Your future on the web

A Mintel survey out this month is forecasting leaner times on the high street. Add to that the threat now being posed by supermarket giants and the need for smaller practices to market themselves effectively has become keener than ever. Almost inevitably, a website will form part of that mix. But are optical practices up to speed?

‘An increasing number do have websites, but they’re very much of the one-page variety,’ says Patrick Myers, director of consultants Myers La Roche. ‘Some of them are appalling and have clearly been done on the cheap.

’It may be that you don’t need a website – for example, if you have a house practice catering solely to elderly patients. But the vast majority of opticians would benefit, advises Mike Preston, director of practice management specialists PCS Cheltenham.