Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only revolutionized businesses around the world, it has also created increasingly difficult challenges and great opportunities for medical services professionals and financial service providers.

Challenges Health Professionals Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the medical and health sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community you serve, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your services online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline, businesses in the medical or health industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed towards the development and management of a website that brings new clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps increase their reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change over time and sections will need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other problem that health services practitioners face online, as do all other professions for that matter, is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to give visitors what they are looking for or they will look 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 Services Practitioners In The Web Economy

As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the health or medical-related profession that are willing to adapt to meet digital economy challenges and can think progressively when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This guide will help you uncover new opportunities to drive more web traffic and establish stronger online credibility for your health-related business.

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 website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Customers
• WordPress For Small Business – The Beginner’s Guide To Growing A Small Business With WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Website

This section covers ways to improve your medical or health-related website and get better results. We show you what pages a medical-related website needs, what type of content works best for health-related sites, tips for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, check out the detailed guide we have written here: The Web Site Planning Process: A Money-Saving Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

All business websites require several basic pages. Let’s go over these.

Your 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 could include services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, pulmonology haematology, plastic surgery, rehabilitation medicine, renal, urology, ophtalmology day surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, cleaning services, teeth whitening, braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal and Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, x-ray, women’s health, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, wellness, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, reflexology, hydrotherapy, yoga, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, othopedics, reproductive services, physiotherapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, hearing aids, home and community 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 these services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us Page

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

Remember to also list any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your services and set yourself above your competitors.

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

Meet The Team

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to grow your business online? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with health or medical terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It should include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected 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 highlight your employee’s expertise and 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 an employee description page. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

If you need help how to add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to your web site using a free plugin, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within the practice. It should include type of training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. It should include case studies of recruits who have risen within your business and information about career opportunities in the health industry.

Maintain a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase the services you offer. By adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients, you will also help to provide prospective clients with social proof for your business.

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

We have created a detailed article about using case studies, testimonials and reviews get better results online. If you would like to learn more about this here: How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Standout Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is vitally important.

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

• Name
• Your physical address
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Email address
• Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media web addresses
• Interactive chat (optional feature)

If you have different locations you will want to make that clear when showing your address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, booking form, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most 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, new releases, useful articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your services.

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

Very few businesses know that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic system that will help drive new visitors to your site, simply by adding new content to your website on a regular basis.

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

For more info, see this article:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create A Web Traffic-Getting Machine With WordPress

Legal Pages

It’s crucially important to make sure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Adding the following legal pages to your website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

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

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s fiercely competitive global business economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from other competing businesses.

Providing useful content with information, tips or advice will get your readers to share your information online and come back for more content. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

For example, if your business provides solutions that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you can write about include the following:

• How does fiber help you lose weight?
• How to calculate how many calories you burn each day
• How you eat your food - just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• How to avoid late night snacking (e.g. drink water with lemon)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, costs (including payment plans, insurance coverage, etc).

Remember to use relevant keywords and terms in your articles that your readers 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 actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

If you provide useful information, other businesses will 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 kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple ways readers can receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing great information on your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content just search online for health or medical-related government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to a health 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 specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Environmental health, Illnesses and disabilities, Minority women’s health, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. PhysiologicalReviews, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, European Heart Journal, BMJ Archives of Disease, Neuropsychopharmacology, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get many RSS feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get RSS feeds on fda-related news like consumer health information updates, FDA drug shortages, product recalls, animal and veterinary news, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• UK Department Of Health (www.gov.uk) – 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 - Find various feeds on health-related news 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 select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Menopause, Cholesterol, Oral Health, Exercise & Fitness, Heart, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Anxiety/Stress, Caregivers/Homecare, Compliance, Preventive Medicine, Smoking/Quit Smoking, Cosmetic Medicine/Plastic Surgery, Restless Legs Syndrome, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “avian flu rss feeds”, “diagnostics rss feeds”, “oncology rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Add Checklists & Charts

Checklists and medical forms are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can provide users with useful information and resources to get necessary steps completed. Forms and checklists are also great client educational tools.

You can provide a range of forms and checklists covering subjects such as:

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

Add Other Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are useful tools for your website. Other tools could include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In part two of this guide, we discuss a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your site that can also help to improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this article on ways to build your health business presence online.

To view Part 2, click here:

• Tips For Health And Medical Services Professionals – WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Generating More Web Traffic

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