5 Must-Haves for an Orthodontic Website

As an orthodontist, your website serves as an online portrayal of your practice. These five must-haves will ensure users can easily discover your site, and that it is highly functional.

1. Take Advantage of Search Engine Optimization

If your site isn’t being found organically in search engines, the online awareness of the services you offer and your company as a whole will decrease. The URL and domain name must show you are an orthodontist, so they should be relevant to the orthodontic field.

To increase your on-page SEO you should optimize the use of keywords throughout your content, including your headings or subheadings. However, be careful to not overload a specific page with too many keywords. This will only confuse the search engine on the topic of your content, and reduce your SEO.

When the information published on your website is engaging and educational for either patients or other orthodontists, they will be more likely to link your page to theirs, therefore enhancing your SEO with inbound links.

2. Create Strong Visual Appeal

According to a HubSpot 2018 report, most websites have a 30-60% bounce rate, which is the percentage of traffic that enters your site and leaves without navigating to any other pages. A lot of this has to do with creating a strong first impression through visual design. It’s important to be consistent throughout your pages in terms of layouts, color, fonts, and font sizes. The design should also coordinate with the branding and logo of your company. Don’t be afraid of white space – a simple, clean design can be extremely effective in focusing your audience’s attention on what you want them to see.

3. Highly Functional Navigation

Being able to easily navigate through a site is just as important as its design. Your primary navigation bar should be clearly defined at the top of your website so the user has no trouble finding what they’re looking for. It should be simplistic and accessible throughout your entire site. Each navigation tab should be relevant to your industry.

Some examples of tabs for an orthodontist site are:

• About page for staff credentials
• Pricing and scheduling information for current and prospective patients
• Product pages (braces, Invisalign, retainers, etc.)
• FAQs
• Testimonials
• Contact page

Be specific with your labeling, and add a search bar to allow prospects to compile all of your information regarding a specific keyword together.

4. Be Mobile Friendly

HubSpot also states that as of 2015 there were 2.6 billion global smartphone users, and by 2020 there are projected to be 6.1 billion. One-third of these people use their smartphone as their primary way to access the internet. Having a website with mobile capability is essential to making the most of your website.

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Read our recent blog post for a checklist on making your site mobile friendly.

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5. Include a Call-to-Action

Now that you’ve got people on your site, influence their next steps with a call-to-action (CTA). Where you display the CTA is equally as important as the desired action you’re seeking. Make the CTA stand out in a larger font or bold colors. It should be clickable and lead the user to a landing page that further explains what you’re asking of them. Remove navigation bars from landing pages to keep them focused on the single action. CTAs are extremely valuable in taking visitors and converting them into leads. An orthodontic CTA could be as simple as a large button at the top or bottom of the page saying, “Schedule a Free Exam.”

Using these five steps will help you build an orthodontic website with impressive design and navigation. Continue reading our following blog post, to learn the next five must-haves for your orthodontic site in terms of its content variation, blogging, and more.

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To learn more about making the most of your website, contact Ortho Sales Engine.