The old days of pandemic restrictions are in the rearview mirror, so you might think your practice’s website is less important than it was. But medical practice marketing is as indispensable as ever. If your website is out of date, you’re missing a golden opportunity to attract your future patients.

Telehealth is no longer in the limelight, but your would-be patients still go online to find out about your practice before they decide to call. And even once they make that call, they have time to reconsider as the appointment date draws closer. Your website is the resource that helps you find them and keep them coming back.

Your website is the key to your medical practice marketing. Think of it as your “digital first impression.” With a good first impression, you’re more likely to open the door to a long-term patient relationship. With a bad one, they’ll keep looking – or, if they do visit, they’re likely to be a lot more wary.

So, how can you make sure your website is the best it can be?

Your Patients Aren’t Website Experts, But They Know What to Look Out For

The average person doesn’t know a whole lot about website design or medical practice marketing. But even most elders now have their own smartphones and use them on a regular basis. And below the age of 45, many of your prospects visit hundreds or even thousands of websites monthly.

They don’t analyze each one of those websites to decide which ones to trust – they don’t need to. Instead, they unconsciously look for common design patterns that signpost whether a website is reliable. We call those trust signals. They make a difference, even when the visitor can’t quite put a finger on why.

And if your website isn’t building trust on every page, it’s doing the opposite.

Anything that looks “not quite right” makes it more likely viewers will give up and go somewhere else. Likewise, a website needs to be designed to help them reach their goals quickly and easily. If there’s friction, they usually won’t keep trying. And with most first-time website visitors, you only get one chance to shine.

The bad news: Many medical practice websites are suffering from three glaring errors.

The good news: If you make the right changes today, you’ll be ahead of the competition.

Three Signs Your Medical Practice Website Needs a Refresh Today

After reviewing thousands of medical practice websites, we’ve noticed these three issues:

1. Information Is Out of Date

In 2021, millions of websites reworked their photography to feature people in face masks. It made sense then – now, it sticks out like a sore thumb. Likewise, content that was right on target a few months or a few years ago may be crucially out of date now. That makes your website look like you aren’t paying attention.

2. The Tone Doesn’t Resonate

Every audience is different. Understanding the medical needs of your website visitors means you already have huge insight into their lives. By hiring a marketing agency, you can expand on those insights and ensure you’re always speaking their language. That’s critical to building rapport and long-term trust.

3. The Website Isn’t Accessible

Accessibility is essential, especially for elders and those with chronic health conditions. Does your website have a high-contrast mode? Can it be read with a screen reader? These and other features help show how much you care about patient well-being. To realize quick wins in website accessibility, we recommend using AccessiBe.

Time For a Change? New York Ave Can Help with Your Website Refresh

A website refresh means modernizing your website using the latest design techniques and technologies. In the right hands, the process may take anywhere from a few weeks to months. It isn’t tearing down a website and starting over – your existing content can be improved and re-used.

By building on what’s best about your website and re-imagining the rest, you maintain the existing momentum your website has to offer (such as your years-old domain name, which is attractive to Google.) Likewise, you’ll still benefit from any links to your website that already exist.

Luckily, a website refresh doesn’t have to be a headache – or give you heartache. New York Ave will help you revitalize your website and put it at the center of a medical practice marketing strategy that helps you reach your growth goals faster. We’ve done it for practices of all sizes, from orthodontists to chiropractors.

Don’t wait another day to get the most from medical practice marketing. Contact us today.