Patients want to book an exam, understand what it costs and what coverage applies, and see whether your frame selection suits them. Coverage is the question most sites answer worst and patients care about most.

Two businesses sharing a site

The clinical practice. Eye examinations, contact lens fitting, and management of eye health. Booked in advance, governed by professional regulation, and chosen partly on the practitioner.

The optical retail. Frames, lenses, sunglasses, and contact lens supply. Browsed, compared on selection and price, and frequently the reason somebody visits.

Patients experience them as one visit and the site should reflect that, while giving each enough room. A practice site that reads entirely clinical loses the person shopping for frames, and one that reads entirely retail undersells the practitioner.

Booking, which is the primary action

Online booking matters here because exams are scheduled ahead and patients frequently book outside office hours.

What it needs to distinguish: the type of appointment, since a routine exam, a contact lens fitting, and an urgent problem require different durations. Which optometrist, since patients returning want the same one. And whether the patient is new or returning, which affects the time booked.

Also worth capturing: whether they need dilation, which affects whether they can drive afterwards, and telling them so in the confirmation rather than on arrival.

Cost and coverage

The most asked question in this category and the one sites handle worst.

What an eye examination costs, whether that differs for children or adults, and what a contact lens fitting or follow-up adds.

On coverage: which arrangements you can bill directly, what patients typically need to submit themselves, and what documentation you provide. Public coverage for eye examinations varies by province and by age and circumstance, and it changes, so the honest approach is describing what you offer and directing patients to the current provincial authority for what they qualify for.

Extended health plans differ per employer, so the useful framing is that you can bill many plans directly and that patients should confirm their own coverage, rather than any statement about what will be reimbursed.

Being clear here saves the practice an enormous number of phone calls.

The practitioners

Patients returning ask for a person, and new patients are choosing one.

Each optometrist with a photograph, their registration with the provincial college, how long they have practised, and any particular focus such as children, contact lenses, or specific conditions.

Naming the regulatory college is checkable in a way that a general claim of qualification is not, and it is expected in a regulated profession.

What happens at an exam

Worth a page, because a meaningful share of adults have not had one in years and are unclear on what it involves.

How long it takes, what tests are performed and what each is for, whether dilation is used and what that means for the rest of the day, and what they should bring including current glasses and a list of medications.

Also worth stating plainly: that an eye examination assesses eye health rather than only vision, which is the reason people who feel their sight is fine should still attend. That framing is accurate and is more persuasive than a reminder.

Claims about detecting or treating specific conditions need care, since professional advertising standards for regulated health practitioners restrict them and the provincial college sets the rules.

The optical side

Where a practice competes against online retailers and large chains.

What brands and price ranges you carry, since a patient with a budget needs to know whether you serve it. Lens options explained in plain terms, particularly the difference between the choices that materially affect the price. Turnaround for glasses. Whether you fit lenses into frames bought elsewhere, and any conditions on that.

Repairs and adjustments deserve mention because they bring people through the door and because they are something an online retailer cannot do. A practice offering free adjustments should say so.

Urgent problems

A distinct page that many practice sites lack.

What counts as urgent, such as sudden vision changes, flashes, floaters, injury, or pain, and what a patient should do about each. Whether you accommodate urgent appointments and how to reach you, and what to do outside hours.

This is genuinely useful, it is what people search at the moment of concern, and it positions the practice as somewhere to go rather than somewhere to buy glasses.

The rest

Clear location and parking detail, since patients may be dilated and unable to drive. Accessible premises information. Contact lens reordering, which is recurring revenue that should be easy. And accurate hours including any evening or weekend clinics, since those are a genuine differentiator for working patients, which follows the same clarity principle as in websites for massage therapy practices.

Frequently asked questions

What are the two sides of an optometry site?

The clinical practice, booked ahead and governed by professional regulation, and the optical retail, which is browsed and compared on selection and price.

What should online booking distinguish?

Appointment type, since routine exams, contact lens fittings, and urgent problems need different durations, plus which optometrist and whether the patient is new or returning.

How should coverage be explained?

Describe what you charge and what you can bill directly, and direct patients to the provincial authority for public coverage, which varies by age and circumstance and changes.

Why write a page about what happens at an exam?

Many adults have not had one in years and are unclear what it involves, including dilation and whether they can drive afterwards.

What matters on the optical side?

Brands and price ranges carried, lens options in plain terms, turnaround, whether you fit lenses into frames bought elsewhere, and repairs and adjustments.

Why add an urgent problems page?

It is what people search at the moment of concern, and it positions the practice as somewhere to go rather than somewhere to buy glasses.

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.

Practice site where nobody can find what an exam costs?

We separate the clinical and optical sides and answer the coverage question that is generating most of your phone calls.

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