With many people relying on the internet for healthcare solutions, every medical facility needs to establish an online presence. Having a medical website that resonates with your mission and vision is the first step in scaling your business. However, building a medical website is different from designing any other site. For an ordinary website, you need to showcase your brand and create a responsive website. However, medical websites have particular requirements to optimise the user experience. You need a secure site to protect the patient’s data. Since the site is a reflection of healthcare services, it also needs to appeal to patients. Here are common challenges that you can face when creating a medical website:
A higher standard of content
Every website strives to create top-notch content to rank better on search engines. However, medical sites require more than carefully crafted articles. The information you display on your website impacts people’s health and lives. Therefore, authenticity is critical, and you do not want a negative review of a patient following your advice and ending up sick.
The challenge when creating content for medical websites is the lack of professional input. Most doctors cannot find time to generate blog posts, and the content from marketing teams reduces the content’s authority. It is also challenging to write an easy-to-understand article with all the technical jargon. To ensure your website is adding value, you must maintain high levels of accuracy in your articles. Besides, every medical website owner should regularly update their content to ensure they are compliant with current medical practices.
Specific pages must be present on the site
Initially, web developers used to cram a lot of information onto a single landing page. The result was high bounce rates due to poor navigation. Nowadays, building a medical website requires compliance with specific standards. A medical website should have the following pages:
- About us page: It outlines your vision and mission. The goal here is to convince the patient to choose your site for their healthcare needs. It should not contain a lot of information but should have calls-to-actions.
- Location: You should highlight the location coverage for your services. It helps patients to know at first glance if they are willing to travel the distance for physical medical attention. You can include a map and address, however, if you have one primary location, a contact us page will suffice.
- People page: It provides details of the experience and qualifications of healthcare providers who can assist the patients. Patients want to know that you have professionals in your corner.
- Services page: You should list and explain all the services you offer. It helps the patients to find what they need at a glance. You should also include a unique service to stand out from the competition.
- Reviews: To prove your reliability and competency, you should dedicate a page for accolades and testimonials.
High data protection standards
Websites that do not collect user’s information require only basic data protection measures. However, medical sites handle patients’ private information and medical health records. Patients have to fill out medical forms and upload their details for an accurate assessment. The information received from patients is often backed up by the website for future reference. However, the storage of data in a cloud poses a considerable security risk since it is vulnerable to leaks and hacking. Therefore, medical sites need to maintain high levels of data security by employing the latest encryption techniques. SSL encryption protects patients’ privacy by ensuring third parties cannot access the information on the website.
Managing big data
Medical websites collect huge amounts of data and sometimes processing the information is a challenge. Since you need the data for research and medical breakthrough, your medical website should be able to handle loads of information.
The above challenges make developing a website an uphill task for medical professionals. However, with planning and extra attention to detail, you can come up with a perfect site.
