You may already know how first impressions work. Within seconds, the person you are meeting for the first time has already judged you subconsciously and made assumptions about your income level, personality, hobbies and more.
Before patients ever make their way through your front door, they’ve already judged your business. They’ve done this in seconds after finding your website online. Some of these judgements involve whether or not you are up to date in your methods and technology. These judgements are the basis of whether the visitor will call you or continue to search online for someone who makes a better first impression.
Most people don’t realize that the majority of people browsing the internet do not take the time to read your written content prior to making an initial judgement. Instead, they judge you instantly by the design of your website.
They will subconsciously assume your technology and methods are out of date if your website is out of date.
From 2014 to 2016, MUCH has changed in the world of website design.
In 2014, modern designs included a 2 column, simplistic layout. Many sites featured stock photography and a page that was separate from its background. The sites were often mobile friendly, but not always responsive. Few sites included a major focus on online reviews or custom video content. Few featured real patient photos.
In 2016, we’re seeing a lot of movement and modular design. Most websites do not have a distinguished page, but instead have horizontal sections for scrolling. Minimalistic designs are growing in popularity, but often lack necessary information and ranking factors which help online visibility. Parallax scrolling effects are subtle yet very impressive and show a certain sophistication that the 2014 websites no longer possess. Online forms are now more likely pop-ups or very minimalistic. Large photos and maps are more popular than those restricted to boxes on the page. Menus are smaller and more condensed and now often “stick” to the top of the page, keeping contact information available at all times.
How often do I need to update my design?
If you have a very modern and technologically savvy dental practice, you will want your website updated every 2 years, depending on how much has changed in trends. We’ve seen spans of 2-3 years pass without major design trends hit the mainstream. Other years, like 2016, the websites developed in January are very different than those created in October- just because of rapidly evolving trends.
What’s involved in updating my website design?
We’ll implement a completely new layout for you, which utilizes the current trends. We’ll work with our developers to completely redevelop your website and coding, which is necessary when changing the layout and design of your website. We’ll test every page on every browser. We may recommend sending us updated team and patient photos to use in place of the stock photos used in the past.
You will have the opportunity to see and approve the new layout before it is developed and made live.
Here is a sample:
