How Healthcare Website Design Has Evolved, What’s Next, And When It’s Time For A Refresh
Just like fashion trends, healthcare website design trends change over time. Some elements go in and out of fashion, and even websites that are only 5 years old can start to look dated.
Staying on top of the trends that are here to stay can give your website longevity — while also creating a better experience for your users.
When it comes to healthcare websites, design trends change about every 3 to 5 years or so. If it’s been a couple of years since you last touched your website’s design, it might be time for a glow-up.
Realizing it may be time to give your healthcare website a new look might make you motivated to get started — or it might give you the cold sweats. Website overhauls are big projects, and it’s normal to be filled with excitement or dread.
Once you decide a website redesign is in your future, you don’t have to turn around tomorrow and break your CMS. Take some time to first think about what goals you want to meet with a new site or look at your site’s current metrics. Having some hard numbers and a plan to match can help you get buy-in from your team, higher-ups, or other stakeholders.
When you’re ready to start a website refresh, be sure you’re ready to do a website refresh. With clear goals, a strong team, and patient-first perspective, your new site can drive conversions — and connections.
Healthcare Websites Have Gotten …
… Simpler
Clean lines, pared-down navigation, and more modern design are driving the future of healthcare website design. While healthcare websites are often known for being robust (and even convoluted), minimalist trends have been rising in popularity over the last few years. From influencer homes to successful websites, many are opting for simpler websites. First impressions are everything, and a clean site can show competence, professionalism, and often faster loading speeds.
… Mobile-Friendly
From ordering a pizza to Googling how old Shemar Moore is to checking their kids’ grades, people use their smartphones all day long to communicate and accomplish tasks. The same is true when it comes to searching for a provider, looking up hospital reviews, or trying to make a doctor’s appointment. Many of your users will be visiting your site on their phones or tablets, so designing for mobile can’t be an afterthought.
… Consumer And Patient-Focused
In the same way that the care you provide in the office may have become more patient-centered in recent years, your website should strive to be more patient-centered too. Updating your site can give you an opportunity to add more interactive elements like quizzes, make your service pages easier to understand, or center more photos of patients — and doctors — who represent your patient population.
… More Accessible
Using your healthcare website shouldn’t be difficult for visitors. Finding the information they need, understanding the language you use, and navigating the site with a range of assistive devices (like screen readers) should be easy. Accessibility isn’t a trend, it’s a necessity, and your website needs to accommodate the different needs of current and prospective patients. Not having an accessible site isn’t just annoying for users — it can be illegal if you aren’t meeting ADA compliance guidelines. Website evaluations with a focus on accessibility can create a better experience for users and protect your healthcare organization from potential lawsuits.
Your Website Might Need A Refresh If …
… Your site isn’t getting the kind of traffic you want.
There can be a lot of reasons a site isn’t performing well. From a complicated strategy to disagreement about priorities to a changing of the guard, it’s not uncommon for your site to simply not meet your standards — but it also might not be meeting your client’s needs. If you have bigger goals for your site and want to see more traffic, it’s probably time to revisit your content strategy and revamp your website.
… The visual design feels outdated.
Design trends tend to change around every 3 to 5 years. While you don’t have to follow these design trends, it’s good to know what they are. If your competition is adopting a more updated look, it may be time to consider a refresh on your end, too. Take some time to formally or informally audit your peers’ sites to see how yours stacks up. This can give you a better idea of what’s popular, what’s falling out of style, and if your visual design is trailing behind.
… Tech is outdated.
Technology is always changing — and it makes its mark in terms of what can become possible with your healthcare website. There are many tools that can make your site more efficient, but it can be hard to stay on top of every new plugin or trend. Giving your website a facelift can mean taking time to check out new tech that can make your site cleaner and more user-friendly. (Tip: Pay special attention to your Contact, Location, and Donation pages when it comes to new tools and technology.)
… Your team has a hard time updating the site.
If you’re constantly fielding emails about editing a page or can’t seem to get a page looking or working like you want it to, there’s some good news. It’s not you — it might actually be your site. Old, clunky content management systems (CMS) can leave you and your team scratching your heads (or wanting to put them through a wall). But it doesn’t have to be this way! A website refresh and possibly a change of CMS might be just what your healthcare organization needs to reduce everybody’s stress levels.
I Think We Need To Revamp Our Website — Now What?
Realizing it may be time to give your healthcare website a new look might make you motivated to get started — or it might give you the cold sweats. Website overhauls are big projects, and it’s normal to be filled with excitement or dread.
Once you decide a website redesign is in your future, you don’t have to turn around tomorrow and break your CMS. Take some time to first think about what goals you want to meet with a new site or look at your site’s current metrics. Having some hard numbers and a plan to match can help you get buy-in from your team, higher-ups, or other stakeholders.
When you’re ready to start a website refresh, be sure you’re ready to do a website refresh. With clear goals, a strong team, and patient-first perspective, your new site can drive conversions — and connections.
The 12 Moving Parts Of Healthcare Content Marketing
All you need for successful healthcare content marketing is some copy and an image, right? Wrong.
Here’s the reality: Your team will need to master at least 10 additional skills in order to make sure your content marketing efforts are effectively drawing in patients.
Here are the 12 skills of content marketing you need if you want to do it right:
1. Content Strategy
All good things start with a plan. A content strategy helps you determine why you are creating content, how you should distribute it, and, most importantly, to whom. It’s your blueprint for creating content that strikes a chord with your identified patient population. And yes, the content strategy needs to be written down, not in someone’s head.
2. SEO
Your healthcare content needs to come up in search for people to find it. You can make that happen with search engine optimization, or SEO. Identify popular search terms on your topics, and organically incorporate them into your content. Don’t forget to apply your optimization tactics to other forms of reach, such as email marketing and social media.
3. Content Creation
Ah, the meat and potatoes of your process. Feeding the content creation beast isn’t such a daunting task with a solid editorial calendar, good writers, and streamlined workflow. Always aim for clarity in your writing, avoiding healthcare mumbo jumbo. Also, ask yourself whether you are really addressing the questions and concerns of your audience.
4. Editing
Never underestimate the power of a well-polished piece. Grammar and typo fixes aside, editors fill in content holes, check facts and flow, and ensure a post maintains your organization’s writing voice. A strong editor can take a writer’s work from good to great.
Also read: Which Does Healthcare Content Marketing Need More: Strong Writers Or Strong Editors?
5. Visual Design
Articles with images get 94% more views. But are you using plain stock photos? How many other healthcare organizations are doing the same? Aim for originality—start with simple infographics and branded image/text complications to really make your posts pop. Use visuals to break up copy and as aides in content promotion.
6. Content Management
Whether you’re posting hourly or monthly, you’ll need a comprehensive content management system (CMS) to host and format your content. Look for a CMS that easily allows your contributors to collaborate and create compelling layouts. Security, version control, and metadata management are also important.
7. Content Distribution
Your goal is to create engaging content. Your other goal is to ensure that the content is read and shared. Develop a plan for posting to your main methods of distribution (frequency and timing for your blog, social media, and emails). If there’s room, adapt content for those specific platforms.
8. Social Media
Facebook, Twitter … whatever your platform, make it a goal to consistently promote your content on social media. And think of these platforms not only as promotional vehicles, but also as your ears to the ground. Observe what your online community is saying matters to them, and adjust your content topics accordingly.
9. Analytics
Analytics determine whether your content is reaching its intended audience and meeting your marketing goals. Make this step a priority. Employ tools like Google Analytics to gather and automate data collection—and be ready to make changes if you see areas for improvement.
10. Email Marketing
Email marketing is still a useful channel for sharing content. Keep your correspondences relevant and succinct with links that work. Trying to generate an email list? Instead of pop-up opt-in boxes—which could annoy visitors—prominently feature a subscribe section on your blog’s main page, and a variation of it at the end of each post.
11. Web Development
While not a necessity, learning web development basics could be instrumental in delivering higher quality content over time. Knowing basic page structure and HTML can provide you with the tools to create content that shines on your healthcare organization’s blog platform.
12. UX Design
Organized content that’s easy to find, search, and navigate is no longer an exception—it’s the rule. And with 30 to 50% of internet searches taking place on mobile, good user experience (UX) design must extend beyond desktops. But no need for separate strategies. Simply consider creating content components that are easily transferrable on multiple platforms.
Rules Of Thumb About Facebook Graphics
Get a great start on Facebook visual marketing with a few simple image guidelines.
