Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital information age has not only revolutionised business worldwide, it has also created a growing number of challenges and opportunities for the health industry.

Challenges Health Services Face Online

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your practice online.

In addition to investing dollars in offline marketing activities such as advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the medical-related industry are now finding that they need to invest a more significant part of their marketing budget to developing and maintaining a website that can attract prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help to give their business a wider degree of marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website may change over time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

Another problem that health or medical-related organizations (and other businesses) face online, is that you have around 30 seconds or less to help visitors find the information 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 The Medical Profession In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the medical or health industry that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and who can think strategically when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

In this article, you will learn about a number of ways to attract more visitors and establish stronger 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 (CMS), go here:

• Discover Why A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Customers
• Understanding WordPress – A Small Business Owner’s Guide

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section explains how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what web pages you need, what type of content works best, useful tips for improving your navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your medical-related website, read this article we have written: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Essential Pages

Professional business websites need some essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need to have and how to set up your medical or health website for best results.

Services And Products

You need to include a page that describes your services and products. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, your page can include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. pain management, pulmonology hematology, cancer, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, renal, bariatric surgery, eye diseases palliative care, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, teeth whitening, braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, radiology and imaging, women’s health, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, massage therapy, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, sports medicine, fertility services, speech language therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, assisted living, home and community care, community 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 what these services do and why they should book an appointment.

Who We Are

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

Remember to also list any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and set yourself above your competitors.

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

Meet The Team

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online and increase user interaction with your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors get to know you and your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in health terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It should include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to highlight your team member’s experience, how they add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

For a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an updatable directory of staff or team members in your website without using code, go here: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

Work For Us

This is a listing of career opportunities available within the practice. This page would include training offered, benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You can also include information about upcoming career opportunities in the health or 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 the page, subscribe to your announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase what type of services you offer. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you will also help to are also providing visitors social proof for your business.

(Add a page to your site with client reviews and case studies. Screenshot source: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have written a comprehensive article on using testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online. Learn more here: How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Knockout Client Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is vitally important.

It should include:

• Name Of Your Business
• Physical address
• Phone
• Fax number
• Email
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Live chat feature

If your business operates from different locations you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including a few links point to commonly-asked questions page, main pages, booking form, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health-Related Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content such as news and announcements, new releases, useful articles, opinions and discussions, videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to market your clinic.

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

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that will help attract web traffic to your site, simply by adding regular content to your website.

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

For more details:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Getting More Website Visitors Automatically With WordPress

Legal Info Pages

As a professional business, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws and regulations wherever you practice.

Depending on what services and products you provide, 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 (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 Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

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

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you start to publish content on your site, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Provide useful content with information, advice or tips that will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more content. This is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospects about your services.

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

• How does fiber help you with weight loss?
• Is weight loss surgery right for you? (who should get it, risks, rates of success)
• How to develop a better eating and exercise regimen
• A guide to making the right choices when eating out at any restaurant
• And endless other content topics

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

Include keywords in your articles that your readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. 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 website’s user experience (known as UX) helps to keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and UX.

Add RSS Feeds

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

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses may 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
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• A feed provides links to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing valuable 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 RSS feeds with useful content by searching online for relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few feeds you could add to your site:

• 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 individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Environmental health, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, Screening tests and vaccines, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Disease in Childhood – Education and Practice, JAMA & Archives, BMJ Medical Humanities, BMJ Archives of Disease, The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get many health-related news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. consumer health information, food safety, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, cosmetics, 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 feeds 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 RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Arthritis, Migraine Headaches, Depression, Exercise & Fitness, Skin, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – 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, Arthritis/Rheumatology, Fibromyalgia, Conferences, Primary Care/General Practice, Cosmetic Medicine/Plastic Surgery, Erectile Dysfunction/Premature Ejaculation, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “gout rss feeds”, “autism rss feeds”, “psychology rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and charts to your site is a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. Forms and checklists can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Charts and checklists can also be great client instructional tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms can address subjects such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise 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 tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Calculators, for example are popular tools for your website. Others would include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.

In the next section, we look at a number of WordPress plugins you can use in your website that can also help improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to grow your medical-related business web presence.

To view Part 2, click this link:

• How To Build And Grow A Health And Medical Clinic Presence Online Using WordPress – Part Two

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