13 Easy Ways to Improve Physical Therapy Websites and Attract More Visitors

Some of the private practice clients we speak to have spent huge amounts of money on their websites, but are still unhappy with the results. The majority don’t do anything about it, as they think it is going to incur more huge expenses and make the assumption that having a better website actually means having to start creating a brand new website from scratch.

In some cases that might be true, but from our experience, just a couple of tweaks here and there are enough to make the difference between a site being successful or not.
If your concerned that your physical therapy practice’s website isn’t attracting enough visitors and new patients, here’s a list of our top 13 quick fixes that have converted non-performing websites into 24-hour sales machines:

1) Have a Call to Action on Every Page

Every single page on your website needs to be working for you by making every visitor take some sort of action. For example, you might want them to give you a call, leave a testimonial about successful therapy, watch a video or leave a comment.

Whatever it is, make sure you tell them what it is you want them to do. Make it easy for them. The last thing you want is for them to be wondering what to do. Don’t assume that they know what to do, even if you think it’s perfectly obvious. Tell them instead.

2) Put Your Phone Number on Every Page

Although this might seem like common sense, it is surprising to see how many companies bury their phone number deep within a site, making it hard for potential customers to contact them.

[note_box]In a lot of cases, visitors have actually come to the site to look for your phone number, so don’t make them hunt for it. Putting it at the top right hand corner is best, but you can also put it in the footer of your site. Remember, patients are visiting your website to find you, contact you, and get directions to your office.  Make your contact information easy to find. [/note_box]

3) Add an ‘About Us’ Page

“About Us” pages often help customers better decide who you are and whether or not they want to take their business to your practice.

Whether they are a businessperson or a consumer, when a person selects a company to do business with, they like to know a bit about their background, so don’t be afraid to give your visitors a brief history that will help them better understand what your practice is all about.

NOTE: The Staff page and About Us page serve different functions.  On the staff page, adding photographs of you and your team with short bios about them, helps you and your clinicians become real people, not just a faceless practice.

Listing your experience and credentials is important, but also engage your visitors, tell them a bit about your hobbies, your family life and things you like to do for fun. Letting the visitor see the real you builds their confidence and trust when doing business with you.

4) Add Your Opening-Closing Hours

There is no such thing as typical opening hours these days, so you need to tell your visitors when you are available.

Making your business hours known is very helpful to patients and can solve their frustration if they visit or ring you when you are not open.

5) Don’t be Afraid to Use Big Bold Images

Images speak louder than words. The Internet is very visual and people respond well to images, so include images on your site that a potential patient will engage with.

You don’t have to spend a fortune on fancy graphics. Simply take pictures of your team in action performing therapy on other patients, shots of your local area, your premises, recent community or team events you all have participated in.

All of these things help to engage your patients and lets them know more about you and your practice.

6) Make Your Site Mobile-friendly

Mobile is huge.  Thirty percent of your visitors are using smart phones and with over 200 million in use in the States today, more and more people will be visiting your site via their smart phone or tablet.

You need to make sure visiting your site on a mobile device is an outstanding experience. Sites that are not optimized to be seen on tiny screens can be frustratingly difficult to navigate around for your potential patients. They won’t persevere, they will simply move to another site.

There are a number of ways to make your site mobile-friendly and we will be happy to give you advice on that.

7) Add Success Stories

Your existing patients are a huge asset to your practice.  They can provide real-life case studies and testimonials that will inform potential new patients of how successful their treatment was, how you saved them time and money or how knowledgeable and efficient your staff is.

How do you get testimonials? Just ask right after you receive a compliment.  Most patients will be more than happy to oblige if you ask them.

8) Match Your Company Branding Always!

For continuity and to help create instant brand awareness ensure your online presence matches your bricks and mortar business. It helps patients to both recognize your practice and to remember you.

9) Take Off the Music

Do you enjoy listening to elevator music? Probably not. Neither do your patients. Never put music on your website. It isn’t relaxing or funny. It’s just annoying. Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean that you should.

Remove anything that might appear annoying to your customers (music, flashing images, etc.) or anything that might distract them from doing what you want them to do: navigate your website, get a good impression of your practice, and hopefully commit their business to you.

10) It’s Time to Get Social

Have you embraced social media yet? Your patients sure have. They interact with thousands of people on the Internet all the time and are very influenced by it. People listen to other people’s recommendations and are interested in their like and dislikes.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s time your business went social. Get started with a Facebook page or a Twitter account. Focus marketing on that platform, and then move on to another network.

We know it can be quite daunting, but we have some great tips for you, so please contact us at E-Rehab or read other blog posts on the subject if you want to know how and where to get started.

11) Be an Authority Website – Add a Physical Therapy Library and More

If you want to be known as an authority site in physical therapy, add some resources to your site that show potential patients how well-versed you are in the field.

These resources could be reports, research papers, infographics, helpful physical therapy website links, videos and more. They all add credibility and will encourage visitors to buy from you rather than from a competitor.

12) Know Your Site’s Main Purpose

So many businesses forget about this. All they know is they need a website, so they just slap one up without thinking about who the target audience is, how they will use the site, and what their objectives are when visiting your website.

Ask yourself: Who will visit your website?  Why do you have/want a website? What do you want visitors on your site to do?

Spend some time thinking about your answers, then make it your top priority to see that your website accomplishes that goal.

NOTE: Avoid putting your mission on your home page.  Put some additional thought into it.

13) Start Again from Scratch

While starting again is not ideal because it takes a lot of time, money and resources, sometimes a site is so badly designed that you have no other choice.

For example, if you have an old site that was set up in the 90’s, it probably looks old and dated by now. Starting again with brand new technology and a new fresh design, instead of trying to patch up the old site, could be a smart move and pay for itself many times over.

Even if you have zero tech skills, you can still determine your site’s purpose and what you want it to do. Sketch out a quick design, along with a plan of what you would like the site to accomplish, then hire a team of professionals who can make it happen.

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Take Home Message: Hire a Professional

The Internet has changed so much in recent years. What worked well five or 10 years ago doesn’t work now.

If you have been looking after your site yourself, or used an unprofessional friend or relative to create your site, it may well be worth calling on our professional services at E-Rehab to come in on the project. Not only will we bring in fresh new designs, but we’ll also share our experiences, expertise and creativity to improve your website. That is what we do. Not only can we give your site a fresh new look, more importantly, we share our marketing skills to make sure your site converts customers 24 hours a day.

Even just applying one or more of the tips here will have a significant effect on your site and increase your business profits. Simply pick a couple that you can identify with and make the changes to your site.

Don’t forget that at E-Rehab we are always here if you want any website or marketing advice, and we help take physical therapy websites and physical therapy private practice to the next level.[/colored_box]