you own a private clinic or a specialized medical center and want to raise the public image of your center to a professional level and expand the base of followers and individuals who are able to reach you, then creating and designing a website for doctors will be a distinctive qualitative leap.
The WordPress platform provides you with a clear working mechanism and simple steps to create an integrated medical website from A to Z without the need for prior programming knowledge, while providing all the tools you will need to meet the requests and inquiries of patients and visitors.
In our article, we will provide a comprehensive guide on how to create and design a website dedicated to doctors, with full details.
The importance of having a special website for your medical center
The reason is simply because the Internet has become an essential part of our daily lives, and most companies, institutions, and even governments and individuals now have their own website on the Internet. The medical field is not much different, but rather it is one of the fields that people search for most online, and here are some statistics that prove this:
- 50% of online searches are related to medical and health topics
- More than 70% of people do online research about any health condition related to them before they go and consult their doctor.
- 86% of patients rely on medical websites to verify the health conditions they suffer from and the medications they take.
- 1 out of 4 people search for a suitable doctor to treat them through the Internet, so it will be a great opportunity to get to know your center or clinic.
Launching a website for your medical center will provide you with many benefits, including:
- Building a kind of trust and legitimacy towards your clinic or medical center
- Strengthening the relationship with patients
- Facilitating the process of making appointments and reserving special times for each patient
- Marketing the medical center, through the comments and ratings that patients place on the website
- Facilitating the access of patients from different places to your clinic or center
Steps to create and design a website for doctors
The matter is much simpler than you imagine. Everything you need is provided by the WordPress platform. However, some effort and time are required to come up with a distinct and integrated medical website. The stages of creating a website include the following steps:
- Obtain hosting and a domain for the website
- Install WordPress
- Choose the appropriate template
- Download and install the necessary add-ons
- Customize the site
- Experiment and publish
Obtain hosting and a domain for the website
The first step in the journey of creating your own medical website is to approve an add-on and domain name for the site. Hosting , in short, is a company that stores all your site data for you and through it visitors can access your site content. The domain name is the name of the site or the extension that visitors will use to reach you.
You can get free hosting for your site, but it will be very limited in terms of size and features compared to paid hosting. You will find in our article: The 8 best WordPress hosting that suits different site sizes | Top Recommendations and Tips All the details you need to make a choice of paid or free hosting.
As for the domain name, companies often provide it with hosting, but you can buy it from any party you choose. Both the domain name and hosting are subscriptions, meaning you will pay either monthly or annual subscriptions, which range from $75 to $500 on average.
Read also: The best sites to buy a domain at a low cost
Install WordPress
In most cases, the party that provided you with hosting and domain is responsible for downloading the WordPress platform files and installing them on your hosting. However, you can learn how to install WordPress through our article: How to install WordPress and launch your site – 3 different methods
Choose the appropriate template
The template is the general design of the site, including the distribution of page tabs, site categories, and the various tools that can be used on it. The WordPress platform provides hundreds of free and paid templates in its store and official website , each of which has features directed to a specific type of site , and you will find a long list of these templates in this link .
You can also download ready-made templates from outside the WordPress platform and then install them on WordPress. There is a long list of free and paid templates dedicated to medical websites, including:
There are dozens of other distinctive templates. You can browse them online or through the WordPress store and choose what you deem appropriate to display the distinctive content of your medical website.
Regarding downloading and installing the template there are two methods depending on the template source:
The first method: When choosing a template from outside the WordPress platform (through the official WordPress website or from any other site), the first step is to download the template, and it will be downloaded in the form of a compressed file in rar or Zip format, as shown in the picture.
Then we will go to the WordPress control panel and from the side options we will click on the “Appearance” icon and then “Templates” as shown in the image.
Then an editing and template selection window will appear for you, through which you can install the template you downloaded previously (in the form of a zip file) by clicking on the “Install Template” icon shown in the image.
Then, by dragging and dropping the zip file onto the “Drag files or click here to install” box, you can complete the installation of the template you have chosen on your site.
The second method: Download and install the template through the WordPress platform itself: You can simply browse the templates available in the WordPress store and choose the appropriate template by going to the “Appearance” option, then “Templates.” The available templates will appear to you, with the ability to filter the search results by clicking on “Factors.” “Filter,” then “Subject,” and choose templates designated for medical websites, as shown in the image.
After choosing the appropriate template, click on the “Activate this design” option, and then the template will be applied to your site automatically.
Download and install the necessary add-ons
There is a long list of plugins that will help you build an integrated medical website. However, it is not necessary to adopt a specific plugin to completely design the site. You can be satisfied with the basic tools that the WordPress platform provides you automatically.
But if you want to expand and benefit from the features of plugins, here is a list of plugins that will help you build your medical website:
- Booking appointments : Through this add-on, the visitor can book an appointment in advance and enter the necessary data. One of the wonderful additions to this task is the Bookly add-on.
- Create a privacy policy page for the medical center : such as the WP Legal Pages add-on, which allows you to create the center’s privacy and policy page easily and in simple steps.
- Digital Archiving and Organization : KiviCare is a favorite add-on. This add-on allows you to set up a detailed schedule for your patients in order to organize appointments and avoid any organizational errors.
- Designing medical website pages : The Elementor add-on will be a good tool for designing website pages. These add-ons offer you many design and customization tools and rely on a drag-and-drop mechanism, so the design process will be fun and comfortable at the same time.
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO) add-on: There are many add-ons for this task, perhaps the best of which is the yoast SEO add-on. This add-on provides most of the tools you need to customize your medical website pages in accordance with SEO standards.
- Adding protection: First and foremost is the addition of All In One WP Security & Firewall, with the aim of ensuring a high level of security for your site content and customer and patient data.
Design a website for doctors in 8 simple steps
There are many ways that you can easily customize and design your medical center’s website, and it actually depends on the templates and plugins that you decide to rely on in the design process. We have chosen for you the quickest and simplest methods so that you can create and design a website for doctors in 8 simple steps.
In general, any website for doctors must include 7 basic elements:
- Home page of the site
- Medical services provided page
- The “About Us” page includes all the detailed and legal information for the medical center or clinic
- The communication page includes various means of communication with the clinic or doctors on the site
- “Appointment Booking” page, through which users can book advance appointments online
- Clinic or medical center website page
- Profile page of doctors at the center
Step #1: Install and activate the required plugins
Download the Elemetor add-on and add the Hap py Addo ns to your site and activate it. The steps to accomplish this are simple and are as follows:
- From the WordPress home page, choose “Add-ons” and then “Add New”
2. At the top left of the screen you will find a search field. Through this field, you can search for any plugin available on WordPress by the name of the plugin. We will first type the name of the extension “Elementor” and then press the Enter button.
3. You will see many add-ons that fall under this name, and you can know the real add-on by the number of installation times and the relatively high rating.
4. After the add-on installation is complete, you will see the “ Activate ” option, which we will click and then wait a little while until activation is complete.
5. We will repeat the same process with Happy Addons.
Step #2: Design the background of the medical website’s home page
At this point, you can create and customize your site as you wish and add pages that you deem appropriate to the site. Each of the previous two additions will provide you with great freedom in designing and customizing pages. Below we will go through the steps of designing a simple home page for a doctors website.
1. The first step is to create a new page, and you can accomplish this by clicking on “Pages” and then the “Add New” option as shown in the image.
2. The page editor window will appear. In this window, we will write “Home Page” in the title field, then “Save Draft,” then “Publish,” and finally “Edit with Elementor.”
3. To start designing the page, we will click on the settings option (the cog icon at the bottom and left of the page), then “Page Layout” and choose “Elementor panel,” as shown in the image.
4. Then we will click on the add icon (red circle) in the page design field, then we will choose the single design, as indicated.
5. The next step now is to choose an image for the home page cover. All you have to do is click on the three dots at the top and left of the page, then choose “Format,” then “Background,” then the “Classic” option. In the box below this option, you can add the image you want. Display it on the home page, as shown in the image.
6. Then you will click on the “Select Files” button and choose the appropriate image from your computer. After uploading the image to the site is complete, click on “Add Media.”
7. The next step now is to modify the following options:
- “Position” option to “Center”
- Option “Repeat” to “No Repeat”
- Size option to “Cover”
8. Now we will place the chosen background in the center of the screen by going to the “Theme” option at the top and right of the screen and then:
- Modify the “Display Content” option to “Full Width”
- Modify the “Height” option to “Proportionate to screen size”
- Modify “Column Position” option to “Top”
We will get a result similar to the following image:
Step #3: Add a linear title to the home page
Now you have to choose an attractive title for the home page of the site. This title may be the logo of your medical center or the message that your medical institution seeks, etc. The title must be expressive and attractive.
To add a title to the home page, all you have to do is drag the “Title” icon and drop it onto any location you want on the page, after which you can write an appropriate text title within the added field.
Step #4: Add the Medical Services section to the website
The Services section is the section in which you will mention all the medical services that you provide to visitors and patients through your clinic or medical center. This section must include precise details so that the visitor can see exactly what you are offering.
You can create a medical services department through the following steps:
1. Click on the plus icon below the main image and then find the “Image Grid” option under the “Items” list on the right of the screen. Drag and drop the option onto the new field, as shown in the image.
2. You can now create a photo gallery, in which you can attach pictures representing the medical services you provide as a simple and attractive display method for the visitor. This is done by going to the “Content” option, then clicking on the “Add Items” option, then clicking on the add icon.
3. Now you can choose the photos you want to attach to the gallery and click on “Create a new gallery” and then “Insert gallery”.
Step #5: Add doctors’ profiles
It is necessary to provide details about the doctor/doctors practicing in the medical center in order to provide a kind of confidence in addition to highlighting the medical competencies available in the center. We can accomplish this easily by adding a profile for the doctor or doctors contributing to your medical center through the following simple steps:
1. Drag the “Team Members” icon to the add box, as in the following image.
2. The next step is to choose photos for the profile that show the doctor’s appearance in an elegant and distinctive way, then add the name “Name” and details of the academic and practical qualifications “Job Title” and finally a brief overview of the doctor in the “Short Bio” field and his accounts on the social media pages, if any, in the “Social Profiles” field. As in the following pictures.
3. The result will be similar to the following image.
Step #6: Add reviewers’ ratings and opinions
One of the best ways to increase the degree of reliability and professionalism to the doctors’ website is to add the opinions of clients or former patients who received satisfactory treatment and shared their opinions either verbally or through their accounts on social media.
You can easily add a reviewer’s opinions section through the following steps:
1. Drag the Testimonial icon and add it to a new field.
2. Then you must enter the following details:
- The written text of the reviewer’s opinion “Testimonial”
- Reference image
- Name of references
- Characteristics of references
Step #7: Add communication format
By adding a contact form on your sites, you can help the visitor communicate with you to inquire about the details of the treatments provided at your medical center. Accomplishing this task is simple through the following steps:
1. With the same drag-and-drop mechanism, we will search for the “Contact Form 7” icon from the right menu and then drag it to the New Component field.
2. In the “Content” field data, we will add the field attribute and its shape (there is only one attribute available in the free version of the plugin, which is the “Contact Form 1” attribute). Note: You may need to install the “Contact Form 7” plugin and activate it on your site before you can design it. Contact form.
3. You can now go to the “Format” column, where you will find many options that enable you to customize the fields available in the contact form, their shape, font color, and other details.
Step #8: Make sure the page is compatible with all devices
This step is very important because users may rely on different devices to browse your medical site, so it is important to preview how your site will look on desktop computers, tablets, and mobile devices.
You can do this by going to the main settings menu, then clicking on the Demo mode option (the small icon at the bottom of the menu), choosing the type of display device, and verifying that all the elements you have added are suitable for your site.
Create and design a website for doctors by adding KiviCare
One of the most prominent additions that will make the process of creating and designing a doctors website a short and simple journey. The add-on was created by iqonic, a well-known design company, with more than 1,000 active installations. This distinctive addition was designed specifically for medical centers, with the aim of organizing, controlling and archiving all information and details related to visitors’ appointments.
KiviCare add-on features
The main advantage that the KiviCare add-on gives us is providing you with a comprehensive control panel. Through this panel, you can add, modify or delete any data related to patients, visitors, and inspection appointments.
This addition also gives us many other features, including:
In the free version:
- The plugin includes templates designed specifically for doctor and patient websites.
- View the activity log of doctors (registered on the site) and patients or visitors as well.
- A simple, easy and accurate tracking system for auditors’ appointments.
- The ability to set alarms for important appointments or events at the medical center.
In the paid version:
- Adding the feature of writing and viewing site elements from right to left (instead of being limited to the design from left to right only in the free version).
- The ability to generate reports that include all site details for administrative purposes.
- WooCommerce plugin support.
Steps to download and activate the KiviCare add-on
The steps are very simple and similar to the steps we detailed previously. All you have to do is download the KiviCare add-on from “Add-ons,” then “Add New,” then write the name of the add-on in the search field, then click on the “Install Now” icon, wait a while, then click on the “Activate” option as shown in the following images.
Steps to adjust KiviCare add-on settings
After downloading and activating the add-on, we will move to adjusting the add-on settings. When you return to the main page of the WordPress control panel, you will find that there is a new icon that has appeared to add KiviCare in the side tools list. When you click on the add-on, you will be taken to the page for adding data for your clinic or medical center website.
On the new pages, you must add many data, including the name of the site manager (you), email, phone number, and location, in addition to the clinic’s details such as name, contact numbers, location, etc. After that, you can add members of the medical center’s staff, such as nurses, doctors, reception and follow-up staff, and others. You can skip the last step and set it via the extension’s control panel later.
After setting up the site details, you will be taken to the add-on’s control panel, which is similar to the following images.
Prepare reviewer details
To prepare patient details while creating and designing a website for doctors using the KiviCare add-on, all you have to do is click on the “Patients” icon, then the “Add Patient” option, then enter the patient’s details and click on the “Save” option as in the following images.
Preparing details of the center’s doctors
To prepare the details of doctors in the medical center, we will go to the “Doctors” option, then “Add Doctor.” On the doctor’s details page, you can add various information related to the doctor’s name, email, personal photo, and a description of him, in addition to the doctor’s academic and practical certificates and qualifications, as in the following images.
Prepare appointment details
To prepare a list of patients’ appointments within the clinic, we must first specify the consultation sessions for each doctor (the time allocated for each doctor to see the patients within the center) by going to the “Doctor Sessions times” option and then “Add a Doctor Session,” after which you can choose from among the added doctors. On the site, then enter and set the doctor’s working hours (days and hours), then click on the “Save Session” option.
Then we have to specify the medical services provided by the doctors at the center by going to the “Medical Services” option and then “Add Service.” Then you can add the type of medical treatments provided at the center, choose the doctors assigned to them and their cost, then click on the “Save” option, as in the following images.
Of course, these are just the basic rules for creating a Doctors website home page, and there are dozens of other customization options that you can try in each of the previous steps, in addition to the unlimited elements that you can add to your site.
