Building a Website That Converts

Traffic, traffic, traffic. When you are looking to start your digital marketing journey by building a website, or even if you are looking to level up a preexisting site, you will find a lot of information that is focused on one thing: traffic. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing — after all, more traffic is generally good for your website and for your business growth. Maximizing your traffic should always be one of your goals. 

But, what good is getting a million visits to your site if it doesn’t bring in more patients? Isn’t that the goal, after all? More patients and more revenue? If so, then traffic isn’t the only metric you should be optimizing for. When it comes to bringing in actual revenue into your practice, traffic isn’t our focus… it's conversion.

Conversion is the number of total visitors you can convert into actual patients. In a lot of ways, traffic is the easy part of the formula. Anyone can hand out samples at the mall. The difficult part is actually convincing the people who found your site that they need to come in for the full entrée. 

If you can learn that process, and all of the rules and practices that optimize conversion, you’ll find that all the digital marketing that funnels through your website will suddenly start providing ROIs you have likely never seen before. This guide was built intentionally to walk you through the concepts and processes you’ll need to make your website a well-oiled conversion machine.

Part 1: Strategy

So much of optimizing your website for conversion has to do with some fundamental concerns that every single person considering you and your practice will have. So, whenever you are working on your website, you need to make sure that you are keeping these questions at the forefront of your decision-making and asking yourself: Does my website answer the 6 core considerations of website conversion?

The 6 Core Considerations of Website Conversion

1. Does My Website Demonstrate Who I Am?

We give this advice to anyone who will listen: your website is so much more than your résumé. It isn’t just about your education, accolades, or work experience. It is about capturing and communicating who you are as a person, not just a doctor. What value do you have? What priorities does your practice set? How will people feel when they interact with your practice and staff? What is the vibe?

Whether we like it or not, people favor people and businesses based on their personalities and personas. Someone looking for an elevated, elegant experience probably won’t sign up with an office that feels “down to earth” and markets themselves as “non-pretentious " or vice versa. That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for everyone; it just means you have to know and be intentional about what part of the market you are serving. 

(For more information on these ideas, read our article on Zero-Sum Competition. It breaks down how to be successful in a saturated market by carving out your niche and getting more patients through the door.)

2. Am I Marketing Services That Resonate With My Audience?

If who you are as a practice doesn’t align with the aesthetic services you are offering, you will be hard-pressed to find anyone who actually feels the need to sign up for treatment. Let’s say you are a plastic surgeon who has decided to market yourself as the cool kid on the block in the hopes that you’ll attract a younger audience. 

Even if it works, do you have services you can provide to that audience? As a plastic surgeon, there isn’t much you can do for young groups of adults who haven’t developed signs of aging. So, if you want to be a plastic surgeon for young people, you’ll need a different approach.

Breast augmentations, rhinoplasties, and liposuction are all good examples of procedures that could work for younger demographics, but if all your website marketing focuses on facelifts and tummy tucks… you might be missing the mark with your targeted audience. The bottom line here is to make sure the services you specialize in align with your targeted audience.

(For more information on how to understand who your targeted audience is, read our guide or article series on patient personas. It shows you how to systematically figure out who your practice should be focusing on.) 

3. Does My Website Show Examples of People I’ve Helped?

There is nothing more powerful than social proof. Listen to this: 70% of people will trust a recommendation from someone they don't even know, and 92% of people will trust a recommendation from a peer. So, if you are looking to convince someone to sign up for treatment with your practice, showing examples of people similar to them is one of the singularly most powerful ways to get them to the finish line.

How do you achieve this? Easily. With before and after photos, patient journey content, reviews, testimonials, and links to social media posts and marketing that feature your actual patients. Any page you are working on developing can, in some capacity, include examples of other people. We will go through those options in more detail later in the guide, but for now, just keep an eye out for opportunities that present themselves as you work through your website development. 

4. Does My Website Show I Am Trustworthy and Competent? 

I know we just said that your website isn’t your résumé, but you absolutely need to include some résumé components in it. Don’t omit your education, experience, and accolades entirely — just make sure they aren’t the only thing you are using to paint of picture of yourself.

This consideration goes beyond simply showing examples of people you’ve helped… it also has to show that you can consistently provide top-level results, patient after patient so that the person considering your practice doesn’t feel the need to pull out because they are afraid their results won’t line up with your “best work.” 
Counter this by providing a pool of results, hundreds of before-and-after images, blog posts on how you specifically approach treatment to maintain results, and anything else you can do to demonstrate that high-quality outcomes are just another day in the office for you. 

5. Does My Website Demonstrate That I Can Help You?

If you’ve accomplished the first four considerations, then this one should come fairly easily. You will need to achieve a balance of content that shows who you are, your professional accolades, that you can provide consistent, high-quality results, that you have treatments that are useful to them, and that you are a trustworthy partner throughout the aesthetic journey. 

Once you’ve done all this, there’s only one more concern to address. Make it clear that you understand their aesthetic concerns and goals are a big part of their life journey and that you just want to play a supporting role in that story.

A common criticism of medical professionals is that they do not take the time to consider the impact that routine treatment can have on a new patient’s psyche. After all, for you, it might just be another day, but for them, it is the first step in a journey that they’ve thought about for a large portion of their lives. They want someone they can trust to both guide and defer to them, not someone who is going to steamroll the journey. Be there for them.

If you can effectively communicate that throughout your website, then you will have a much easier time letting patients know they are safe in your care.

6. Does My Website Tell Them How to Start Their Journey?

This one is purely mechanical. Your site needs to have clear directions on all pages that tell the audience member how to move from consideration to action. We will cover CTAs largely in the following sections, but for now, keep the idea of “action” top of mind whenever you are doing something on your website. 

Whenever you find a natural place to include a call to action or a way to include a directive, take advantage of it. Make sure they never have to work too hard to figure out how to actually book a service and convert to an actual patient.

A Note on Patient Personas

Depending on where you are in your marketing journey, you should likely already have patient personas developed. If not, we highly recommend making this the first thing you do. You can check out more information on two of our guides: Zero to Success in 12 Months or Patient Personas. It is extremely difficult to effectively and efficiently convert patients without having a foundational understanding of who that patient is. 

Moving Forward Through This Guide

Conversion doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Nearly every part of your marketing journey will require you to be intentional about maximizing the likelihood of a patient conversion. So, to make all of these complex mechanisms easier to understand, we will break them down elementally into the major categories that make up the bulk of your digital marketing assets and efforts. The first, and arguably one of the most prominent, is your website.

Part 2: Website

Consider your website to be your business’s online headquarters. All roads should lead back to your website, and it should answer any and every question that any of your potential patients could have. What most people don’t understand, however, is that there are two parts of the equation when it comes to your site: the outward-facing part, where patients and visitors will explore, and the backend of the site, where all the technical stuff happens. 

When it comes to optimizing conversions, you will need to pay attention to both. 

User Experience

User Experience, often abbreviated to UX, is the collection of features and the journey that visitors have when they visit your site. The goal of any site's UX is to meet the needs of the visitors and accurately portray the brand’s identity. User experience is a general term, though, that can encompass many different components, so let’s break down some of the smaller parts of UX that can impact your conversion, specifically.

User Interface

User interface, also called UI, is the design of how a website functions. Consider any sites you visit regularly and how you navigate and explore them. 

Amazon, for example, has a user experience focused on shopping and curation. Everything you see is aimed at being useful for someone currently looking to make a purchase. Because they understand their customer and their needs, they have successfully figured out how to maximize conversions (i.e., purchases) for their business.

Netflix, whether you use the app or the site, provides a theatrical experience, enticing viewers with snippets of popular content and revealing a library of available titles on entry. Netflix knows that its customers are looking for a way to pass the time or something interesting to watch. Because it understands its customers, it was able to build an experience to maximize its own conversions (i.e., subscribers). 

So, what does your patient want from your site? What are they looking to achieve? The answer is easy enough: they want information. Information about a procedure or treatment, information about your office, information about you or your providers or medical staff. They want to understand who you are, and your user experience is largely responsible for providing that to them. 

This maximization is how a user interface can improve your conversions, as long as it is equally intuitive at these big hitters. It needs to clearly and thoughtfully answer all of the above questions and present the information in a way that makes navigation and discovery as easy as possible. 

For medical professionals, we achieve this by categorizing pages and topics. You’ll often find a dropdown full of procedures, conditions, or modalities that make it easy for patients to get information on procedures or treatments. You’ll also see that “About Us” or “About Dr. X” pages are also standard — these pages help your audience quickly attain information about you and your practice.  

Desktop vs. Mobile Optimization

Today, 62% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Only about 36% comes from desktop computers. So, considering the demographics of medical aesthetics patients, it is more than safe to say that at least 2 out of every 3 of your patients will have discovered, researched, and selected you based on the experience they had on a mobile device. 

(Not to mention, Google has been prioritizing content that is optimized for mobile over desktop-only content for years now.)

The biggest mistake you can make is building a vanity site that only looks good on the web. If it does not automatically adjust to the user’s device and still looks aesthetically pleasing, you are throwing away a massive portion of potential conversions. Mobile optimization should be built into the foundation of your site when done properly, but here are some non-negotiables that you can check off to ensure you are hitting the basic requirements:

• Responsive Design: Does your website automatically adjust to the size of the screen of your user? Does it look attractive and function intuitively at all sizes? Is it responding to the specific user it is serving?

• Media Optimization: Are your images compressed to a size that is easy for mobile users to load quickly on data plans? Are you using content delivery systems like YouTube or Vimeo to embed video content into your website to avoid having to load it natively? Is your written content structured and styled in a way that is appealing to mobile users? (Bump the font size up once more, trust us.)

• Mobile-First Approach: In your design and development sessions, are you looking at the mobile experience first? It is better to create a better mobile experience and adapt that into a desktop experience than vice versa.

• Clickable CTAs: The mobile user is used to a specific ecosystem. Apps make buttons and clickable elements more accessible than ever, and there is a certain amount of expectation that, when they are ready to take action, a simple, straightforward button will be available to guide them through to the next step. Don’t miss this expectation.

Automation

Automation is an important tool for your website, particularly for conversion metrics. The reality of your business is that you will not be available to answer questions from every single visitor perusing your website. But, still, you want to strike when the iron is hot — which means you need to provide someone for your visitors to talk to even when it can’t be you.

The best option here is to use chatbots. These sophisticated apps allow visitors to your site to interact directly with an AI that can help them get information and make appointments with your office. They help you move a lead one step further down the funnel, and they are very effective in their approach. 

We recommend having some form of chatbot implemented into your site, even if it is a simpler one that can only answer a set of predefined questions.

A Quick Note on Conversion Follow-Up

Building a website that converts is paramount, but, ultimately, your ability to keep that patient in the system and engaged with your practice is what will ensure they become initial and repeat customers in the future.

As you are building your website, you want to focus on a site that gets patients into your office, but you also want to ensure that the pathways are in place from autoresponders and your own processes so that new and returning patients are receiving drip marketing and staying in the ecosystem.

For more on drip marketing and retaining patients, check out this article.

Coding

Just as the primary driver for the user-facing ecosystem is UX and UI concepts, the backend, particularly when considering conversion, is driven by a site's coding. Most people are familiar with coding to some degree; they know about the existence of coding languages and how they are used to make programs, websites, and all things web-related. 

But, as a medical aesthetic professional looking to create a website for potential patients, there are a few specific concepts you need to be privy to when you are getting started. First, you need to understand the importance of responsiveness. Secondly, you have to understand the different frameworks you can start from when developing your own site. 

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is an elementary concept. The general idea is that you want your website to load fast and react quickly to user input. The most foundational component of responsiveness is your site’s load time. 

Now, there is a lot of pseudoscience out there that draws correlations between page load time and user exit rates. The exact numbers are fuzzy, at best, but most empirical studies available do show some kind of significant relationship between how fast your website loads and how many people will leave before giving it a chance. 

In some cases, a .1-second difference in load time can have a significant impact on conversions. Read this excerpt from a report done by Deloitte: 

Over a four-week period, we analyzed mobile site data from 37 retail, travel, luxury and lead generation brands across Europe and the US. Results showed that a mere 0.1-second change in load time can influence every step of the user journey, ultimately increasing conversion rates. On average, conversions grew by 8% for retail sites and 10% for Travel sites.

From a medical aesthetics perspective, it is entirely possible to see an increase in conversions to some significant degree, but mileage may vary depending on your specialty and use of online shops. But, before you get dissuaded by small numbers, you should consider that even a 1% shift in your conversion rate can translate into tens of — if not hundreds of — thousands of dollars in gained revenue.  

As a general rule of thumb, you’ll want to follow these guidelines for your site load speed:

But you should always consider the tradeoff between the user experience and the site load speed. A more sophisticated site with more visual elements that draw your audience deeper requires more time to load, while a simple site that looks like a Word document will load significantly faster but have a drastically smaller chance of converting a patient. 

Long story short: a longer load time might be a fair price to pay for a website that is hyperfocused on converting and providing a positive user experience. 

A Note on Website Coding

Unless you are planning on learning how to code your own website, we will keep the recommendations here pretty high level: you need to work with someone who is able to develop your site cleanly and efficiently, with code that isn’t clunky, cluttered, or confusing, so that the end user is able to have the snappiest, smoothest experience possible.

Framework Options

There are three general frameworks you can employ when you are looking to create a website for your practice:

Part 3: Content

Let’s take a step back and revisit a previous question: What is your audience hoping to get from your website? Information. If the goal of conversion is to answer these questions, then it is no exaggeration to say that content is the mechanism by which conversion is driven.

Content is king. Content is life. Content is everything. 

If you want any chance at converting people from website visitors to real patients, then you have to create content that educates, persuades, and moves them to action. You have to give them a reason to want to be your patient, and content is the way you communicate that.

Written Content

Short-Form Content

Throughout your website, there will be opportunities to include small bits of content throughout your site. A tagline, header, short contact page — whatever the case may be, you want to make sure you are treating these opportunities with equal gravitas. Small content doesn’t mean it isn’t impactful; in fact, the argument could be made that these smaller bits of writing could potentially impact your potential patients more than the long-form varieties. 

After all, people are prone to scanning headlines and small tidbits of information nowadays. Attention isn’t always on your side, so making sure these little pearls of information are both effective and on-brand can make more of a difference than you would think. 

Long-Form Content

Writing is a tricky subject, mostly because it can be polarizing in many different ways. For some, writing comes naturally; for others, it's a painful process. Some people like informative, dry writing to get information, while others like being told a story. Some people like bullet points, while others prefer Cornell-style paragraphs. 

Servicing your entire potential audience and moving them into action with writing can be a tall task, but if you follow these recommendations, you should generally be able to create content that moves the needle in some capacity:

1. Write the way you talk. Drop the academic and scientific jargon and style. Your audience (potential patients) aren’t always going to be doctors or people with advanced degrees. They are typically within the general population, and most major health organizations recommend writing around the middle school level to properly communicate with the masses with written content. 
2. Be creative in your approach. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different types of written content. Blogs, web pages, and about pages are a great place to start, but more unique content like patient journeys or journal entries from you and your staff can also be a great way to connect with a potential audience. 
3. Remember who you are talking to. Online influencers and internet celebrities often talk about the idea of reliability. To them, relatability is a fundamental tenet of their content creation. They have to seem approachable and talk about subject matter that resonates with their audience. Your practice and website is no different. If you don’t hit the broad strokes that your potential patients care about, they won’t even consider you as an option.
4. Shakespeare was pretentious. Tell me the difference between these two sentences, and then tell me which comes from an insufferable, pretentious medical provider and which comes from someone you could actually have a conversation with:some text
   1. Breast augmentation represents a transformative surgical endeavor, meticulously crafted to bestow upon the discerning patient an aesthetic elevation of unparalleled sophistication. It ensures that their décolletage achieves a level of visual splendor befitting only the most refined and cultivated tastes.
   2. Breast augmentation is a surgical procedure that focuses on providing the patient with a breast appearance they are proud of.
5. Don’t be afraid of structure. Breaking content down into sections is a good practice. Breaking it down into subsections and bullet points is also a good practice, but don’t be afraid to go even further with elements like accordion content, which can be expanded and collapsed by the user as needed. Not only does this add a layer of interactivity, it also makes the entire experience feel more tailored a custom.

Standard Sitemap

Remember the core consideration: Am I Marketing Services That Resonate With My Audience?

As for what pages should live on your website, here is a rudimentary example of a sitemap that is optimized for conversion:

1. Homepage
2. About Us
   1. About Dr. X
   2. About Dr. Y
   3. About Our Team
   4. About Our Practice
3. Conditions We Treat
   1. Condition A
   2. Condition B
   3. Condition C
   4. Condition D
   5. Condition E
4. Procedures
   1. Procedure A
   2. Procedure B
   3. Procedure C
   4. Procedure D
   5. Procedure E
5. Blog
6. Contact

SEO Pro-Tip: Avoid having too many layers on your website. Keep the navigation around two layers, as shown in the example. The deeper your layers go, the weaker your SEO will be. 

What Is a Condition Page?

Condition pages are dedicated sections on your website that focus on specific conditions, aesthetic concerns, or diagnoses that patients may experience. These pages provide comprehensive information about these various issues. 

Condition pages build trust by offering expert insights and addressing common myths or misconceptions. They also establish your practice as a knowledgeable and reliable source to consider. In these pages, we recommend tactfully discussing how the condition can affect a patient's daily life or self-esteem. This will resonate on a personal level and let them know that you truly understand the stakes they are dealing with.

What Is a Treatment or Procedure Page?

Procedure pages, on the other hand, are dedicated to the treatments and products offered by the medical aesthetic practice. These pages provide in-depth information about how specific procedures work, their benefits, and what patients can expect throughout the treatment process. 

By educating patients on available treatments such as Botox injections, dermal fillers, laser resurfacing, chemical peels, and microneedling, your practice will inform them about their options and showcase that you are a reliable source of treatment and a trusted partner for the medical aesthetic journey.

(Check out this page on liposuction from Hakimi Plastic Surgery.)

If you are unsure as to how before and after images are a conversion tool, remember these two core considerations:

1. Does My Website Show Examples of People I’ve Helped?
2. Does My Website Demonstrate That I Can Help You?

If there is a single tool you could use to ensure your website meets the requirements of these two questions, it is a robust before and after library that is elegantly and strategically displayed on your site. 

Lifestyle Photos and Video

Lifestyle photography and videography illustrate powerful and authentic messaging about an entity's identity. Many industries rely heavily on lifestyle photography in all areas of marketing to deliver an ideal, emotion, or image of their product and brand. 

For the medical aesthetics industry, the lifestyle portrayed is different, but the strategy is the same. Medical spas favor imagery of young, beautiful men and women as an ideal to aspire to. The people depicted are usually some mixture of a joyous person strutting around town or a fierce executive at a high-power job. Plastic surgery practices often use similar assets but might add in older actors or patients who look good for their age to appeal to an older demographic.

The point of this type of photography is Core Consideration #2: Am I Marketing Services That Resonate With My Audience? Make sure your lifestyle images evoke emotion in the people you are trying to convince. Take a scroll through BespokeRx's site for a good example of strong lifestyle imagery in use.

Practice Photos and Video

Professional photos and videos of your office and staff can be a powerful tool for patient conversion. Real images of your team, office space, and daily activities help personalize your practice and build trust, making potential patients feel more connected. These assets help convey your practice's personality and create a sense of familiarity, which can be far more compelling than generic stock images. Remember, it’s important to answer: Does My Website Demonstrate Who I Am?

Procedural Photos and Video

Procedural photos and videos are highly effective in converting patients by showcasing what to expect from specific treatments. By providing a visual guide to both surgical and nonsurgical procedures, you help potential patients understand the process and set clear expectations. This transparency not only adds comfort but also boosts confidence in choosing your practice for their care, especially considering that you are directly answering one of the core considerations: Does My Website Show I Am Trustworthy and Competent?

(It’s important to remember that, aside from photos and video, there are many other types of imagery and branding you should be implementing throughout your website to maximize conversions. The stronger your brand identity and aesthetic allure, the more patients you will ultimately be able to convert.)

Multimedia Content

People have shorter attention spans than you might imagine. The average dropped from 12 to 8 seconds in recent years, according to a report from Microsoft. As a population, we grow tired of content more quickly, and we feel the itch to keep scrolling constantly pressing against our psyche at all times. 

A wall of text, a 12-minute video, a mundane photo… these are all surefire ways to give someone permission to scratch that itch to scroll and move on. Content that includes all of the previously mentioned content types is naturally more effective at holding attention since it gives the audience members multiple points of engagement. 

Not to mention, people prefer to consume information in different ways, so if you only offer one option, your rate of success will drop significantly. 

The ideal scenario is that they read a paragraph, watch a short video, read a snippet, see an interesting graphic, go through a bullet list… and, before either of you know it, fill out a Contact Now form to visit your office in person. Combine everything we mentioned above in a tidy package, and you have as close as you can possibly get to a recipe for patient conversion.

A Note on Metrics: Time on Page

Time on Page is a powerful indicator that you can observe to see how well your content is holding your audience’s attention. If they are only staying for a few seconds, then it’s likely they are deciding your content isn’t useful immediately upon entry. That’s called a bounce, in the industry. If they are sticking around for minutes at a time, but not signing up, you might have a CTA issue. (Don’t worry; we will cover calls to action is greater detail below.)

A Note on Social Media: Interactivity

Social media is a powerful tool for many different reasons. While it can exponentially grow your reach and audience, posting the right kind of content can help convince someone that your practice is the right place to come for treatment. When it comes to conversions, you want to use every tool at your disposal, so we always recommend having some kind of direct social media integration right into your site so that people can see your most recent posts and results.

Part 4: Calls to Action

So, you've got a fantastic website filled with engaging content and stunning visuals. But what's next? How do you guide your visitors from mere interest to taking that crucial next step? That's where the Call to Action (CTA) comes into play.

Provide a Variety of CTA Types

CTAs should come in all shapes and sizes — written prompts, compelling images, interactive buttons, enticing link clicks, etc. They're not always about making an immediate sale. In fact, the most effective CTAs gently nudge your visitors to advance to the next step, not always sign up for the service. That next step will lead them further into the journey (or patient funnel) and the hope is that the rest of your content continues to be conversion-optimized to take advantage of that.

CTAs Shouldn’t Be Salesy

When was the last time you responded positively to a pushy sales pitch? Or had a good experience with someone who called your phone unprompted? Probably not recently. Your CTAs should feel like a natural extension of the conversation you're already having with your visitor. It's about guiding them, not pushing them.

For example, a CTA could be as simple as "Read more about Miranda's journey." This invites the visitor to delve deeper, connect with real stories, and see the value you provide through the eyes of someone just like them. It could also be something like “Learn More,” which promises the value of more education on whatever topic they are approaching.

Effective Website CTAs

Let's break down the types of CTAs that can elevate your website's conversion potential:

If you would like more examples of CTAs that can drastically improve conversion rates, check out this article.

8 Content-Based CTAs To Use

When developing CTAs for your website, you will need some kind of hook or strategy to entice the potential patient into taking the next action. There are countless versions of a CTA and how it can function, but these 8 examples are common, effective approaches you can use throughout your site elements. 

1. The Direct CTA  

A Direct CTA is the most straightforward and commonly used type of call-to-action, relying on imperative statements to instruct the reader on what to do next. By using concise, strong language like "Sign up now" or "Download today," it eliminates any room for ambiguity, ensuring the user knows exactly what action to take. This approach is designed to prompt an immediate response, making it a powerful tool for generating leads, conversions, or engagement in a highly efficient manner.

To maximize effectiveness, Direct CTAs should avoid vague or weak phrasing. Instead, they must communicate with clarity and purpose, leading the reader down a clearly defined path. They work best when the desired action is simple and easily understandable, whether it’s completing a form, making a purchase, or subscribing to a service. The immediacy of Direct CTAs helps streamline the patient or customer journey, guiding them with precise instructions at key decision points.

2. The Countdown CTA  

The Countdown CTA is a time-sensitive tactic designed to create urgency by informing the reader how long they have to take a specific action. Often accompanied by visual elements like clocks or countdown timers, it fosters a sense of urgency and compels users to act quickly before time runs out. This type of CTA is highly effective for flash sales, limited-time offers, or any campaign where a deadline plays a critical role in driving engagement.

By presenting a clear time constraint, the Countdown CTA taps into the psychological principle of urgency, encouraging users to avoid missing out on a valuable opportunity. To maximize its impact, the offer presented must align with the reader’s immediate needs and desires, providing a compelling reason to act within the given timeframe. Used responsibly, Countdown CTAs can drive faster results by creating a heightened sense of importance around the desired action.

3. The Explainer CTA 

An Explainer CTA is designed to educate the reader while encouraging them to engage with additional content or take the next step in their journey. Unlike more aggressive approaches, it provides value upfront by offering relevant background information or insights that entice the reader to click through for more details. This type of CTA is often used in content marketing, guiding users toward blog posts, whitepapers, videos, or other educational materials that deepen their understanding of a topic.

For Explainer CTAs to be effective, they must be crafted with clarity and relevance, ensuring that the information provided directly addresses the reader’s interests or pain points. Marketers need to quickly capture attention by demonstrating why the content is worth exploring further, all while avoiding overly promotional language that might come off as intrusive. When used properly, Explainer CTAs help build trust, foster engagement, and guide users toward conversion by positioning the content as a solution to their needs.

4. The Shock Value CTA  

Shock Value CTAs aim to provoke an immediate, emotional reaction from the reader by using bold, sometimes provocative language or visuals. The goal is to disrupt the reader’s normal browsing behavior, making them stop and think about their needs in a new light. By tapping into emotions like fear, excitement, or surprise, these CTAs are designed to create a heightened sense of urgency or importance around the action being promoted.

However, the key to a successful Shock Value CTA is balance. While it’s crucial to capture attention, the messaging should remain tactful and relevant to avoid alienating the audience. A well-executed Shock Value CTA will stir emotions without crossing into gimmicky or offensive territory, allowing the urgency and intrigue it creates to guide users naturally toward taking action. When used thoughtfully, these CTAs can be a powerful tool in standing out in a crowded market, generating strong engagement through emotional appeal.

5. The Incentivized CTA  

Incentivized CTAs offer something of value in return for the user’s action, such as discounts, freebies, or special promotions. By providing an incentive, marketers can appeal directly to a user’s desire to get more value from their interaction, making it easier to encourage conversions. For example, a phrase like "Get 20% off your first order" can be highly motivating, as it provides a clear reward for taking immediate action.

To use this CTA effectively, the offer must be relevant and compelling enough to prompt quick decision-making. The instructions should be straightforward, ensuring users understand how to claim the incentive without confusion. Additionally, Incentivized CTAs work best when prominently placed on landing pages, websites, or emails where users are already in the mindset of engaging or making a purchase. This approach taps into the customer’s desire for value, increasing both engagement and conversion rates by offering something in return for their action.

6. The Firework CTA 

A Firework CTA uses engaging, interactive elements to grab attention and lead users toward taking action. This can include animations, audio cues, interactive pop-ups, or other dynamic features that make the experience more visually stimulating. By adding a layer of excitement to the user’s experience, Firework CTAs can make the call-to-action feel more compelling and enjoyable, often resulting in higher engagement and conversion rates.

These types of CTAs stand out because they make the process of engaging with the content feel less passive and more interactive. For instance, a button that changes color or plays a sound when hovered overdraws the user’s focus in a playful way. By incorporating interactive features, Firework CTAs make the user’s experience with the content more immersive, increasing the likelihood that they will complete the desired action. This technique is particularly useful for digital marketing, where attention spans are short, and visual engagement is key to maintaining interest.

7. The Wordplay CTA

Wordplay CTAs use clever, creative language such as puns, metaphors, or alliteration to capture the reader’s attention and evoke a memorable response. By using linguistic flair, these CTAs stand out in a crowded space, making the message more engaging and fun. They often appeal to a wide audience because they offer a unique twist on conventional language, helping brands convey their message with personality and wit.

The effectiveness of Wordplay CTAs lies in their ability to create an emotional connection or spark curiosity. A well-crafted play on words can leave a lasting impression, encouraging users to click through out of sheer intrigue or amusement. However, it’s important to ensure the wordplay remains relevant to the overall message and doesn’t obscure the intended action. When done right, this type of CTA adds a touch of creativity that can elevate the impact of any campaign, making it more relatable and appealing to diverse audiences.

8. The Scarcity CTA

Scarcity CTAs emphasize limited availability, creating a sense of urgency that encourages users to act immediately. By highlighting a restricted supply or deadline, such as “Only 5 spots left!” or “Limited-time offer,” this type of CTA taps into the fear of missing out (FOMO), prompting users to prioritize the action being requested. Scarcity CTAs work especially well in sales campaigns or promotions where quick decisions are necessary to secure the offer.

This strategy is effective because it leverages human psychology—when something is perceived as rare or in short supply, it becomes more desirable. Marketers can maximize the impact of Scarcity CTAs by being specific about the limitation, whether it’s a time-bound offer or a finite number of products or services. The urgency created by this CTA can significantly boost conversions, as it compels users to act fast before the opportunity slips away, making it one of the most powerful tools for driving immediate action.

Integrating CTAs Throughout Your Site

Don't limit CTAs to your homepage or contact page. Strategically place them throughout your website—blog posts, service pages, about us sections—wherever it feels natural and relevant. Each CTA is an opportunity to deepen the connection and guide your visitors along their journey.

As a general rule of thumb, a CTA should never be more than screen drag or moderate scroll away, but not so intrusive that the page starts to feel commercial. 

Let’s take a look at some of the ways Pure Plastic Surgery provides its visitors with the opportunity to move down the funnel for Brazilian Butt Lifts with a mix of buttons and forms:

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How E-E-A-T Affects Your Conversions

In the digital marketing world, standing out isn't just about being seen, it's about being trusted. That's where E-E-A-T, which stands for Expertise, Experience, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness, comes into play. This concept has been used by Google for years now as an indicator for website ranking. But how does this SEO concept translate into more patients choosing your practice?

1. Expertise means showcasing your deep knowledge and skills. When your website offers valuable, accurate information about procedures and treatments, potential patients recognize your proficiency. They feel confident that you're well-equipped to meet their needs.
2. Experience is about letting the audience know how versed you are in the procedure they are inquiring about. Years of services or the number of procedures performed are great metrics to flaunt to satisfy this Google metric.
3. Authoritativeness builds when others acknowledge your expertise. Featuring credentials, awards, and affiliations with respected organizations positions you as a leader in your field. This external validation can tip the scales in your favor when someone is deciding whom to trust with their care.
4. Trustworthiness is about being reliable and transparent. Sharing patient testimonials, ensuring your website is secure, and communicating clearly about what patients can expect all foster trust. When visitors feel they can rely on you, they're more likely to take that crucial next step.

By integrating E-E-A-T into your website, you're not just improving your search engine rankings, you're building relationships. You're answering one of the core considerations: Does My Website Show I Am Trustworthy and Competent? 

Part 5: Additional Considerations

In addition to the fundamentals, there are a handful of other considerations you will need to make when looking to expand your marketing into the greater online ecosystem.

Full Site vs. Microsite

Your website is your digital hub, and as we said previously, all roads should lead to it. But if you are running a singular campaign focused on a specific type of treatment and/or patient, then you might want to consider something known as a microsite.

A microsite is exactly as it sounds: it is a small, typically one-page website that focuses entirely on converting new audience members and potential patients into consultations and treatment sign-ups. These microsites hyper-target people who are poised and ready to sign up for a procedure. 

Websites are a great way to capture the traffic of those who are looking for a great medical professional, but microsites are a great way to capture the attention of people who are looking for a specific type of procedure.

Keep in mind that microsites are generally tied to some kind of advertisement or promotional campaign, so you can’t rely on them as your sole source of web presence. However, they are a great optimization tool to take advantage of if you really want to promote a certain type of procedure or treatment. 

If you’d like to see an example of a bulletproof landing page or if you’d like to get a rundown on how to develop one from the ground up, check out this article or this landing page example.

The Dichotomy of SEO

There’s a bit of a conundrum you will inevitably encounter as you start working your way through website development and production: in order to earn traffic, you have to win the SEO game, but the SEO game isn’t necessarily always what's best for the user experience… which is a much more important factor when it comes to conversion. 

The higher up you get onto Google through the SEO game, the more trustworthy you become in the eyes of your potential patients and the more conversions you’ll ultimately win. So, you know, don’t be afraid to make a judgment call if you find yourself torn between SEO and Ux.

Have More Questions?

We know that website building itself can be a tricky process, but when you add optimizing your site for conversions to the normal considerations, it becomes an incredibly overwhelming task. If you are looking for more information about something we covered here or would like to see about getting some help as you get started, feel free to reach out to us. We are here to help walk you through whatever step you are struggling with.