Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only revolutionized the way business is done worldwide, it has also created growing challenges and opportunities for businesses in the health-related industry.

Challenges Medical And Health Firms Face Online

Now, more than ever, businesses in the medical and health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to participate in the community you serve, you must also maintain an active digital presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning better ways to market your business online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities, businesses in the health or medical-related industry are now also finding that they need to invest a bigger share of their marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that brings new clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps increase their marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website will change over time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires having a well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that medical-related organizations face (as most other businesses do for that matter), is that you have only around 30 seconds to help users find what they are searching for or they will go elsewhere.

“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

Online Opportunities For Medical And Health Services Practitioners

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for health-related practices that are willing to adapt to meet digital demands and who can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this detailed guide, you will learn about ways and opportunities to generate new client accounts and create noticeable improvements in your online results.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your health or medical website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• Learn Why A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
• An Online Guide To Growing Your Successful Small Business Using A WordPress Site

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

We’ll start first by going over some basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your health or medical website and get better results. We show you what pages your site needs, what type of content works best for medical-related websites, navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, read this detailed guide we have written: How To Plan Your Business Web Site - A Cost-Saving Primer For Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

Professional business websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need to have and how to structure your website for best results.

Products And Services

You need to include a page that explains your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page can list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. pain management, nephrology haematology, cosmetic surgery, geriatric medicine, renal, bariatric surgery, eye diseases surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral hygiene, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, lung screening, hearing, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, wellbeing, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, holistic medicine, massage therapy, chiropractic services, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, fertility services, stomal therapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, hearing aids, home and community care, clinical information, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what these services do and why they should choose you.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.

This page should mention any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your practice and to set yourself above your competitors.

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

Team

If you are searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products online, then help your prospects get to know, like and trust your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be very well-versed in medical or health-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page can also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your team member’s qualifications, 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 page that introduces your employees or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to create and add a simple and easy-to-manage list of staff or team members in your site without using code here: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff List On Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Career Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within your clinic. It could include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include stories of recruits who have established a solid career path thanks to your company and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the health-related industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also provides social proof online.

(Add a page with case studies and testimonials. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have written a detailed article on using testimonials and client reviews improve your business online. For more details, go here: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects With Meaningful Client Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is absolutely vital.

It should include some or all of the following:

• Name Of Your Business
• Your physical address
• Phone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media pages
• Live chat feature

If you have several locations you should make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

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

Add A Health Or Medical Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like news and events, updates, training information, opinions and discussions, educational videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to market your clinic.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing site is very hard to keep updated or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your business website and blog.

Something few businesses know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation machine that can instantly begin delivering an ongoing stream of targeted visitors to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details, go here:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create An Automated Web Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is very important. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being broken wherever you practice.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• 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
• etc.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from other competitors.

Providing useful content with great tips and information will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the topics you can cover in your content include:

• Being overweight vs. being obese – what are the differences?
• How to get support when embarking on a weight loss program (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• Comparing different diets, e.g. Paleo diet, Raw Food diet, Weight Watchers diet (what these are, how they work, are they effective)
• Vitamins and minerals that aid in weight loss (chromium, calcium, magnesium, etc.)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Include the keywords in your articles that your prospective clients will search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your website using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve Visitor Experience

Improving your site’s user experience (known as UX) will help keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.

Use RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides many benefits for your site.

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

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing content on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds by visiting sites of relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some feeds you could add to a health or medical site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and choose specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Healthy aging, 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 list of feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. The Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), Nutrition Journal, BMJ Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Toxicological Sciences, BMJ Postgraduate Medical Journal, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get RSS feeds on fda-related news and topics like FDA drug safety, food allergies, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, foods, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (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 - Find various health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Arthritis, Cholesterol, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Digestion, Heart, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Anxiety/Stress, Seniors/Aging, Infectious Diseases/Bacteria/Viruses, Preventive Medicine, Alcohol/Addiction/Illegal Drugs, Breast Cancer, Tuberculosis, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “pregnancy rss feeds”, “drug approvals rss feeds”, “ultrasound rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Adding Forms & Checklists

Checklists and explanatory charts are a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and medical forms can give them useful instructions and resources to perform steps. Charts and checklists can also be great instructional tools.

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

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Add Unique Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Calculators are popular tools for your website. Others can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part two of this detailed article, we will look at a several online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins that improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to access Part 2:

• Online Business Tips For Medical Practitioners – Improving Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic Using WordPress Plugins

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