With high rates of healthcare competition, having an engaging, informative, and effective website is essential for any medical practice. According to a study by Leo Yeykelis in the Journal of Communication, people using personal computers switch their attention every 19 seconds. Therefore, from the moment a potential patient arrives at your landing page, you have just a small amount of time to make a good impression and increase website engagement.
How to Keep Your Website Visitors Engaged
With 75% of on-screen content being viewed for less than a minute, website designers, healthcare marketers, and medical practices have to work that much harder to keep website visitors engaged.
Skin conductance measurements reveal that arousal is highest when switching to new content and quickly declines thereafter. This is known as the attraction mechanism. The attraction mechanism creates a self-sustaining loop that provides a constant battle for website engagement.
This means that website owners and designers always have to be one step ahead, constantly finding new ways to engage website visitors. By utilizing the following tips, you can enhance your healthcare marketing efforts and maximize growth.
1. Research Your Audience
Understanding your target audience is the first step in creating an engaging website. What are your potential patient’s interests? Why did they come to your website? Who are they? Once you know your audience, you can create healthcare marketing content that appeals to them.
One way to get to know your website visitors is through Google Analytics. This tool can help you track website traffic, understand where your visitors are coming from, and see what pages on your website are the most popular.
In addition, using your social media platforms to conduct audience research is a great way to understand the type of content your followers are interested in. Through social listening, you can understand the conversations taking place around your brand and the healthcare industry.
This will help you know what topics to address on your website and blog, as well as give you ideas for new content pieces. Social listening is conducted by paying attention to the comments and questions people leave on your practice’s and competitors’ social media pages.
2. Minimize Page Loading Time
There is nothing worse than waiting for a website to load. Website visitors are impatient, and if your website is taking too long to load, they are likely to leave before they even see your content. Keeping your website design simple and using website caching are two ways to help minimize your website’s loading time.
3. Share Your Knowledge and Passion
Sharing your knowledge and passion is essential when it comes to website engagement. No one wants to read boring, dry content. Instead, write about topics your practice is passionate about and that interest your potential patients.
Sharing your knowledge and healthcare expertise can make for engaging content. When potential patients feel like they are getting valuable information from you, they will be more likely to trust your practice and book an appointment.
4. Include Engaging Visuals
Images, infographics, and videos are a great way to engage with potential patients. People are visual learners and tend to remember information better when presented through a visual medium.
In addition, including visuals on your website can help break up large blocks of text and make your content more visually appealing. Video is the primary form of media used in content marketing and can be a great way to keep your audience engaged.
5. Keep Content Easy to Digest
When creating content, keep in mind that sometimes keeping it simple is the best way to go. Website visitors are more likely to read and retain information when it is easy to digest.
Incorporating a variety of mediums in your content can help make complex information more digestible for your target audience. A website that integrates easy-to-read, high-quality content will likely lower bounce rates and keep visitors engaged longer.
6. Understand the Importance of Web Copy
While visuals are important, website visitors need quality copy to read. Good web copy is engaging, easy to read, and provides valuable information.
When writing web copy, it is imperative to create a good user experience. Using short sentences, active voice, and easy-to-understand language will help make your copy an effective form of content. It is also crucial to focus on SEO when writing web copy. Conducting keyword research and including keywords throughout your website content can help boost your SEO efforts.
7. Improve Your Internal Links
Internal linking is the process of linking one page on your website to another. Internal links help improve website navigation and keep patients engaged.
Including internal links in your website content can help your audience find more information about the topics they are interested in. Adding internal links is an excellent method to boost the amount of time people spend on your website.
8. Study Your Website Engagement Metrics
It is essential to study website engagement metrics to understand what is working and what isn’t. By analyzing engagement metrics, you can better understand your website visitors and make content changes to improve their experience.
Website engagement metrics to study include:
- Bounce rate
- Time on page
- Pages per session
- Average session duration
- New vs. returning visitors
- Sources of traffic
- Click-through rate
Contact LEVO Health to Enhance Your Website Engagement
While these tips may help improve website engagement, the best way to ensure your website is engaging, informative, and effective is by working with a team of healthcare marketing experts.
At LEVO Health, we specialize in keeping website visitors engaged and converting them into patients. Contact LEVO Health today to learn more about improving your website engagement and increasing traffic.
