Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only transformed the way business is done worldwide, it has also created difficult challenges and opportunities for businesses offering health services.

Challenges Professional Health Practitioners Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the health sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to actively participate in the community you serve, you must also develop a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your practice online.

As well as spending money marketing offline, you will probably find that in order to compete, you will need to designate a bigger share of your marketing budget towards developing and maintaining a website that can attract new clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help you gain wider reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your web pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change over time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that health and medical services practitioners (and all other professions) face, is that your site has around thirty seconds to provide visitors what they need 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 Providers

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the medical or health-related industry that can adapt to meet digital challenges and who can think outside the box in terms of marketing their business services better online.

In this article, you will discover opportunities to attract more business and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your health or medical-related business website.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Business
• Learn How To Grow Your Business With A WordPress Blog

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

We’ll start first by reviewing some basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what type of content works best, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

Professional websites require several essential pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  should have and how to set up your website for best results.

Your Services

You need to include a page that lists your services and products. Depending on which area you specialize in, this page could include services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, nephrology blood disorders, oral surgery, neurology, rheumatology, bariatric surgery, optometry operating theaters, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral hygiene, restorations, dental braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, skin cancer, medical imaging, gynaecology, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, homeopathy, functional medicine, meditation, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, sports medicine, reproductive endocrinology, occupational therapy, medical genetics, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home and community care, community health, medical transport, 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 the benefits of using these services and why they should choose you.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.

It should include any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your business and to position yourself above similar service providers.

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

Meet The Team

Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ideas to grow your business online and get people to stay longer on your site? Then help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with health terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each employee’s qualifications, how their skills 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 an employee page. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an updatable list of staff or team members to your site without coding skills here: How To Create A Simple Employee List In Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Recruitment

List any job opportunities within the business. It can include training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. It should include information about new 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, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with client reviews and case studies also helps to provide social proof.

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

If you want to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews, refer to this article: How To Get Better Results Online Using Standout User Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is absolutely vital.

It should include some or all of the following information:

• Company Name
• Your address
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media web addresses
• Chat (optional)

If you have several locations you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, main pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like the latest news, new releases, useful information, informative posts, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your clinic.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing site is very hard to add new content to or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your business website and your blog.

Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can help begin attracting targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding content on a consistent basis to your website.

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

For more details:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Grow Your Web Traffic For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Information Pages

As a professional health services provider, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any local, regional or federal laws and regulations in whatever area or location you do business.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms 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
• and others

Go here if you would like to learn more about adding legal pages to your website: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

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

For example, if your business provides weight management services, then some of the topics you can cover in your web content include:

• What is fiber and how can it help you with weight loss?
• How small efforts in portion control can help you lose weight
• Why using a measuring tape is better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress
• Apps for tracking calories and exercise
• Etc.

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your readers gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, costs (including payment plans, insurance coverage, etc).

Remember to use the same keywords and terms 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 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 visitors and grow your website using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving User Experience

Improving 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.

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides lots of benefits for your site.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses 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 kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides links back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is 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.

You can find many useful RSS feeds by searching online for health and medical-related government departments or key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some RSS feeds you could add to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Environmental health, Heart health and stroke, Minority women’s 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. BMJ Quality and Safety in Health Care, ADA (American Diabetes Association), The Journal of Immunology, BMJ Tobacco Control, Infectious Agents and Cancer, 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 RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get RSS feeds on fda-related topics like consumer health information, FDA drug shortages, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, foods, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various RSS feeds on health-related news and topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Mental Health, Cholesterol, Oral Health, Digestion, Thyroid, 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. Colorectal Cancer, Caregivers/Homecare, ADHD/ADD, Emergency Medicine, Diabetes, Medical Innovation, Statins, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “compliance rss feeds”, “diet rss feeds”, “obesity rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS feeds to improve your health or medical-related site’s UX.)

Provide Forms

Checklists and educational charts are a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Charts and checklists can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to complete a necessary task. They are also great educational tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms can include topics such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Other Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your potential clients. Calculators, for example are useful tools to add to your website. Other tools could include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section, we take a look at a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this step-by-step article on ways to grow your medical-related web presence.

To view Part Two, click here:

• How To Grow A Health Clinic Online – Part Two

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