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Do healthcare providers need a responsive website?

Do dentists or any healthcare providers need a responsive or mobile website?

We’ve recently finished a job for a dental client where we developed and designed a separate mobile website https://www.m.smile-hub.co.uk to compliment their new desktop website https://www.smile-hub.co.uk/.

A great debate went on before we were commissioned as to what the difference was between the two types of website, what the benefits were to having both and what questions should clients ask when considering their options on this topic. Here’s what we think.
What’s the difference between a mobile and responsive website?

A mobile site is built within a mobile framework and has a completely different design to your existing desktop website. It’s custom built for browsing on smartphones and has a unique url with an m. or mobile. Prefix.

A responsive website is one that changes scale automatically depending on the device it’s being viewed from; desktop, tablet, mobile and the hundreds of different screen sizes they offer.

I’m a dentist, should I get a mobile or responsive website?

All good marketing should put the needs of the client, in this case a patient, first. So you’ll need to think about how your patients are viewing your website; iPhone, Blackberry,iPad, Kindle? Although these devices have different screen resolutions, a responsive website is fluid, meaning it gives the user the best viewing experience, regardless.

A personal opinion and one shared by Google’s Larry Page is that a responsive website should tick all the boxes. They’re easier to manage for a start as they require a single URL and one set of files.

When Google recommends a single responsive website it’s because it’s easier to optimize. One address won’t split your web traffic which means better overall ranking.

Finally, it’s cheaper to build, design and host a single responsive website than to do the same twice over.

So when is a mobile site right for a dentist?

In the case of Smile-Hub they have a fairly unique situation in that they serve three corporate clients exclusively. It means the proportion of their patients owning and using smartphones is far higher than the average dental practice. In this case having a design dedicated to ease of use within a fully customized mobile browsing experience was felt to be worth it given the type of patients served.

Ask us about your situation and whether a responsive or mobile design is right for you business.