Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical or Health professionals face many challenges in today’s web economy, especially in terms of growing a successful business presence online.

Online Challenges For Health Practitioners

Today, more than ever, businesses in the medical 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 develop an active digital presence. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better promote your business online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline, businesses in the medical-related industry are now also finding that they need to allocate a greater portion of their marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that will bring new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and create a wider degree of marketing reach online.

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

One other challenge that medical and health services practitioners face (as most professions do for that matter), is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to help users find what they are searching for or they will leave your site and go 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 & Health Profession In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to health or medical-related practices that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and who can think strategically about improving their online marketing skills.

In this guide, you will learn about ways to attract and engage more visitors and see significant improvements in your online results.

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

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see the articles below:

• How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Customers
• Learn How To Grow Your Small Business Using A WordPress Blog

Practical Tips For Improving Your Health Practice Site

This section will show you how to improve your medical website and get better results online. We will look at what pages your website needs, what type of content you need, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need help with website planning, see this detailed guide: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need some essential pages. Let’s go over the pages your  should have and how to set up your health website for best results.

Your Products And Services

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. pain management, orthopedics hematology, cancer, continence management, renal, colon/rectal surgery, ophtalmology palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, cleaning services, teeth whitening, braces, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, skin cancer, x-ray, women’s health, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, wellbeing, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, homeopathy, natural therapy, tai chi, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, sports medicine, lymphedema therapy, physiotherapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, mobility, home and community care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropic donations, etc.

It’s important to also include any awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your medical services and position yourself above the competition.

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

Meet Our Team

Are you looking for quicker and simpler ways to sell more products or services online? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust your business better.

You want potential clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page should include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow selected team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your team member’s qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your employees to prospective new clients. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update simple team directory in your site using a free plugin, go here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work With Us

This is a listing of job opportunities within the company. This page should include training, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You should also include case studies of graduates who have risen within your company and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the health or medical-related industry.

Also include 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 your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Client reviews and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you will also help to establish social proof for your business.

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

To learn more about using client case studies and client reviews, see this article: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online With Standout Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a clean contact page is absolutely vital.

Your contact page should include the following information about your business:

• Company Name
• Your physical address
• Phone
• Fax number
• Email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media profiles
• Interactive chat feature (optional)

If your business services several locations you will want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, useful pages, booking form, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like news and announcements, updates, useful articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an health or medical site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to create more exposure for your medical clinic.

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

Something few people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic system that will help attract targeted visitors to your business, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate new visitors automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more about this:

• WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Driving More Website Visitors Automatically

Legal Information

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is really important. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any local, regional or federal laws and regulations wherever you provide services.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your health website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• 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
• and others

To learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Site

In today’s ultra-competitive online economy, the sooner you start engaging in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Provide great content with advice, information and tips that will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospects about your services.

For example, if you provide weight loss services, then some of the areas you could cover in your web content include:

• What to do before starting any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• How to set realistic, but achievable weight loss goals
• Is using a measuring tape better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress?
• Useful tips that will help you avoid late night snacking (e.g. drink water with lemon)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your prospective clients understand your medical or health services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Use the same keywords and terms in your articles that your readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your website using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide many benefits for your business.

If you provide information 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
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides multiple ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing content on your site from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with useful content just visit sites of medical-related government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Here are some feeds you could add to a health site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also choose specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Health care for women, HIV/AIDS, Mental health, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Journal of Medical Ethics, ADA (American Diabetes Association), BMJ Medical Humanities, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, 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) - Find many RSS feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, food safety reports, tainted products, animal and veterinary 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various feeds on health-related news and topics 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 RSS feeds section (e.g. Medical 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 select individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Men’s health, Neurology, Pregnancy, Digestion, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
• Medical News Today – 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. Stem Cell Research, Pharmacy/Pharmacist, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Swine Flu, Nursing/Midwifery, HIV/AIDS, Huntingtons Disease, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “nuclear medicine rss feeds”, “body aches rss feeds”, “IBD rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Adding Forms

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Checklists and medical forms can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to complete a necessary task. They are great client instructional tools.

Forms, charts and checklists could cover topics such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric 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 your visitors. Health-related calculators are great tools to add to your website. Others could include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part two, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To continue, click here:

• Tips For Health And Medical Services Providers – Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic Using WordPress Plugins

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