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Acupuncture Website Design
Hunter Thompson, M.Ac., L.Ac.

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Every Acupuncture practice can benefit significantly from having a web site. Well over 80% of American households have internet access from their homes. That number is higher when including Internet access from work. Having a web site allows you to communicate extensive information about you and your acupuncture practice with prospective patients 24/7 at a very low cost. Equally important, a web site allows you to provide valuable resources and support for your existing patients.

Visit WebsiteCrafting.com For more information on website designs for your practice.

How to Plan Your Website

By Hunter Thompson, M.Ac., L.Ac.
Founder, WebsiteCrafting.com

Most acupuncturists understand the need for a website to support their practice. All websites however, are not equal. A quick search through the internet reveals some excellent websites, however you also find some very poorly designed and minimally planned websites. Before having a website created for your practice, there is some work that you need to do in order to position your website as an effective cornerstone of your overall marketing strategy.

Putting some time and planning into your website will empower you to take full advantage of what the internet can do for your practice. The first step is to clearly identify the message of your practice or clinic. What makes you stand out? Do you have a specialty? Have you defined your mission and vision and can you state them clearly? What are your values? It is really crucial to take some time and think through not only who you are but also how to state it in a very compelling way that the average person can understand. Additionally, you should have a logo that clearly represents your practice. This image should be integrated into all of your marketing materials. This is what is referred to as branding and communicates professionalism to potential patients.

The next step is to list all of the information that you want to include on your website. You obviously want your professional profile while also including general info about acupuncture, your areas of specialization, patient testimonials, conditions treated by acupuncture, etc. You may also want to include downloadable articles, book recommendations, newsletters, informative links as well as links to other holistic services that you refer to like massage therapists, chiropractors, and physical therapists.
You want to make yourself into a powerful wellness resource for your patients, their friends and their family members. The fact that we are a referral based business makes this aspect essential! Don’t think of this site as solely another form of brochure for you practice, think bigger and your practice will be bigger as well. You also want consider the possibility of using the website to save time. Posting your directions and your intake forms online will eliminate time on the telephone and time wasted mailing or emailing documents.

Once you have identified all of the content you want to include on your website, you must break this into clear categories of information that will be logically and coherently represented on your site on the various web pages. You never want to pack a single page with more than one category of information. Additionally, research has shown repeatedly that people do not like to read text on a screen so keep your message clear, concise and compelling. The key here is that you never want to make people work hard to get the information that is relevant to them. Your website should be an accurate representation of the scope of your practice and must reflect the same professionalism and organization that they will experience walking into your office.

© 2009 Hunter Thompson, M.Ac., L.Ac.

Hunter Thomson, M.Ac., L.Ac. is a licensed acupuncturist and founder of WebsiteCrafting.com, a full-service company that designs websites for private practice practitioners and specializes in sites for acupuncturists. For information contact 443-812-1265 or visit www.websitecrafting.com