Best Optometry Websites: Design Strategies to Set Your Practice Apart

If you’ve been looking for a sign that it’s time to upgrade your optometry website, here’s a big one:

80% of U.S. adults¹ have looked for health-related information online in the past year. Further, 63% of people will choose one eye care practice over another if they detect a “strong online presence.”

Before hiring an optometric website design firm to create a shiny new custom website to attract patients, it can be helpful to look at your optometry practice website first to see if it makes the grade. You may not need a professional website designer to make some quick but effective improvements.

Why Best Optometry Websites Focus on Strategic Website Design

Since prospective patients are likely to visit your optometry website before making an appointment, you can convert optometrist website visitors into patients by having a website that provides helpful content, optimizes the user experience, and conveys your optometry clinic branding.

Remember, you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Just as important as having a website that looks great is having one that shows up prominently in the search engines. As the Google algorithm has evolved, local SEO² (search engine optimization to attract local optometry patients) is critical to attracting new patients to an optometry practice.

As an optometrist, you’re probably not reading up on digital marketing trends to understand how to upgrade your web development to ensure your optometry practice puts its best foot forward online. Working with a medical website design firm or a marketing professional with experience in web design services can help your eye clinic climb to the top and outshine the competition.

This resource also includes helpful marketing ideas tailored to optometry practice owners and operators.

Does Your Practice Website Need an Update to Match the Best Optometry Websites?

Even if you finished an optometry web design project recently, it is helpful to take another look from the perspective of a potential patient.

When visitors come to an optometry website, they expect, at a minimum, the following:

• Helpful and accurate information about your optometry office
• Bios and credentials of key staff members
• Contact information (including phone numbers, addresses, and online submission forms)
• Links to social media accounts
• Options to inquire about or schedule an eye exam
• Website gallery or practice photos to show potential patients your office

Here’s a quick, one-question test to determine whether it might be time to call a website designer: when someone asks for your optometrist website, are you proud to share it with visitors? Or do you find yourself making excuses for the design and functionality?

If you’re not proud to share your optometry website with the world, it’s time for an update.

Common Mistakes in Designing Optometry Websites

Medical professionals who have gone the DIY route or hired an amateur to build their eye care website could fall into the trap of making these common website development mistakes:

• Too much information: There’s a delicate balance between providing ample details about your optometry clinic and adding too much content that confuses patients looking for eye care service providers and makes them click away from your practice website.
• Slow load times: Websites that have a lot of content and images can take forever to load. According to a Google Research report, the average website takes more than 15 seconds to load4. Your patients, assuming they are like the typical adult, have an attention span of only 8.25 seconds³, so if your website takes longer than that to load, you could be losing prospective patients in droves.
• No call to action: This mistake might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many eye care website properties make this mistake. A call to action could be calling your optometry practice to make an appointment for a contact lens eye exam, requesting more information about your practice, or downloading a discount for eyewear.
• Not mobile-friendly: Making sure your website looks good on mobile devices is a must. So much of the internet is accessed on mobile phones, and your website should accommodate how many of your optometry patients would see it.

Best Practices for Optometry Website Design and Performance

Being aware of common website development mistakes is a critical piece of the puzzle, but it’s equally vital for a web designer to be familiar with the best practices in the optometry website design niche, including the following:

• Fast load speeds: Ideally, your optometry website should load in under four seconds5, and if you can get load speeds faster than two seconds, you’ll be at the head of the class.
• Mobile-friendly functionality: With 59.4% of Internet traffic6 coming from mobile devices, it’s more important than ever to ensure your website functions on smartphones and tablets.
• Simple, legible design: Keep colors and designs minimalistic. Aim for three colors (or less) and only one to two simple, easy-to-read fonts.
• Informative and direct: Remember people’s short attention spans? With that in mind, keep your content direct and to the point.
• Easy to navigate: No one likes being lost, including getting lost on a website. One of the easiest ways to ensure your site is easy to navigate is to have key topics in the header of your website with subtopics and miscellaneous information in the footer.
• Calls to action: Make sure your website visitors know what you want them to do. Include a click-to-call button in your header, clickable links in your footer, and a button to schedule an appointment or request more information above the fold.

“Above the fold” refers to the portion of your optometry website design at the top of the page before the user begins scrolling downward. Always make sure a website visitor gets the most essential information first.

Optometry Blog and Social Media Content

Your blog and social media properties are ideal channels to educate your audience, build authority, and drive new patients into your practice. Potential blogging and social media topics include eye care tips and best practices for keeping eyes healthy.

With both blogging and social media, consistency is critical for success. One way to stay consistent is to create a content calendar and stick to it.

Conclusion: Building the Best Optometry Practice Experience

Once you have a new website that converts visitors into patients, you need to ensure that you continue providing a patient experience that is consistent with your bespoke branding. Doctors who run an optometry practice consistently rely on Weave, an all-in-one platform that combines a world-class phone system with a suite of cutting-edge communication tools.

To see Weave in action, schedule a demo.

Resources

1. New Research Shows Why Doctors Need a Strong Online Presence | Inc.
2. Local Search Ranking Factors | Moz
3. Think with Google – Consumer Insights
4. Average Human Attention Span By Age (Infographic)
5. Site Speed is (Still) Impacting Your Conversion Rate | Portent
6. What percentage of internet traffic is mobile? | Oberlo
7. How to Strategically Use Color in Website Design | Flux Academy