Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed business globally, it has also created an increasing number of challenges and opportunities for businesses in the medical or health-related sector.

Online Challenges For Medical & 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 maintain an active presence in the community you serve, you must also maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better market your services online.

In addition to spending money in offline marketing, you will probably find that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be directed to develop and manage a website that can attract new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help to give you a wider degree of exposure online.

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

Another problem that health or medical organizations face, as most professions do for that matter, is that your site has around thirty seconds to provide users 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 Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to health or medical practices that can adapt to meet digital challenges and can think outside the box about improving their online marketing skills.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn ways and opportunities to find new clientele and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your medical or health business online, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your health or medical-related website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• WordPress For Small Business Owners – A Complete Guide To Growing Your Business Using WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Medical Website

In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you ways to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content works best, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: The Website Planning Process Explained - A Cost-Saving Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

All business websites need several essential web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Your Services

You need a page that lists your services and products. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, your page can list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose & throat, orthopedics hematology, plastic surgery, continence management, renal, gastroenterology, ophtalmology operating theaters, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral hygiene, veneers, crowns and bridges, braces, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – mammography, lung screening, radiology, pap smears, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, wellness coaching, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, holistic medicine, tai chi, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, podiatry, reproductive services, speech therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, sleep therapy, home care, community health, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and why they should choose you.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropic programs, etc.

This page should list any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your services and position yourself above your competitors.

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

Meet Our Team

If you are searching for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online, then help your prospective clients get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be very 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 specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each team member’s experience, how their skills and knowledge add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a staff description page. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial about how to create and add a simple team directory in WordPress using a free WordPress plugin, go here: How To Add A Staff Directory To Your Site: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Recruitment

List any job opportunities available within your organization. It should include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include stories of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to your organization and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the medical industry.

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

Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with testimonials and case studies also provides visitors social proof online.

(Add a page with case studies and testimonials. Screenshot image source: arrowsmiledental.com)

To learn more about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews to grow your business online, go here: Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions With Engaging Customer Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is essential.

It should include the following information:

• Business Name
• Your physical location
• Telephone number
• Fax
• Email
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media networks
• Chat (optional)

If your business services different locations you should make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You can also include a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking request, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news and announcements, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing website is very hard to keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can become both your website and your blog.

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can turn into an automated traffic system that can instantly begin driving a stream of targeted visitors to your site, simply by adding new content on a consistent basis to your website.

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

Go here to learn more:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Increasing Your Traffic Automatically

Legal Information Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is very important. This is not only important for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being broken wherever your practice is located.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms 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
• and others

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

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s highly competitive online economy, being generous with content that educates and informs visitors has become one of the key business differentiators.

You want to provide great content with tips and information that will get your visitors to share your information online with others and come back for more. Using content is a great way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about using your products and services.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the areas you can publish content about include the following:

• What to do before you start any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• 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?
• What salad dressings can sabotage your weight loss goals (and healthier choices)
• And many other content topics

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

Remember to use relevant keywords and terminology in your content that 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 you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, 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 in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows for subscribing
• It provides a way for links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are a number of ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also 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.

You can find RSS feeds with useful content by searching online for relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

For example, here are some examples of feeds you could add to a medical 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 RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Healthy aging, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental health, Smoking and how to quit, 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. The Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), Neuroanatomy, The Journal of Immunology, BMJ Archives of Disease, 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 – Find FDA-related feeds (e.g. consumer health information updates, food allergies, tainted products, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get many feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Asthma, Cold & Flu, Oral Health, Prevention & Wellness, Sleep, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Lung Cancer, Fertility, Eczema/Psoriasis, Body Aches, Heart Disease, Mental Health, MRI/PET/Ultrasound, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “skin cancer rss feeds”, “neurology rss feeds”, “premature ejaculation rss feeds”, etc.

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

Adding Forms And Checklists

Checklists and educational charts are a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Checklists and medical forms can provide visitors with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete steps. Charts and checklists are great client educational tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators, for example are useful tools to add to your website. Others could include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In part two of this guide, we will look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your website that can help to improve your seo, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

Click here to keep reading:

• Your Medical Center Services Website – How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Visitors Using Plugins

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