Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed the way business is done around the world, it has also created growing challenges and great opportunities for businesses in the medical-related sector.

Online Challenges For The Health Profession

Now, more than ever, businesses in the 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 digital presence. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better market your practice online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing, you will probably find that in order to compete with other health businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed to developing and maintaining a website that brings in prospective clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to increase your marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and many areas will need to be frequently updated. This requires having a well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that health or medical-related organizations face, and most businesses for that matter, is that you have only about thirty seconds or less to give visitors the information they are looking for or they will leave the 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 Health Practitioners In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for health-related businesses that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and who can think progressively when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

This article will help you uncover ways to attract and engage more visitors and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your health business website.

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• How To Grow Your Small Business With WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

Let’s start by covering the basics. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what web pages you need, what type of content works best for medical or health sites, suggestions for improving layout and navigation structure, etc.

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

Ways To Improve Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need a number of essential web pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Description Of Products And Services

You need a page that explains your services and products. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page could include services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose & throat, neurosurgery haematology, cosmetic surgery, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, rheumatology, weight loss surgery, eye diseases day surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, veneers, crowns and bridges, implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, skin cancer, radiology, gynaecology, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, wellness, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, homeopathy, reiki, shiatsu, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, reproductive services, optical services, medical genetics, prosthetics, assisted living, home care, sexual 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 your services and why they should choose you.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

It should include any professional awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your business and to set yourself above your competitors.

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

Team Profile Page

If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then help your visitors get to know your business better.

You want prospects to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with health or medical terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It can also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow individual staff members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight each employee’s qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a staff description page. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple team members directory to your site using a free WordPress plugin here: Adding A Staff List Directory To Your Site: Tutorial

Work With Us

List any job or career opportunities within your business. It can include training, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. It should include case studies of trainees who have risen within your company and information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the health-related 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, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with case studies and client reviews, you are also helping to provide social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using client testimonials and reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Prospects With Compelling User Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is vitally important.

It should include the following information:

• Name
• Physical location
• Phone
• Fax
• Contact email
• Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Social media links
• Live chat

If your business operates from several areas you want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

You can also include a few links point to commonly-asked questions page, useful pages, booking form, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like news, updates, educational articles, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an medical or health-related website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your organization.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing website is hard to keep updated with new content or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your website and your blog.

Not many businesses know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic machine that can attract an ongoing stream of web traffic to your web site, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can drive traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more about this:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your Website Into An Automated Web Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being breached wherever you practice.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your medical or health site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats or 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
• etc.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with information has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

Providing great content with information, tips and advice will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more content. Using content is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides products or services that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you can cover as content on your site:

• What to do before you start any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• How to ask for support for your weight loss efforts (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• How to develop an exercise plan you can enjoy and will stick with
• How to make right choices when eating at restaurants
• Etc.

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

Use the same keywords and terms in your content that prospective clients will be searching to find you online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your website using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

Using RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

If you provide useful information, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides links back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides a number of ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing information on your site 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 relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Here are some examples of feeds you could consider adding to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and choose individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Health care for women, Heart health and stroke, Minority women’s 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 leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Disease in Childhood – Education and Practice, BMJ Heart, Obesity, BMJ Occupational and Environmental 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
• FDA – Get feeds on fda-related news like consumer health information, FDA drug shortages, product recalls, radiological health, 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) - Find many health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also select specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Mental Health, Migraine Headaches, Diabetes, Digestion, Sleep, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Ovarian Cancer, Immune System/Vaccines, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Dermatology, Nursing/Midwifery, Cleft Palate, Huntingtons Disease, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “ovarian cancer rss feeds”, “emergency medicine rss feeds”, “drug trials rss feeds”, etc.

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

Provide Forms

Checklists and educational charts are a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and charts can give them useful instructions and resources to perform tasks. They can also be great instructional tools.

Forms, charts and checklists could address areas such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, general dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Provide Online Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Calculators, for example are useful tools you can add to your website. Others would include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this guide, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

To continue, click here:

• Tips For Health Services Practitioners – Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Website With WordPress Plugins & Themes

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