Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health professionals today face increasing challenges.

Online Challenges For Medical & Health Businesses

Today, more than ever, medical services professionals must work harder to remain competitive and find 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 a website and learning how to better market your services online.

In addition to investing dollars in offline marketing, businesses in the medical-related industry are also finding that they will need to invest a greater part of their budget to developing and maintaining a website that will drive new prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and increase their marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website will change in time and sections will need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another problem that health-related organizations face (as do most professions for that matter), is that your site has only around 30 seconds to help visitors find the information they are searching for 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

Online Opportunities For Health & Medical Professionals

As well as facing many business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the health or medical sector that are willing to adapt to meet digital economy demands and can think progressively about marketing their services better online.

In this article, you will discover ways to attract and engage more visitors and improve your health or medical-related business presence online.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your medical-related web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your health or medical-related website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, go here:

• How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Money
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Business With WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Health Website

We’ll start first by reviewing some basics. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your health-related website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a medical or health site needs, what type of content works best for medical-related websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: The Website Planning Process Explained: A Useful Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites require some essential pages. Let’s go over these.

Products And Services Description Page

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. acute pain management, orthopedics haematology, oral surgery, geriatric medicine, respiratory, endoscopy, eye diseases operating theaters, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral hygiene, restorations, implants, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal and Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – mammography, lung screening, x-ray, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, wellbeing, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, holistic medicine, meditation, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, sports medicine, lymphedema therapy, speech language therapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, assisted living, home care, community health, medical equipment, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and why they should choose you.

About Us Page

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

Remember to also list any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and to set yourself above the competition.

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

Team

Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online or get prospective clients to engage more on your site? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

Potential clients need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in 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 should also include social buttons so your visitors can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

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

(Make sure to add a staff description page. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an updatable directory of employees to your site here: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work With Us

This is a listing of job opportunities within the company. It can include training provided, benefits, professional development, social aspects of working for your business, etc. You should also include information about new career opportunities in the health or 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 this page, subscribe to your announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies also establishes social proof online.

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

We have written a detailed article on using testimonials, case studies and reviews improve your business online. For more details, go here: How To Improve Your Conversions With Compelling Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is vitally important.

It should include some or all of the following information:

• Name Of Your Business
• Street address of business
• Telephone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Live chat feature (optional feature)

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

Consider also including a few links point to commonly-asked questions page, useful pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

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 content like news and events, updates, training information, discussions on current topics, videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress 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 keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your website and blog.

Something few people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that will begin delivering an ongoing stream of targeted visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Driving More Web Visitors For Your Business Automatically

Legal Information

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a compliant website is crucially important. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being contravened in whatever area or location you do business.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your health-related website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

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

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s highly competitive global economy, the sooner you start to publish content on your site, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

Providing useful content with great information, advice and tips will get your visitors to share your web pages online and come back for more content. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the topics you could publish content about include the following:

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• Weight loss surgery – benefits vs risks (who should get it, risks, success rates)
• How you eat your food is just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• How to modify recipes for achieving healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• And endless other content topics

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, terminology, etc.

Use keywords and terms in your articles that your 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 site, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your website using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor Experience

Improving your site’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.

Using RSS Feeds

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

If you provide useful content, other sites may 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 in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides a number of ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to providing great information on your website 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 useful content for your website by searching online for relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of feeds containing useful information that you could add to your site:

• 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 feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Healthy aging, Illnesses and disabilities, Menopause, Screening tests and vaccines, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of RSS feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. The Oncologist, CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, BMJ Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Medscape, BMJ Postgraduate Medical Journal, 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
• FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), product recalls, drugs, 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 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. Medical research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Mental Health, Migraine Headaches, Diet & Weight Management, Prevention & Wellness, Thyroid, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Urology/Nephrology, Vascular, Fibromyalgia, Emergency Medicine, CJD/vCJD/Mad Cow Disease, HIV/AIDS, 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. “cervical cancer rss feeds”, “lymphoma rss feeds”, “crohn’s rss feeds”, etc.

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

Provide Checklists

Adding checklists and charts to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Charts and checklists can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a task. They can also be great instructional tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms could include subjects such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, 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. Health-related calculators are useful tools you can add to your website. Other applications can include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section of this detailed guide, we will look at a number of online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins that improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to grow your medical-related web presence.

To view the rest of this article, click here:

• Online Business Tips For Medical And Health Services Professionals – WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation

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