A pet owner looks for a vet at two speeds. Slowly, when a new puppy needs a practice and they are comparing who takes new clients, what a consult costs and whether the place looks kind. And at eleven at night, when the dog has eaten the chocolate or the cat has come in dragging a leg, and the only question is who answers the phone now. Websites for vets in Dublin have to work at both speeds, and many are built for neither: a slideshow, a mission statement, and the out-of-hours number three clicks away.
Open now, and who to ring at 2am
The first screen of a practice site is the phone number, today’s hours, and the out-of-hours arrangement in one plain line: whether your own vets are on call, or you use a shared emergency service, and the number to ring. Every practice has an arrangement and the site has to say what yours is, because the owner in a panic will not search for it.
Beside it, the practical facts: where you are and where to park, whether there is a separate waiting area for cats, which species you see (dogs and cats, rabbits and small furries, birds, reptiles, horses if you do large animal work), and whether you are taking new clients. That last line saves reception a great many calls, and it is changed from the edit page the day it changes.
Registering as a new client
The slow search is a comparison. The owner reads about the team, and here the facts matter: each vet and nurse by name, with their qualifications and the fact that the vets are registered with the Veterinary Council of Ireland. The practice from the outside and the consult room from the inside. Then the services with from prices: the consult fee, vaccination courses for puppies and kittens, neutering by weight, microchipping, dental, pet passports for travel. Treatment is quoted after examination, and saying so is honest, but hiding the consult fee makes people assume the worst.
A new client registration form on the site, with the owner’s details, the animal’s details and the previous practice, means the first visit starts with a file already open instead of a clipboard in the waiting room.
Appointments without the phone
Reception’s day is the phone. Appointment requests, repeat prescription calls, ‘can we just ask the vet a quick question’, people checking whether their appointment was Tuesday or Thursday. Online appointments for routine visits take a good share of it: the owner picks vaccination, nail clip or check-up, a vet if they have a favourite, a time, and gets a reminder the day before so the slot is not wasted. If your practice management system already has online booking, the Book button opens it and nothing is replaced.
A repeat prescription request form, with the animal’s name and the medication, lands in the practice email and gets dealt with between consults. The guide on how to take online bookings explains what the booking side does and does not do.
The year in a practice
Spring is puppies and kittens, vaccination courses and neutering. Early summer is grass seeds in paws and ears, ticks, and pet passports before the holidays. The week around Halloween is fireworks, and a page about noise anxiety written in September, with the practice’s own advice and how to get an appointment before the night, will be the most read page you have. Christmas is chocolate, raisins, cooked bones and the out-of-hours number again. January is the Christmas puppies arriving for their first visit. The site carries a short seasonal note at the top, changed from your phone.
Reviews in a sensitive trade
A vet’s reviews come at the extremes: the saved dog and the one that could not be saved. The practice asks for reviews only after routine visits, by text with a direct link, and never after a loss. Replies are written for every review, good and bad, and they never confirm that someone was a client or discuss an animal’s case; a thank you and an invitation to ring the practice manager is the whole reply. How to reply to bad Google reviews has the structure, and on Complete we draft the replies for your approval each month.
What we need from the practice
The team with names, roles and registrations. Your hours and your out-of-hours arrangement in your own words. Species seen. Whether you are taking new clients. The consult fee and from prices for the routine list. Parking and access. Photos of the building, the consult rooms, the team and, if you have one, the practice cat. If the practice also boards animals, the kennels and catteries page covers that side.
Plan
Complete is €1,499 to set up and €100 a month, and for a practice it is the one that moves the phone: appointments, the chat box, review texts and replies, the managed listing. Essentials at €499 and €50 a month holds the hours, the out-of-hours number, the team and the Google listing. The pricing page compares the two.