Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionised the way business is done around the world, it has also created a growing number of challenges and great opportunities for health practitioners and financial service providers.

Online Challenges For The Health & Medical Profession

Today, more than ever, health and medical services providers must work harder and find smarter ways to remain competitive and obtain new clientele. Not only do you have to participate in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong web presence. This includes having a website and figuring out smarter ways to market your practice online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, you will need to assign a greater amount of your marketing budget to developing and managing a website that will bring new prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help you create wider exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change in time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that health or medical businesses (and other businesses) face with their websites, is that they have an average of 30 seconds to provide users with what they need or they will go 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 Medical & Health Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for medical or health-related practices that are willing to evolve to meet digital demands and can think strategically when it comes to improving their online business marketing skills.

In this guide, you will discover new ways to attract more potential clients and establish stronger online credibility for your health-related business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your medical business website or blog.

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

• How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• An Online Guide To Building A Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Medical Services & Health Center Website

We’ll start first by covering some basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your health or medical website and get better results. We will look at what pages your website needs, what type of content works best, navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your health website, check out the article we have written here: A Money-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

Professional business websites require several basic pages. Let’s go over these.

Description Of Products And Services

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, orthopedics blood disorders, plastic surgery, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, rheumatology, gastroenterology, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, bad breath treatment, teeth whitening, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, lung screening, radiology, gynaecology, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration cytology, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, wellbeing, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, reflexology, colloidal silver therapy, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, othopedics, fertility services, speech therapy, medical genetics, artificial limbs, assisted living, home care, sexual health, medical transport, 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 the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us Page

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

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

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

Team Profile Page

Are you searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. 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 biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in health or medical terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page can also include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline each team member’s expertise, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add an employee page. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to add an updatable simple employee directory to your website using free WordPress plugins, go here: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities Page

List any job opportunities within the company. It should include training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. You can include stories of recruits who have established a solid career path thanks to your business and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the medical and health 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, join your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you will also help to establish social proof online.

(Add a web page with case studies and testimonials. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have created a detailed article on using case studies, testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. If you would like to know more about this here: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Standout Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a clean contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide:

• Name Of Your Business
• Address
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Social media URLs
• Online chat (optional)

If your business operates from several areas you will want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, useful pages, online booking form, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like news, updates, useful articles, informative posts, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to create more exposure for your medical services.

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

You may not know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that can instantly attract an ongoing stream of web traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

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

Legal Info Pages

It’s really important to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being breached wherever you provide services.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your medical website 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 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
• and others

Go here for a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from other competing businesses.

Providing great content with information, advice or tips will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Content marketing is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

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

• What to do before you start any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• Weight loss surgery – benefits vs risks (who should get it, risks, success rates)
• Weight loss pills (common ones, side effects, long term results, do they work?)
• How to modify recipes for healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• 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, terminology, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles that readers will search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful 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 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in a number of different ways.

If you provide valuable information, other businesses will want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides links back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are a number of ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing valuable content on your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with useful content just visit sites of health or medical-related government departments or respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few RSS feeds you could consider adding to your site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Health care for women, Heart health and stroke, Mental health, Screening tests and vaccines, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Nucleic Acids Research, BMJ Heart, Stem Cells, BMJ Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find various health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, food allergies, tainted products, animal and veterinary 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various RSS feeds on health-related news and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Menopause, Neurology, Diabetes, Prevention & Wellness, Infectious Disease, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Anxiety/Stress, Headache/Migraine, Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, Body Aches, Endocrinology, Nutrition/Diet, Erectile Dysfunction/Premature Ejaculation, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “palliative care rss feeds”, “hearing rss feeds”, “ultrasound rss feeds”, etc.

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

Adding Checklists & Charts

Checklists and explanatory charts are a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. They can provide step-by-step information and resources to perform a task. They are also great instructional tools.

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

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

Online Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your potential clients. Calculators are some of the most popular tools for your website. Others would include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part 2, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help improve your seo, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this article on ways to grow your medical or health-related business web presence.

To continue, click here:

• How To Grow A Medical Practice Online – Part 2

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