5 Ways to Bring Patients to Your Website

Your practice website can bring you new patients, but it can also help you serve your current patients. How can you bring patients to your website so they can benefit from it?

First, think about your goals. Do you want to provide patient education? Would you like to streamline your practice by allowing patients to do some things at your website instead of in your office? Are you hoping to strengthen your relationship with patients you may see just once or twice a year? All these goals can be accomplished at your practice website — but only if patients use it.

5 tactics to bring patients to your website regularly

1. Does your blog have posts answering your patients most common questions? (Hint: the answer should be yes!) Create PDFs of those posts, put the website’s URL (web address) on the page, and print them out as handouts for your patients. Seeing valuable content will encourage your patients to visit your website.
2. Respond to comments at your site. Sometimes the best answer might be, “Please make an appointment. I’d like to talk to you privately.” But you can also have lively discussions that will encourage a sense of community and keep bringing patients back to your website.
3. Let patients take action at your website. If they can refill a prescription, order products, or book appointments, the website will be a time saver for your patients. When she can drop into your website and find useful information, order a supplement you’ve recommended, and set up her next appointment, you’ve provided real value for your patient.
4. Send out a newsletter. Link to a couple of recent blog posts and share a recipe — any aspect of health can include nutrition, and healthy recipes are popular content. Remind patients of events coming up, tests that many of your patients need to schedule, or special days at your practice.
5. Train your staff to remind patients about the website. Have the site open on the receptionist’s computer and show it to patients as they check in or out.

Of course, the most important way to bring patients to your website — and keep them coming back —  is to provide fresh, useful content on a regular basis. If they know that your website is the place to find authoritative health news, practical advice for their daily lives, and trustworthy answers to their questions, your patients will want to visit your website frequently.