If your dental website is not getting you any new patients, it’s time to assess what you might be doing wrong! A website is the number one source of lead generation for any business.  Therefore, there’s a lot that goes into making the right website design. And we are here to help you figure out what that is. 

This guide includes the best practices for creating a dental website that not only brings more patients to you but also provides them value by educating them on different dental issues. So let’s get started, shall we?

Why You Need a Specialized Dental Website Design

If someone needs to get their teeth checked by a dentist, the first thing they do is Google “dental clinics near me”. Next, they select one of the dental clinics from thesearch results and make an appointment. That’s how pivotal a search result can be for a dental business. 

But the process of shortlisting those dental clinics involves many aspects. For instance:

• If a website is outdated, the visitor would assume that it is not functional anymore and simply move on to the next website. 
• If the website takes too long to load, the visitor will prefer another one that loads much faster. 
• If the website does not look professional, the visitors would question your credibility.
• If the website does not have enough information like office timings, location and contact info, the person would not be able to reach you.
• If the website has a poor design, that will make it difficult for the visitor to navigate through it. 
• And lastly, if your website does not appear on the first page of search results, no one would even reach you. 

That’s why you need a specialized website design that not only reaches the people searching for your service, but also drives your conversion rate. 

So let’s see what goes into creating an ideal dental website that drives conversion rates:

What Should Go on a Dental Website?

A medical or dental website is actually quite different than a normal service provider’s website. That’s because when it comes to dental or medical service providers, patientschoose only the best of the best. They look for certifications and other indicators of your credibility to make sure that you are, in fact, the best dental care provider in the neighborhood. 

Here’s what should go into a dental website to make it look appealing to patients:

1. Seamless Navigation

A website with easy navigation makes it simpler for people to find the information they are looking for. The first page of a dental website design should always include your introduction, certifications, qualifications of the entire team and your experience. All the information should be presented in a logicalmanner and direct visitors to other pages naturally. The transition between each page should be as seamless as possible, without the visitor feeling like they are pushed towards a new page.

2. HIPAA Compliance

HIPAA compliance is probably the first thing your patients would notice about your service. Every healthcare provider must comply with the HIPAA rules in order to protect and safeguardthe integrity and privacy of health information. It is a legal requirement. 

But how do you really go about making your dental website HIPAA compliant? Simple! Make sure your website is secure and encrypted by getting an SSL certificate. This specially comes in handy when you have included any online forms or payment options on your website. An SSL certificate would protect visitor’s infoand keep it safe from any cyber-attacks. 

3. An Introduction to Your Team

Would you trust someone with your health who you don’t know at all? You won’t, right? So, if you have a dental website, you should definitely have an entire page dedicatedto the introduction of your team, their qualifications, certifications and experience. 

Including this info about the dental care providers at your clinic would build credibility and make visitors trust you. It is also a good idea to add their professional photo alongwith a short message from them to strengthen their credibility and ensure the visitors that these healthcare providers can be trusted. 

4. Multiple Pages Dedicated to Each Service You Offer 

The person visiting your website would not know what services you offer until you mention each of them. So, the best practice is to dedicate one page for each service where you givea brief information about the service, its price and how the patient can make an appointment for it.

This can also give you a huge SEO advantage. Because if you have an optimized page for, let’s say, dental cleaning services, every time a person in your neighborhood searchesfor dental cleaning services near them, they will find your website and ultimately schedule an appointment. 

5. Online Appointment Forms

Would you rather book an appointment on call or online? The latter, right? Most of the people prefer scheduling appointments online rather than having to speak to someone on phone.Therefore, if you have a dental website, all of the relevant pages on your website should have an online appointment form where patients can fill in their information and schedule the visit online. 

This specially comes in handy if someone is visiting your website at three in the morning. No one would be up at that time to take their call and book an appointment on call, right?Your online appointment option, however, would be there 24/7 to schedule meetings around the clock. 

6. Testimonials

Another great way to make people trust your services is to add organic testimonials from previous clients. These can be in the form of videos or messages. A small portion on your homepagewill not do the trick though. You should instead create an entire page for testimonials and personal stories.

Most of the visitors would rather trust real videos and testimonials from actual patients rather than taking your word on it. So fill that page with reviews of the patient’s personalstories about how you fixed their misaligned teeth and gave them a perfect smile. 

However, avoid adding fake reviews, as they are very easy to spot. 

7. Procedure Videos

Seeing a dentist is probably the worst fear of many people. I, for one, dread going to the dentist. But what might help minimize this fear is seeing videos of the procedure you aregoing to have. This can help one understand exactly what’s going to happen so that they are not afraid of the unseen. 

The best place to add these procedure videos is on each service page where a dental care provider explains the procedure in as simple terms as possible. This would educate the patientsabout the procedure, but it would also prove that you are an expert in the field. 

8. A Before and After Gallery

A before and after gallery is also extremely helpful in building your credibility. You can add before and after pictures of all the procedures on the customer testimonials page to showthe results of your procedure. Again, do not add fake pictures. Make sure they are of your real patients so that people can trust you and the process.

9. An Informational Blog on Dental Health

A blog is perhaps the best thing you can do to optimize your website. An SEO optimized blog section on your website can do wonders for you. Here are a few things you can add in a dentalblog:

 Dos and don’ts of dental care.

 Guides on how to maintain and improve your dental health.

 Common dental diseases and how to prevent them.

 Good dental hygiene practices.

 Case studies from your personal experience.

 Dental news.

You can create an entire blog section around these topics and write SEO optimized articles so that whenever a person is googling anything related to dental health, your blog appearsin front of them. 

10. Great Website Design 

This is a rule of thumb for any website, not just for a dental website. A great website design that is UI and UX optimized would naturally appear appealing to the visitors. The choiceof colors, layout, design and images you add would speak volumes about how much you value quality. And as far as a dental care provider is concerned, quality and professionalism should be of utmost importance to them. 

11. Search Engine Optimization 

• SEO is not just about posting SEO optimized blogs because if your domain has low authority, the search engine crawlers would not even rank your website. SEO optimization for a websitealso involves:
• Having a secure and easily accessible website.
• Making sure that the website is mobile-friendly. 
• Images and content are SEO optimized.
• Ensuring that the page load times are amazingly fast.
• Optimized URL and domain range.
• Great user experience.
• Internal and external links to high authority websites.

So, hire a website professional who can design a highly SEO optimized website so that it appears on the first page of search results. 

12. Web Copy

Web copies are very different from normal content. They are precise, captivating, and quirky and are intended to trigger a response or action. So, when hiring a web content writer,make sure they know how to optimize web content for SEO as well as write a great web copy that reflects your professionalism. Don’t use too many medical terms as your visitors many not be familiar with them. Instead,use common dental terms that everyone knows. 

13. Contact Information

This goes without saying, but you should definitely have contact information on every page of your website. This includes your address, contact number, email, social media accountsand office hours. You can also include a “contact us” form to collect and answer user queries and give them value-added services. Contact forms are also a great way for generating leads. A map to your clinic locationcan also help visitors easily reach you.

14. Effective Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

What’s the ultimate reason that you created a great website for your dental service? To reach more patients, right? And the main way to do that is to place natural and effectivecalls-to-action across your website. 

So, when writing the web copy or content, make sure you include calls-to-action to entice visitors to make an appointment or call you for more info.

15. Mobile Responsive Website

According to 

Google, most people now visit websites via their phones. Therefore, the search engine now uses the mobile version of the website first to index and rank websites. Therefore, you would naturally want your website to be accessible by both smartphone and computer users. 

Bottom Line

Dental website design is way different from websites that provide regular services. Make sure you take the due diligence and follow the above-mentioned practices so that your website becomes the best source of landing more patients. 

So if you are looking for a dental website designer to build, audit or optimize your website, reach out to me and let me handle the rest! 

You can call me directly at (559) 500-1302.