If you own or are part of a family practice that does not have a website, learn why you don’t want to waste any more time – now is the time to start one! Starting a medical website may be easier than you expect, especially with the assistance of Stone Soup. By following these 5 steps, you can get your family practice website up and running in no time.
Step 1: Plan
A failure to plan is a plan to fail so the first step is to start brainstorming. Visit other family practice websites and make note of designs you like and don’t like, and why. If you don’t already have a logo and slogan, consider what they may be. Think about how many pages you want your medical website to contain, and what information about your practice you want to share with the online community. Also decide if you want to include videos, host a medical blog or forum, and if you want to make downloads available to visitors (i.e. new patient forms). And last but not least, figure out how much money you want to spend and set a budget.
Step 2: Purchase a domain name
If you don’t currently have a website, now you need to purchase your domain name (URL). It’s recommended that you have 2-3 additional choices in case your first pick is not available. Then provide us with your selections. Stone Soup also provides hosting and complete custom design work so we can assist you in completing steps 2 through 4 in one fell swoop.
Step 3: Acquire Hosting
If for some reason we don’t fit your hosting needs (Stone Soup specializes in custom medical website design and hosting and can exceed your needs), a plethora of options are available per your preference.
Step 4: Obtain a design
If you are not a medical website design expert, then it is time to hire Stone Soup, as we can create a custom site that is effective and fits within your budget. If you found a couple of websites during step 1 that you like, be sure to mention these as an emphasis of what you want your family practice website to look like and include.
Step 5: Upload and test
Finally! Your hard work is about to come to fruition as you see your family practice website online and “live” for the first time! If you arranged hosting with a company other than Stone Soup, it is important to test your site. Once your files are uploaded, type in your domain name (URL) and begin testing. In other words, start clicking on every link to make sure all the pages appear exactly how you want them to. Read all of the content thoroughly to catch any errors. Test all applications, videos, forums, etc. that your site contains to ensure everything is working as it should. If this seems like overkill to you, just remember that nothing raises questions about medical competence than a family practice website that is questionably set up!
