Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress
Health & medical professionals today face increasing challenges brought about by the online economy.
Online Challenges For Medical & Health Businesses
Today, more than ever, health services practitioners must work harder to remain competitive and generate new clients. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out better ways to grow your business online.
In addition to spending money in offline marketing activities, businesses in the health industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be directed to develop and maintain a website that can attract new clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and give them a wider amount of exposure online.
This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change in time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing sound web and content management strategy.
Another problem that medical or health-related organizations face online, and other professions for that matter, is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to provide visitors with what they need or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.
“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
As well as facing many new challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the health-related profession that are willing to evolve to meet online challenges and think progressively about marketing their services better online.
This guide will help you uncover a number of ways to generate more web traffic and create noticeable improvements in your business online.
As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your medical or health-related business online, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your medical or health website or blog.
For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:
Practical Tips To Improve Your Website
Let’s start by going over the basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your health or medical website and get better results online. We will look at what pages your site needs, what content works best, layout and navigation, etc.
If you need website planning assistance, read this detailed guide: Planning Your Business Website: A Practical Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners
Essential Web Pages
Professional business websites need a number of essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your need and how to structure your health-related website for best results.
Products And Services Page
It’s essential to include a page that describes your products and services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, your page could list services like:
- Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose & throat, nephrology endocrinology, cancer, aged care, respiratory, endoscopy, optometry operating theaters, etc.
- Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, restorations, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dental, etc.
- Cardiology – e.g. cardiac surgery, chronic heart conditions
- Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
- Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
- Diagnostic services – mammography, skin cancer, hearing, women’s health, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
- Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
- Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
- Alternative treatments – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, meditation, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
- Other medical services – weight management, othopedics, lymphedema therapy, optical services, neurosciences, artificial limbs, mobility, home and community care, sexual health, medical equipment, etc.
List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what your services do and why they should book an appointment.
Who We Are
This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropic activities, etc.
Remember to also list any industry awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your medical services and set yourself above the competition.
(List all of your awards certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc. in your About Us page. Screenshot source: squaremedical.com.au)
Team Profile Page
Are you searching for cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online? Then help prospects get to know you and your business better.
You want prospective clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in medical or health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. It can include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected team members on their social pages.
In this page, make sure to outline your staff member’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.
(Add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)
To learn more about how to easily create and add a list directory of staff members to your WordPress site without coding skills, see this tutorial: How To Add A Simple Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills
Work For Us
List any job or career opportunities within the business. This page could include training, benefits, professional development, social activities promoted or encouraged by your organization, etc. It should include information about additional career opportunities in the 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 the page, subscribe to your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.
Testimonials & Case Studies
Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with case studies and client reviews also provides visitors social proof.
(Add a web page with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)
To learn more about using testimonials and client reviews, see this article: Improve Your Sales With Knockout Client Testimonials
Contact Page
A functional contact page is essential.
Your contact page should provide some or all of the following information about your company:
- Company Name
- Physical address
- Telephone number
- Fax
- Contact email address
- Google Map
- Website URL
- Contact form
- Request for information – who to contact
- Social media web addresses
- Chat/Skype
If you operate in multiple areas you should make this clear when showing your address and contact information.
You could also include links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, main pages, online booking request, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.
Blog Section
A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like news and announcements, updates, educational articles, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.
If you already have an existing medical site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to promote your medical practice.
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 serve both as your website and blog.
Something not many businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that can help begin to deliver new visitors to your site, simply by adding regular content to your website.
(WordPress can drive new traffic automatically to your website)
To learn more about this go here:
Legal Information Pages
It’s vitally important to have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever you provide services.
Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your site 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 Us
- Privacy Policy
- Terms And Conditions Of Use
- Website Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreement
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- DMCA Notice
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Linking Policy
- Health and Financial Disclaimers
- Refund Policy
- Video/Audio Terms
- etc.
Go here to learn more about adding legal pages to your website: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site
Improve Your Content
In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you start to publish great content on your site, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.
Provide useful content with information, tips or advice that will get your readers to share your information and come back for more. Content marketing is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about using your products and services.
For example, if your business provides solutions that help people lose weight, then some of the topics you can write content about include:
- What to do before you start any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
- Is weight loss surgery right for you? (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)
- Vitamins and minerals that aid in weight loss (chromium, calcium, magnesium, etc.)
- Etc.
You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your readers gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, costs (including payment plans, insurance coverage, etc).
Include keywords in your articles that prospective clients will search for online.
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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!
Ways To Improve User Experience
Improving your user experience (known as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and user experience.
Use RSS Feeds
RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.
If you provide information 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 updates are kept in one place
- Doesn’t rely on email
- Feeds can be shared
- RSS feeds allow for subscribing
- An RSS feed provides links to your site
- Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
- There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits 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 RSS feeds with loads of useful content just visit sites of relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.
Here are a few useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to a medical or health 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 feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Health care for women, 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 feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Quality and Safety in Health Care, BMJ Heart, BMJ Injury Prevention, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, Infectious Agents and Cancer, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
- National Institutes Of Health - Find various feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
- FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. FDA drug safety, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), tainted products marked as dietary supplements, radiological health, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
- Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find many health-related news feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
- Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS 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 individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Chronic Pain, Pregnancy, Sexual Health, Hearing, etc.)
- Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
- Medical News Today – You can also select individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Eye Health/Blindness, Multiple Sclerosis, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Regulatory Affairs/Drug Approvals, Diabetes, Nutrition/Diet, Medical Practice Management, 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. “radiology rss feeds”, “neuroscience rss feeds”, “psychology rss feeds”, etc.
(Adding RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your website’s UX.)
Checklists And Charts
Checklists and explanatory charts are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and medical forms can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and charts are great instructional tools.
You can provide a range of online or downloadable forms and checklists covering areas such as:
- Booking appointments
- Checklists for post-surgery recovery
- Health checklists for specific medical conditions
- Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
- Weight loss and exercise program checklists
- General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)
Adding Online Tools
Providing unique online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are useful tools to add to your website. Other applications could include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.
In the next section, we look at a several WordPress plugins and themes you can add to your medical website that improve seo, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.
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This is the end of section 1.
To view Part Two, click here:
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"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)