5 Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Website

A dental website is often the first impression many practices make with new patients. In this guest post, the Wonderist Agency explains how to ensure that introduction goes smoothly.Your dental website is a window into your practice, and often a deciding factor for patients seeking a new dentist. Because of this, knowing what to avoid when you begin building your website is half the battle.An outdated, slow-loading site, for example, won’t do much for you in terms of conversion. And some website faux pas may even hurt your practice numbers.When it comes to building or redesigning your dental website, be wary of these five common mistakes.

Hastily Signing a Contract

You might be anxious to launch your new website, but take some time to think things through.Committing to a churn-and-burn agency with a reputation for unreasonably quick turnarounds may lead to problems down the road.From your website down to your stationary, every element of your new practice is a reflection of you.Before signing a contract, check into the agency and learn how they build their websites. Determine if their standard fits your goals.It’s important to know whether you own or rent the content on your site.You may end up being confined to canned content and stock imagery that doesn’t belong to you. So if you ever decide to go in a different direction, you may not be able to take your site with you.

Using Plagiarized Content and Stock Photos

Speaking of renting versus owning, that canned content and those cheesy stock images that came with the budget package won’t give users an accurate picture of you or your office.They just end up making your website feel impersonal.And it’s not only patients who notice generalized content — search engines will ding you for plagiarized copy. This makes your page rankings drop and will ultimately result in less visibility for your practice.Original content and real photos, on the other hand, are much more interesting. They give users a taste of what to expect from you and your practice.Not sure how to write about yourself or how to direct your agency? Here’s a tip: Focus on your differentiators. What do you bring to the table that no one else does?Answering that question will help you draw in your ideal patients.

Slacking on Your Service Pages

Service pages are valuable assets to your website and your practice as a whole.They also happen to be the pages that are easiest to plagiarize.Again, invest in original content.These pages can provide a wealth of knowledge for potential patients, and answer common questions they may have about your offerings.Service pages should give readers a general idea of what will happen during treatment (sans any graphic details) and list the specific benefits of receiving that treatment.Strategic internal linking throughout these pages also gives viewers a sense of the larger scope of your practice — not to mention it guides them to the page that will answer their next question.If your website is a helpful resource equipped with informative pages, interesting blogs, and praise-worthy reviews and testimonials, you will establish credibility. Even better, it will earn the trust of potential patients and get butts in chairs.

Missing a Call to Action

A website missing clear calls to action (CTAs), doesn't produce leads. Users respond better to specific requests, so the CTAs throughout your site should be obvious.Use short, direct phrases, like “Schedule Your Appointment Today” or “Call Now.”Each page should have a call to action, and your contact information should always be easily accessible.A good agency will have plenty of ideas to ensure potential patients can stay in contact, so go ahead and pick their brain on what CTAs work best for your practice.

Not Auditing Your Site

Checking the quality of your site, pre-launch and post-launch, is essential to growing your business with potential patients.Nearly half of website visitors will abandon a site that doesn’t load in under three seconds, so it is vital to make sure that your site is always up to speed.There are many affordable tools that can help you audit your site and manage its success. Use the Pingdom Speed Test to analyze the load speed of your website, and talk to you team about making it faster if it falls short.Google PageSpeed also reports on the real-world performance of a page for mobile and desktop devices, and provides suggestions on how that page may be improved. Know your tools, or find an agency who does.Your dental website is an extension of your practice. Keep it clean, keep it informative, and keep it up to date. By understanding its importance and avoiding the mistakes outlined above, you're well on the way to having a top-flight online reputation.Wonderist Agency designs websites built for optimal user experience, and their team works with doctors to develop original content that makes them stand out!Learn more about how RevenueWell improves case acceptance and creates more close-knit relationships between dentists and their patients.