What are the key considerations and trends when developing a veterinary website?

For veterinary businesses, investing in a successful online presence is now just as important as maintaining a strong offline presence within the local community. So, here are some of the main considerations in developing a functional and effective website.

Professional design

If your website isn’t fully functional, visitors will take it as a sign that you aren’t as invested in your business as you could be. Presenting a passionate and trustworthy appearance is essential and you need to convince potential clients that you are best placed to offer professional advice and first-class care for their pets. It is also important to ensure that your branding is consistent and your online presence reflects the offline experience clients can expect from your practice.

In addition to investing in a website that looks great, you also need to ensure that it actually helps visitors to locate the information they are searching for quickly and efficiently. Clean designs will help visitors focus on your content and ensure there aren’t any superfluous features to distract them from engaging with the information you want to deliver.

A seamless user experience

The best websites are totally intuitive and don’t present visitors with a steep learning curve. It is important for your visitors to understand how to engage with your website as soon as they arrive, which means offering streamlined navigation that will help people to locate the information they need within a few clicks.

Optimise for mobile

With more of us turning to smartphones and tablets to conduct the majority of our online browsing, it is essential for websites to be fully optimised for mobile. From ensuring that every feature is accessible via a mobile device to guaranteeing that your content is easy to read regardless of the screen size a visitor is using to browse your site, optimising your digital presence correctly is imperative if you want to convert as much of your online traffic into loyal clients as possible.

Content optimised for people and search engine optimisation (SEO)

To rank well in search engine results pages (SERPs) and secure additional traffic to your site, your content should always be written with SEO in mind. It is also imperative, however, to ensure that your SEO never impacts the quality or readability of your content from a human perspective. The best content will also translate well across other online media and should therefore be shared in platform-appropriate forms across key social channels such as Twitter and Instagram.

Appropriate images

Imagery is a powerful tool and will often help you to communicate the ethos and values of your practice in ways that words alone may struggle to convey. It is important to select appropriate images that present your practice as a positive and welcoming environment. You should ideally avoid images of animals in surgery and, instead, showcase your practice and share images of some of your loyal client base.

There are many benefits that come with using the services of a digital agency which specialises in designing websites for veterinary practices. In addition to knowing how to design to ensure maximum accessibility, experienced teams understand what works, having gained years of insight into the needs of clients looking for veterinary services in their local area. To find out more about how our team could help you deliver a website which reflects your practice and personality perfectly, please get in touch.