Can we talk for a minute about your website? I have been in O&P, officially, since 1987; unofficially, since 1966. I have seen a lot of O&P websites. The good thing is that almost everybody has a website. The bad thing is that we, as an industry, are not known for our websites.
We are rapidly approaching the end of the year. Why not take a little time, put together an informal focus group of employees and patients, review your existing website and make a plan for an update? Sounds fun, right?
Here are some things you should keep in mind.
Make it mobile-friendly
Everyone and their grandmother, and probably your grandmother, has a smartphone. Many of us have tablets. We are all accustomed to scrolling. Scrolling = easy. Clicking = hard. We like to scroll. Back in the day, we had to have “short” web pages. You wanted to make sure all your important information fit into the screen that someone would be viewing on a computer. Not anymore. Your pages can now go on for miles. Mobile users do not want to have to click. It interrupts their scrolling.
Keep scrolling in mind.
Who else needs to be in that focus group? Someone who uses an iPad, an iPhone and an Android smartphone. Pull your website up on all three of those devices. You might not even need a focus group. Viewing your existing website on those devices might tell you everything you need to know.
Keep mobile devices in mind.
Make it easy on the eyes
The bigger the better when it comes to images. O&P is so incredibly visual and the images tell such an amazing story. It is perfect for the “new” website design. You want to capture the attention of the viewer and draw them in.
Keep large images in mind.
Since we want to keep up with the Joneses as far as web design goes, we should talk about “ghost buttons.” Ghost buttons are those transparent and empty buttons that have a basic shape form, like a rectangle. They are usually bordered by a very thin line, surrounding plain text.
Keep ghost buttons in mind.
Make it useful
Content is still king. All the striking images and ghost buttons in the world are not going to do you any good if your content stinks. That is where your focus group can really help. Do not assume that you know what people want to learn about when they come to your site. Ask them. Keywords are important. You want to make sure you are using the ones that are most appropriate for your business. Do a little research. People do not read on the web. They scroll, they scan and they pick out individual words and sentences. Make sure you are including the words that they want to pick out.
Keep content in mind.
Last but not least, is proofread and test. Why spend all that time and energy to put up a website that includes misspellings and links that do not work? Your pretty website is not so pretty if those ghost buttons do not work or if you have spelled “prosthetics” three different ways and none of them correctly.
Keep proper spelling in mind.
- For more information:
- Elizabeth Mansfield is the president of Outsource Marketing Solutions. She can be reached at elizabeth@askelizabeth.net.
