Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical and Health professionals today are facing increasingly difficult challenges created by the digital economy.

Challenges Professional Health And Medical Services Practitioners Face Online

Today, more than ever, medical professionals must find smarter ways to stand apart from the crowd and find new clientele. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and figuring out better ways to grow your health or medical services services online.

As well as spending dollars marketing offline, businesses in the health or medical-related industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be directed towards the development and management of a website that will bring new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help them gain wider reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and your site layout has to 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 having a well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that medical or health businesses face with their websites, as do most other businesses for that matter, is that they have only about thirty seconds to help visitors find what they are searching for 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

Opportunities For Health And Medical Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to medical businesses that are willing to adapt to meet digital economy demands and can think strategically about marketing their business services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn ways and opportunities to drive more web traffic and create significant improvements in your online results.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your web presence, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your health-related business website or blog.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Money
• WordPress In Business – A Beginner’s Guide To Growing A Successful Business With WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Website

This section explains ways to improve your medical or health website and get better results online. We show you what pages your site needs, what content you need, ways of improving layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, visit this page: The Web Site Planning Process: A Comprehensive Guide For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites require some basic pages. Let’s go over the pages your  should have and how to set up your medical or health website for best results.

Services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that lists your services or products. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, this page can include services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, orthopedics endocrinology, cancer, continence management, respiratory, infection control, optometry palliative care, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal and Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, audiology, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, reflexology, natural therapy, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, chiropody, fertility services, physiotherapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, mobility, home care, clinical information, medical equipment, 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 book an appointment.

About Us

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

This page should also include any awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your services and to set yourself above the competition.

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

Staff

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be that well-versed in medical terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual team members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to highlight each staff member’s experience, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

If you need help how to easily add an updatable list directory of employees or team members in WordPress without coding skills, refer to this tutorial: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory

Work For Us

List any job or career opportunities available within the practice. This page should include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your business, etc. You can also include case studies of graduates who have risen within your organization and information about upcoming career opportunities in the 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 updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also helps your medical or health business to provide social proof online.

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

We have written a comprehensive article about using testimonials, case studies and user reviews here: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Standout Client Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is essential.

It should provide the following information about your consulting practice:

• Company Name
• Location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Online chat (optional)

If your business services several areas you want to make that clear when showing the address and contact information.

Consider also including a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, online booking request, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using timely content like news and events, updates, useful articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an medical website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to market your medical practice.

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

Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation machine that can help begin to attract new visitors to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more info, see this article:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create An Automated Web Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Information Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any laws or regulations wherever you do business.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your health or medical site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions 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
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Ways To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you start engaging in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Providing useful content with great information, tips and advice will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more content. Using content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the topics you could publish content about include the following:

• Emotional causes for weight issues (possible causes, how to identify yours)
• How small efforts in portion control can help you lose weight
• How you eat your food is just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• A guide to making the right choices when eating out at any restaurant
• Etc.

You can also create a series of educational 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 in your content that your prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content for your 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!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides lots of benefits for your health business.

If you provide valuable information, 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 updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared
• Allows for subscribing
• It provides links back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to adding syndicated content to 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 loads of useful content just visit sites of relevant government departments and key industry bodies.

Here are some examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could add to a medical or health site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and choose specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Health care for women, HIV/AIDS, Minority women’s health, Violence against women, 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. Haematologica, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), TheLancet.com, The Journal of Physiology, Transplantation – Most Popular Articles, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find many health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related feeds (e.g. FDA drug safety, food allergy reports, pet health, radiological health, 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 - Find various feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also select specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Cancer, Nutrition, Food, & Recipes, Diabetes, Prevention & Wellness, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – 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. Cystic Fibrosis, Acid Reflux/GERD, Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, Irritable-Bowel Syndrome, Nursing/Midwifery, Litigation/Medical Malpractice, Genetics, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “stem cell research rss feeds”, “endocrinology rss feeds”, “ultrasound rss feeds”, etc.

(Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your health-related site’s UX.)

Adding Online Checklists And Charts

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your visitors and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and charts can give them useful information and resources to complete a task. Charts and checklists are great client educational 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 for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your users. Health-related calculators, for example, are popular tools for your website. Other tools can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this detailed guide, we take a look at a several WordPress plugins you can use in your site that can also help improve your seo, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section 1.

Click on this link to view Part Two:

• A Complete Step-By-Step Guide On How To Grow Your Health & Medical Clinic Services Website Using WordPress – Part Two

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