Industries · Allied health
Your patients are older. Design for them
Most websites are built for someone in their thirties with good eyesight and a fast phone. A podiatry practice mostly does not see that person, and the site should admit it.
The problem
The website is built for the wrong person
Podiatry skews older than almost anything else on this site. Small grey text, a fiddly booking form and a phone number hidden behind an icon are not stylistic choices here, they are lost appointments.
The same patients often prefer to ring. A site that pushes everyone into an online form is quietly turning away the people most likely to book.
And recall is unusually important. Routine foot care runs on a six to twelve week cycle and diabetic patients need consistent review. Somebody who drifts is both revenue lost and, occasionally, a genuine clinical risk.
What actually works
What moves the needle for podiatrists.
Phone first, form second
A large, obvious, tappable number on every page. It is the least fashionable thing on this list and in this niche it is the most effective.
Recall that runs without anybody remembering
Six to twelve week reminders, automatically, with diabetic reviews on their own schedule. This is the closest thing to a clinical safety net in the package.
Type and contrast built for the reader
Larger body text, real contrast, generous tap targets. It costs nothing and it is the difference between a site your patients can use and one they abandon.
The rules you work inside
What is true of podiatrists and nothing else.
This is the part a generic agency does not know, and it is the part that decides whether the marketing is legal, let alone effective.
Who regulates you
The HCPC. Podiatrist and chiropodist are both protected titles.
What you cannot advertise
Treatment claims restricted. Diabetic foot care in particular should be described carefully.
The software you already run
Cliniko, Jane, TM3.
What an appointment is worth
£40 to £70, with genuinely recurring six to twelve week appointments. Diabetic patients are effectively lifelong, which makes recall the whole business.
When you are busy
Weak. A slight summer sandal season, otherwise steady.
The one lever
Recall, because a diabetic foot patient who lapses is a clinical problem as well as a commercial one.
Regulatory positions change, and two of these families are changing now. I confirm the current position before writing your pages rather than copying what a competitor has up.
What you get
The same six things, pointed at your problem.
The package does not change by niche. What changes is what it is set up to do: which follow-up runs, on what interval, and what the website is built to be found for.
£297 a month. No build fee, no minimum term, live in 14 days.
- Your website
- Missed call text back
- Review funnel
- Lead follow-up
- All-in-one inbox
- Business phone
Questions
What podiatrists ask me.
Most of my patients ring rather than book online. Is a website worth it?
Yes, because they are looking you up before they ring, and what they find decides whether they do. The site's job here is to be findable and reassuring, not to replace the phone.
Can it handle diabetic recall separately?
Yes. Different patient groups can be on different recall schedules, which is exactly the point of automating it rather than relying on a note in a diary.
Will the site be accessible for older patients?
That is a design decision I take deliberately in this niche: larger type, real contrast and big tap targets rather than the fashionable thin grey small text.
Chiropodist or podiatrist, which should the site say?
Both, because patients search for both and the older ones search for chiropodist. They are protected titles for the same profession.
Thirty minutes, and you will know if it is worth it.
No obligation, and nothing to pay to have the conversation.