We cannot overemphasize how important it is to build a professional website for your adult family home. A website is not just a marketing necessity, it’s also a way to leave a great first impression on potential clients, as well as caregiving professionals.
But how do you go about creating a website that will leave a positive first impression, serve as an effective marketing tool, and yet also not require a huge amount of time, effort, and money?
In this article, we will give you a step-by-step guide on how to make an easy website for your adult family home that will help you attract potential clients and caregivers.
Choose and Register Your Website Domain Name
Choose the unique name for your website (also known as domain), which will most likely be the name of your adult family home.
This will help keep your branding consistent and could also help you boost your visibility and appear higher in search engine results. Consequently, that will attract more traffic to your website and help you bring in more visitors.
For example, if the name of your adult family home is “Great Care,” your domain name can be greatcareadultfamilyhome.com, greatcareafh.com, or simply greatcare.com. The shorter and easier to spell, the better.
But what if someone else is already using that name?
In that case, you can purchase that domain from them but that might prove to be expensive. Alternatively, you can try picking a different name for your website or using a different top-level domain such as .net (instead of .com).
Once you have chosen the domain name, you’ll need to register it with a domain registrar such as Domain.com or Network Solutions, which only costs between $10-$20 per year.
Choose Your Design and Hosting Provider
Now that you have registered the ownership of the domain, your next step will be to choose your website design and find another provider to host the URL.
If this all sounds like too much work, you can simply choose an all-in-one domain registrar that will provide you with domain registration, website design, and hosting such as WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace.
Options for website hosting with or without design capabilities include GoDaddy, Bluehost, InMotion, and DreamHost.
Alternatively, you can design the website yourself and pick a hosting service that will provide you with a free domain name, tech support, or an SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificate. An SSL certificate adds the S to your website’s URL (HTTPS), serving to enable a secure connection and protect your and your visitors’ data and sensitive information.
Organize Your Website Intuitively and Logically
When it comes to designing and organizing a website for your adult family home, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. What’s important is to offer clear, detailed information and organize your website in a way that visitors can reach that information intuitively and logically.
Your homepage should be striking and captivate visitors. Include photos of your adult family home, along with an eye-catching logo and a tagline that explains exactly what you do and whom you serve in as few words as possible.
The header and/or footer should feature links to other pages on your website, including a button that returns you to the homepage.
Wondering what other information you should include on your adult family home website? Here are some ideas:
“About Us” page should offer basic information about your adult family home, your team of caregivers and staff, as well as your mission and vision statements.
“Services” should inform visitors about what your adult family home offers, like meal preparation, medication management, housekeeping and laundry, personal care, etc.
Use a “Gallery” page to showcase your facility with professional photos of your adult family home, including client rooms, bathrooms, common areas, gardens, etc.
An “FAQ” page should answer questions a potential client may have in a clear and concise way, such as: what is an adult family home, who qualifies for it, etc.
“Contact” should include addresses, contact information, and visiting hours for each of your adult family home locations (if more than one). You can also include a simple form that will allow website visitors to request information, ask a question, or arrange a tour.
These are some ideas of basic information about your adult family home to get you started, but feel free to include anything else that you feel might help you entice potential clients, such as a blog dealing with a variety of issues affecting your target population.
Improve Your Website’s Search Engine Optimization
In a previous article (INCLUDE LINK), we talked about all the steps you can take to improve your website’s visibility in Google and other web engines’ searches, so that potential clients can find you easier.
Those steps include making your website easy to navigate, fixing broken pages and links, polishing your content, improving your site speed, getting referrals, and creating a business blog.
In addition, you should use relevant phrases (aka keywords) such as “quality care” and “core values” in your text, just don’t overdo them.
Regularly update your website to add or remove members of the caregiving team, change any contact information, or include certifications or other achievements.
Optimize your images and enable browser caching to ensure your website loads as fast as possible. Get rid of unnecessary plugins and bloated HTMLs. You can use Google’s Pagespeed Insights Tool to check how fast your website loads.
Perform Quality Control Before Publishing
This may seem obvious, but check and then re-check all of your pages and content before publishing your website.
Confirm that your website and all links work properly on a variety of devices, including computers, phones, and tablets. Also, test your website on all major browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc, on both phones and computers.
Make sure that your font is clear and readable, that there are no spelling or grammar errors in your text, and that all broken pages and links are fixed.
Follow Section 508 guidelines to ensure the accessibility of your website to a wider range of users.
Connect your website to your social media profiles on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
Use Google Analytics to monitor your website’s performance and find out where you can improve.
Now that you have our step-by-step guide on how to make an easy website for your adult family home, it’s time to get to work. Though it may require a little time, effort and money, a professional website is an invaluable marketing tool that is guaranteed to help you attract more clients and caregivers in the long run and help ensure the success of your business.
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