Having a website is a must for any veterinarian. As your primary online presence, it promotes your practice and represents your brand to a wide audience.

Visitors to a website are collectively referred to ‘traffic’. Traffic is monitored through tools like Google Analytics, which analyzes several factors, such as:

• What webpage within the website did the visitor land on?
• How long did they stay before leaving?
• Were they viewing from their smartphone or computer?
• Is the visitor from your area or out of state?

These insights can help you determine which areas on your website need to be improved, whether you should change your practice’s marketing strategies, or how to streamline the interface for a better user experience. Ultimately, you want to translate web traffic into sales, otherwise known as conversions.

Your website should be designed to convert visitors into customers. Here are several ways in which to accomplish this:

• Hyperlinked content. Whether a visitor is reading about your business on an About Us page or researching the diagnostic services you offer, key text should be hyperlinked, pointing the user in a direction that can lead to a conversion, such as an online store or a map showing them where you’re located.
• Callouts. These are prominent buttons known as calls to action, because they lead directly to the visitor acting on their interest. Common callout buttons could be to schedule an appointment, fill out a new client form, visit an online pharmacy, or seek immediate emergency care. By making callouts visually eye-catching it allows the visitor to skip navigating your website through drop-down menus and go directly where they want to go, fast.
• The Four Wheels of Your Business’ Marketing Car. At Beyond Indigo, we often use the metaphor of your business being like a car – it needs all four wheels to run smoothly. Social Marketing, Online Reputation Management, Search Engine Optimization, and your website make up the four wheels and constitute an online marketing ecosystem where each service feeds into the others.

For example, by advertising your online reviews, visitors will see positive feedback from your customers and be more likely purchase your services. Similarly, an active and engaging social media presence linked to your website helps get your business’ personality and values across. These are all factors potential customers evaluate when deciding whether to give you their business.

Your website should not just be informative, but a vehicle to drive customers through your doors. Review your website and see if you can find any opportunities to translate traffic into conversions.