site, time and time again. Good information builds trust and makes you a more credible source. Making the content sharable is a great way to encourage your readers to share the articles with their social media friends and followers. Getting your brand noticed by more potential customers.
There is nothing worse than just blocks of boring text with no interesting visuals to break it up and make it more exciting. Pictures and photographs on your website can make a massive difference to how customer friendly your website is. Make sure the visuals complement your text and add value to the writing rather than taking it away. Information in graphical format is always a big hit and can make your articles more sharable and easier to read. Just remember to size your images accordingly in order to prevent a loss of loading speed with photographs or pictures that are too large.
How will you make your PT website more customer-friendly?
As you can see there are lots of things you can do to improve the usability and look of your website which will make it friendlier for your customers when they visit. From checking the layout and ensuring your site is mobile friendly to creating excellent content and toning down the advertising. There are many ways to make your website a great place to search and find what your customers are looking for.
Do you need some help with your physical therapy website and marketing? Download our Free Evergreen Marketing Blueprint for Physical Therapists and start creating long-term assets that generate new patient bookings for years to come.