In an age where the vast majority of people use the internet to search for products and services, all dentists must have a website. Anyone searching for a dentist in their local area, will doubtless see most of them have a website of some kind, but the more pertinent question should be whether any of those websites benefit the dental practice it represents.

This follows from the fact that merely having a website online is pointless if it achieves nothing. We guarantee that you could check over 100 dental practice websites and it would be a good day if any more than 20% of them tick every box in the list of functions a website should have.

Note that whilst a website looking great is an advantage, too many of them focus on its appearance, rather than it doing anything to promote the dental business including encouraging potential patients to get in touch. To clarify what a website should achieve, here are five basic functions every dental practice’s website should fulfil.

A Website Must Have Goals

One of the biggest website design mistakes is that it has no specific goals, and its purpose for existing has not been identified. A dental practice’s website can have many functions such as expounding its impressive record of patient satisfaction, promoting special treatments, or simply getting prospective patients to call to register.

On the other hand, if visitors arrive on the website and there is no apparent ‘path’ or zero calls to action. then any compulsion to click through to other pages will dissipate and the next action they take is clicking away.

A Website Should Be Distinctive

When we say a dental practice’s website should be distinctive, we do not mean for it to have neon coloured pages, and loud music playing automatically. Instead, we mean it should not look like a cookie-cutter template that dozens of other dental practices have used. It should have a custom design with proper branding, useful and interesting content, and images that are unique, including photos of those who work at the practice.

A Website Should Be Easy To Use

There is a saying that “a confused mind does nothing”. Well, we disagree because someone landing on a website who becomes confused rather than doing nothing, does something…they leave!. To avoid confusing visitors a website’s design should make each page layout simple, and most importantly, it should have a way of navigating the website, which is normally a simple menu system.

A Website Should Emphasise Credentials

Dentistry is a hugely respected profession and one which most people are aware takes many years of education, learning, and training. As such, a dentist’s website should highlight, not only the qualifications of the dentists working in the practice but also any awards and industry recognition. Extend that to other staff working there including dental nurses, and even the support staff, where testimonials they have received for great customer service should be highlighted

A Website Should Enable Visitors To Get In Touch

So many dental practice websites miss this or do not do it properly, it is tragic. Whether potential patients should email or telephone (calls are usually preferable to emails) it must be made crystal clear how they can do either. Further, that same ‘Get InTouch’ message should appear on every page of the website, and not just on the home page.