Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital information age has not only revolutionised businesses worldwide, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and opportunities for businesses in the medical profession.

Online Challenges For The Health Profession

Today, more than ever, medical professionals must work hard to stand out from their competition and source new clientele. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community you serve, you must also develop an active web presence. This includes having an effective website and learning smarter ways to promote your medical or health services online.

In addition to investing money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the medical-related industry are also finding that they need to invest a more significant part of their marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that will drive new clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help them gain a wider amount of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and sections will need to be updated often. This requires having a well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that medical or health-related businesses face (and all other businesses for that matter), is that your site has an average of thirty seconds to provide users what they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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 And Health Services Providers In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the health-related sector that are willing to adapt to meet the challenges of the digital economy and can think outside the box about marketing their business services better online.

This guide will help you uncover ways and opportunities to generate new clientele and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your health or medical-related web presence, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your health or medical-related website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• Learning WordPress – A Small Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we’ll show you ways to improve your medical or health website and get better results. We show you what pages a medical or health-related site needs, what type of content works best, tips for improving your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, see this detailed guide: The Web Site Planning Process: A Cost-Saving Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Ways To Improve Your Web Pages

All business websites require some essential web pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to set up your medical website for best results.

Products And Services Page

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, nephrology haematology, plastic surgery, hyperbaric medicine, respiratory, urology, eye diseases operating theaters, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, cleaning services, restorations, dental braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart monitoring, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal & Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, skin cancer, medical imaging, gynaecology, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, wellness, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, reflexology, hydrotherapy, yoga, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, reproductive endocrinology, rehabilitation, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, mobility, home and community care, clinical information, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment.

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, community events, etc.

It should also mention any health or medical-related awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and set yourself above other competitors.

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

Core Team

If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help visitors get to know, like and trust your organization better.

You want potential clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in medical or health 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 should include social buttons so your site visitors can follow selected team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline your team member’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

To learn more about how to create and add an easy-to-maintain directory of staff members in a WordPress site with no coding skills required, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Add An Employee Directory

Job Opportunities Page

This is a listing of job opportunities within the business. It can include type of training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include stories of graduates who have risen within your organization and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the health or medical industry.

Also include 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 updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. By adding a page with testimonials from past clients and case studies, you will also help to provide potential clients with social proof.

(Add a page to your site with client reviews and case studies. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

For a detailed article on using case studies, testimonials and client reviews to grow your business online, go here: Learn How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Lead Conversions With Powerful Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is essential.

It should include some or all of the following information:

• Company Name
• Your physical location
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Online chat feature (optional feature)

If your business services different areas you want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

You could also include links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking request, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Or Health-Related Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like news and events, product releases, useful information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Something few people know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation machine that will begin driving new visitors to your website, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(WordPress can generate traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Web Site Into A Web Traffic Machine

Legal Info Pages

As a professional business, having a compliant website is crucial. This is not only important for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever you provide services.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms 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
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the willingness to deliver valuable content to visitors free of charge has become one of the key business differentiators.

Providing great content with tips, advice and information will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more. Using content is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your services.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the areas you could cover as content on your site:

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• Weight loss surgery – benefits vs risks (who should get it, risks, success rates)
• How you eat your food is just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• Useful apps for tracking calories and exercise
• And many other content topics

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

Include keywords and terms in your content that your readers will search to find you online.

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 show you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

Adding RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in several ways.

If you provide content 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 updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides links back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing information on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

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

For example, here are some examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can search by departments and choose specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Healthy aging, Illnesses and disabilities, 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 RSS feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Haematologica, ADA (American Diabetes Association), BMJ Medical Humanities, Radiology, Cambridge Journals Online, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, health fraud, pet health, animal and veterinary 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find many health-related news feeds 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. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.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. Lung Conditions, Mental Health, Chronic Pain, Diet & Weight Management, Senior Health, Thyroid, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Pharma Industry/Biotech Industry, Ebola, Pregnancy/Obstetrics, Flu/Cold/SARS, Men’s Health, HIV/AIDS, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “ADD rss feeds”, “general practice rss feeds”, “premature ejaculation rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. They can give them useful information and resources to perform necessary steps. Checklists and forms are great client educational tools.

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

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific 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. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing useful tools and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are useful tools you can add to your website. Other applications would include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section, we will look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your website that improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

***

This is the end of section 1.

Click on this link to continue:

• Your Medical Website – How To Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website With Plugins

***

***