Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created a number of challenges and opportunities for the medical industry.

Online Challenges For The Health & Medical Profession

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community your business serves, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better market your health or medical services services online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing activities like advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy medical-related businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be directed to develop and manage a website that can drive new clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to increase your presence online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, 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 sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires having a sound web and content management strategy in place.

One other problem that medical or health organizations face online (as most other businesses do for that matter), is that you have only around thirty seconds to give visitors what they are looking 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

Online Opportunities For Medical Practitioners

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the medical or health-related industry that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and can think outside the box about improving their online business marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn about new opportunities to generate new potential clients and build more online credibility for your medical-related business.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system to power your medical or health-related business website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, see these articles:

• Discover How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• Learn How To Grow Your Small Business Using WordPress

Practical Tips To Improve Your Website

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

If you need assistance or help planning your health website, check out the guide we have written here: Planning Your Website - A Comprehensive Blueprint For Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

All business websites require a number of basic pages. Let’s go over the pages your  should have and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of Services

It’s essential to have a page that describes your products and services. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, this page can include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. pain management, pulmonology haematology, maxillofacial surgery, continence management, respiratory, endoscopy, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac monitoring, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, skin cancer, medical imaging, gynaecology, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, wellness, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, colloidal silver therapy, meditation, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, podiatry, reproductive endocrinology, physiotherapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, assisted living, home and community care, community health, medical equipment, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and why they should choose you.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, community projects, etc.

Remember to also mention any professional awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your business and set yourself above other competitors.

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

Meet The Team

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. 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 will not tend to be familiar with medical-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas mean. This page should also 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 show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each staff member’s experience, how their skills and knowledge add value to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

To learn more about how to add an updatable list directory of staff members in WordPress without messing around with code, refer to this tutorial: How To Add A Simple Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of job opportunities within the practice. It should include training, employee benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your business, etc. You should also include stories of recruits who have worked their way up in your company and information about additional career opportunities in the medical industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients, you are also helping to are also providing social proof.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and testimonials from previous clients. Screenshot image source: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have created a detailed article on using client testimonials and client reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more about this: Discover How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With More Effective Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should include the following information about your consulting practice:

• Business Name
• Address
• Phone
• Fax number
• Contact email
• Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Interactive chat feature

If your business operates in different areas you should make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, main pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical-Related-Related Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as news, updates, educational articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, how-to 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 site is hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your business website and your blog.

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin driving targeted visitors to your business, simply by adding new content on a regular basis to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive traffic automatically to your site)

For more details:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Get More Traffic For Your Business

Legal Pages

It’s extremely important for medical services providers businesses to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional and federal laws or regulations wherever you provide services.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• 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 comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more: Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve Your Content

In today’s highly competitive global economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Providing useful content with great advice and tips will get your visitors sharing your information with others online and coming back for more. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospects about using your services.

For example, if your business provides services that help people manage their weight, then some of the areas you could cover as content on your site:

• What is BMI (what it stands for, what it does, how to calculate yours)
• How to ask for support for your weight loss efforts (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• Comparing different diets, e.g. Paleo diet, Mediterranean diet, Nutrisystem diet (what these are, how they work, are they effective)
• What salad dressings can derail your diet (and healthier choices)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of your health or medical services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Use the same keywords in your content that readers will be searching for.

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

Tips For Improving User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your website.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other sites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds by visiting sites of health-related government departments and industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few RSS feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to a health site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can search by departments and select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Environmental health, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental health, Screening tests and vaccines, 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. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, American Association of Neurological Surgeons, BMJ Medical Humanities, Journal of Cell Science, Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find various health-related news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, food allergy reports, recalls, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - 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 RSS 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 – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Menopause, Cholesterol, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Sexual Health, Heart, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Cardiovascular/Cardiology, Acid Reflux/GERD, Fibromyalgia, Aid/Disasters, Alcohol/Addiction/Illegal Drugs, GastroIntestinal/Gastroenterology, Tuberculosis, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “nuclear medicine rss feeds”, “fitness rss feeds”, “drug trials rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your medical or health site’s UX.)

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. They can give them useful information and resources to perform a task. Charts and checklists are also great client educational tools.

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

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

Online Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to potential clients. Calculators are useful tools you can add to your website. Other applications would include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In part 2 of this detailed article, we will be discussing a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your health or medical site that can help to improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click here to read the rest of this article:

• A Complete Guide On How To Grow A Medical Clinic Business Online Successfully With WordPress – Part Two

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