Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical professionals face many challenges in today’s online economy, especially when it comes to growing their business online.

Challenges Professional Health Providers Face Online

Today, more than ever, medical practices must find smarter ways to remain competitive and source new clients. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community you serve, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your practice online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, you will need to invest a greater share of your marketing budget to develop and maintain a website that will attract new prospects, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help you create a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and some areas may need to be updated often. This requires having a sound web and content management strategy in place.

One other challenge that medical and health services practitioners (and most professions) face with their websites, is that they have an average of thirty seconds to provide visitors what they need or they will go away.

“Websites have evolved into central information hubs where service information is still present but enhanced with web portals, hyperlinks to state and federal sites, and a variety of free tools.”

Michael Alter, http://www.accountingweb.com/technology/accounting-software/tips-for-improving-your-website

Opportunities For Medical Professionals

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the health or medical profession that are willing to evolve to meet digital challenges and who can think progressively in terms of marketing their business services better online.

In this guide, you will discover new opportunities to attract more visitors and improve your online results.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your web presence, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your medical-related business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, go here:

• Discover Why A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Business
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Small Business Online With WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Health Center Services Site

In this section we will start with the basics and show you ways to improve your health or medical-related website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content you need, navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, see this guide: Planning Your Web Site - A Comprehensive Guide For Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

All websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s review these.

Your Services

It’s essential to include a page that lists your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, this page could list services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, nephrology haematology, maxillofacial surgery, geriatric medicine, renal, gastroenterology, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral health, restorations, dental implants, emergency dental services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, oral health, gynaecology, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative treatments – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, colloidal silver therapy, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, chiropody, lymphedema therapy, physiotherapy, medical genetics, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home and community care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and why they should book an appointment.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community programs, etc.

It should also list any business awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your medical services and to set yourself above the competition.

(List all of your industry awards recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc. in the About page. Image source: squaremedical.com.au)

Meet Your Staff

If you are searching for simple ideas to sell more products or services online, then one of the things you can do, is help prospects get to know you, your team and your organization better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in medical or health-related terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow individual team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each staff member’s experience, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a staff description page. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily create and add an easy-to-maintain simple staff directory to your WordPress site using free WP plugins here: Adding A Staff Directory: Tutorial

Work For Us

This is a listing of job opportunities available within the clinic. It would include training, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working for your business, etc. You can also include information about upcoming career opportunities in the health and medical industry.

Also include a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, join your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a page with testimonials and case studies also helps to provide social proof.

(Add a page to your site with testimonials and case studies. Screenshot image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

To learn more about using client testimonials and user reviews to grow your business online, go here: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Effective Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following information about your practice:

• Company Name
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Live Chat/Skype

If your business services several locations you want to make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, useful pages, online booking form, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business using content such as announcements, updates, educational articles, informative posts, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to create more exposure for your medical company.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing medical or health-related website is hard to add new content to or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your business website and your blog.

Very few businesses know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that will help begin delivering new targeted traffic to your site, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive new visitors automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your WordPress Site Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

It’s very important for professional organizations to have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws or regulations are being breached wherever you do business.

Depending on the services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your medical-related site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health and Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more about this: Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, committing to the practice of content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

You will want to provide useful content with great information, advice or tips that will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the areas you could publish content about include the following:

• Emotional causes for weight issues (possible causes, how to identify yours)
• The role portion control plays in helping you your weight loss efforts
• Why using a measuring tape is better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress
• What processed foods can derail your weight loss program (and healthier choices)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers understand your health services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Use keywords and terms in your articles that prospective clients will be searching to find you online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your user experience (known as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other businesses using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows for subscribing
• It provides links to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds by searching online for health and medical-related government departments or industry bodies.

Here are examples of feeds you could add to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and select specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Fitness and nutrition, Illnesses and disabilities, Menopause, Screening tests and vaccines, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (American Association for Cancer Research), ADA (American Diabetes Association), European Heart Journal, Current Psychiatry, BMJ Postgraduate Medical Journal, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get many health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), product recalls, drugs, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• UK Department Of Health (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health) – Latest news: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health.atom
• The Department Of Health (Australian Government): http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/xml/rssLatestNews.xml
• Department Of Public Health (Australia – State Level): e.g. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find various health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also choose individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Mental Health, Cold & Flu, Oral Health, Prevention & Wellness, Travel Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Anxiety/Stress, Complementary Medicine/Alternative Medicine, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Preventive Medicine, COPD, Tropical Diseases, Erectile Dysfunction/Premature Ejaculation, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “eating disorders rss feeds”, “veterinary rss feeds”, “huntingtons disease rss feeds”, etc.

(Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your medical-related site’s user experience.)

Checklists & Charts

Checklists and medical forms are a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Charts and checklists can provide users with step-by-step information and resources to complete a task. They are also great client instructional tools.

You can provide a range of forms and checklists (or links to these) covering areas such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Other Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your potential clients. Health-related calculators, for example, are useful tools for your website. Other tools could include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In the next section of this guide, we discuss a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your health or medical site that can help to improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

To view the rest of this guide, click here:

• How To Grow A Medical And Health Practice Online – Part Two

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