Chances are if you’re reading this, you probably already have a website for your practice. That’s great. I commend you on taking that step because that’s a big step.

Many people come to us who have never developed a website before but have expressed interest in creating their first one. That’s also great.

Whether you’re looking to revamp your website or create an entirely new site, I want you to consider these essential medical website design tips.

One of the biggest challenges I find is that doctors often think that they’re presenting themselves when they present a website.

After this video, I want you to take a moment to look around at some other healthcare websites through a different lens. Look at the websites of people you know, your colleagues, other people in the field, and your market that offer the same services. Have a look at what’s on the very first page or in the very first picture at the top. Chances are, if you’re in most markets, what you’ll see there is a picture of one of two things…

Number one: you’ll see a picture of a laser or some other piece of equipment, or potentially a patient having an examination.

Number two: you’ll see a picture of a doctor, a surgeon, or a team of medical professionals. Those are typically the things you’ll see.

How to make your prospective patient the hero of your website

When you are looking to attract somebody to your service, you need to present them as the hero. How do you do that? You must feature them first.

The image at the very top of a homepage is called a hero image. And the hero is not you; the hero is your patient. So what you want to do is show your patient, loving life after they’ve had treatment with you. You should show a patient without glasses doing something really fun that they might not otherwise be able to do very easily with glasses.

You might want to show them snowboarding down a great Alpine Pass. Or riding their bike with no glasses on. Or you might want to show somebody swimming without goggles on. Or pretty much any of the things that people use their vision for. If you serve an older market, you could show somebody reading or looking at their mobile phone without glasses on.

How to stand out from your competitors by showing you empathise

When a patient first begins their research, they are typing something into Google, and they’re probably shopping around. We know that people look at what we call an evoked set. They look at maybe two to three competitors to get a few different options. So one of the key things you need to do is compete.

How do you compete?

It’s not by showing your CV. It’s not by showing that you have the biggest, strongest, fastest laser. It’s about strategically placing everything on the front page of your website and saying to the visitor, “I see you. I hear you. I understand. I know what you want.” And so that’s where the vast majority of medical clinics, and companies around the world, fail.

That is a huge opportunity for you.

How to connect with your visitors

What you need to do is design a highly emotional website that positions the patient as the hero. You need the hero image at the top of the page. From there, you need to show your credibility with third-party trust signals, demonstrate how your service works in 3 simple steps:

1. Give us a call
2. Here’s what will happen at your first appointment
3. Enjoy your life

You really want to demonstrate how straightforward the process is to help them take that first step. It’s not about getting them to book surgery. It’s just about initiating that first conversation or interaction.