Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital economy has not only revolutionized the way business is done globally, it has also created a number of challenges and great opportunities for medical or health-related businesses.

Online Challenges For Health Practitioners

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health and medical industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop an active web presence. This includes having an effective website and learning better ways to grow your services online.

In addition to investing money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be assigned towards the development and management of a website that will drive prospective clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help you create wider reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change over time and some areas may need to be frequently updated. This requires having a well-planned website and content management strategy in place.

Another difficult challenge that medical services professionals face online, as do most other professions for that matter, is that you have only about 30 seconds or less to provide users with what they are searching for or they will find what they are looking for 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

Opportunities For The Medical Profession In The Digital Economy

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

This guide will help you uncover new opportunities to attract new visitors and build more online credibility for your health business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system to power your medical-related website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), see these articles:

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Business
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Business Online Using WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Health Clinic Services Site

This section will show you ways to improve your health or medical-related website and get better results. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content you need, suggestions for improving your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, see this detailed guide: How To Plan Your Web Site - A Practical Primer For Business Owners

Essential Website Pages

All business websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Description Of Products And Services

You need a page that describes your products or services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, orthopedics diabetes, oral surgery, hyperbaric medicine, rheumatology, endoscopy, optometry elective surgery, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral hygiene, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, radiology, gynaecology, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, homeopathy, functional medicine, yoga, chiropractic, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, reproductive endocrinology, physiotherapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home and community care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical activities, etc.

It’s important to also include any industry awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your services and position yourself above the competition.

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

Meet The Team

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then something you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Prospects need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in health or medical terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight each employee’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff or team members to prospective new clients. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to easily add an easy-to-maintain list directory of employees in your site with no coding skills required, see this tutorial: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee List In Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of job opportunities available within your company. This page would include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, social activities promoted by your business, etc. It should include information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the health and medical industry.

Maintain 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.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients, you are also helping to are also providing social proof for your business.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and client reviews. Image source: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have created a comprehensive article about using testimonials, case studies and reviews to improve your business results online. For more details: How To Improve Your Conversions With Captivating Customer Testimonials

Contact Us

A functional contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide:

• Name Of Your Business
• Location of clinic
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Live chat feature (optional feature)

If your business operates out of multiple locations you should make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, online booking form, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Or Health-Related Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as news and events, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established health-related website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to market your practice.

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

You may not be aware of this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic system that will help begin delivering an ongoing stream of new visitors to your website, simply by adding content to your website on a regular basis.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

• WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Attracting More Traffic For Your Business Automatically With WordPress

Legal Information

It’s important for health and medical services practitioners businesses to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being contravened wherever you practice.

Adding 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 sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• 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

To learn more about adding legal pages to your website, refer to this article: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Improving The Content On Your Site

In today’s fiercely competitive digital economy, the practice of content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

You want to provide useful content with great tips, advice or information that will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more. This is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your services.

For example, if your business provides weight management services, then some of the areas you could cover as content on your site:

• Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
• Is weight loss surgery right for you? (who should get it, risks, success rates)
• Incorporating exercise into your busy schedule
• What salad dressings can sabotage your diet (and healthier choices)
• And many other content topics

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Use the same keywords and terminology in your articles that prospective clients will be searching for online.

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

Tips For Improving User Experience

Improving user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your site.

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

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to adding syndicated content to your site from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with useful content for your website, visit sites of relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

For example, here are some feeds you could add to a medical-related website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can also select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Environmental health, Heart health and stroke, Menopause, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. AHA Journals (American Heart Association Journals), ADA ClinicalDiabetes, RadioGraphics, Journal of Cell Science, BMJ Postgraduate Medical Journal, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get various feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get RSS feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), tainted products marked as dietary supplements, cosmetics, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get various health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Cancer, Cold & Flu, Pregnancy, Exercise & Fitness, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Medical News 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. Abortion, Caregivers/Homecare, Infectious Diseases/Bacteria/Viruses, Dermatology, Transplants/Organ Donations, Epilepsy, Erectile Dysfunction/Premature Ejaculation, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “mesothelioma rss feeds”, “back pain rss feeds”, “hepatitis rss feeds”, etc.

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

Provide Downloadable Checklists

Checklists and medical forms are a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and charts can provide useful information and resources to complete steps. They are great educational tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• 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. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators, for example, are some of the most popular tools for your website. Other tools can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this guide, we look at a several WordPress-based tools you can use in your site that can help improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this comprehensive guide on ways to grow your medical or health-related business web presence.

Click on this link to continue:

• The Ultimate Guide To Building And Growing Your Health And Medical Practice Business Online – Part 2

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