5 tips on how to create an attractive dental website homepage .

[Tariq Drabu]

When a new visitor lands in your homepage, seeking for a solution for their oral health problem, the first impression that he gets from it will determine whether he will come back for more or even visit your dental clinic.

Being the most important page of your website, homepage gets more views than any other page of the website. A dental website is considered to be like a house where every window is a door. This is so because not everybody enters a website through the homepage. In many cases, people follow links which they get from search engines and other referral websites which reach deep inside your website.

To increase the usability of your dental website’s homepage which enhances the business value of your website, it must follow some guidelines. Some of the guidelines that must be followed are:

Use of a short informative tagline: A tagline summarizes the whole website. This is especially if the website is still new. Even for the well-known practices, the use of an attractive tagline is essential in attracting new visitors. A good tagline for your dental website is a perfect tool for marketing.

Navigation windows should have good title and visibility: A good and effective title starts with the dental practice’s name and then followed by a brief description of the website. A good description does not start with words such as “The”, “Welcome to”.

Input a search box on your homepage: This is an important part of a website. A patient can typically scan the homepage looking for a search box. This search box helps the visitors when they are looking for a specific solution or service on your website. A search box on a website should be able to accommodate at least 25 characters which enable the visitors to clearly type their queries.

There should be easy access to recent homepage features:  Many users remember articles and services which were featured prominently on the homepage. They may fail to know how to find them if they are on the website in areas that may be inaccessible. To curb this difficulty, an effective dental homepage should contain a list of the recent features and a website designer can supplement it with a link.

The link names should begin with the keywords: Visitors scan the homepage in pursuit of the area which fulfills their need. Starting the links found on the homepage with specific keywords helps greatly when the users are looking for a certain thing in a website. The use of relevant keywords adds value to the website and the users are able to quickly find what they need.