Top Website Design Trends for Private Practices in 2023
Is your private practice’s website on-point?
Has it been updated recently to match the times and visitors’ expectations? Or is it still stuck in its original form?
While trends come and go, it’s vital to stay current. Remember, your site is a reflection of your practice. Your visitors do judge a book by its cover. If your website looks antiquated, people will assume your care is too. The reverse is also true. Make the most of this.
So, how can you benefit from current web design trends without being caught by fleeting fads that will become redundant tomorrow?
Let’s look at this year’s 5 top website design trends.
Enhancing user experience with a minimalist design
Minimalism — a philosophy that embraces clarity, functionality, and simplicity — incorporates essential elements, a limited color palette, and a focus on white space. Together, this produces a clean, uncluttered, and, when done well, elegant, contemporary appearance.
By incorporating a minimalist design into your website, you can reduce distractions, improve ease of use, and focus on what truly matters: performance and pleasing aesthetic over pomp.
The benefits of minimalist design include the following:
Improved website speed
It can take longer to load when a site has too many design elements, including large images and videos, unnecessary animations and effects, complex layouts, and third-party integrations. This translates into higher bounce and lower conversion rates.
A minimalist design eliminates extraneous elements to create a faster-loading website that improves user experience and increases engagement.
Enhanced readability
A clean, uncluttered design helps highlight your content, making it easier to read, navigate, enjoy, and consume. It lets you focus your visitors’ attention on sections that build rapport and convert into bookings.
Imagine going shopping in a traditional bricks and mortar store. You step into a cluttered store. Too many items are on display. You can’t easily discern the many objects or find a way to navigate the space successfully. In frustration, you leave empty-handed, determined never to return to that awful store.
This scenario isn’t dissimilar to searching online, including on your site. When a website has too many design elements — for example, too many colors, fonts, or pictures — it becomes cluttered and difficult to navigate. Understandably, this leads to a poor experience. People won’t stick around because better alternatives are at their fingertips.
A focus on sophistication
Well-planned minimalist design creates a modern and sophisticated aesthetic. Its simplicity and elegance can elevate your brand and the perception of your professionalism and expertise.
To incorporate minimalist design into your website:
- Simplify your layout
- Eliminate unnecessary design elements
- Include ample white space
- Opt for a limited color palette
- Choose a consistent, easy-to-read font
- Use high-quality video optimized for clarity and load speed
Engage and educate visitors with video content
Have you wondered whether you should spend time and money on video creation?
Hint: You should!
This trend has continued its growth trajectory. Other professionals in your field, including your direct competitors, are releasing video content. And with good reason. It works!
WyzOwl’s The State of Video Marketing 2023 survey revealed that video marketing had a significant positive impact, including increased user understanding (96%), brand awareness (95%), traffic (91%), leads (90%), sales (87%), and website dwell time (87%). Marketers also reported that video boosted comments, clicks, likes, and shares.
So, for you as a therapist, regularly producing quality videos may lead to increased visitors and engagement, more bookings, and better-educated clients that follow your advice.
Prioritize accessibility for visitors with disabilities
While we include this in our top trends because website owners are increasingly improving accessibility, we believe this should be a priority because it’s the right thing to do. There are also obvious potential benefits for your practice.
But first, what does accessibility mean?
In terms of websites, accessibility refers to creating a platform that is inclusive and accessible to all users. Yet, many websites — possibly yours — aren’t designed for equal accessibility. This lack can limit a person’s access to critical information and services.
To improve website accessibility, consider the needs of all visitors, including those who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, or have mobility impairments. Examples of accessibility improvements include:
- Use of alternative (alt) text for images. This allows people with visual impairments to understand the content of an image by either reading the text description or using a screen reader.
- Incorporate captions and transcripts. This provides access to video and audio content for visitors with hearing impairments.
- Take advantage of color contrast. High color contrast can improve readability for users with visual impairments.
- Incorporate keyboard accessibility. Websites should be navigable using a keyboard alone to support users with mobility impairments.
- Simplify your page structure. Websites with precise and straightforward designs are easier for users with cognitive impairments.
- Use precise language. Clear language makes content more accessible to users with cognitive impairments.
Design with mobile users in mind
If you knew that more than half of your site’s visitors came from a mobile device, would you design your site with this in mind?
There is only one correct answer: Yes!
Because if a site isn’t mobile-friendly, the experience of your visitors will be subpar. Its performance will suffer and diminish if not completely kill, user engagement. The bounce rate will soar. The search engines will penalize your site, so your other on-site efforts will amount to naught. Your practice will struggle to get found online.
Conversely, there are profound benefits when site design has mobile users in mind. These include increased user engagement, improved website performance, better search engine optimization (SEO), enhanced brand perception, and, yes, more bookings.
To learn more about mobile-friendly design, including how to tell if your site has been correctly structured, read our article, The Importance of a Mobile-Friendly Website.
Incorporate voice search and artificial intelligence technology to improve user experience
Are you ready to step it up? To get your visitors to chat about and share your site excitedly?
Enter voice search and artificial intelligence (AI)!
Voice tools like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant have become commonly used. Want to find information or perform a task? You no longer need to type your needs. Speak your request. You can incorporate this technology into your site with the right tool. Voice tools are great for boosting accessibility.
An AI chatbot could be a perfect addition if you want a personality to interact with your visitors 24-7-365.
Then there are back-of-house artificial intelligence tools. Running AI in your site’s background increases knowledge about your site’s statistics. With this information, you can make more effective business decisions. Want to know where your visitors come from, how long they stay, how many pages they visit, and which posts are most popular? You can.
Read Why Google Analytics Is Important For Your Therapy Practice’s Success to discover how.
AI can support your practice off-site too.
Love to share an app that can support your current clients while they are between consultations? Even one that may steady the well-being of your clients and (potentially) enhance their therapeutic outcomes?
AI mental health tools are available. Check out Wysa, WoeBotHealth, and YouPer.
The 2023 Trends Takeaway
These 5 top trends are here to stay. They’re essential for your practice’s success now and in the future. And, when embraced, firmly place you at the front of the pack, well ahead of others in your field — making you the obvious choice for care.
Wait! You Don’t Have A Therapist Website Yet?
Brighter Vision is the ultimate marketing package for therapists, centered around the best therapist website you’ve ever had. Contact us today to get started.