Four Ways to Make Your Hospital Website Pop

Like all websites, yours is a virtual storefront. It is the first thing a potential patient looks at when deciding whether or to choose your services or move on to those offered by a competitor. The last thing you want your website to be is stale, out-of-date or visually irrelevant.

Like all websites, yours is a virtual storefront. It is the first thing a potential patient looks at when deciding whether or to choose your services or move on to those offered by a competitor. The last thing you want your website to be is stale, out-of-date or visually irrelevant.

Besides adding an informative blog, here are a few ways you can make your hospital website exciting, memorable and a source of pass-along readership:

• Add photos. Human beings are visual creatures: their eyes always gravitate to images before text. Why not add photos of new physicians who joined the staff or new equipment recently installed in your facility? It will show you’re with the times and that you keep abreast of new technology.

• Include social widgets. Strategically placing social widgets such as your Facebook or Twitter feed will always keep your website fresh with updated real-time data from your current social networks.

• Share what you’re reading – and writing. Include a section with an RSS feed of articles that are relevant to your specialty and more importantly of interest to your readers. Any pieces published by your physicians and colleagues will be a true bonus, so spotlight those.

• Offer reminders. Is it the time of year to get a Flu or Shingles shot? Maybe it’s time for a checkup. Create a section on your home page that compiles wellness info users can access or even take things a step further and create a login area where they can arrange to receive personalized healthcare reminders.

Some of these enhancements may require assistance from your webmaster. Alert him or her about what you want your site’s content to contain. Because these elements personalize your site, they can make all the difference in determining if you get that new patient or not.