Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed the way business is done around the world, it has also created difficult challenges and great opportunities for businesses in the health or medical-related industry.

Challenges Health Firms Face Online

Today, more than ever, medical and health services providers must work harder and find smarter ways to stand out from their competition and obtain new clients. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning smarter ways to grow your health services online.

As well as investing dollars in offline marketing activities, businesses in the medical industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be assigned towards the development and maintenance of a website that brings new prospective clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and helps to give their business wider exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires a sound website and content management strategy.

One other problem that medical and health services practitioners face (and most professions for that matter), is that your site has only around thirty seconds to help users find the information they need or they will find what they are looking for 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 & Health Profession In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for medical or health-related businesses that are willing to evolve to meet digital challenges and think progressively in terms of improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn about new ways to generate traffic and improve your online results.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), see the articles below:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow Your Business Online

How To Improve Your Website

In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages your site needs, what type of content you need, useful tips for improving your layout and navigation structure, etc.

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

How To Improve Your Web Pages

Professional websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  should have and how to structure your website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

You need 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 could list services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose and throat, orthopedics diabetes, cosmetic surgery, geriatric medicine, respiratory, endoscopy, ophtalmology palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, restorations, orthodontics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal & Neonatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, skin cancer, radiology and imaging, women’s health, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration cytology, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, wellness coaching, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, reflexology, natural therapy, shiatsu, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, sports medicine, fertility services, stomal therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, sleep therapy, home and community care, sexual health, medical transport, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

Remember to also list any health or medical-related awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your medical services and set yourself above other competitors.

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

Team Profile Page

Are you searching for simple ways to sell more products online? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your organization better.

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

In this page, make sure to outline each staff member’s expertise, 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 an employee description page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

If you need help how to create and add an easy-to-update list of staff or team members to your site without coding skills, go here: Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your WordPress Site

Work For Us

List any job or career opportunities within your organization. This page can include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the medical-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 the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

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

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

We have written extensively on using case studies, testimonials and reviews get better results online. For more details: All You Need To Know To Achieve Better Results Online Using Meaningful Customer Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is vitally important.

It should provide:

• Name Of Your Business
• Your physical location
• Telephone
• Fax
• Email address
• Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Links to social media networks
• Live chat feature

If your business services multiple areas you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact info.

You should also include a few links point to commonly-asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, online booking form, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as news and announcements, product releases, useful articles, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something few businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic machine that can help begin driving new targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding content to your website on a consistent basis.

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

For more info, see this article:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Grow Your Website Visitors For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Information Pages

It’s very important to ensure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being contravened wherever you practice.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms 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
• etc.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more about this: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s fiercely competitive online business economy, content marketing has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

Providing useful content with great tips, advice or information will get your visitors sharing your web pages online and coming back for more content. Using content is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and 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:

• Overweight vs. Obese – what are the differences?
• How to set realistic, but achievable weight loss goals
• Is hypnosis and effective weight loss treatment?
• Apps for tracking calories and exercise
• Etc.

You can also create a series of informative 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).

Include keywords in your content that prospective clients will be searching to find you online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improving Visitor Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites 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
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your site 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 loads of useful content by visiting sites of health and medical-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to a health or medical-related website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and choose individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Health care for women, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, 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 leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. The Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), The Psychiatrist, Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery, Toxicological Sciences, BMJ Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get various RSS feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get RSS feeds on fda-related topics like FDA drug safety, health fraud, tainted products, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various RSS feeds on health-related news and topics 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 feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also select specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Mental Health, Cold & Flu, Diet & Weight Management, Eyesight, Travel Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Medical News 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. Lung Cancer, Medicare/Medicaid/SCHIP, Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, Body Aches, Bones/Orthopedics, GastroIntestinal/Gastroenterology, Restless Legs Syndrome, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “gout rss feeds”, “quit smoking rss feeds”, “erectile dysfunction rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and educational charts are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. Checklists and medical forms can provide visitors with useful information and resources to perform a necessary task. Checklists and forms are great instructional tools.

Forms, charts and checklists can include topics such as:

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

Unique Tools

Providing useful tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Health-related calculators, for example, are useful tools you can add to your website. Other tools can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part two of this detailed article, we will look at a number of WordPress plugins you can add to your site that can improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to read the rest of this guide:

• Grow Your Medical Services And Health Clinic Website – WordPress Plugins & Themes For Improving SEO, Better User Engagement And Driving More Visitors

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