Talk Summary
Would you choose your own care service based only on what you can find online?
Imagine arriving at your website knowing nothing about your organisation. You haven’t received a recommendation, met the manager or toured the service. Would the information in front of you provide enough confidence to start a conversation?
This question runs throughout the session. Your website needs to close the gap between the quality of care you deliver and what someone can understand about it online.
To make this practical, Will explores how families choose a care provider, using the example of a relative looking for dementia care in Solihull. They need to discover suitable options, understand which service could meet their relative’s needs and feel comfortable making contact.
1. Find: can people discover the right service?
Having a website creates an opportunity to reach people. Your digital marketing helps them find it when they need care or support.
The session explores three routes:
- Search engine optimisation (SEO): Helping your website appear in unpaid search results for the services you provide and the locations you serve.
- AI visibility: Considering how people may encounter your organisation through Google’s AI summaries or tools such as ChatGPT.
- Pay-per-click advertising (PPC): Using Google Ads to reach people searching for relevant care services, with targeting shaped around your services, areas and budget.
These routes can complement one another as part of a wider care home marketing strategy. The starting point is understanding the care people need and the language they use to search for it.
Someone searching for “dementia care in Solihull” should arrive on a page with a clear connection to that need. If they have to work through a general homepage to find the relevant service, you add uncertainty at an important moment.
Use familiar language and make the service and location easy to recognise. Once someone reaches the right page, its content needs to help them assess whether your care could be suitable.
2. Trust: does your website build confidence?
Building trust can feel easier in person, where people can meet your team, ask questions and experience the environment. Your website needs to provide some of that reassurance before a conversation takes place.
Make suitability clear
Explain who you support, the needs you can meet and where your services are available. Describe how you assess suitability, including any criteria or limitations, in everyday language.
Families need help understanding whether a service could be right for their relative. Professionals may need more detailed eligibility information and information about current capacity. Your content should help each audience find the answers relevant to them.
Show what care means in everyday life
Phrases such as “person-centred care” are familiar across the sector, but people need to understand what they mean in practice.
For example, explaining that your team asks about someone’s usual routines, favourite meals and what they want to keep doing independently gives a clearer picture of the experience.
Your examples should reflect what your team actually does. Real photographs of staff and places, alongside stories about everyday care, can help people picture the service.
Support your claims with specific evidence
For regulated services, make the relevant regulator record and report easy to find. Alongside this, introduce the people delivering care and share relevant reviews and real examples.
A rating contributes to the picture. Information about the team, their approach and people’s experiences helps visitors develop a fuller understanding of your service.
3. Act: is the next step easy?
People arrive at your website at different stages of their decision. Your calls to action should reflect that.
“Talk to our care team” may suit someone exploring options. “Arrange a visit” gives a clear route for someone ready to look around. Professionals need an obvious way to discuss a referral, while job seekers need a separate route to vacancies.
Starting an enquiry may be an emotional step for a family. Make phone numbers and contact buttons easy to find, and keep the first enquiry form manageable. Ask for the information needed to begin the conversation, such as a name, contact details and a brief outline of the support required.
Where professional referrals need more information, provide a separate, clearly labelled route.
Explain who will respond and what happens next. Test the process on a mobile device, checking whether buttons are easy to tap and forms are straightforward to complete. Then check how quickly your team picks up the enquiry.
Funding questions can also affect someone’s confidence to act. Signpost relevant local authority, NHS and independent guidance, helping people understand who to contact and what to ask.
Three actions to take next
Use the Find, Trust and Act framework to identify a manageable starting point:
- Find: Search for one priority service and location, then follow the result through to your website.
- Trust: Answer one question people regularly ask before making an enquiry.
- Act: Complete your own contact journey on a mobile device and remove one obstacle.
Each improvement should help someone move from uncertainty towards a more informed, confident conversation with your team.
Want a clearer picture of where to improve?
At WebBox, we deliver websites and digital marketing for care providers, helping organisations communicate their services clearly, build trust and generate more relevant enquiries and referrals.
Apply for a complimentary website and marketing audit from WebBox. We’ll review how your website helps people find your services, build confidence and take the next step, then share practical priorities in a playback session.
