11 Ideas To Build an Excellent Optometry Website Design Now

Poorly designed websites are not only unpleasant to look at but hurt user experience (UX) as well. As vision experts, optometrists can provide better UX to their target clients with better optometry website development.

Improve your optometry website with these tips:

1. Ensure full HIPAA compliance.
2. Closely follow ADA guidelines.
3. Prioritize mobile-first indexing.
4. Make sharing quick and easy.
5. Direct users with CTA buttons.
6. Upload fun quizzes and tests.
7. Have quick page load time.
8. Post images and infographics.
9. Produce explainer video clips.
10. Teach people basic eye care.
11. Display your business’s NAP.

There is a lot to discuss, so get ready to take notes.

Let’s go!

To learn how Digital Authority Partners can create a standout website for you, watch this video!

1. Ensure Full HIPAA Compliance

As doctors, optometrists have a moral and legal duty to ensure the safety and well-being of their patients, which extends to their private information. All medical websites must comply with the patient data protection policies of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

That includes securing your website to prevent or reduce the chances of cyberattacks, hacking, and data theft, as well as providing patients with a secure connection to your services. HIPAA’s guidelines also stress the need for getting express consent from patients regarding their data.

2. Closely Follow ADA Guidelines

In addition to complying with HIPAA (a major concern for healthcare professionals), an optometry website must also follow the rules set by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). In particular, Title III that addresses and outlines compliance for private businesses.

While Title III does not provide any specifics for you to follow, the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) do. This includes differentiating between levels of conformance from A to AAA. 

3. Prioritize Mobile-First Indexing

Thanks to the compact design and growing utility of mobile devices, people are increasingly switching to or utilizing mobile search. Over half of all internet users are on mobile devices, and Google has noticed this behavioral trend. This is most evident in their shift to a mobile-first indexing model.

Mobile-first, however, does not apply to all websites. This means that Google uses the mobile version of web pages when it crawls, indexes, and ranks your content. Responsive website design helps you fulfill mobile-first indexing and rank better on search engine result pages (SERPs).

4. Make Sharing Quick and Easy

If your website has a blog, consider adding social buttons to your pages to make sharing articles quick and easy. This helps with spreading awareness of your business without you having to do any extra work. These buttons are a small addition but are excellent for optometry sites.

If you use a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, you have many options for plugins to instantly add buttons for Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram on your content pages.

5. Direct Users With CTA Buttons

Part of excellent optometry website development is managing your web pages' structure (hierarchy). Often, this means prioritizing pages that require the most visibility or serve as your directories for other content. This makes navigation hard or even confusing.

Adding simple and direct call to action (CTA) buttons help mitigate any negative side effects of your site structure. “Learn More,” “Book an Appointment,” and “Ask Us” are basic examples.

6. Upload Fun Quizzes and Tests

A best practice to follow when making content is that it has to be engaging and worth sharing with other people. As an optometrist, you are uniquely positioned to do that while generating leads for your business. Publish your own quizzes and tests for people to try.

For example, create a simple vision test that helps people identify any issues with their sight, such as astigmatism and color blindness. Then, use the results to encourage them to book an appointment with your clinic or direct them to explore other helpful content on your site.

7. Have Quick Page Load Time

A key problem area for all websites, not just optometry website development, is optimizing them for better UX. Loading speed is a major issue that hinders a website’s usability and value for your target market. A poor web design leads to poor UX, which is bad for your business. 

Although rich media (images and videos) are invaluable for medical websites, they actually hurt the UX if they are not optimized for faster page speeds. For example, upload your videos to YouTube and embed them on your content pages rather than adding heavy files to your website.

8. Post Images and Infographics

Like quizzes and tests, images and infographics enrich the UX by providing engaging content. They also help your target market better understand complex topics by adding context or simplifying the subject.

For example, most optometrist offices have a chart of the eye or infographics on eye diseases. Such content adapts very well to websites and helps capture more interest.

9. Produce Explainer Video Clips

Medicine is often so complex that many concepts are hard to accurately or correctly convey to patients through text and images alone. Explainer videos are an excellent solution because they allow you to adjust the complexity and pacing of the discussion.

Videos let you effectively communicate your ideas through animation to people unfamiliar with your services. Overall, explainer videos help you stand out and integrate your personality and style when sharing complex ideas and topics with your site visitors. 

10. Teach People Basic Eye Care

So far, we have mentioned the types of content (quizzes, infographics, and videos) necessary to build an excellent optometry website. The subject of the content is up to you, and may cover many different issues, from identifying and preventing diseases to basic eye care tips.

Because value is vital to a great content strategy, starting with eye care tips makes the most sense for excellent website design. This content is especially useful for people who want to prevent eye damage.

11. Display Your Business’s NAP

As a local business, you want to be visible in local searches to attract patients in your area. Displaying your business’s contact information (name, address, and phone number or NAP) gets you a boost in Google local search results based on your proximity to the searcher.

When you include the NAP where it is highly visible, such as a page header or footer, it is easy for visitors to note this information. Adding them to or near a CTA button (such as booking an appointment or calling your clinic) is another option. 

Summing Up

Optometrists are experts on people’s vision problems but may be novices at handling website design issues. Fortunately, experts publish plenty of resources on this topic (like this one) that detail critical features every website needs and why each matters for your business.

Need help creating an excellent optometry website design? Contact Digital Authority Partners (DAP) to learn how we can help.