Just like I couldn’t survive without tacos and fast WiFi, your practice’s website has some essential needs, too. Let’s dig into the top 10 things every dental website can’t live without:

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1. Contact Information

Let’s start with the obvious – if a patient can’t find your phone number, they’re not going to call you. But there’s a bit more to it than that…

• Phone Number – Make it easy for new patients to get in touch with you by including your phone number (and/or a phone icon) at the top of each page. Be sure the number is set up as a click-to-call link to make it easy for folks to call you when browsing on mobile devices.
• The “NAP” – Your Name, Address, and Phone Number should be included on every page of your site. The NAP should be placed in the site footer, and it should exactly match the information used in your Google Business Profile. A consistent NAP is a strong signal to search engines that your site represents a real business in a real location.
• A Contact Page – Be sure to create a Contact page that includes, at minimum: Your address and phone number, business hours, an embedded Google Map, and a form to schedule an appointment and/or send an email.
• Skip the Email – It turns out that Google isn’t the only company scanning websites for information. Spammers also scour the web for email addresses to sell far and wide. If you choose to place your email address on your site, you open yourself up to receive many, many spam messages. For this reason, we recommend setting-up a contact form instead of placing your email address directly on the site.

2. About Page

An About page (a.k.a. Meet the Team page) is crucial for building trust and credibility with patients. This is your chance to #humblebrag, but don’t just stop with your list of academic and clinical accomplishments. Give patients a glimpse into your real life. Tell them about why you became a dentist, your family, activities you enjoy, and your adorable Puggle puppy. The more patients get to know you, the more they will connect with you. It might sound a bit fluffy (not unlike your Puggle), but connection leads to trust, which leads to increased conversion rates, treatment acceptance, and revenue.

In addition to the patient trust benefits, your About page is actually a huge help to your SEO. For any health-related topic, Google takes extra care to ensure that the site’s author has the appropriate expertise, authority, and trustworthiness (also known as “E.A.T.”) to speak on the topic. A well-written About page gives Google’s algorithm the confidence to know that your website’s content is backed by an expert and worth sharing.

3. Services Page

A services page is a must-have for any dental website. It should include a comprehensive list of all the services you offer, ideally with a brief description of each service.

For an added SEO boost, create a separate page about each service you provide (especially services that are particularly valuable to you). For the most impact, those pages should use keywords relevant to both your location and the service. (Think: “Dental Implant Specialist in Cleveland”)

4. Reviews

Including patient testimonials on your website is a great way to build trust with potential patients. Make sure to include a variety of reviews that highlight your team’s skills and expertise. We recommend adding a “Reviews” page which features some of your best reviews from around the web. This page can also include links to view all of your reviews on various platforms. 

5. Online Appointment Booking

In our post-COVID world, everyone expects everything to be available online. With online scheduling, patients can view your availability and schedule an appointment from their web browsers without the need for a call. Implementing online scheduling will increase new patient appointments and reduce the amount of time your front office spends fielding new patient calls – it’s a win-win! Some online scheduling services include NexHealth (our recommended partner), LocalMed, and FlexSchedule.

6. A Great Mobile Experience

Since over 58% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, your website’s mobile experience should be considered more important than the desktop experience. That means that your site should not just be functional on mobile devices, it should be optimized for mobile devices. It should load quickly, be easy to navigate, and look great on devices of all sizes. Don’t let the mobile version of your site be a poorly designed afterthought – spend some time optimizing the experience to be as good as (if not better than) the desktop version.

7. Social Media Integration

Integrating your website with your social media accounts can help you build a following and connect with potential patients. This can be as simple as including links to your practice’s social accounts (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) to your website’s footer. If you’re very active on social media, you could also consider a more advanced integration like a simulated or “live” Instagram feed. And the integration goes both ways – be sure to add your website’s address to all of your social media profiles and share links to your website content on social platforms whenever possible.

8. Custom Photography & Video

Want to build an emotional connection with new patients before they ever walk through the door? Nothing can do that quite like custom photography and video.

Don’t settle for cheesy stock photos – make a real connection by letting people see you and your team laughing and smiling with patients. Your website should feature professional photos of you, your team, and your practice, so people can get to know you and feel at-home before they see you in person.

To take your site to the next level, consider adding custom video content. You can build rapport by explaining your practice’s vision, show your expertise by explaining various procedures, and increase trust by showing patient testimonials.

9. Clear Navigation

Your website should have clear and intuitive navigation to make it easy for visitors to find the information they need. On a mobile site, this usually involves creating a menu button at the top of the page, often referred-to as a “hamburger” menu (due to the strong resemblance between ☰ and 🍔). This button typically leads to an overview of all of your site’s pages, organized in an intuitive way. Desktop sites traditionally use a horizontal navigation bar, but a hamburger menu can be just as effective, especially if your homepage contains links to other key parts of the site. No matter which navigation option you choose, it should be easy for users to find all of your site’s most important pages from every page.

10. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

You could have the most beautiful, engaging website in the world, but if no one sees it, it isn’t doing your practice much good. A solid SEO strategy is critical to get your site in front of the people who need to see it most. Your website should be built using SEO best practices like using relevant keywords, meta descriptions, and alt tags on images. You should also have an ongoing plan to add new content to your site on a regular basis, like service pages and articles. In larger markets, more aggressive strategies such as backlink building may be necessary.

By including these items on your website, you'll be well on your way to building trust with potential patients and driving more appointments through your doors. Need some help building a website for your practice? We don’t like to brag, but our sites are pretty great, and we’d be honored to help you tell your practice’s story with a beautiful, high-performance custom dental website.