Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only revolutionised the way business is done around the world, it has also created an increasing number of challenges and great opportunities for the medical or health-related profession.

Challenges Medical Services Practitioners Face Online

Today, more than ever, medical services professionals must work hard to stand out from the crowd and obtain new clients. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the community your business serves, you must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having an effective website and figuring out smarter ways to grow your medical services online.

In addition to investing money in offline marketing activities like advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, you will need to designate a bigger part of your marketing budget towards developing and managing a website that drives clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give you a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change over time and some areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that health and medical services practitioners face with their websites, as all other professions do for that matter, is that they have only around 30 seconds to provide users what they need or they will go away.

“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 Medical And Health Businesses

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for medical or health-related practices that are willing to adapt to meet online challenges and who can think strategically in terms of improving their online marketing skills.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn opportunities to attract new client accounts and improve your business presence online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your health-related business website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:

• Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Customers
• WordPress For Small Business – The Complete Guide To Building Your Successful Business Using WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Website

Let’s start by covering some basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what type of content works best for medical or health websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, see this detailed guide we have written: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

All business websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Services Page

It’s essential to include a page that explains your products and services. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page can list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose and throat, neurosurgery blood disorders, cosmetic surgery, continence management, respiratory, gastroenterology, eye diseases palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, teeth whitening, orthodontics, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, oral health, pap smears, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, wellness, social development services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, natural therapy, tai chi, chiropractic, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, chiropody, reproductive services, physiotherapy, medical genetics, artificial limbs, sleep therapy, home care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and why they should book an appointment.

About Us

This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

It should mention any business awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical services and to position yourself above your competitors.

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

Your Team

Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then help your prospective clients get to know your organization better.

You want potential clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in medical-related terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. It can include social buttons so your site visitors can follow some of your team members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each person’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an asset to 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 members to prospective new clients. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

If you need help how to create and add a directory of employees or team members in WordPress using free WP plugins, go here: Adding A Staff Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

Job Opportunities Page

List any job or career opportunities within the clinic. This page should include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your business, etc. You can also include information about additional career opportunities in the health and medical industry.

Include also 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.

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 case studies and testimonials from previous clients, you are also helping to establish social proof for your business.

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

We have written a detailed article on using client testimonials and reviews get better results online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Improve Your Sales Conversions With Compelling Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a functional contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should provide the following information:

• Business Name
• Your physical location
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Email
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Social media links
• Live chat feature (optional)

If your business services several locations you want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, useful pages, online booking form, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content such as events, updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your medical company.

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

Not many people know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that will help drive a stream of targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing content on a regular basis to your website.

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

Go here to learn more:

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

Legal Information Pages

It’s very important for professional companies to ensure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching laws and regulations wherever you provide services.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your site will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive global economy, having a well-planned content marketing strategy has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

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

For example, if you provide weight loss services, then some of the areas you can write about include the following:

• What to do before you start any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• How small efforts in portion control can help achieve weight loss results
• How to recover physically and emotionally after weight loss surgery – useful tips and suggestions
• Apps for tracking calories and exercise
• And many other content topics

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

Use keywords and terms in your articles that readers will be searching 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 you 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 website using content. 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) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and user experience.

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

RSS feeds provide many benefits for your website.

If you provide useful content, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other websites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides links back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides a number of ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes 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.

You can find RSS feeds with loads of useful content by searching online for relevant government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some RSS feeds you could add to your site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Healthy aging, Heart health and stroke, 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 RSS feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, ADA (American Diabetes Association), BMJ Medical Humanities, American Chemical Society, The New England Journal of Medicine, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find many feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, health fraud, recalls, tobacco news, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get various health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds in places 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. Allergies, Cancer, Chronic Pain, Oral Health, Sexual Health, HIV, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Stem Cell Research, Multiple Sclerosis, Surgery, Lymphoma/Leukemia/Myeloma, Smoking/Quit Smoking, Breast Cancer, Genetics, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “blindness rss feeds”, “bones rss feeds”, “obesity rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS feeds to improve your medical or health website’s user experience.)

Checklists & Charts

Checklists and educational charts are a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and charts can provide useful instructions and resources to perform a necessary task. They can also be great client educational tools.

Forms, charts and checklists can address subjects such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your visitors. Calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Others could include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part 2 of this guide, we discuss a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your website that can also help improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this article on ways to improve your health-related business web presence.

Click here to read the rest of this article:

• Online Business Tips For Medical And Health Services Providers – WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Traffic

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