Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress
Health professionals today face significant challenges.
Challenges Medical And Health Services Practitioners Face Online
Today, more than ever, medical practitioners must work hard to remain competitive and source new clients. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop a strong web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your services online.
As well as spending money in offline marketing activities like advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., businesses in the medical or health industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed towards developing and managing a website that will attract new prospects, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and increase their presence online.
This means that your website not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website may change over time and many areas may need to be updated frequently. This requires having a sound website and content management strategy in place.
Another problem that health services practitioners face, as most professions do for that matter, is that you have only around thirty seconds to provide visitors with what they need or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.
“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 Health Profession In The Web Economy
As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to medical or health-related practices that can adapt to meet online challenges and think strategically about improving their online business marketing skills.
This comprehensive guide will help you uncover a number of ways to attract and engage new visitors and create noticeable improvements in your business results online.
As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your medical or health website.
For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform, see these articles:
- Discover How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Business
- WordPress For Small Business – A Beginner’s Guide To Growing Your Successful Business With WordPress
Practical Tips For Improving Your Medical Services And Health Clinic Website
In this section we’ll show you how to improve your medical or health website and get better results. We will look at what pages you need, what content works best, ways to improve your site’s layout and navigation, etc.
If you need additional information about website planning, go here: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners
Your Web Pages
All websites need some essential pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your need and how to set up your health or medical website for best results.
Products And Services Page
You need to include a page that explains your products or services. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, your page can list services like:
- Medicine & Surgery – e.g. pain management, pulmonology endocrinology, oncology, hyperbaric medicine, rheumatology, colon/rectal surgery, ophtalmology day surgery, etc.
- Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, veneers, crowns and bridges, orthodontics, emergency dental, etc.
- Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
- Prenatal and Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
- Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
- Diagnostic – breast screening, skin cancer, audiology, women’s health, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
- Pathology – 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, wellness coaching, social development services
- Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, reflexology, functional medicine, meditation, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
- Other medical services/therapies – weight management, podiatry, fertility services, speech language therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, assisted living, home care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.
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 contact or appointment booking page.
About Us
This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.
Remember to list any business awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your services and to set yourself above your competitors.
(List all of your professional awards recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc. in the About Us page. Screenshot image source: squaremedical.com.au)
Meet The Team
Are you looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is help visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.
Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in medical or health terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. This page can include social buttons so your site visitors can follow your staff members on their social pages.
In this page, make sure to highlight each employee’s qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.
(Add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)
For a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory in your web site without coding skills, go here: Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory
Job Opportunities
List any job opportunities within the business. This page could include training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You can include information about career opportunities in the health or medical-related 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, join your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.
Case Studies And Testimonials
Case studies and testimonials are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also establishes social proof.
(Add a web page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)
We have created a detailed article about using client testimonials and user reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more: Improve Your Visitor-To-Lead Conversions With Meaningful Testimonials
Contact Us
A clean contact page is vitally important.
It should provide the following information about your organization:
- Business Name
- Physical address
- Phone
- Fax
- Contact email address
- Google Map and directions
- Website URL
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Social media web addresses
- Online chat
If your business services several areas you will want to make this clear when showing the address and contact information.
You can also include a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, online booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.
Add A Medical Or Health Blog
A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as news and events, updates, educational articles, opinions on current topics, educational videos, media presentations, etc.
If you already have an existing health or medical-related site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your services.
If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing medical-related website is very hard to keep updated or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can become both your website and blog.
Something few people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that can help begin driving targeted visitors to your web site, simply by publishing content to your website on a regular basis.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)
If you would like to learn more here:
Legal Info Pages
It’s crucial for medical professionals organizations to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking laws or regulations wherever you provide services.
Adding the legal pages below to your medical or health-related website will help you stay out of trouble 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 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.
We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site
Improving Your Content
In today’s globally competitive economy, committing to the practice of content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.
Provide useful content with information, advice or tips that will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about using your products and services.
For example, if your business provides services that help people lose weight, then some of the topics you could cover in your web content include:
- What to do before starting any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
- How to set realistic, but achievable weight loss goals
- How to develop a better eating and exercise regimen
- What salad dressings can derail your diet (and healthier choices)
- Etc.
You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, costs (including payment plans, insurance coverage, etc).
Include the keywords and terms in your content that prospective clients would search to find you online.
We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
Improving Visitor Experience
Improving your website’s user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and UX.
Syndicate Content With RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your website.
If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites 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 in one place
- Doesn’t rely on email
- RSS feeds can be shared
- Allows users to subscribe
- A feed provides links to your content
- Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
- RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.
To find useful RSS feeds just visit sites of relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.
Here are a few feeds you could add to your 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, Heart health and stroke, Minority women’s health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
- US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. AHA Journals (American Heart Association Journals), Human Molecular Genetics, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Medscape, The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
- National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get many health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
- US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find FDA-related feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, food allergy reports, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, foods, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
- Department of Health UK (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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
- Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get many health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
- Medical News: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
- MedicineNet.com – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also choose specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Mental Health, Neurology, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Prevention & Wellness, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
- Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
- MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Gout, Lupus, Lymphology/Lymphedema, Emergency Medicine, Water – Air Quality/Agriculture, Pediatrics/Children’s Health, Statins, etc.)
You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “STD rss feeds”, “fitness rss feeds”, “medical practice management rss feeds”, etc.
(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your medical or health site’s UX.)
Checklists And Charts
Adding checklists and charts to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. They can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary steps done. They are also great client educational tools.
Checklists, charts and medical forms can cover topics such as:
- Checklists/forms for booking appointments
- Checklists for pre or post treatment
- Health checklists for specific systems
- Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
- Weight loss and exercise program checklists
- General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)
Unique Tools
Providing unique tools and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to potential clients. Health-related calculators, for example, are great tools to add to your website. Other tools would include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.
In part 2 of this guide, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can also help improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.
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This is the end of part one.
To keep reading, click here:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)