How to create a Dentist Website

Over 200,000 dentists work in the United States according to the American Dental As­so­ci­a­tion. And most patients will search online before com­mit­ting to an ap­point­ment with a dentist in their city. A dental surgery without a website often goes unnoticed.

But why is a dental practice website so important? Besides in­creas­ing your chances of being found online by potential patients, a web page can also highlight your spe­cial­ist com­pe­ten­cies and create trust between you and your patients. A dentist website provides useful in­for­ma­tion for potential patients. This also makes it an important component of your clinic’s marketing strategy.

Using existing tech­nolo­gies, it’s easy as 1-2-3 to create a dental surgery website. Since practice owners tend to have limited time available, the design of their website is often left with external service providers and web de­vel­op­ers. However, the owner of the practice remains re­spon­si­ble for the content on the homepage. Our guide provides important tips on how to create a dental website. We provide the step-by-step in­struc­tions to help you create a suc­cess­ful website for your practice.

For most people, the dentist practice is rarely a happy place. Around 80 percent of Americans dread going to the dentist. That’s why it’s all the more important that patients feel welcome, enter a relaxing at­mos­phere, and can easily access all the in­for­ma­tion they require. Trust is a major component, es­pe­cial­ly for new patients. For trust to be es­tab­lished, it’s not just the qual­i­fi­ca­tion of the dentist and their staff that needs to convince. The entire office ambience should evoke con­fi­dence. And this should be obvious from a dentist’s website.

So, make sure you present yourself and your staff as helpful and competent points of contact. There are plenty of new patients who recently moved home and are now looking for a new dental practice to join. This is your chance to score through a pro­fes­sion­al online presence.

A com­pre­hen­sive dentist website can also alert patients to ad­di­tion­al dental services, such as pro­fes­sion­al teeth cleaning, implants, or treat­ments that are offered under analgesia. This indicates a wide range of services and can provide ad­di­tion­al income. A good dental practice website means that patients can easily get in contact and schedule ap­point­ments via your homepage.

COVID-19 has turned every­thing upside down. New rules are being im­ple­ment­ed on an ongoing basis and differ re­gion­al­ly. This creates in­se­cu­ri­ty among patients. That’s why, it’s all the more important to keep your patients in the know. Use your homepage to clarify current access rules and reg­u­la­tions in your practice.

In addition, you probably want to minimize the number of patients waiting in the practice at any given time. A website can be helpful here: Provide in­for­ma­tion about various com­mu­ni­ca­tion options or implement a booking system. Patients can use this to book available ap­point­ments online.

Difficult times like these require out­stand­ing support. IONOS is here to guide you as your digital partner. Find out more about our support services on our Website Solutions homepage.

Creating a dentist website is not very difficult – at least not in terms of the technical aspects required. With the right tools, you don’t need to know the basics of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, or PHP to get started. The following tips are intended to make it easier for you to decide on how to create your dental practice homepage.

A website builder such as MyWebsite provides different templates that can be easily adapted to suit your needs. Templates may be limited to the options available but make up for it with the addition of photos and il­lus­tra­tions, which are usually included in the various packages.

Even beginners with basic knowledge of the Internet can create a website using a content man­age­ment system (CMS) like WordPress. The advantage of CMS is that the content of your dental practice website can be easily managed by staff as long as they have access to the platform.

Pro­gram­ming a dentist website from scratch may allow for more flex­i­bil­i­ty, but is the most time-consuming solution. Hiring a web design or pro­gram­ming service is a more com­fort­able option to create a dental office website, but costs are con­sid­er­ably higher.

Not only dentists, but medical pro­fes­sion­als in general, need to consider a few special features when creating their website to ensure they’re not in conflict with pro­fes­sion­al pro­vi­sions. Therefore, a dental website should include the following elements:

• Homepage
• About the team and practice
• Office hours/ap­point­ments
• In­for­ma­tion on services and technical equipment
• In­for­ma­tion for scared patients
• Mandatory in­for­ma­tion

The homepage is an op­por­tu­ni­ty to greet (potential) patients. A friendly “Welcome” or “Hello” leaves a good im­pres­sion. But the imagery you choose is just as important as your color scheme. Summarize the core com­pe­ten­cies or your dental practice in a few words. You could add photos that show off healthy teeth beneath a beautiful smile. Once you’ve piqued the interest of visitors with your website, they’re more likely to check out the rest of it.

Make it easy for your patients to find the most important in­for­ma­tion including current opening times or special opening times for acute cases. If your phone avail­abil­i­ty differs from your office’s opening times, you should add a relevant note on your homepage. The same applies if your practice is open for emer­gen­cies during certain times. A telephone button makes it easy for smart­phone users to call im­me­di­ate­ly using their smart­phone devices without having to save a phone number first.

Im­por­tant­ly, the American Dental As­so­ci­a­tion Code of Pro­fes­sion­al Conduct, Section 5F does not allow dentists to advertise false or mis­lead­ing in­for­ma­tion. Making claims that falsely promise the success of a procedure or certain med­ica­tions is not allowed. It’s worth con­sult­ing a lawyer if you’re unsure about which claims you can make.

One of your website’s sub-pages should inform about who’s re­spon­si­ble for what in your clinic. Ideally, you should include a pho­to­graph of your practice team. Many clinic staff wear clothing in dedicated colors, and these can also carry your practice logo. Similarly, staff should be easy to identify by patients.

The practice equipment should also be pictured. Show off what your clinic looks like, but make sure you leave a pro­fes­sion­al im­pres­sion.

Other in­for­ma­tion you can include in the website’s “About” section are open job posts.

The office hours are a must on your dental office website. But there are a few ad­di­tion­al features that provide added value for your patients. This could be in the form of a calendar showing available ap­point­ments and the op­por­tu­ni­ty to book ap­point­ments online. A few service providers for digital practice man­age­ment offer sub­scrip­tion-based ap­point­ment tools that can be easily in­te­grat­ed in the design of your dental clinic website.

In case your office provides emergency or night-time services, let your patients know. It’s best to integrate a so-called “call to action” button so patients can call your dental office im­me­di­ate­ly.

Among the contact options, include in­for­ma­tion about how patients can reach you, including parking access. You can integrate digital maps like Google Maps. Make sure any contact form also has a note on privacy and data pro­tec­tion. Last but not least, if you have a holiday re­place­ment you can mention it here.

Explain available treatment options and the tech­nolo­gies you use so patients know what they can expect. At this point, you can show off the equipment used in your practice – but make sure you explain any dental ter­mi­nol­o­gy in simple terms. Avoid the use of medical terms without offering an ex­pla­na­tion, as this can hamper con­fi­dence among potential patients. Use this sub-page to show off cer­ti­fi­ca­tions and any spe­cial­ist courses you may have taken that speak to your com­pe­ten­cies on your dentist website.

It can be useful to include a glossary: Dental surgery A to Z. If you’d like to keep your patients informed on news or share your pro­fes­sion­al thoughts more regularly, you may want to start a blog.

It’s no secret that a visit to the dentist can be scary. If you provide services with the option of anes­the­sia, let your patients know. You can also include a few sentences about dental care for children in this section.

Another important part of your website de­vel­op­ment process is to ensure that you create a dental website that complies with legal reg­u­la­tions in your state. In the US, you must comply with the ac­ces­si­bil­i­ty pro­vi­sions of the Americans with Dis­abil­i­ties Act. Otherwise, you could face legal pro­ceed­ings and high fines. It’s also best to include full in­for­ma­tion about the owner of the practice (name and surname) and full address and contact details. Telephone numbers and email addresses must also be provided. In addition, dentists and other medical pro­fes­sion­als need to prove that they’re verified through relevant state dental or medical boards. You are fully re­spon­si­ble for the content on your website, so make sure it complies with privacy and user data reg­u­la­tions at the state and federal level. Consult a lawyer if in doubt. Lastly, you should include a dis­claimer on how you’re using cookies across your website. Many online website builders provide solutions to integrate these ex­plain­ers.

Use the following step-by-step guide to create your dentist website or provide relevant in­for­ma­tion for your web design service provider. There are a few things that only you can decide, including:

• Domain name
• Design
• Content
• When you want to go live, how to market and optimize your website going forward

The first and most important step to create a dental website is to search for a fitting domain name. This is your web address on the Internet. It’s worth taking your time when deciding on a domain name for your website. Ideally, you want your address to provide in­for­ma­tion on what your business is about as well as where your office is based. For example “dental-health-manhattan.com” or “dental-clinic-uppereast.com”.

The name of your domain is another important criterion for search engines. It should match typical search queries of potential guests. If you come up with a better domain name later down the line, you could add it and redirect to your existing dental office website. Once you’ve decided on a suitable domain, register the domain im­me­di­ate­ly. This can be done with just a few clicks. Good to know: your first domain is often included as part of a web hosting package.

An important technical feature you should look out for is SSL en­cryp­tion. This is par­tic­u­lar­ly the case when you’re using a contact form. Securely encrypted websites are easy to spot because the URLs contain “https” as opposed to “http”. More in­for­ma­tion on the secure en­cryp­tion of websites can be found in our dedicated article on SSL cer­tifi­cates.

Once the technical basis for the website is es­tab­lished, you’ll need to fill the pages with content, that is, texts, images, and perhaps even videos. Photos and images must include copyright notices. It’s usually not allowed to show the brand name when depicting your technical equipment or publish photos that could be deemed dis­turb­ing, e.g. bloody op­er­a­tions.

Once your website has gone live, focus on op­ti­miz­ing it and main­tain­ing a schedule for regular updates. A dental practice website is an ongoing project. Update and add new images regularly and discuss any new technical equipment. Ensure that links and pictures include ALT and TITLE tags, and add keywords of your industry to headlines.

Im­por­tant­ly, to get more people to visit your website, print your web address on your business cards, on the practice sign, and even on your work wear. To bolster your web page’s regional presence, consult our dedicated article on Local SEO.