Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital information age has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created many challenges and opportunities for the medical industry.

Online Challenges For Medical Practitioners

Today, more than ever, businesses in the health sector 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 and maintain a strong web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your medical or health services services online.

As well as spending money advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete with other medical or health-related businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed to develop and maintain a website that drives clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and helps you create a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that medical or health organizations face with their websites (as other professions do for that matter), is that they have around 30 seconds to give visitors the information they are looking 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 Medical Businesses In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for medical or health businesses that can evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think outside the box about marketing their services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn about new ways and opportunities to generate traffic and see noticeable improvements in your medical business presence online.

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

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
• WordPress – A Business Owner’s Guide

Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you ways to improve your health or medical-related website and get better results online. We will look at what web pages you need, what type of content works best, useful tips for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your medical website, read this article we have written: Planning Your Small Business Web Site - A Money-Saving Blueprint For Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

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

Services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that lists your services or products. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could list services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. pain management, pulmonology blood disorders, oncology, stroke, renal, endoscopy, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, teeth whitening, orthodontics, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, skin cancer, medical imaging, women’s health, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, reflexology, colloidal silver therapy, yoga, chiropractic, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, othopedics, reproductive services, physiotherapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, assisted living, home care, clinical information, medical transport, 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 with you.

About Us

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

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

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

Your Team

If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online and get people to engage more on your site, then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you, your team and your business better.

People need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be that well-versed in health or medical terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. It can also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow selected team members on their social networks.

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

(Add a page that introduces your staff members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to easily add an updatable directory of employees in your web site, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory On Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your practice. This page would include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the medical or 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 your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase what type of services you offer. Adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients also helps your medical or health-related site to establish social proof online.

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

We have created a comprehensive article about using client case studies and reviews here: How To Get Better Results Online Using Captivating Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is crucial.

It should provide some or all of the following information about your center:

• Business Name
• Your physical location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media web addresses
• Interactive chat feature (optional feature)

If your business operates out of multiple areas you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact information.

You should also include a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking form, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using content like news, updates, educational articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing website, 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 website is very hard to add new content to or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your website and your blog.

Very few people know that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic system that can instantly attract a stream of new visitors to your business, simply by adding regular content to your site.

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

For more info, see this article:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into An Automated Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Information Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is vital. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws and regulations wherever you provide services.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: How To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, the willingness to deliver valuable content at no cost has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

By providing useful content with great tips, advice and information, you will get your visitors sharing your web pages and coming back for more. This is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about using your products and services.

For example, if you provide weight management services, then some of the topics you could cover in your content include:

• What is BMI (what it stands for, what it does, how to calculate yours)
• How to figure out how many calories you consume each day
• Is using a measuring tape better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress?
• 10 tips that will help you avoid late night snacking (e.g. sleep earlier)
• Etc.

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

Include the keywords and terms in your content that your readers would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your website.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites may 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
• Can be shared
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. 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 providing content on 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 health-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to a health or 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 choose individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Health care for women, Heart health and stroke, Mental health, Violence against women, 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. Nucleic Acids Research, Epidemiology – Featured Articles, CDC USA, BMJ Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Neuropsychopharmacology, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find many health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, food allergy reports, recalls, tobacco news, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find various RSS feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also select individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Menopause, Migraine Headaches, Depression, Prevention & Wellness, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
• Medical News Today – 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. Hypertension, Fertility, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Sleep/Sleep Disorders/Insomnia, Water – Air Quality/Agriculture, Mental Health, Medical Practice Management, 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. “pain management rss feeds”, “parkinson’s disease rss feeds”, “psychology rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS feeds can help to improve your health-related site’s UX.)

Adding Online Checklists & Charts

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Checklists and charts can provide users with step-by-step information and resources to perform a task. They can also be great client educational tools.

Forms, charts and checklists can address topics such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists and charts for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Other Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to potential clients. Health-related calculators, for example, are useful tools for your website. Others can include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section, we take a look at a several online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins that improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To view the rest of this guide, click this link:

• How To Successfully Grow Your Medical-Related Website – Part Two

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