Optimising Your Website To Support Practice Growth
The ultimate checklist with best practices and the latest features to improve your online presence
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Hello! As September signals a fresh start I bring you the first of a handful of practical guides and exercises I’ll be sharing this autumn that support you as you build and optimise your modern, complementary healthcare practice. All editions in this series will be saved under Your Modern Practice Guide so you can easily find them and access whenever you need.
Since I founded Circe Health, I’ve been constantly speaking to practitioners, clients and clinic owners and analysing market and consumer trends to discover what’s new and happening across complementary healthcare. Based on this work and led by your requests, this series will cover topics including attracting new clients offline and online, improving your online presence, optimising processes for client retention, authentic marketing, streamlining admin and other business edits. Think of The Well as your personal advice column, but for your professional life as a complementary healthcare practitioner! Send me your questions and topic requests for this new series, and I will bring you the answers and how-to guides in future posts - you can simply reach me by replying to this email.
In today’s edition I run you through a website checklist that will help optimise your online presence. Do you feel like your website isn’t designed to effectively connect with new clients? Or maybe you don’t have a website yet, but you have been meaning to create one? Then this article is for you! We’ll cover the latest features, research and tools you can use to build a high-performing website with best practices that drive practice growth.
Finding new clients, or better yet having them find you, is a top priority. What I know for sure is that interest in complementary healthcare continues to grow, so bridging the gap between client and practitioner is more important than ever. Every improvement to your website that you can make to clearly communicate your offering, is worth the investment! This article combines my findings from research on successful online consumer engagement and in-house research I’m doing to shape Circe’s platform design for maximum impact. Let me know how you get on with this checklist, and if I can help you at all with your website build or update - you know where to find me!
Building Trust
As complementary healthcare practitioners you’re in such a unique position, having to promote yourself but also fill in the knowledge gaps that consumers have around complementary treatments, as there are many unknowns for first-time clients. If you’re in a position where you want to grow your practice in today’s healthcare landscape, then having a strong online presence is a crucial trust building tool. Plenty research papers show that consumers are searching online for their next healthcare treatments and they want to make well-informed decisions.
The Website Checklist for Complementary Healthcare
So let’s dive into the components of an effective website tailored to complementary healthcare, that clearly communicates, attracts new clients, builds trust and simplifies admin processes:
Branding. You’ve got thirty, maybe 60 seconds to impress your website visitors so you want to stand out from the crowd and express your authentic style through professional, consistent branding. This doesn’t have to be costly or time consuming, Canva is a brilliant tool to create your branding in no-time.
Your story and expertise. The “About me” section on your website can include all information on your background, training and expertise. Circe’s client surveys showed that those who are considering a first complementary healthcare treatment, are especially wary about the professional training complementary practitioners have. Sadly, there isn’t enough public information about regulation or education in this field, so it’s your job to clearly communicate your educational background to build confidence in the client’s decision making. And let your personality shine through as you share your story, it helps prospect clients connect with you. Are you an acupuncturist who loves sailing? A reflexologist who is a massive k-pop fan? Or an osteopath with a background in music production? Add it to your bio! And of course, if you are active on social media - link to your accounts so people can have a look there too.
Easy navigation. An easy to navigate website with clear Call To Actions (buttons, links, headers) to contact you with questions and book an appointment or discovery call, is crucial for optimal website performance. Companies like Squarespace and Wix are design focused, and make it as simple as possible to get your first website version with CTAs up and running at a low cost, and easy to maintain as your practice or offering changes.
Imagery. To optimise your website’s performance, avoid using basic stock photos or low resolution selfies, but instead invest in getting professional images taken, both of you and your treatment room/clinic. Airbnb studied the power of photography on their platform bookings, which was instrumental to their initial success. They found that comparable properties with professional photography delivered a 20% increase in earnings and number of bookings. So if you want to increase your changes of a well-performing website that brings in new clients, professional photography will do the trick!
Treatment info. Share the different treatment types you offer, pricing and payment details, and policies in a separate segment. This is where you want to communicate clear, to the point information on costs and include any special offers like package discounts or free initial consultations. Also, include any info on processes here - how to book, how to pay, where to find you, follow-up processes etc. Do you have a cancellation policy or do you charge no-show fees?Sharing this information lowers the barrier for clients to reach out, because they feel confident in making informed decisions.
Reviews. According to recent data, 77% of consumers always read online reviews before choosing local businesses, including healthcare providers. But reviews aren’t used effectively enough in complementary healthcare, even if they are crucial in building trust for future clients through their social proof factor. In a previous article I covered how to make the most of customer testimonials. In short, for it to make a big impact on your practice it is key to use an automated system, integrated on your website. An automated system like Google Reviews, Trustpilot and others, can connect you to new clients, increase client retention and reduce your admin burden. Copying a selection of individual reviews yourself doesn’t have this effect. Both the CAP guidance and today’s consumer behaviour suggest that having an automated system to collect and showcase reviews, is the way to go.
Blog. The main goal of your website is of course to present yourself effectively, but as complementary healthcare is relatively unknown it’s also your job to clarify what the treatment(s) you offer entail, what clients can expect from appointments with you, answer FAQs and cover info on your specialty. A blog can be a good spot to cover these topics and you can refer back to regulatory bodies for the basic treatment information. If you have an extensive blog, it’s definitely worth exploring sending out these articles in a newsletter..
That’s it, this is the list for now. If you’ve been thinking about a website overhaul, or need to create something from scratch let this be the encouragement and guidance to start this new project - you won’t regret it! And I’m here if you need a helping hand, a second opinion or for any specific advice.