If you own or manage an optometry practice, your website is a foundational part of your marketing. People in the areas you serve should discover your website when they search for services you provide, and the website should help you establish credibility and build trust with potential patients through clear, easy to navigate content about your qualifications, experience, and services your practice provides.
- If your practice offers in-office treatments for dry eye disease, myopia management, vision therapy, or sports vision training, your website should contain pages devoted to these services.
- Your practice website should also feature up-to-date information about appointment availability, office hours, and location, as well as promoting special offers or events.
Other elements of effective optometry websites include:
A clear and concise design
A website should be visually appealing and easy to navigate, with a clean and uncluttered layout and consistent design elements throughout. Additionally, adding photos of your practice exterior, optical, doctors, and team to your website provides people with a sense of the experience they’ll have if they schedule an appointment with you.
Contains ample relevant and informative content
The content of the website should be accurate, up-to-date, and relevant to the target audience, which is the people who live or work in your area in need of eye care. It should provide information about your practice services and products in a way that is easy to understand and useful to prospective and current patients.
Responsive design
The website should be designed to look and function well on a range of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Review how your website looks and functions on your phone or tablet – is it easy to make an appointment? Navigate the site? Learn more about the practice? It’s vital your website performs well on a phone, as most people will visit your website from their phones.
Fast-loading
A slow-loading website can be frustrating for people and may lead them to leave the site before they have a chance to explore it or book an appointment.
Contains clear calls to action
The website should have clear and prominent calls to action, such as buttons or links that encourage people to take a specific action (e.g., make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or contact the organization).
Easy-to-find contact information
The website should include easy-to-find contact information, such as a phone number, email address, and physical address for your practice. If you have multiple locations on one website, ideally there should be a location page for each office featuring photos of the office, optometrists, office hours, and services provided.
Secure
The website should be secure and should have a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). When a website uses SSL, you’ll see a little padlock icon near the website address in your browser, and the website’s address will start with “https://” instead of just “http://”. This means your connection to the site is secure and you can feel safe sharing your information.
When you visit a non-SSL website, your browser might display a warning message or indicate that the connection is not secure, often showing an open padlock symbol or a different warning icon. This is your browser’s way of telling you that any information you send or receive from the site could potentially be seen by others. You don’t want prospective patients to have that experience when they visit your website!
Summary
For optometry practices, a website serves as a crucial marketing tool to reach prospective patients and establish trust through a professional online presence. It should detail the services offered, such as dry eye treatment, myopia management, and vision therapy, and provide essential information including appointment scheduling, office hours, and location. It should also be a secure and safe website to visit!
