Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical professionals face a number of challenges in today’s online economy, especially in terms of growing a successful presence online.

Challenges Health Businesses Face Online

Today, more than ever, health services professionals must find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd and obtain new clientele. Not only do you have to participate in the community your business serves, you must also maintain an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and searching for better ways to promote your business online.

In addition to spending money marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other medical businesses, you will need to designate a bigger share of your marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that will drive leads, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help you gain a wider degree of reach online.

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

One other difficult challenge that medical or health-related organizations (and most other professions) face with their websites, is that your site has only around 30 seconds or less to provide users what they need or they will look 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 Medical And Health Services Practitioners

As well as facing many challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to medical-related practices that are willing to adapt to meet online economy demands and think progressively in terms of marketing their business services better online.

The article below will help you uncover new opportunities to attract new visitors and see noticeable improvements in your business results online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your medical website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Lose You Prospective Customers And What To Do About It
• How To Grow Your Business With A WordPress Blog

Useful Tips For Improving Your Health Clinic Services Site

Let’s start by going over the basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages your website needs, what type of content works best for health websites, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, read this detailed guide: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Improve Your Web Pages

All business websites need several basic pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need to have and how to set up your medical-related website for best results.

Description Of Services

It’s essential to have a page that explains your products or services. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page could include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, pulmonology haematology, cancer, incontinence, renal, urology, eye diseases day surgery, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, restorations, dental braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, audiology, pap smears, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, reflexology, hydrotherapy, massage therapy, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, fertility services, optical services, neurosciences, artificial limbs, mobility, home and community care, clinical information, medical equipment, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors 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 explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

It should also include any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical services and to set yourself above other competitors.

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

Our Team

If you are searching for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help prospective clients get to know your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with health or medical-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow selected team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your team member’s qualifications, how they add value or contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

For a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to your site using free WordPress plugins, go here: How To Add A Simple Staff Directory On Your WordPress Site

Work For Us

This is a listing of job opportunities within the company. It could include type of training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the medical-related industry.

Include also 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 newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials also helps to provide social proof.

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

We have written extensively on using testimonials, case studies and client reviews to grow your business online. For more info, see this article: Learn How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Highly Effective Client Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is vitally important.

It should include some or all of the following information about your business:

• Company Name
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media pages
• Live chat feature

If your business operates out of different areas you want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact info.

You can also include links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, online booking form, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical-Related Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news, updates, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, educational videos, infographics, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing website is very hard to keep updated with new content or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your website and your blog.

Something few businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin delivering targeted visitors to your website, simply by adding content on a regular basis to your website.

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

For more details, go here:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Create An Automated Web Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

It’s crucial for professional companies to make sure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws or regulations wherever you provide services.

Depending on what services you provide, adding the legal pages below 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 threats and legal 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 and Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your site. For more details, go here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s highly competitive global economy, content marketing has become one of the key success factors for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

Providing great content with useful tips, information or advice will get your visitors sharing your information with others and coming back for more content. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your services.

For example, if your business provides products that help people manage their weight, then some of the areas you can cover in your web content include:

• What to do before you start any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• Tips for developing portion control habits (smaller plate, don’t put food on the table, more vegetables)
• Characteristics of different diets, e.g. HCG diet, GI diet, Volumetrics diet (what these are, how they can benefit you, are they effective)
• A guide to making the smarter choices choices when eating out at any restaurant
• And endless other content topics

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Remember to include the same keywords and terms in your content that your prospective clients will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your presence online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor 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 different ways to improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide many benefits for your website.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses may want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing great content on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find useful RSS feeds just search online for medical or health-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are a few RSS feeds you could consider adding to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can search by departments and select 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 list of feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Quality and Safety in Health Care, PsychiatryOnline Journals, TheLancet.com, The AAPS Journal (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists), Respiratory Research, 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
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find RSS feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, FDA drug shortages, recalls, animal and veterinary news, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• UK Department Of Health (www.gov.uk) – 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 (www.cdc.gov) - Get many feeds on health-related news and topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also select specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Cold & Flu, Diet & Weight Management, Senior Health, Hearing, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Stem Cell Research, Pain/Anesthetics, Blood/Hematology, Flu/Cold/SARS, Heart Disease, Medical Innovation, Restless Legs Syndrome, etc.)

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

(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Add Online Charts & Checklists

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. They can provide visitors with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary steps done. Charts and checklists can also be great instructional tools.

You can provide a range of checklists, charts and forms covering areas such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Adding Unique Tools

Providing useful tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your potential clients. Calculators are popular tools for your website. Others would include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this detailed guide, we take a look at a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that can also help to improve seo, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

Click here to read the rest of this guide:

• Tips For Health And Medical Services Providers – Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Website With WordPress Plugins

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