Is a Web site essential to the success of your practice? No, not really, despite everything those spammers tell you.

About 20% of private medical practices have a Web site, and the rest seem to be doing fine without one. The reality is that most users of medical care are older folk; and most older folk still find their doctors the old-fashioned ways: through referrals from primary practitioners, and by word-of-mouth from family and friends.

By the time the youngsters who use the Internet to find everything reach the age where medical care is a priority, almost every private practice will certainly have a Web presence. (But by then, of course, something way cooler will have come along to replace the Web!)

That said, aggressive cosmetic practices in highly competitive areas clearly seem to benefit from Web exposure; and for the rest of us, although a well-designed Web site is not a necessity, it can certainly make life easier for doctors, staff, and patients.

The key phrase, of course, is "well-designed." A badly designed site will do far more harm than good, so this is one project to leave to the professionals. Doing it yourself might sound like fun, but good site design is a lot harder than it looks. And if you resort to a standard template, as most amateurs do, you won’t like the result.

Almost every generic, template-based Web site I’ve seen looks shabby and amateurish. Broken links, misspelled text, stock snapshot-quality photos – exactly the opposite of the professional image you want to project.

In addition, template-based sites tend to be overlooked by search engines. What’s the point of having a Web site if patients can’t find it? A buzz phrase among professional Web designers is "search engine optimization" (SEO) – a pro will give you a professional look and a Web presence that is readily visible to search engine users.

On the other hand, don’t let your designer get carried away with fancy gimmicks and expensive effects. A big turnoff for me, on any Web site, is anything blocking fast, easy navigation. Anytime I find myself waiting for a fancy flash introduction to load, for example, I’m gone. Tell your designer to stick with simple, interactive, user-friendly Java scripts.

Once patients have found your site, they had better find it easy to navigate, or they will be gone, too. Make clear immediately what you want visitors to do. Advertising professionals call this the "call to action." If potential patients don’t know what to do within seconds of landing on your site, they will usually click the back button and go to the next hit on the search engine. Communication links ("Contact Us," "Make an Appointment," "Call for Consultation") should be readily available. Don’t expect patients to sift through the site to find them.

Don’t let your patients get lost, either. Well-organized Web sites have hyperlinked paths on each page that allow users to determine immediately where they are. For example, "Home > Services > Fillers" means a patient is on the Fillers page of the Services section, with an easy path back to the Home page. (Designers call this "breadcrumbing.")

Leave design and navigation to the pros, but don’t delegate content. Only you know what you want to say on your site and as the captain of the ship, you are responsible for all the facts and opinions on it.

Decide what you want your site to say before any design begins, and write it out, in plain English. Once the designer has your content to work with, he or she can create a unique framework to complement it.

Good photographs are vital to a good practice site. Patients should be able to see that your office is an attractive place, staffed with compassionate and cheerful professionals. A professional photographer can convey that message and make your site distinctive. Photos are often the most prominent elements of a Web site. They should send a warm and professional first impression.

Contact information must be front and center, and on every page. Patients don’t want to hunt for a way to contact you. Post contact information prominently, in large, easy-to-read fonts.

Contact forms should be simple, with a few basic fields. If you make patients work too hard to contact you by having them complete a complex form and a string of scary questions, you will lose them.

And don’t just rely on online contact; give them other options as well. Some people – particularly the elderly – still prefer to pick up the phone!

This column, "Managing Your Dermatology Practice," appears regularly in Skin and Allergy News, an Elsevier publication and website. Dr. Eastern practices dermatology and dermatologic surgery in Belleville, N.J. To respond to this column, e-mail him at our editorial offices.

Designing Your Web Site