Creating A Website With A Professional Image

Your own credibility and that of your services can suffer if your website doesn’t convey a professional image. Image is everything, particularly when marketing medical practices, but also when it comes to the Internet given that another competing plastic surgeon is just a click away. If a visitor to your site doesn’t feel that you’re professional or trustworthy, they’ll simply go elsewhere.

The following are simple tips to help you increase the level of professionalism that your website conveys:

• Design Consistency. All of the pages in your website should be consistent with their design, utilizing the same colors, fonts, font sizes and so on. The major elements, such as your navigation, should always be located in the same place.
• Load Times. It’s essential that your pages are quick to load, otherwise visitors will simply leave. Avoid using too many graphics or overly large graphics on a single page to decrease your load time.
• Logo. Your website should have a logo. If you already have one for your practice, this may work well on your website, just make sure that it compliments your design’s site. It’s also a good idea to make your logo a clickable link that brings visitors back to your homepage.
• Page Titles. Give every page on your website an appropriate page title. Make sure that they’re uniform in font type, size, color, alignment and spacing.
• Screen Resolution And Browser Tests. Test your pages for compatibility at varying screen resolutions and on different browsers. People use different browsers and view websites at varying screen resolutions, but your website must look and function properly for the majority of them. Be careful with your code, particularly when using JavaScript and DHTML, as problems can occur with alternative browsers, particularly Netscape Navigator.
• Text Links. Navigation which is dependent upon graphics like icons, buttons, and so on can cause problems for visitors surfing with graphics turned off or with browsers not supporting those graphics. Make sure that you provide text links with all of your graphic links.
• The One-Page Homepage. Try to fit your homepage on a single page so that visitors don’t have to scroll vertically or horizontally. This allows visitors to your site to instantly see who you are and what you and your site have to offer.