Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed business globally, it has also created many challenges and great opportunities for health businesses.

Challenges Professional Medical Practitioners Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the health sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning better ways to market your health or medical services services 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 health or medical-related industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be assigned towards the development and management of a website that brings new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and creates a wider reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and many areas will need to be frequently updated. This requires a well-developed website and content management strategy in place.

Another challenge that medical or health-related organizations face (as do other businesses for that matter), is that you have only about thirty seconds or less to provide visitors with what they are searching 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 Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to health or medical-related businesses that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and who can think strategically about improving their online business marketing skills.

This guide will help you uncover new ways to attract and engage more visitors and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your medical or health business website.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Prospective Clients
• Using A WordPress Blog To Grow Your Small Business Online

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

We’ll start first by covering some basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your health or medical website and get better results online. We show you what pages a medical or health website needs, what type of content works best, ways of improving navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, check out the guide we have written here: How To Plan Your Business Web Site - A Practical Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

All business websites need some essential web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need and how to structure your website for best results.

Services And Products Description Page

It’s essential to include a page that describes your services or products. Depending on which area you specialize in, this page could list services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, neurosurgery diabetes, reconstructive surgery, stroke, renal, colon/rectal surgery, eye diseases operating theaters, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, restorations, orthodontics, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal & Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, skin cancer, hearing, women’s health, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration cytology, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, wellness coaching, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, holistic medicine, massage therapy, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, podiatry, lymphedema therapy, physiotherapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, hearing aids, 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 what your services do and why they should choose you.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.

It’s important to also list any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your business and position yourself above your competitors.

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

Meet Our Team

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know your organization better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with health-related terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. It should include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow your team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your team member’s qualifications, how their skills and knowledge add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they will 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)

We have written a detailed tutorial about how to add a simple team directory to WordPress using free WP plugins here: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff Directory For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Recruitment

List any job or career opportunities available within the clinic. It would include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your business, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the medical or health-related 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 contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase what kind of services you offer. Adding a web page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies also establishes social proof.

(Add a page with case studies and reviews from clients. Screenshot source: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have created a comprehensive article on using testimonials and reviews get better results online here: How To Turn More Visitors Into Prospects With Standout Client Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should include the following:

• Business Name
• Address of business
• Telephone
• Fax
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media web addresses
• Chat/Skype

If your business services different areas you should make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking request, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Or Health-Related Blog

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like news and events, product releases, educational articles, discussions on current topics, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your business.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing health or medical-related website is hard to manage or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can be used as both your website and blog.

Something not many businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that will help begin to attract new targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

For more info, see this article:

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

Legal Information

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is really important. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws or regulations wherever you practice.

Adding the following legal pages to your site will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, 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 Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

How To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s fiercely competitive online economy, the sooner you start engaging in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from other competing businesses.

Providing great content with useful information, advice and tips will get your readers to share your information and come back for more content. Using content is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospects about using your products and services.

For example, if your business provides weight management services, then some of the areas you can write content about include:

• Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
• What calories really are and how understanding them helps in weight loss
• How to recover physically and emotionally after weight loss surgery – useful tips and recommendations
• Could a personal chef help you lose weight (what they do, is it affordable)
• Etc.

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

Use the same keywords and terms in your content that your prospective clients would 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 that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality 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!

Improve User Experience

Improving your user experience (known as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and UX.

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your business.

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 content updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared online
• Allows for subscribing
• It provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing valuable information on your site from other sites, 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-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Healthy aging, 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 RSS feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Haematologica, PsychiatryOnline Journals, Obesity, Current Psychiatry, Pediatrics, 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 topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), product recalls, vaccines, blood and biologics, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• UK Department Of Health (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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get many health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS 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 – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Mental Health, Cholesterol, Diet & Weight Management, Digestion, Women’s Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Ovarian Cancer, Medicare/Medicaid/SCHIP, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Veterinary, Bones/Orthopedics, Biology/Biochemistry, MRI/PET/Ultrasound, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “schizophrenia rss feeds”, “heart disease rss feeds”, “restless legs syndrome rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your health or medical-related site’s user experience.)

Provide Forms & Checklists

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and medical forms can give them useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks performed. Checklists and charts are also great educational tools.

You can provide forms and checklists (or links to these) covering a range of topics such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Provide Online Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your visitors. Calculators are useful tools you can add to your website. Other tools would include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

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

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This is the end of section one.

To view Part Two, click here:

• How To Successfully Grow A Medical Practice Services Web Presence – Part 2

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