Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical or Health professionals today face increasing challenges.

Online Challenges For Medical & Health Practitioners

Now, more than ever, health and medical services practitioners must find smarter ways to remain competitive and source new clientele. Not only do you have to participate in the community your business serves, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning smarter ways to grow your business online.

In addition to spending money marketing offline, businesses in the medical industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be directed to developing and managing a website that will bring new clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and increase their presence online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing well-developed web and content management strategy.

Another problem that health services practitioners face online, as other professions do for that matter, is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to give users the information they are looking 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

Online Opportunities For Health Services

As well as facing many challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the health industry that are willing to adapt to meet the demands of the digital economy and think progressively in terms of improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn about ways and opportunities to attract more visitors and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System to power your health-related website or blog.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Business
• The Business Owner’s Guide To Understanding WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages a medical website needs, what type of content you need, navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, check out the detailed guide we have written here: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Ways To Improve Your Web Pages

Professional websites need a number of essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of Services

It’s essential to have a page that lists your products or services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could list services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, neurosurgery endocrinology, cosmetic surgery, aged care, rheumatology, weight loss surgery, eye diseases surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, bad breath treatment, restorations, dental braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, audiology, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, functional medicine, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, othopedics, lymphedema therapy, stomal therapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, sleep therapy, home care, clinical information, medical transport, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.

Remember to also list any medical-related awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your services and to set yourself above similar service providers.

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

Meet The Team

If you are searching for simple ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site, then help your visitors get to know you and your organization better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with health or medical-related terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page can include social buttons so your visitors can follow your team members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your staff member’s 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 staff page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to create and add an easy-to-update list of staff members to WordPress using a free plugin, go here: How To Add A Simple Employee List To Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities

List any career opportunities within your business. This page could include training offered, benefits, professional development, social activities sponsored or encouraged by your business, etc. It should include stories of trainees who have risen within your organization and information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the medical 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, join your announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with testimonials and case studies, you will also help to establish social proof for your business.

(Add a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients. Image source: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have written extensively about using testimonials and reviews improve your business online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions With Knockout User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include the following information about your organization:

• Business Name
• Your address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for information – contact details
• Links to social media pages
• Interactive chat feature

If your business operates in multiple locations you want to make that clear when showing the address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, booking form, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Or Health-Related Blog Section

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news, updates, training articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing medical-related website, 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 or health-related website is 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 your blog.

Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can begin delivering targeted visitors to your site, simply by publishing content on a regular basis to your website.

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

Go here to learn more:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Create A Web Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Info Pages

It’s very important for professional companies to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on the services you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your medical website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions 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.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content that educates and informs readers has become one of the key business differentiators.

You want to provide useful content with great tips, information or advice that will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Publishing content is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your services.

For example, if your business provides products or services that help people lose weight, then some of the topics you can cover in your web content include:

• How does fiber help you with weight loss?
• Weight loss surgery – benefits vs risks (who should get it, risks, rates of success)
• How you eat your food - just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• How to modify recipes for healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Include keywords and terms in your articles that prospective clients will search to find you online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for 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 completely FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in several ways.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content.

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
• Your feed can be shared online
• Allows users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point 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 read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other sites, 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 visiting sites of health-related government departments or key industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of RSS 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 also select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Fitness and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Mental health, Smoking and how to quit, 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. Haematologica, BMJ Journal of Medical Genetics, RadioGraphics, Neurology.org, Infectious Agents and Cancer, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find many health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, FDA drug shortages, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, tobacco news, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• UK Department Of Health (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) - Get many RSS feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness and 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 choose individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Men’s health, Migraine Headaches, Oral Health, Senior Health, Skin, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Cardiovascular/Cardiology, Ebola, Melanoma/Skin Cancer, Neurology/Neuroscience, Nursing/Midwifery, Dyslexia, Statins, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “bacteria rss feeds”, “respiratory rss feeds”, “fitness rss feeds”, etc.

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

Adding Online Checklists And Forms

Checklists and medical forms are a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your visitors and set yourself apart from the competition. They can give them useful information and resources to complete a task. Checklists and charts can also be great client educational tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms could address areas such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Provide Online Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to potential clients. Health-related calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Others can include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In part two of this guide, we take a look at a several online tools you can add to your medical or health-related site using WordPress plugins that improve 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 comprehensive article on ways to build your medical or health-related business presence online.

To view Part Two, click here:

• Your Medical Center Website – WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Increasing User Engagement And Traffic Generation

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