ASK ALEX

ALEX BUGG

Alex Bugg works for Web Marketing Clinic, a family-run digital agency, which specialises in medical aesthetics. The business builds websites and delivers marketing campaigns for doctors, nurses, dentists, distributors and brands. Contact her at: alex@webmarketingclinic.co.uk or follow her on Instagram: @webmarketingclinic

Editor Anna Dobbie set me a challenge for this month’s Ask Alex with the prompt ‘new year, new…’ -I decided websites were the topic to cover.

Websites should reflect the brand and values of the clinic. Agreat website attracts new patients, educates visitors, showcases your expertise, supports existing patients, and makes it simple for people to book appointments.

If 2025 is the year you say ‘new year, new website’, I want to help make that as easy as possible for both you and your web developer.

STEPS TO PLAN YOUR NEW WEBSITE

Firstly you need to understand your patient profiles, so your web team knows who they are developing for. Their needs and wants are not only reflected in the content on your new website, but also in the design selection, and the user journey from visit to booking.

Review your current content, your website if you have one, or the other existing content that you already have. This could include consented patient imagery, in-clinic material, press releases, videos, and social media content. The more high-quality, original imagery you have of your practice, the less your website will rely on stock content. This makes your website reflect your brand and feel premium. You’ll want to display any qualifications, accreditations and memberships on your website, for example, British College of Aesthetic Medicine (BCAM), British Association of Medical Aesthetic Nurses (BAMAN), Save Face, and Join Council for Cosmetic Practitioners (JCCP), too, so make sure you have their logos from the relevant media departments.

Create a map of the pages you want on the new site. I suggest:

• Home page where you give a welcoming overview of the clinic, and highlight any key pages you want people to visit. This is a great place to explain the patient journey at your clinic

• About page to tell your story, share your qualifications and experience, introduce your team and build trust

• Individual treatment pages are key for both user experience and search ranking, as tempting as it can be to lump all treatments into one long page. Cover basic information, FAQs, prep and aftercare, without getting too technical, and make sure to include photos and videos

• Concerns pages aren’t essential but are brilliant for practices which offer multiple treatments to address specific concerns, such as wrinkles or acne. Some patients won’t understand what a skin booster is, but most people visiting an aesthetic practitioner know what concerns them!

• News/blog sections might feel outdated, but they are still effective when building a website in 2025. Social media posts can be a breeze when you output two to four blogs per month!

• Your contact us/booking page needs to make it easy to contact you, and easy to find your clinic. Can a patient book online, or do they have to call or message? Do you have parking, nearby public transport, or an intercom? Include everything that you’d want to see when contacting a service provider!

Next, fill in content gaps or commission the gaps to be written up – there are many brilliant freelancers in the sector. If you need photography or videography, make sure you get that underway as editing can hold a web project back (some web agencies such as mine at Web Marketing Clinic offer to handle all of this).

You’ll also need to organise patient testimonials and reviews, whether they’re written or in video. If you need to get more, make sure you start contacting happy patients to submit them. Crafting testimonials into stories about great experiences and transformations will help position you as a trustworthy practitioner. You can also embed Google, Trustpilot or other review site widgets into your website – I suggest using free Google reviews and putting them on the homepage!

Now is probably the right time to contact an agency or developer to get the ball rolling. They can work with you on your content, and your user experience (how it is to visit your website as a patient and get everything they need), and discuss the look and feel.

As part of the plan for your website, it’s worth considering your booking journey for both new and existing patients. Can people book online? Do they have to fill in a form? Do they have to call, or can they use WhatsApp? With all of these considerations, how do you insert calls to action (CTAs) so that it’s easy for people to go from information to booking, either on those pages or via a contact page or booking portal?

The new year is a great time to start planning for your new website. Pull together your ideas and content with the plan outlined above to make sure you have a smooth, stress-free development journey.

If you’ve got a burning aesthetics marketing question for Ask Alex, please get in touch @webmarketingclinic via Instagram, or email alex@webmarketingclinic.co.uk