Vet Practice Websites With Great Features
/I’m really excited about today’s blog post! Instead of talking about bookkeeping, I thought I would switch it up a bit and talk about 5 features I see on veterinary websites that I absolutely love. In the past I’ve posted articles that I have found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn on how important it is for veterinary practices to have updated, attractive and helpful websites. Nowadays, most people will look up a practice’s website before selecting a veterinarian or even to see whether their vet offers a certain service they are interested in for their pets. I’ve listed five veterinary practice websites below and one feature each one has that I find very unique. If you’re looking for ways to update and upgrade your practice’s website, you should definitely pay these websites a visit for some inspiration. A lot of these features would take very little time to add to your website but would make your website jump out from the sea of websites that potential clients visit. Click on the practice's logo to visit the website yourself. Let’s do some web traveling!
First let’s look at the East Side Animal Hospital and an awesome feature I’ve never seen before. Right on the home page, on the bottom left there is a button that gives you access to download the practice’s very own app! Their free app offers local pet information, medical articles, appointment request feature, medication refills, emergency information and so much more.
Katy Trail Animal Hospital has a great website with one unique feature I really like. Right on the homepage you have the option of sending the practice’s contact information to your phone. As someone that tends to wait until the last minute to write down the address and phone number for new places I’m going to visit, I love the idea of being able to quickly send the information to my phone for easy access.
The next feature I’m a fan of can be seen on the San Juan Veterinary Hospital website. They have a page dedicated just to information that new clients would find most useful. Their New Client page has their contact information, hours of operation, map with address, testimonials from clients, an easy button to contact the hospital by email and another easy button to schedule an appointment. Last but not least, a discount for 20% for a new client visit. So convenient to have all this information on a single page, making it a one stop shop for a potential client to become a new client.
The following feature is one that really appeals to my love of shelter animals. The Stonegate Animal Hospital has partnered with the Guelph Humane Society to display animals for adoption within their hospital facility. On their website they have photos of some of the animals up for adoption as well as photos of some of the animals that have been adopted through Stonegate Animal Hospital. As a big advocate of rescuing shelter animals, I absolutely love that this practice has partnered with a shelter to try to and find forever homes for these animals.
Finally, we have the less scary pet version of WebMD, which we can see featured on the Pleasant Valley Veterinary Practice website. Under their Pet Health button, you can select the Pet Health Checker. Select whether you have a cat or a dog and then enter your pet’s symptoms to see whether your pet requires immediate medical attention. As an owner of four aging dogs, I have my vet on speed dial for times when I get panicky about symptoms I see them display. With this type of feature, I know when it’s necessary for me to call my vet and when I need to just keep an eye on the symptoms.
With websites playing a larger role in a potential client’s decision on whether or not to choose a veterinary practice, it’s important to think of your website as an extension of your practice staff. Your website should be visually appealing, accessible, and have great usability. Take the extra time to make these types of changes to your website and you will get better results than if you had spent hundreds to thousands of dollars on sales and marketing.