Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health professionals face many new challenges in the online economy, especially when it comes to growing a successful business presence online.

Challenges Health Professionals Face Online

Now, more than ever, medical or health businesses must work hard to stand out from their competition and source new clients. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the community you serve, you must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having a dynamic website and figuring out smarter ways to promote your services online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline, businesses in the medical or health-related industry are now finding that they will need to assign a bigger share of their budget to develop and manage a website that can drive leads, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and increase their presence online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change over time and many areas will need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that medical businesses face (as most other businesses do for that matter), is that your site has an average of 30 seconds or less to help users find what they are searching for or they will leave your site.

“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 And Health Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the medical-related industry that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and can think strategically when it comes to marketing their services better online.

This comprehensive guide will help you uncover new ways to generate traffic and notice significant improvements in your medical or health-related business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your medical website, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your medical or health website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see these articles:

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Customers
• The Beginner’s Guide To Growing A Successful Business With WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Health Site

In this section we’ll show you ways to improve your health-related website and get better results online. We show you what pages your site needs, what content you need, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, read this article we have written: The Website Planning Process Explained: A Money-Saving Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

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

Products And Services

It’s essential to have a page that explains your services and products. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page can include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, orthopedics blood disorders, cosmetic surgery, continence management, respiratory, infection control, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, restorations, dental braces, emergency dental services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal & Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, x-ray, women’s health, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative treatments – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, yoga, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, chiropody, reproductive services, stomal therapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, hearing aids, home care, clinical information, medical equipment, 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 what these services do and why they should book an appointment.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community services, etc.

Remember to also mention any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical services and set yourself above similar service providers.

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

Your Staff Page

If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to grow your business online or get people to engage more on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in health terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It can include social buttons so your visitors can follow selected team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline your staff member’s experience, how their skills add value to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

To learn more about how to create and add an easy-to-manage simple employee directory to a WordPress site without coding skills, see this tutorial: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory

Career Opportunities

List any career opportunities available within your company. It could include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities sponsored by your organization, etc. It should include information about new career opportunities in the medical industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, subscribe to your contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with case studies and reviews from clients also helps your medical-related business to establish social proof online.

(Add a web page with case studies and testimonials from past clients. Screenshot image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

To learn more about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews, refer to this article: How To Get Better Results Online With Profit-Boosting Customer Testimonials

Contact Us

A clean contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should provide some or all of the following information about your center:

• Company Name
• Your physical location
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Chat

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

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

Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as the latest announcements, updates, educational articles, opinions on current topics, videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established site, 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 medical or health site is hard to keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your business website and your blog.

Something not many people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic system that can begin to attract new visitors to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

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

If you are interested in learning more here:

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

Legal Information

It’s vitally important for health services practitioners businesses to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any local, regional and federal laws or regulations wherever your practice is located.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• 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. Go here to learn more: Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improving The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, having a sound content marketing strategy has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

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

For example, if you provide weight loss services, then some of the topics you can cover in your content include:

• What’s the difference between being overweight and obese?
• The role portion control plays in helping you you lose weight
• How to develop an exercise routine you can enjoy and will stick with
• Smartphone apps for tracking calories and exercise
• Etc.

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

Use keywords and terminology in your content that your readers will search for online.

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

Improve User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in several ways.

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

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 online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• A feed provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are various ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is 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.

To find useful RSS feeds for your website, visit sites of relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

Here are some examples of RSS feeds you could consider adding to a medical or health-related website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Fitness and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of RSS feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Disease in Childhood – Education and Practice, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), Obesity, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, Cambridge Journals Online, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get many health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. consumer health information updates, FDA drug shortages, pet health, cosmetics, 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 (www.cdc.gov) - Find many RSS feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Medical research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Arthritis, Chronic Pain, Depression, Prevention & Wellness, Sleep, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Schizophrenia, Pharmacy/Pharmacist, Depression, Cholesterol, Back Pain, Biology/Biochemistry, Personal Monitoring/Wearable Technology, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “anxiety rss feeds”, “mad cow disease rss feeds”, “genetics rss feeds”, etc.

(Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your medical or health site’s user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Charts and checklists can provide visitors with useful step-by-step information and resources to complete steps. Checklists and forms are also great client instructional tools.

You can provide online or downloadable forms, charts and checklists (or links to these) covering a range of areas such as:

• Checklists and 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, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators, for example, are useful tools you can add to your website. Other tools could include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

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

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This is the end of part 1 of this article on ways to improve your medical or health-related web presence.

Click on this link to continue:

• How To Build And Grow A Health Services Website Successfully – Part Two

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