When people are looking to find a new dentist in their area, the internet is the first place they turn to. People search for anything and everything online to find answers to their everyday needs. Not surprisingly, this means you need a website that stands out from the competition, ranks on the search engines, and persuades people to choose you as their dentist.
So how can your website stand out from the others?
The information you have on your website has to be precise, accurate and presented in a manner that the audience can connect with. This means that the quality of content and the visual appearance of your content should be excellent.
A website with high-quality content and imagery attracts more patients and retains them for longer than a website that has terrible, blurry images and copy/paste text. Great, unique content also increases the chances of people returning to your website to book an appointment.
Images play an integral part in attracting and retaining clients, and here are 10 ways you can use images on your dental clinic website to generate more customers.
1. Images Must Be Relevant
The first step is to have images relevant to the topic and text. Irrelevant pictures lead to a quick loss of interest on the part of the reader. A study carried out in Canada suggests that an average person now has an eight-second attention span.
With that short window of opportunity, time should not be wasted on anything unrelated. If a web page is detailing information about your dental check-ups or a specific procedure it should only have images related to that procedure.
2. Cropping & Scaling Your Images
Not all images come ready-to-use, and size adjustments must be made when added to your website. The auto-crop and adjust functions generally result in poorly-placed, blurry, or slow-loading images – which is bad news for visitors and search engines alike.
The simple solution is to take a few minutes beforehand and crop the images as per your site’s settings.
Ensure that any unnecessary parts of the image are trimmed, and the edited image is resized. Once correctly put in place and centralized, they’ll look perfect and help speed up your website’s load time.
3. Take Your Own Pictures
Taking your own photos is the easiest way to take perfect photos for your website.
You can use a high-quality camera and take the picture yourself, or you can hire a professional to get the perfect shot.
A little extra expense on the images can make the website look incredibly professional, appeal to new patients, and show how great your clinic is. With no risk of a copyright lawsuit by using someone else’s work, this is a real win-win situation!
4. Consider Stock Photos
Taking professional-quality pictures is not everyone’s cup of tea and we have the perfect solution for this problem.
Stock photos are an excellent source for getting the perfect snap for a webpage. Generally, you can get stock images at affordable prices with a license for future use.
The use of stock photos also helps in finding more diverse ideas. The thought process of every photographer is different and they can look over the same object in different manners. With a variety of options to choose from, finding a good fit for your website gets easier.
Want to learn more about using stock photography or original photography for your website? Check out our blog post ‘Should You Use Stock Photos Or Original Photos For Your Dental Practice Website?’
5. Speed Up Your Website
Nothing bores an audience more than a website that won’t load. People expect websites to open instantly and heavy images can slow down your website’s loading time and annoy your potential patients.
Optimize your website’s images to ensure it opens quickly for everyone. Take into account that some of the audience may not have high-quality broadband so they might struggle to open large image files. Images should be the strength, not the weaknesses of your website so don’t have them slow down your site!
6. Make Sure They’re Suitable For All Devices
Unlike fifteen years ago when desktops were the only option, people now access the internet on all kinds of handheld devices.
A website’s user interface (UI) should always be optimized for all these platforms. A picture that looks well on the desktop may not look the same on a 4” mobile screen.
If your website and your images aren’t optimized for all devices, your content is going to look scattered all over the place. This will come off as unprofessional and the reader will likely exit the page immediately.
So put a little bit of effort in when it comes to optimizing your website for all devices.
7. Keep It Real, Keep It Human
It is human nature to connect with other humans. This rule applies everywhere, even to websites.
People like to see pictures of humans just like them. They can subconsciously relate to them as they feel real. These types of images are great for advertisements and can attract people to your dental practice.
There are many other types of images that can be used on your website such as doodles, cartoons, etc. However, nothing really matches the impact of images of actual human beings with emotions.
People can relate a lot easier to pictures of humans than to cartoons so we’d advise using images with pictures of people in them. This is especially important for dental practices as you want to show your potential patients that you’re a friendly dental clinic to work with.
8. Consider Adding Multiple Images
Multiple images are highly effective in drawing the attention of the audience, especially if you want to highlight a specific service. People can’t try out your dental services online and inspect them for themselves but images highlighting the different benefits of the dental procedures might help.
It’s important that the images are sharp and crisp and show different aspects of the procedure or service – avoid clinical/scary images of procedures!
9. Don’t Forget The Background
Background images add more appeal to the message on the website.
These images must be carefully selected and go with the theme of your website as well as the content.
Plain coloured backgrounds are better than out-of-place images!
1o. Add Value To Your Images
Pictures relevant to the subject of the website look good. However, adding relevant information with the imagery is even better.
Infographics are perfect for websites due to their informative nature while maintaining a visual description.
Captioning your images as well as making them clickable for more information is also a great idea as well. Information relating to your imagery always creates more interest.
Written content and images complement each other well. By using the right imagery you can add a lot of value to the information.
There are a few tools you can use to help create attractive visual content.
These smart approaches will help improve the overall appearance of the website and appeal to the audience.
Want some help finding the perfect images for your website? Get in touch with our team today and we’ll help you create images and graphics that will attract more potential patients to your dental practice.
