Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress
Medical or Health professionals face many new challenges in today’s web economy, especially when it comes to growing a business presence online.
Challenges Medical Professionals Face Online
Now, more than ever, businesses in the medical and health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to participate in the community your business serves, you must also maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective web presence and searching for better ways to grow your practice online.
In addition to spending dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., businesses in the medical-related industry are also finding that they need to designate a greater share of their budget to develop and maintain a website that will bring new clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and give their business wider marketing exposure online.
This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change in time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed web and content management strategy.
Another challenge that health or medical-related organizations (and most other professions) face with their websites, is that you have only about thirty seconds or less to give visitors the information they are searching for 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 Health Services
As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the medical or health-related industry that are willing to adapt to meet the demands of the digital economy and who can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.
In this guide, you will learn opportunities to drive more traffic and establish stronger online credibility for your medical-related business.
As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your website, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your medical or health-related website.
For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform, see the articles below:
How To Improve Your Website
This section looks at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a health or medical-related site needs, what type of content you need, ways to improve navigation structure, etc.
If you need assistance or help planning your website, go here: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners
Your Website Pages
Professional business websites need some essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your need to have and how to structure your website for best results.
Services
You need to include a page that lists your products and services. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, this page could include services like:
- Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose & throat, pulmonology haematology, cancer, gerontology, rheumatology, bariatric surgery, optometry palliative care, etc.
- Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, restorations, implants, emergency dentistry, etc.
- Cardiology – e.g. heart monitoring, coronary care
- Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
- Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
- Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, oral health, pap smears, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
- Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
- Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, wellbeing, social work services
- Alternative treatments – acupuncture, reflexology, colloidal silver therapy, meditation, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
- Other medical services – weight management, chiropody, lymphedema therapy, speech language therapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, assisted living, home care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.
Make sure to 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 should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.
It should mention any medical or health-related awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your medical services and to set yourself above other competitors.
(List all of your awards certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc. in your About page. Image sourced from: squaremedical.com.au)
Team Profile Page
If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cheaper ways to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.
Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in health-related 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 should include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow your team members on their social networks.
In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each team member’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.
(Add a staff page. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)
We have created a detailed tutorial about how to add an easy-to-manage list of staff members to your website using free plugins here: Adding An Employee List Directory
Work With Us
This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. This page should include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include information about upcoming career opportunities in the 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 you on social media, etc.
Testimonials And Case Studies
Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase what type of services you offer. By adding a page with client reviews and case studies, you are also helping to provide social proof for your business.
(Add a web page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies. Screenshot image source: arrowsmiledental.com)
If you want to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and reviews, refer to this article: Convert More Visitors Into Prospects Using Compelling Testimonials
Contact Us
A contact page is crucial.
It should include:
- Name
- Your physical address
- Phone number
- Fax
- Email address
- Map
- Web URL
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Social media links
- Online chat feature
If your business operates in different areas you will want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact information.
Consider also including links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.
Add A Health Or Medical-Related Blog
A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as the latest news, new releases, training information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, webinars, etc.
If you already have an existing medical or health-related website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to create more exposure for your medical services.
If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing health or medical site is very hard to keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your business website and business blog.
Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation system that will help begin delivering new visitors to your website, simply by adding content on a consistent basis to your website.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)
Go here to learn more about this:
Legal Info Pages
It’s vitally important to make sure they 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 and regulations in whichever area you do business.
Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- Terms And Conditions Of Use
- Website Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreement
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- DMCA Notice
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Health and Financial Disclaimers
- Refund Policy
- Video/Audio Terms
- etc.
We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Site
Ways To Improve Your Web Content
In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you start engaging in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from other competitors.
By committing to providing useful content with great information, advice or tips, you will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more. This is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospects about using your services.
For example, if you provide products or services that help people manage their weight, then some of the areas you can cover as content on your site:
- How does fiber help you lose weight?
- What are calories and how understanding them aids in weight loss
- Tips for developing a better eating and exercise regime
- What processed foods can sabotage your weight loss goals (and healthier choices)
- Etc.
You can also create a series of educational articles that will help 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 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 easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online 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 your user experience (generally referred to 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.
Use RSS Feeds
RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in many ways.
If you provide valuable content, other sites 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
- Doesn’t rely on email
- Your feeds can be shared online
- Allows for subscribing
- It provides links back to your site
- Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
- There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing content on your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.
To find useful RSS feeds for your website, visit sites of health or medical-related government departments and industry bodies.
Here are some examples of RSS feeds you could consider adding 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 choose specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Fitness and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Mental health, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
- US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of RSS feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Bionet RSS, BMJ Injury Prevention, BMJ Tobacco Control, Respiratory Research, 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 news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
- FDA – Find RSS feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, FDA drug shortages, pet health, drugs, 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: You can search medical news feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
- MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Mental Health, Chronic Pain, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Prevention & Wellness, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
- Medical News Today – MNT Medical News 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. Bipolar, Immune System/Vaccines, Surgery, Autism, Alcohol/Addiction/Illegal Drugs, Cosmetic Medicine/Plastic Surgery, Crohn’s/IBD, etc.)
You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “blindness rss feeds”, “pediatrics rss feeds”, “restless legs syndrome rss feeds”, etc.
(Using RSS feeds can help to improve your health-related website’s UX.)
Checklists And Forms
Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and charts can provide useful information and resources to perform necessary steps. Charts and checklists are great client instructional tools.
You can provide online or downloadable forms and checklists covering a range of topics such as:
- Booking appointments
- Checklists for pre or post treatment
- Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
- Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
- Weight loss and exercise program checklists
- General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)
Add Online Tools
Providing unique online tools and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your potential clients. Calculators are great tools to add to your website. Other applications would include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.
In part two of this detailed article, we take a look at a several online tools you can add to your medical or health site using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve your seo, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.
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This is the end of part 1.
To continue, click here:
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