Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital economy has not only revolutionised businesses globally, it has also created increasingly difficult challenges and opportunities for the health sector.

Challenges Medical Businesses Face Online

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health and medical 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 presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning better ways to promote your services online.

As well as investing dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv, etc., businesses in the medical industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be allocated to developing and maintaining a website that can bring in prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and help to give their business a wider amount of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change in time and some areas may need to be updated often. This requires implementing well-developed web and content management strategy.

One other problem that health or medical organizations (and most professions) face with their websites, is that they have around thirty seconds to help users find what they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“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 Health Services Practitioners In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to medical-related practices that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and can think strategically in terms of marketing their business services better online.

This detailed guide will help you uncover ways to find more clientele and build more online credibility for your medical business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your medical-related website.

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

• Discover Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow A Successful Business

How To Improve Your Medical Website

This section looks at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what content works best for medical or health-related sites, useful tips for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

If you need specific help with website planning, see this detailed step-by-step guide: How To Plan A Website: A Comprehensive Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

All business websites need some basic web pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need and how to structure your health-related website for best results.

Services Page

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, pulmonology hematology, maxillofacial surgery, gerontology, renal, gastroenterology, optometry palliative care, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, veneers, crowns and bridges, orthodontics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, lung screening, x-ray, women’s health, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, wellbeing, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, holistic medicine, massage therapy, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, sports medicine, reproductive services, occupational therapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, mobility, home and community care, sexual health, medical equipment, etc.

Make sure to 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 your services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

It’s important to mention any professional awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your business and position yourself above your competitors.

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

Meet The Team

If you are searching for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction on your site, then help visitors get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

People need to relate to your business. One 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 very well-versed in medical terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It should include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected team members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to outline each staff member’s experience, how their skills and knowledge add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to add an easy-to-manage simple team members directory to your web site using a free WP plugin here: How To Create A Simple Staff List In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work With Us

List any job opportunities within your organization. This page should include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your business, etc. It should include information about upcoming career opportunities in the medical or health 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, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase what type of services you offer. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also provides social proof online.

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

For a detailed article on using client case studies and client reviews improve your business online, go here: Learn How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Powerful Testimonials

Contact Page

A functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should include the following:

• Name Of Your Business
• Your physical address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Interactive chat feature (optional feature)

If your business services multiple areas you should make that clear when displaying the address and contact information.

You should also include links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, main pages, online booking form, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like news and events, updates, training information, informative posts, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

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

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

To learn more about this go here:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Attracting More Web Traffic For Your Business Automatically With WordPress

Legal Info Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is very important. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being contravened wherever you provide services.

Adding the following legal pages to your medical-related 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 Statement
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your website. For more details, go here: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve Your Content

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

Providing useful content with tips and information will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more. This is a great way to educate site visitors and prospects about using your services and products.

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

• Overweight vs. Obese – what are the differences?
• How to identify the bad habits that need to be corrected to ensure lifetime weight loss
• Diet sodas (common ones, side effects, long term results, do they work?)
• How to modify recipes for achieving healthier results (e.g. substituting sugars, fats, etc.)
• And endless other content topics

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

Include keywords and terms in your content that readers will search for.

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, save money creating useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improve Visitor Experience

Improving user experience (known as UX) will help you keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and UX.

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your site.

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 having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits 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.

To find useful RSS feeds for your website, search online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Here are examples of feeds containing useful information that you could add to your site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Health care for women, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (American Association for Cancer Research), Human Molecular Genetics, BMJ Sexually Transmitted Infections, Journal of Cell Science, Transplantation – Most Popular Articles, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find various health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, FDA drug shortages, tainted products, tobacco news, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get various feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.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. Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer, Cold & Flu, Depression, Eyesight, Heart, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News 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. Schizophrenia, Vascular, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Pancreatic Cancer, CJD/vCJD/Mad Cow Disease, Medical Innovation, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “melanoma rss feeds”, “dyslexia rss feeds”, “ultrasound rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and explanatory charts are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and charts can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a task. Forms and checklists are great client instructional tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists and charts for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Adding Other Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to users. Health-related calculators are useful tools you can add to your website. Others would include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part 2 of this guide, we will be discussing a several WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your website that improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

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

• A Practical Step-By-Step Guide On How To Build And Grow A Medical & Health Center Web Presence With WordPress – Part Two

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