Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical professionals today face increasingly difficult challenges thanks to the digital economy.

Online Challenges For The Health And Medical Profession

Today, more than ever, health or medical-related practices must find smarter ways to remain competitive and find new clientele. Not only do you have to participate in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a website and figuring out smarter ways to grow your practice online.

In addition to spending money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., businesses in the health-related industry are also finding that they need to invest a greater share of their marketing budget to developing and managing a website that attracts new prospective clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps to increase their presence online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website will change in time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires a well-developed website and content management strategy in place.

One other difficult challenge that health-related organizations face online (as other businesses do for that matter), is that they have around 30 seconds or less to provide users with 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

Online Opportunities For Medical Services Practitioners

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the medical or health industry that can evolve to meet online demands and who can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

The guide below will help you uncover new opportunities to attract new visitors and see noticeable improvements in your business online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your medical business website or blog.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow Your Small Business

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section looks at how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what web pages you need, what content works best, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, visit this page: A Basic Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improving Your Web Pages

All business websites need a number of essential pages. Let’s review the pages your  need and how to structure your website for best results.

Services

It’s essential to include a page that explains your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page can list services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose & throat, nephrology haematology, oral surgery, stroke, renal, infection control, optometry operating theaters, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, bad breath treatment, teeth whitening, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, radiology and imaging, women’s health, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, couples, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, functional medicine, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, podiatry, reproductive services, rehabilitation, inherited diseases, prosthetics, assisted living, home care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

Remember to mention any professional awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your medical services and to set yourself above the competition.

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

Staff Page

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction with your site? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know you and your business better.

Prospects need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be very well-versed in medical or health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. This page can include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your team members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to outline each staff member’s experience, 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 a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to add a simple and easy-to-update simple employee directory in WordPress using a free WordPress plugin, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee Directory To Your Site

Work For Us

This is a listing of job or career opportunities available within your business. It can include training, employee benefits, professional development, social activities promoted by your business, etc. You should also include case studies of recruits who have risen within your business and information about additional career opportunities in the medical industry.

Include also 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 contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

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

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

If you want to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and user reviews, refer to this article: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Knockout Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include:

• Business Name
• Your physical address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Social media URLs
• Interactive chat

If your business operates in different locations you will want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

You can also include links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, useful pages, booking form, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like news and events, product releases, useful articles and tutorials, informative posts, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an health site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to create more exposure for your organization.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing site is very hard to manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can become both your website and business blog.

Very few people know that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that will help begin to drive targeted traffic to your business, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

If you would like to know more about this here:

• WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Automatically Increase Your Website Traffic For Your Business

Legal Information

Having a compliant website is very important. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any local, regional and federal laws or regulations wherever you provide services.

Adding the following legal pages to your site will help keep you 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 Links Policy
• Health and 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 about this: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, the ability to deliver valuable content at no cost has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

By committing to providing great content with useful information and tips, you will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

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

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• How to calculate how many calories you consume each day
• Is hypnosis and effective weight loss treatment?
• How to modify recipes for achieving healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Include keywords and terminology in your content that prospective clients will be searching for 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 website or blog, save money creating high-quality 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!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your user experience (generally referred to as UX) helps keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Syndicate Content With RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your website.

If you provide valuable information, 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 updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing valuable information on your website from other websites, 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 for your website, search online for health or medical-related government departments or respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of RSS feeds you could consider adding to your site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Environmental health, 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 list of feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Nucleic Acids Research, BMJ Journal of Medical Genetics, Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery, BMJ Archives of Disease, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find many RSS feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find feeds on fda-related topics like criminal investigations, food safety reports, tainted products, tobacco news, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get many feeds on health-related news and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – 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, Cancer, Nutrition, Food, & Recipes, Pregnancy, Prevention & Wellness, HIV, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. MRSA/Drug Resistance, Pulmonary System, Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, Preventive Medicine, Rehabilitation/Physical Therapy, Cosmetic Medicine/Plastic Surgery, Medical Practice Management, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “anxiety rss feeds”, “physical therapy rss feeds”, “statins rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists And Charts

Adding checklists and explanatory charts to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. Forms and checklists can provide useful instructions and resources to get necessary tasks completed. Checklists and forms are also great client educational tools.

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

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Add Online Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your users. Health-related calculators, for example, are useful tools you can add to your website. Other applications would include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In the next section, we will be discussing a several online tools you can use in your health-related site using WordPress plugins and themes that improve seo, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to improve your health or medical business web presence.

Click on this link to read the rest of this guide:

• How To Grow Your Health Center Services Presence Online Successfully With WordPress – Part 2

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