Disclaimer: We at Boxhouse do sell website help, but out of respect for your time we won’t weave subtle sales pitches throughout this post. Just value to help you make an informed decision, and then a little plug at the end.

When it comes to a chiropractic website, a lot of chiropractors don’t know where to start, and don’t know what questions to ask. Some common questions we hear are:

• I already have a website, isn’t that good enough?
• Are websites even important anymore?
• Why should we pay you to build a website when there are DIY website builders online?
• Why don’t I go with one of the big service providers that already exist for Chiropractors?
• We already have Facebook/Instagram. Why do we need a website?

These are all definitely valid questions. And throughout this post, we’ll help break down the information that will help you answer these with confidence.

The Role of a Website in Your Chiropractic Practice

Google And Social Media

Let’s kick things off with talking about the value of a website in today’s day and age. It’s natural to think that the internet is already filled with an infinite amount of information, so what’s the point in adding more?

You’ve probably heard before that your website acts as your online storefront. It’s the place that you have full control over how you present yourself and your business. And you might feel like social media or Google My Business already serve these roles. And to some degree they do. We talk a bit more about these in our post on attracting patients to your Chiropractic practice.

And while social media and google are great, you often don’t think you’d direct social media traffic to your google page, or google traffic to your social media page. Those are vehicles of attraction, and your website is the runway where that traffic lands.

The Two Goals of a Website

Your website has two roles: provide information about your business and guide users on a journey to a particular outcome. Most DIY websites do a decent job at the first one, but often neglect the second.

Most people are probably familiar with Ikea. You enter the store and you walk through a fixed path along all of the other shoppers until you get to checkout. Along the way you inevitably view all of the store’s offerings and experience their brand to the fullest.

Your website should work a lot like this. When a user lands on your page, they are guided through a journey of information about you, building trust and confidence in your expertise as they go along. And once they reach the end of the page, they should be presented with what to do next: A Call to Action.

Now, a website should layer these calls to action throughout the customer’s experience like escape hatches for more “ready to buy” and already familiar customers. But ultimately the journey should still exist should the user choose to follow it.

So now that we know the value of a website in addition to social media platforms, let’s get into how much time and money you should be investing into your website.

When a DIY Website Is Enough

Up to this point, we’ve discussed the value a website has alongside social pages and a Google profile. But how do you know if a DIY website builder like Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress, GoDaddy, or others are a sufficient solution?

This depends a lot on the state of your clinic. The best way to know if these are right for you is to look at how many people are visiting your website. Generally anywhere from 0-10 daily visitors these websites are totally sufficient.

If you’re a newer clinic or your patient load is pretty light and you’ve got some time on your hands, these solutions might work great. You can select a template that you like, and then list out some of the following information

• Your business address
• Your hours of operation
• A few pictures of the staff and office space
• Contact phone number and email address
• A call to action like a link to your booking software or just your phone number with the text “call to schedule”
• Some of the services you provide
• An “about you” section, describing your background and why you started your practice

This info is generally a great place to start. And if you’re getting most of your patients through referrals, they will be as impressed as they need to be to book their appointment with you.

When to Consider a Professional Website

If you are getting more than 10 visitors per day to your website, or are trying to grow your clinic’s online presence, then it might be time to consider a professional website.

Professional website developers often specialize in understanding things like:

• Brand design and color usage
• Narrative framing and call to action placement
• Third party software integrations
• Preventing visual fatigue as users interact with a webpage
• Authority building to position you as the right expert for your visitor’s problems
• Site speed, mobile responsiveness, and navigation optimization
• SEO best practices
• And many other odds and ends too.

Once you start working to grow your online presence, these considerations become far more important as the “make or break” decisions for your visitors becoming patients. These are what help convince strangers to convert into patients.

But again, if you only have a few people visiting your website, figuring out how to get more people there is probably the right place to start. If you’re planning to use your website as the baseline for growth, check out our guide on the principles of Chiropractic website SEO.

Conclusion

So, hopefully you’re feeling a little bit more informed on your website development decisions after reading this post. We’ve talked about the role of websites compared to social media platforms, informational vs action-driven website roles, DIY website builders, Professional website considerations, and more.

At Boxhouse, we do build websites. We build custom websites. Premium customer experiences at a fraction of agency prices. We help capture your brand’s essence in a way that elevates your clinic to the big leagues, and gives you an asset that you can leverage for years to come.

If you have any questions about websites, please do reach out. We’re happy to provide guidance even if you’re just starting out and looking at a website builder. You can email us at Contact@BoxhouseConsulting.com. Otherwise, if you’re looking to have a more serious conversation, feel free to schedule a consultation below. Thanks for reading, and happy cracking.