Medical School Website Design Agency: Best Practices and Philosophy

Before starting a website design project, our agency begins by reminding ourselves of the underpinnings of the tradition we are serving. Of course, each western tradition —Allopathic, Osteopathic, Naturopathic or Chiropractic — begins with Hippocratic imperative: ‘First, do no harm”. Principles that inform Elliance’s approach to understanding medical education include:

1. The focus of medicine is prevention and individualized care.
2. The body has an inherent capacity for self-repair, recovery and healing.
3. The body is an ecosystem of interconnected systems: structural, biochemical, neurological and psychological.
4. The body’s structure and the way it functions influence one another.
5. Effective care considers the patient as a whole person and incorporates the patients experiences, circumstances and participation in treatment.
6. Clinicians must strive to understand and treat the root causes and not just the symptoms.

Various medical traditions interpret these principles uniquely putting different weights on each. Allopathic medicine (MD) emphasizes evidence-based diagnosis, prevention and treatment using established biomedical science. Osteopathic medicine (DO) shares the biomedical foundation of conventional medicine, with additional emphasis on the musculoskeletal system and osteopathic manipulative treatment. Naturopathic medicine emphasizes natural approaches, prevention and the body’s self-healing capacity, though the evidence supporting individual practices varies considerably. Chiropractic medicine emphasizes the relationship between the musculoskeletal system and health, particularly the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions.

A medical school’s website should be an expression of its educational philosophy. A school that emphasizes biomedical discovery should make its research, labs and scientific mentorship tangible. A school that emphasizes osteopathic medicine should clearly communicate its distinctive approach to medical education and patient care. A school that emphasizes community health should show how students learn and serve within those communities. The design, content, information architecture and visual storytelling should reinforce the school’s educational identity.

Kansas City University College of Osteopathic Medicine

Founded in 1916, Kansas City University (KCU), is one of the oldest osteopathic medical schools in the US, and one of the largest medical schools in Missouri. With 13 new osteopathic schools opening up in the next 2 years and peers stepping up their efforts,  KCU turned to Elliance to bolster its leadership role and outsmart the competition.  The website was a sprawling without a focus and distinct point-of-view and few Google and AI rankings.

Elliance Recommendation:  
Elliance’s recommended approach was shaped by four insights about prospective medical students. First, they are digital natives glued to their mobile devices. Second, they heavily use Google and AI discovery engines to explore their educational options. Third, they want to know in advance if the enrolled students and alumni were satisfied by their medical school experience. Fourth, as a lingering effect of COVID-19, prospective students living in the midwest tend to have a strong preference to attend graduate medical school in the midwest. 

Keeping these insights in mind, Elliance recommended replacing the large osteopathic medical school website with a lean, mobile-first, SEO-powered, AI-discoverable microsite that distills the argument for KCU into as few pages as necessary. We further recommended creating a blog which would house their amazing student, alumni and faculty stories and achievements. These stories would not only persuade prospects to enroll, but also get KCU ranked on Google page one and in AI discovery engines in the state of Missouri, the Midwest and beyond.

Homepage:

Blog:

Impact:

Two months after the osteopathic medical school website and blog were launched, KCU saw a 40% improvement in traffic growth to the microsite and blog. For many Missouri and Midwest related keyword variations KCU is  now ranked on Google Page 1. In addition, they are marching towards Google page one for reputation keywords like “Top Osteopathic Schools in the Midwest”. Furthermore, they have started seeing improvements in various osteopathic specialty area keywords for which they were simply not ranked for before. 

Now if prospective medical students search for anything related to osteopathic medical school in Missouri and the Midwest, they can find Kansas City University on the first page of search results. And once they get to the website they are able to quickly access  the most important information they need to make their decision. This includes class profile, featured alumni, faculty spotlights, residency match rates, and a streamlined application process. 

New York Chiropractic College

NY Chiropractic College, before changing its name to “Northeast College of Health Sciences”, was a holistic health college offering programs in Chiropractic, Acupuncture & Oriental Medicine, and Health Sciences and Education located in pristine Seneca Falls. Our engagement began by rebranding the college, and relaunching the enrollment campaigns. See the details of our brand work here. We proceeded to reimagine and redesign their website.

NYCC website too wasn’t reflecting the holistic nature of health and healing that the College teaches. Just as the body functions best when its systems are integrated and aligned, a college’s digital presence must support clarity, accessibility, and well-being for those who engage with it. Our redesign was motivated by the need to create a site that flows intuitively, communicates the full spectrum of the College’s programs, and fosters an experience that is as nurturing, coherent, and integrated as the care the College trains its students to provide. In short, the redesign was an attempt to return the website to something more organic, human, and alive.

Homepage: Intentionally right, tight and bright.

Chiropractic College page: Warm, welcoming and professional.

Doctor of Chiropractic Program Page: An enrollment conversion machine.

Join the Healthful Life Movement Page: A calling to heal pain holistically and apply science to meet body’s own intelligence.

Impact:

NY Chiropractic College enrollment had plateaued for half a decade. Our new brand, website and enrollment campaigns unleashed a 40% growth in enrollment which thrilled the college president, his cabinet and the trustees.

Southwest College for Naturopathic Medicine

Elliance is proud to launch the first responsive website for naturopathic medicine in North America for Southwest College for Naturopathic Medicine (SCNM). By outsmarting the competition and with its history of firsts, SCNM has once again proven that it is indeed the most innovative college for naturopathic medicine.

The entire process of launching the website took almost one year, the first four being spent on articulating their new brand position: “Simply Inspiring”. Our interviews with SCNM faculty, students and patients made us realize that SCNM is a storehouse of inspiring stories of patients being healed by craft-minded Naturopathic Doctors. We also met a wide array of alumni who were respectable leaders living lives as ND’s, as researchers for Nutraceuticals, as authors of ground breaking work in Naturopathic healing, and as members of integrative medicine practices.

The new website is the first expression of the new brand position and comprises of two parts. 

Homepage of the school.

Homepage of the community facing medical center.

As part of the brand rollout, Elliance has also strengthened the SCNM recruiting presentations and is now working on relaunching the new SCNM viewbook. All the new marketing touch points are inspired by their new brand position.

Best Practices for Designing a Medical School Website

As the digital soul of a medical school, design your website for “Wow”, not just a “Yes”.

1. Know your brand and speak with your brand voice.
2. Lead with educational distinction and philosophy. Merchandise hope. Tell stories.
3. Design around the prospective medical student’s journey.
4. Make the curriculum tangible.
5. Celebrate faculty expertise.
6. Make research accessible and discoverable.
7. Treat admissions pages as recruitment and conversion assets.
8. Show what makes the student experience distinctive. Show a day in the life of a student. Amplify student wellness.
9. Optimize for Google and AI-powered discovery.
10. Design for mobile-first and accessibility.
11. Use authentic photos and videos. Avoid using AI-generated creative assets.
12. Build on a secure and easy-to-maintain, easy-to-govern CMS platform.

Learn more about our higher education marketing, medical website redesign and inbound marketing services and consider partnering with us to grow your enrollment endowment and reputation for your osteopathic medical school.