Why Most Medical Websites Still Feel Like 2013 (And How to Actually Modernize Yours)

Today’s patients are smarter and more modern than ever. Potential patients want information at their fingertips–quite literally. Which is why when someone feels any pain and would want to get to the bottom of it, they reach for their phones and click search.

Your medical website is often the source of a potential patient’s first impression of your practice. It helps shape public perception of your practice. How yours is designed, organized, and used will determine whether they will continue their journey with your practice or go elsewhere for their healthcare needs.

Medical websites should positively impact your online presence and credibility, not hurt it. An outdated website–one that feels like you traveled back to 2013–will likely result in the latter. This hurts your chances of attracting patients to book appointments with you, resulting in missed opportunities for sales and growth.

The Importance of a Medical Website

Let’s highlight the importance of a medical website and why your practice should not go without one:

✅Patient portal: An effective and well-designed medical website features a patient portal where patients can have access to their medical records, treatment plans, test results, medication and prescriptions, and billing and payment information. Patients can also have direct communication with their healthcare providers via patient portals.

✅Marketing and promotion purposes: A practice’s medical website can serve as a powerful marketing and promotional tool. It allows healthcare providers and business owners to promote their services to a wide range of audiences. Publish promotional content about new services, state-of-the-art diagnostic tools, and areas of expertise to attract and grow your patient base.

✅Appointment scheduling: In an increasingly digital world, patients want the convenience of scheduling appointments online. It’s also one of the most popular features of a medical website. The feature should also allow patients to conveniently reschedule or cancel their appointments with just the tips of their fingers.

✅Healthcare resources: An efficient medical website should be a treasure trove of valuable healthcare information. Healthcare providers should leverage medical websites to provide accurate and science-backed information on medical conditions and available treatments, medications, and procedures.

✅Telehealth and accessibility: Medical websites are a great venue to provide telehealth services to patients all over the country, even those who live far from your local community. This allows doctors and practitioners to increase accessibility to healthcare services via virtual consultations and patient video calls.

✅Contact and consumer support: A medical website is a great tool to increase access to contact information, such as phone numbers and email addresses, and provide real-time consumer support via live chats and chatbots.

With all these features combined, medical websites play a crucial role in improving the patient journey and experience, in the comfort of their own home.

What Makes Medical Websites Feel Like It’s 2013–How to Truly Modernize Yours So It Feels Like 2025

Even as we continue to move in the online realm, many medical practices seem to be stuck with a traditional way of operations and fail to realize the importance of modernity, not only in medical practice but also in medical websites.

Here are some signs that can make medical websites feel stuck in 2013, and what you can do to transform and modernize yours:

❌Outdated website design

What many healthcare practitioners and private practice owners don’t realize is the huge impact of a modern-looking and visually appealing web design. When your medical website looks outdated, inconsistent, and untouched since 2013, visitors are less likely to trust your practice, with the assumption that your care is also behind the times.

How to fix it:

✔️A visually appealing design, above all else

A well-designed website will capture the attention of prospective leads. When websites look aesthetically pleasing, combined with ease of navigation and accessible information, website visitors are more likely to stay, explore, and take action.

✔️Include visual storytelling

Don’t just use text and words to tell your story and create a narrative that tells your practice’s history. Use visuals, photos, and videos. They’re more compelling and more likely to capture the attention of your audience.

❌Unclear branding

Clear branding and messaging can go a long way and help your practice stand out from all the competition and noise in the healthcare industry. When potential patients see unclear, vague, or ambiguous branding and messaging–especially across several platforms–they are likely to be distrustful of your practice and your services.

How to fix it:

✔️Uniform branding and messaging strategy across all platforms

To effectively reach your target audience, it’s important to craft a clear branding strategy and messaging. Make your practice identifiable by using the same designs, colors, and fonts across all published materials. This not only looks aesthetically pleasing, but also conveys professionalism. It builds credibility and encourages potential patients to trust your practice.

❌Poor navigation experience

Websites that are complicated and not easy to use are less likely to retain visitors. Users want to access the information they’re looking for instantly. Making them go through several pages and click on several links before they find relevant information is likely to turn them away and give them a negative experience and first impression.

How to fix it:

✔️Simplify website navigation

Use a clean, simple, and easy-to-understand top-level menu. Organize your services under clear categories to help potential patients find what they need. Lastly, test your navigation flow every few months, especially on mobile devices, to ensure that things are working smoothly on your patients’ end.

✔️Ensure a successful website structure

A successful website structure plays a crucial role in keeping potential patients engaged and helping them find what they’re looking for. While each clinic has its own specializations and will need a varied structure, the basic pages of your medical website should include the homepage, about page, contact information page, catalog of services, practitioners’ pages, and blog page.

❌No online scheduling

Patients want the convenience of online scheduling. They don’t want to be limited to making calls or personally visiting clinics during office hours to make an appointment. When medical practices don’t offer online scheduling or don’t make it obvious on their website, it screams outdated.

How to fix it:

✔️Prioritize online patient services

Integrating online patient services screams modern. Today’s modern patients want the absolute convenience of managing several patient services with the tip of their fingers. Offer online scheduling, patient portals, and billing and payment options. Additionally, offering telehealth can help your practice reach even more patients and allow remote consultations.

❌Not mobile-friendly

More and more people are accessing medical websites on mobile devices, instead of computers. Creating a mobile-friendly medical website is imperative and no longer an option. Websites that work and adjust seamlessly across all devices are more likely to provide users with a positive online experience, gain their trust, and see a significant increase in booked patient appointments.

How to fix it:

✔️Don’t forget cross-device optimization

Cross-device optimization is delivering fast, responsive, user-friendly, and easy-to-navigate website experiences across all devices, including desktop, mobile, and tablet.

As more patients are using mobile devices to access healthcare information, book appointments, or contact their healthcare providers, this is something that should not be overlooked. Prioritize a mobile-first web design, optimize images and text size and formats, and add touch-friendly buttons throughout your website.

❌Slow load times

We live in a fast-paced world. People simply do not have the time and patience to wait for websites with slow load times. A visitor is likely to click “Exit” and abandon their search if they experience any delay–even for a few seconds–on your website.

How to fix it:

✔️Ensure quick load times and responsiveness

Slow-loading pages can kill opportunities. Check if your pages include heavy, uncompressed images that could slow down loading time. Compress those heavy images. Remove unnecessary redirects that could further slow things down. Additionally, use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to monitor your website’s loading time and make regular improvements.

❌Outdated content

It is crucial for healthcare providers to consistently post new content that aligns with their practice and ideal patients. This not only provides insightful healthcare information but also keeps the site fresh. When a website is seen to have updated content, it enhances credibility and encourages potential patients to trust your practice. If your website lacks recent content, then you’re not sending the right message.

How to fix it:

✔️Create easy-to-understand and relevant content

Most patients do not have the time and patience to read your content word for word. Make your content easy to scan and consume. Write in short paragraphs for visual breaks and utilize proper headings and subheadings to make your content easy to scan, without having to read the entire thing.

✔️Consistently update office and clinic information

Patients who are looking for healthcare providers they can trust need reliable information about where and when they can visit. Consistently update your clinic’s office hours and address(es). Include updated contact information, such as phone numbers and email addresses, where they can reach you.

✔️Include clear practitioner information, specialties, and treatment options

Do not forget to include practitioners’ pages. Let potential patients know who’s on your team, including what they specialize in. Include their certifications and experience, encouraging them to trust your team.

Additionally, let potential patients know what treatments and solutions you offer. Explain how certain procedures work, including their benefits and potential risks. Remember, transparency goes a long way in healthcare.

❌Hidden or weak CTAs

Even if your medical website has an appealing design and efficient website structure, you’re not likely to turn visitors into booked appointments and consultations if you have weak or hidden CTAs (calls-to-action). If you don’t tell potential leads how to take action, then they simply won’t and will find another clinic for their needs.

How to fix it:

✔️Include clear and compelling CTAs

Your CTA should be conversion-ready. Add a prominent “Book an Appointment” button in the header of your website, along with the site’s top-level menu. A CTA button should be prominently placed on top of your pages, without the patient having to scroll all the way down the page. Strategically place CTA buttons and links throughout your website and content. Make them subtle–never spammy–yet compelling.

❌Lack of social proof

Social proof is a powerful currency in healthcare. Patients will choose healthcare providers and clinics they know they can trust, and patient reviews and testimonials provide them with the information to determine whether your practice is trustworthy or not.

If your website doesn’t prominently display or show real patient reviews and testimonials, or displays only a few from several years ago, then it sends the wrong message: your practice is not entirely reliable.

How to fix it:

✔️Add patient reviews and testimonials on your website

Highlight patient testimonials and success stories on your website. Embed recent reviews on your website and let visitors know what past patients have been saying about your practice and services. You can create video testimonials to highlight on your site to further increase credibility and aid in visual storytelling.

✔️Manage online reviews

Proactively manage your online reviews. Claim your practice’s Google Business Profile and check out other third-party medical review sites like Healthgrades, RatesMD, and Vitals.

Request satisfied patients to leave a review and share their experience. Utilize emails or SMS to lightly nudge them to leave a review. Respond to all reviews, both positive and negative, to show your audience your commitment to providing the best patient experience.

Want to Attract More Patients? The Key Is a Modern Medical Website

In a digital-first world, your medical website creates your first impression. And in an increasingly competitive and saturated market like healthcare, standing out is imperative.

Your medical website’s design, structure, and load times significantly impact a patient’s entire journey with your practice. A negative experience on your site leaves a bad impression, and can urge a potential lead to click “Exit” and find healthcare services elsewhere. This not only impacts your revenue but also your reputation.

An outdated website that feels like 2013 is a huge red flag for many patients, and in an industry where trust and credibility are the cornerstone for success, you can’t let this go on any longer. Updating your medical website so that it feels and looks like 2025 will make a good first impression and keep patients engaged and interested, encouraging them to choose your practice over your competitors.

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