There is an ongoing discussion as to what, exactly, constitutes the perfect addiction treatment website design, a site for a healthcare facility – or any other business. Increasing online traffic is one of the top concerns business owners raise when meeting with online marketing specialists. However, this is not the sole purpose of a website. There is considerable debate as to what constitutes the optimal website design to generate traffic, keep visitors on the site and ultimately convert them.
We embrace the challenge of boosting your site’s online traffic. If necessary, we will take a step back to remind you and other clients that an abundance of traffic is not guaranteed to result in phone calls.
Above all, converting online visitors matters most. Converting web traffic into paying clients keeps your company in business. Design is by far the most important component for converting internet visitors into loyal, paying clients.
The Role of Web Design in Conversion Rates
Take a moment to consider your ideal user prior to creating your website and launching your internet marketing campaign. Healthcare facilities primarily target those with specific health challenges. However, the ongoing battle for new business encompasses more than this one factor.
Consider where your target audience resides. Consider his or her age, income level and other demographic data. This information must be carefully evaluated prior to adding website design elements.
The subtleties of your web design matter a great deal. Everything from your website’s graphics, language and even the images used on its varying pages should be tailored to the target demographic. Invest the time necessary to perfect these subtleties and it will generate results in the form of new customers.
Creating the layout is the next step after identifying the target customer.
Key Design Elements To Consider in Addiction Treatment Website Design
There is a considerable difference between designing a company landing page and designing a healthcare company website. Landing pages are single pages that have one coherent and unified purpose. A website is comparably expansive and robust. A healthcare services website should be informative, providing a comprehensive understanding of the company and its unique services.
Designing entire site with distinct conversion design elements is inherently challenging as most sites are full of diverse information. There is a fine balance to strike between providing online visitors with truly useful information, highlighting your brand and designing the site with the intent to convert.
The moral of this story is website design entails more than converting visitors. The site must be intuitive in terms of navigation. Furthermore, all information must be easily and quickly accessible. However, if a healthcare website is not designed to convert online visitors, an abundance of information and visits will not prove helpful.
Key Points To Remember
Wrapping
If something is wrapped, it has inherent importance. From cigars to, Christmas presents, burritos and beyond, wrapping something really does make it that much more special. In the context of addiction treatment website design, wrapping takes the form of an obvious call to action. The call to action should include a wrapped phone number. In fact, it makes sense to add the phone number to each page of the site.
The same holds true for contact forms and customer email sign-ups. Every single component of your site that is intended to bring in leads must be wrapped.
If you would like to see an example of wrapping, check out the website of our client Your First Step. Take a look at this site and you will find the phone number is wrapped on each page.
Steer Online Visitors In The Right Direction
Directional cues on a website take the form of everything from an actual person pointing to a phone number, to a picture of a one-way street sign pointing to the website contact form and beyond. Even a simple arrow can redirect visitor attention to the phone number. The bottom line is pointing visitors in the right direction really does inspire action.
Whitespace
The less whitespace the better. Every website needs some room to breathe. Do not lose sight of the overarching purpose of your website – pleasing the visitor. The web’s most popular sites might be cluttered yet sites that are comparably unpopular cannot afford to take such a chance.
Visitors to a healthcare site have a limited amount of time so they won’t be clicking all over the place. The aim is to provide these visitors with the resources they need, reassure them that the company can help and ultimately convert them after they reach out for more information.
Social Proof
Your business must be trustworthy. However, establishing a rapport is inherently difficult. The best way to establish trust is with social proof. “Social Proof” is a psychological phenomenon where individuals copy the actions of others in an attempt to perform the acceptable behavior based on what sociologists refer to as the “definition of the situation.” In other words, if other people are doing it, others are also inclined to follow suit.
There are numerous ways to establish social proof on a website. The most common way of establishing such proof is with testimonials. Truly honest testimonials are an absolute necessity on a healthcare website. Show off your positive success rate to online visitors and they will recognize your company’s merit right away. Ideally, the customer testimonials will be placed on the homepage for enhanced prominence.
Social media followers are also an important type of social proof. If your business has a moderately sized social following or larger, do not hesitate to make it known. This is not a time to be bashful. If others approve of your business and visit your site, it is a clear sign your organization is worthy of additional attention.
What To Avoid in the Quest to Convert Visitors
Above all, avoid clutter. Consider the metric of attention ratio. This is the ratio of interaction points (links) on a page to the number of intended actions on that page. This ratio is typically around 40:1 for a homepage, meaning that there are 39 distracting actions in contrast with one desired action. The challenge is to achieve the proper balance as healthcare and addiction sites are meant to lend important assistance while proving informative.
Mind The KPI
KPI is an acronym for key performance indicator. This is a specific value that can be measured on each individual page. The KPI reveals whether the site is hitting its key objectives. KPIs can be used at several levels to gauge whether targets are being successfully reached.
A KPI that is high-level zeroes in on the business’s overarching performance. Alternatively, a KPI that is low-level zeroes in on departments and processes. Each specific page should have a nuanced goal with and content implemented to achieve that particular aim.
Site Speed
Page load speed is of particular importance. In fact, Google’s new search engine algorithm, the Page Experience metric, considers the load time of pages when ranking them in the search results. Every single page on your website should load in three seconds or less. Furthermore, these pages should load in this short period of time on traditional desktops as well as mobile devices.
Optimization
The days of people primarily using conventional desktop computers to access the web are quickly fading away. Nowadays, people use smartphones, tablets, laptops and other mobile computing devices to access the web. However, plenty of those responsible for addiction treatment website design have not yet updated pages for use on mobile computing devices. Optimize each page of the site for use on all mobile computers and visitors will spend that much more time on your pages.
Simplicity and User Experience Design
The user experience design is now central to online success. The website should be intuitive in every regard. Menus should be easily accessible. Navigating the site should prove easy and quick. In short, you should do everything in your power to avoid confusing the online visitor. Keep it simple, focus on how the website works from the visitor’s perspective and those who venture to your site will be more than satisfied with the user experience.
Above all, Focus on Conversion!
Consider a hypothetical example where Bob and Jill both own treatment centers. Bob spends $10,000 a month on online marketing and gets 200 hits day.
Jill spends $1,000 a month and gets 40 hits a day.
Both Bob and Jill receive 100 phone calls a month from their respective websites.
Conversion is the difference between the two sites. Jill’s website is better designed for conversion. Would you rather be Bob or Jill? The answer is clear.
Addiction Treatment Website Design at Stodzy
Creating a website can be a complex process. If you’re struggling or don’t know where to start, the professional staff at Stodzy Internet Marketing has been designing websites that convert for the past 10 years. We know what it takes to create traffic that converts.
