The Basics of Effective Website Design When Marketing Cosmetic Surgery
When it comes to marketing cosmetic surgery on the Internet, or any business for that matter, it's essential that you create a website that actually works. Simply creating a website isn't always enough. You must create an effective website. The following are basic rules when designing an effective website:
- Ensure Quick Load Times. If your website is slow to load, that's one of the surest ways to send visitors to your site away. Your site must load within eight seconds, preferably sooner. One of the most common causes of slow load times are improperly used graphics and images. Images, however, are essential when marketing cosmetic surgery practices. Fortunately, you don't need to avoid using images and graphics, you simply need to optimize them for minimal download times. This can be achieved by preloading and reusing images with JavaScript, resizing them, and using an appropriate format such as JPEG and GIF formats.
- Make Your Website User-Friendly. If your website isn't easy to read, use or understand, you're most likely frustrating your visitors and sending them away. As such, your website must be user-friendly and easy to use. There are several ways that this can be achieved. First, make sure that every page on your site is consistent, using the same colors and navigational cues. To keep visitors from getting lost within your site, particularly if you have a large or complex website, be sure to provide a site map and even a search feature. Always make sure that all links are active. Also make all of your contact information readily available on every page of your site so visitors can easily contact you with questions or comments. Avoid using multimedia format like Flash and Shockwave that require plug-ins or at least make sure that the same information is easily available to those without these plug-ins installed. Lastly, make sure that your content is easy to read, using a high contrast between your background and text colors and using common and appropriately-sized fonts.
- Provide Valuable, Unique Content. Good content is one of the most important elements of a good website. No matter how many great graphics you have or how easy your site is to use, if visitors don't find what they're looking for they'll simply leave. Your content must clearly explain the purpose of your website, the services you offer, and what they can find on your site. You should also include helpful information that potential patients will be looking for like information on individual plastic surgery procedures such as how the procedures are performed, the benefits, the potential complications, the recovery period and so on. Your content should also be updated on a regular basis to keep visitors returning to your site and to continually attract new visitors.
- Fix Errors. Any errors on your website, whether they're spelling errors or HTML coding errors, should be corrected immediately. It's easy to overlook spelling errors, but they can damage your credibility and professionalism. The same is true for HTML coding errors. Further, these often result in display problems and can effect the usability and readability of your website.