Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health services practitioners face a number of challenges in today’s digital economy, especially when it comes to growing a business online.

Online Challenges For The Medical Profession

Today, more than ever, medical practitioners must work hard and find smarter ways to remain competitive and generate new clients. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop a strong digital presence. This includes having a website and figuring out smarter ways to market your services online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing activities, businesses in the health or medical industry are now finding that they need to designate a bigger portion of their budget towards developing and managing a website that brings in clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps to increase their presence online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website 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 often. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that health or medical-related businesses face (as do all other professions for that matter), is that your site has an average of thirty seconds to give users what they are looking for or they will 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 Medical & Health Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing many challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the health or medical-related profession that can evolve to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

The guide below will help you uncover new ways to generate traffic and see noticeable improvements in your online results.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your health or medical-related website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, go here:

• Discover How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• Learning WordPress – A Business Owner’s Guide

Useful Tips For Improving Your Health & Medical Clinic Services Website

We’ll start first by going over the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages your site needs, what type of content works best, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, go here: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All websites need some basic pages. Let’s review the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of Products And Services

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, neurosurgery haematology, plastic surgery, aged care, renal, endoscopy, ophtalmology operating theaters, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, bad breath treatment, teeth whitening, implants, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart monitoring, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, audiology, pap smears, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, couples, wellbeing, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, reflexology, holistic medicine, tai chi, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, othopedics, reproductive endocrinology, stomal therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, assisted living, home and community care, community health, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

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

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

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

Staff

Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online and get prospective clients to stay longer on your site? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with medical-related terms your bio 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 also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow individual staff 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 person’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a team profile page. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to easily add an updatable simple team directory in your web site, go here: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory: Plugin Tutorial

Job Opportunities Page

This is a listing of job or career opportunities within the company. It could include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the medical or health industry.

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

Case Studies And Testimonials

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with client reviews and case studies also helps to provide social proof.

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

If you want to learn more using testimonials and reviews to grow your business online, go here: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Captivating Customer Testimonials

Contact Page

A functional contact page is crucial.

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

• Company Name
• Physical address
• Phone number
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Online chat feature

If your business operates out of different areas you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

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

Add A Medical Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using content such as news and events, updates, educational information, opinions and discussions, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to market your company.

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

Very few people know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly drive targeted visitors to your web site, simply by publishing content to your website on a consistent basis.

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

Go here to learn more:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create A Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Information Pages

It’s vital for professional organizations to have a compliant website. This is not only important for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being breached wherever you provide services.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• 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: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s highly competitive online economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from other competing businesses.

Providing great content with useful tips, information and advice will get your visitors sharing your web pages with others online and coming back for more. Publishing content is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your services.

For example, if you provide products that help people manage their weight, then some of the areas you can write content about include:

• Emotional causes for weight issues (possible causes, how to identify yours)
• How to ask for support for your weight loss efforts (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• Weight loss pills (common ones, side effects, long term results, do they work?)
• How to modify recipes for healthier results (e.g. substituting sugars, fats, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Use the same keywords and terminology in your articles that your readers will search for online.

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

Ways Of Improving User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your website.

If you provide useful content, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• It provides links to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing great 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 for your website by visiting sites of health-related government departments and well-known industry bodies.

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

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also choose individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Healthy aging, HIV/AIDS, Minority women’s health, Pregnancy, 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. The Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), American Association of Neurological Surgeons, CDC USA, The AAPS Journal (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists), Neuropsychopharmacology, 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 and topics like consumer health information, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), tainted products, foods, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (www.gov.uk) – 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 health-related feeds 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 feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also choose specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Men’s health, Chronic Pain, Depression, Prevention & Wellness, Thyroid, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Bipolar, Ebola, Medical Insurance, Irritable-Bowel Syndrome, Medical Devices/Diagnostics, Tropical Diseases, Cancer/Oncology, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “bacteria rss feeds”, “deafness rss feeds”, “personal monitoring rss feeds”, etc.

(Adding RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your website’s user experience.)

Checklists And Charts

Checklists and medical forms are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. They can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. Charts and checklists are also great client instructional tools.

You can provide online or downloadable forms and checklists covering a range of subjects such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Add Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Calculators, for example are great tools you can add to your website. Other applications would include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In the next section of this detailed guide, we take a look at a number of online tools you can use in your health or medical-related website using WordPress plugins and themes that 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.

Click on this link to continue:

• Tips For Health Professionals – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation

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