You've got to have a website for your PT practice, that's a no-brainer. Check out this post to see the things that it really needs to have to be successful.
All marketing paths lead future patients back to one indispensable place—your PT website. And if you want to build your patient base effectively, there are a few ways to make your site stand out in the highly competitive physical therapy landscape. So, what can practice owners do to optimize their website? In this article, we'll explore how to bolster your search traffic, impress prospective patients, educate the public, and empower your physical therapy clinic. Here are the top 8 things every PT website should have:
It's no secret that the addition of testimonials on your website can increase patient visits, online conversions, and therapy adherence. According to Bigcommerce, there are a few key statistics we can apply to physical therapy:· 92% of consumers read online reviews.· 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.· 58% of prospects are more likely to convert after reading reviews And while these are centered around eCommerce product reviews, let's make a few assumptions. Physical therapy is much more important to people's quality of life, recovery, and overall well-being than an Alexa purchased off Amazon. When people choose a physical therapist, their decision is potentially life-altering. Therefore, when you're setting up a website, the addition of testimonials is essential to your practice's continued success.
The beating heart of any physical therapy marketing plan is converting a lead—someone who is looking at physical therapy services—into a full-blown patient. Call to action statements play an integral role in this process by laying out a road map to becoming a patient, usually through enhanced education (signing someone up for an email marketing list) or directly scheduling an appointment with a PT. Some CTA examples include:· Schedule a free consultation· Learn more· Book your appointment· Get started using these statements on your website with some form of design contrast (making them come alive and jump off the page!) can fuel future business. And while calls to action are used in marketing funnels, they don't need to be "salesy." CTAs are a powerful way to provide value to patients who aren't aware of physical therapy's numerous benefits.
Whether you're improving your current PT website or starting from scratch, a blog is a multifaceted marketing approach that serves many purposes. First, and possibly most important, blogging gives your practice a voice. It allows you to establish a certain feel and display your culture of excellence. Second, it dramatically improves search traffic. Blogging increases organic search results and gives you a chance to promote educational content across social platforms. Finally, adding a blog to your website can showcase expertise in the PT community—providing trust and authority on various topics. Therefore, incorporating a blog helps patients find your practice's website, understand how you do business, and look to you as an expert in the world of physical therapy.
An underrated champion of website accessibility, the about page is often overlooked by busy PTs. The truth is that people want to do business with other people, not with a lifeless entity. The about page is an opportunity to highlight your staff's accolades, your company culture, and show prospective patients that you're much more than an organization—you're a person. Another benefit of building or improving your about page is the increased search traffic you'll receive on the site. Google picks apart each page on your website to decide if you're a subject matter of authority. About pages can be a tool to boost organic search results by including key terms that help your practice's search visibility.
The old cliché "A picture is worth a thousand words" exists for a reason. Pictures can add instant value to a website by boosting organic search traffic, explaining complex topics, and making your site look more pleasant. The trick to adding images is making sure they're high-quality. However, there's one problem with building a website with high-quality images—they come at the expense of your website's speed! In fact, the probability of someone leaving your website increases by 123% if it takes up to ten seconds to load. Squarespace recommends using images under 500kb for the best results. There are many compression tools online to help you balance image quality and file size.
Education can empower patients to take the first step towards recovery, and there's no better way than to highlight the different services you provide. Service pages can outline the why, what, and how you can help people recover. Highlight any niche therapy you provide, such as trigger point, dry needling, sports, and other applicable services. This will let people know their options and confirm availability for specific search topics. Incorporating a search page will also increase search visibility by helping your practice rank higher for the services you provide.
In 2016 mobile internet usage surpassed desktop access, and the trend has only accelerated as companies like Apple roll out hyper-fast processing chips and networks that expand on the 5G ecosystem. While choosing a physical therapist is a more calculated decision, that doesn't exempt your website from mobile optimization. In fact, not having a website that flows on a mobile device can hurt your SEO and make prospective patients think twice about using your services. Use the tools your website builder provides to scale images and text in a user-friendly manner. Change extensive menus into compact and expandable options. Double-check each page is aesthetically augmented for reader ease-of-access.
When building a PT website, if you stick with the basics, you'll get basic results. Supercharge your website by adding fresh patient testimonials paired with high-quality images. Add pages detailing who you are and what services you offer. Once you have these components, you can give your business a voice by adding blog posts. These posts should also work as a magnet—attracting prospective patients searching for physical therapy. Rope in each lead with a powerful call to action and make sure patients can view your website comfortably on their mobile device. It seems like a ton of work to put together a great website, and to be honest; it can be. Break down each area you'd like to focus on and improve functionality each day. If you need to free up some extra time to work on your website, streamline your current workload using MWTherapy's powerful PT software. Try out this free demo to see how MWTherapy can help you master the art of practice management.
