Ask the person on your front desk which questions they answer most on the phone. The list is almost always the same: do you treat this, how soon can I get in, how much is it, do I need a referral, where do I park, is there a step at the door. Every one of those calls is a question your website didn’t answer.
A practice website has one main job for new patients: get them from “I think I need help” to “I’ve booked” with as little uncertainty as possible. Existing patients mostly want the phone number and the booking button. New patients are the ones who read.
Below are the questions in the order people tend to ask them, and what the site should do about each.
1. “Can you help with my problem?”
People search for their problem, not your profession. Someone with dizziness searches “dizziness when I stand up Ballina”, not “vestibular physiotherapist”.
So the home page needs to say plainly who you see and what for, in the words patients use. Then each main service or condition needs its own page that explains what you do, who it suits and what happens. One long “services” list with 20 bullet points doesn’t rank and doesn’t reassure.
Be careful here, because this is where effectiveness claims creep in. Describing what you assess and treat is fine. Promising outcomes isn’t. Our guide to AHPRA advertising rules for websites covers the wording.
2. “Is this the right practitioner for me?”
Patients choose a person as much as a practice. Each practitioner needs a profile with a real, recent photo (consistent professional headshots make a team page look like one practice), their profession and qualifications, the areas they have a particular interest in, which days they work, and whether they’re taking new patients.
That last one matters more than practices expect. If your most popular practitioner has a six-week wait, say so, and point to who else can help sooner. Otherwise people book the name they recognise and cancel when they see the date.
Skip the generic bio (“passionate about helping people live their best lives”). Write something a patient can use: “Mel sees a lot of runners and has a particular interest in knee and ankle problems. She works Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturday mornings.”
3. “How soon can I get in?”
If you take online bookings, the booking button should be visible on every page, especially on a phone, where most new patients will be looking. A sticky “Book online” button at the bottom of the mobile screen is one of the simplest changes you can make.
If you don’t take online bookings, say how to book and when the phone is answered. “Call 02 5550 4321, Monday to Friday 8am to 5pm. Leave a message after hours and we’ll call back the next business day.” That one sentence removes a surprising amount of friction.
We go through the options for booking software and how to set it up in online booking for allied health websites.
4. “What will it cost?”
This is the question practices most like to dodge and patients most want answered. Not showing fees doesn’t make them less likely to ask. It just means they ring, or they book with the practice down the road that did show fees.
A fees page should cover:
- The standard fee for an initial and a follow-up appointment, and how long each runs
- Whether you’re registered with private health funds and whether you have on-the-spot claiming
- Medicare, DVA, NDIS, WorkCover or CTP if relevant, with a plain line on what the patient needs to bring
- Your cancellation policy, in one or two sentences
- Accepted payment methods
Show the full fee, not a “from” price that almost nobody pays. Put a “last updated” date at the bottom so you notice when it’s stale.
5. “Do I need a referral?”
Answer it directly at the top of the page: “You don’t need a referral to see us.” Or: “You’ll need a referral from your GP if you want a Medicare rebate. You can still see us without one as a private patient.”
Then explain each funding pathway briefly, with what the patient should bring. Rules for Medicare and other schemes change, so keep this information on one page and link to it from everywhere else, rather than repeating it across the site where it can go out of date in five places.
6. “Where are you, and can I park?”
Your address should be in the footer of every page, and your contact page needs more than an embedded map. Write the directions a local would give:
We’re upstairs at 12 Example Street, above the pharmacy. Free two-hour parking is on River Street, a one-minute walk. There’s a lift at the back of the building, entered from the car park.
Include a photo of the entrance. For practices in shopping centres, medical precincts or upstairs offices, this does more to reduce late arrivals than anything else on the site. Regional patients often drive a long way, and they want to know they’ll find you.
7. “Can I physically get in, and will I be OK?”
Accessibility has two halves for a health practice.
The physical half belongs on your website: step-free entry, lift access, accessible toilets, accessible parking, whether a support person or assistance animal can come in, and whether rooms have space for a wheelchair. If there are stairs and no lift, say so. A patient who uses a walker would far rather know before they arrive.
The digital half is about the site itself. Text that’s large enough to read, strong colour contrast, buttons big enough to tap, forms that work with a screen reader, and images with alt text. Many of your patients may be older or managing a condition that affects vision or movement. Our article on website accessibility basics has the checklist.
The “first visit” page
All of the above can live on one page that patients get sent to after booking. We usually call it “Your first visit” and structure it like this:
- What to bring (referral, Medicare card, health fund card, scans, list of medications)
- How long the appointment runs and what happens in it
- What to wear, if it matters for your profession
- Fees and payment
- Directions, parking and access, with the entrance photo
- How to cancel or reschedule
Link it in your booking confirmation email. It answers the night-before questions and cuts no-shows from people who couldn’t find the place.
What the site should feel like
Calm, clear and credible. That means real photos of your rooms and team rather than stock images of smiling models in white coats, plenty of white space, a type size people can read without zooming, and a visual identity that looks like the same practice on your signage, letterhead and website. If your branding is tired or inconsistent, a refresh through our branding and design work is often worth doing before or alongside the new site.
When we built the site for Northern Rivers Audiology, the content planning started from exactly these patient questions before we thought about layout.
Check your own site against this
Open your site on your phone and pretend you’re a new patient who’s never heard of you. Time how long it takes to find the fee for an initial appointment, whether you need a referral, and where to park. If any of them takes more than a few seconds, or needs a phone call, that’s your first fix.
If the answer is “most of them”, that’s usually a sign the site needs restructuring rather than patching, which is the kind of website build we do for practices across the Northern Rivers.