Visitors want to know whether you are accepting patients, whether they can be seen today, and what it costs if they are not covered. Most clinic sites lead with a mission statement and answer none of the three.

The visitor you are actually designing for

Somebody who is unwell, or whose child is, deciding what to do about it now.

They are looking for three things: whether you can see them, when, and what happens if they are not covered or not registered. Everything else is secondary and most of it is not read at all.

Alongside them, a second visitor: somebody new to the area looking for a regular practitioner, who needs to know whether you are accepting patients at all.

The pattern, and what each fault costs

No statement about accepting new patients

The most consequential omission. Somebody searching for a clinic wants to know this before anything else, and most sites do not say.

What it costs: the enquiry either way. If you are not accepting, saying so saves everybody a call. If you are, it is the single strongest thing on the page.

Hours buried and today's status unknown

Hours in a footer, no indication of whether the clinic is open right now, and nothing about holiday or reduced hours.

What it costs: the visit. Somebody unwell needs to know whether to travel.

No current wait information

For walk-in services particularly, the wait is the deciding factor and it is almost never published.

Even a general indication, or a statement that the wait is posted at reception, is more useful than silence. Clinics publishing a live or approximate wait are doing something patients genuinely value.

Nothing about cost or coverage

What is covered, what is not, what visitors without coverage should expect, and what services are charged directly.

Coverage rules are provincial and change, so the workable approach is stating what you charge for and directing people to the provincial authority for eligibility. Silence leaves somebody uninsured unable to plan at all.

No online booking

Requiring a call during hours when somebody is at work, for an appointment they could book at ten at night.

Practitioners not listed

Who works here, what each does, and whether patients can request somebody. Continuity matters to patients and the site frequently does not say who is there.

No guidance on where to go instead

What warrants emergency care rather than a clinic visit, and what to do when you are closed.

A clinic that answers this is remembered well even when the visit went elsewhere, and it reduces inappropriate presentations.

What the rebuild changes

  1. Accepting patients, stated at the top, with a date.
  2. Hours prominent, including holidays and any reduced periods.
  3. Wait information for walk-in services, however approximate.
  4. What is charged for, with the provincial authority named for coverage.
  5. Online booking for whatever can be booked.
  6. Practitioners named, with photographs and focus areas.
  7. Guidance on urgency, and what to do out of hours.
  8. New patient information, including what to bring and how records transfer.

Why this fills appointments

The mechanism, stated precisely.

Nobody visiting a clinic site needs persuading to seek care. They are unwell or they need a practitioner, and they will go somewhere.

The decision is made on availability and practicality within a minute or two, frequently on a phone, sometimes on behalf of somebody else. Every unanswered question sends them to a clinic that answered it.

The rebuild does not create demand. It removes the reasons somebody who needed care could not tell whether you were the right place.

The administrative content that matters

Under-served and genuinely useful.

How to get results, how prescriptions and renewals are handled, how forms and notes are requested and what they cost, how to transfer records, and how to reach somebody about an administrative matter rather than a clinical one.

Those are the questions that generate most reception calls, and answering them on the site frees the phone for the people who actually need it.

What to be careful with

Health content is regulated in ways general business content is not.

Professional advertising standards apply to regulated practitioners, and colleges set rules about testimonials, comparative claims, and how services may be described. Publishing patient stories in particular is restricted in ways many clinics do not realise.

General educational content about conditions is normally fine, and anything approaching advice for an individual is not. Where in doubt, the applicable college is the authority.

Checking your own

Read it as somebody unwell on a Sunday evening, and again as somebody who moved here last month.

Can the first tell whether you are open and how long the wait is. Can the second tell whether you are accepting patients. Can either find what anything costs if they are not covered.

Most clinic sites answer none of it, and all of it is text, which is the same immediacy argument set out in the veterinary website that loses the client.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most consequential omission?

No statement about whether you are accepting new patients. Saying so either way is the strongest thing on the page, and most clinic sites do not say.

Why does wait information matter?

For walk-in services it is the deciding factor. Even an approximate indication, or a note that the wait is posted at reception, beats silence.

How should coverage be handled?

State what you charge for directly and point at the provincial authority for eligibility, since rules are provincial and change. Silence leaves uninsured patients unable to plan.

Why list practitioners?

Continuity matters to patients, and they frequently want to know who is there and whether they can request somebody. Most clinic sites do not say.

What content reduces reception calls?

Administrative answers: how to get results, prescription renewals, requesting forms and what they cost, transferring records, and who to contact about non-clinical matters.

What needs care in health content?

Professional advertising standards. Colleges restrict testimonials, comparative claims, and how services are described, and patient stories are more restricted than many clinics realise.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

Site that cannot tell somebody whether you are taking patients?

We put the answers to the three questions people arrive with at the top, and move the administrative content off your phone line.

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