Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created increasingly difficult challenges and opportunities for businesses offering health services.

Online Challenges For The Health Profession

Today, more than ever, health services professionals must work harder and find smarter ways to remain competitive and find new clientele. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community you serve, you must also maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out better ways to grow your services online.

In addition to investing money in offline marketing, you will probably find that in order to compete with other health or medical businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be delegated to developing and managing a website that brings new clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps give your business wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and some aspects will need to be updated frequently. This requires the implementation of a well-planned website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that health and medical services providers face with their websites, as do most other professions for that matter, is that your site has only around 30 seconds to provide users 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

Online Opportunities For Health And Medical Services Providers

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for medical or health practices that can evolve to meet online challenges and think outside the box when it comes to marketing their business better online.

In this article, you will learn about new opportunities to generate more traffic and see noticeable improvements in your business presence online.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see these articles:

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Medical And Health Practice Services Website

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

If you need any help with website planning, see this detailed step-by-step guide we have written: The Web Site Planning Process: A Money-Saving Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

Professional websites require several essential web pages. Let’s take a look at these.

Products And Services

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, orthopedics hematology, maxillofacial surgery, aged care, rheumatology, infection control, eye diseases palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral hygiene, teeth whitening, dental braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal and Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, radiology and imaging, pap smears, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, couples, wellbeing, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, reiki, massage therapy, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, chiropody, reproductive services, occupational therapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, hearing aids, home care, clinical information, medical equipment, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and why they should choose you.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.

It’s important to list any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your medical services and position yourself above your competitors.

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

Team Profile Page

If you are looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products online and increase user interaction with your site, then one of the things you can do, is help your prospects get to know you and your business better.

People need to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in medical terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each employee’s expertise, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your team to prospective new clients. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to create and add an easy-to-update list directory of employees in your WordPress site using free plugins here: Adding An Employee List Directory: Plugin Tutorial

Work With Us

List any job opportunities within the clinic. It would include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. It should include case studies of recruits who have established a solid career path thanks to your organization and information such as the job outlook and 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, join your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase what kind of services you offer. Adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients also provides social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using client case studies and client reviews to grow your business online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is vitally important.

Your contact page should provide visitors with some or all of the following information about your organization:

• Company Name
• Your address
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Online chat (optional feature)

If your business operates from multiple locations you will want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, useful pages, online booking form, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like announcements, updates, training information, informative posts, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to create more exposure for your medical clinic.

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

Very few people know that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic machine that can help begin delivering web traffic to your site, simply by adding new content on a consistent basis to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Growing Your Website Traffic Automatically With WordPress

Legal Information Pages

It’s crucially important for professional companies to ensure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws or regulations are being breached in whatever location you do business.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding the following legal pages to your medical or health-related site will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

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

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more: Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin publishing great content on your site, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from other competitors.

By committing to providing great content with useful information, advice and tips, you will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more content. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about your services.

For example, if you provide solutions that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you could cover as content on your site:

• What to do before starting any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• What are calories and how understanding them aids in weight loss
• Characteristics of different diets, e.g. Paleo diet, Mediterranean diet, Nutrisystem diet (what these are, how they can benefit you, how effective they are)
• How to curb the late night urges for a snack (e.g. drink water with lemon)
• Etc.

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

Include keywords and terminology in your articles that your 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 you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your presence online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve User Experience

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

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

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

If you provide information that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides links back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website from other sites, 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 health or medical-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Here are examples of RSS feeds you could consider adding to a medical website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Fitness and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Minority women’s health, Smoking and how to quit, 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. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, ADA (American Diabetes Association), BMJ Medical Humanities, Journal of Cell Science, 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 news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, FDA drug shortages, recalls, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find many health-related RSS 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 feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also select individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Chronic Pain, Oral Health, Digestion, Women’s Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. MRSA/Drug Resistance, Vascular, Compliance, Flu/Cold/SARS, Heart Disease, Women’s Health/Gynecology, Statins, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “stem cell research rss feeds”, “lymphoma rss feeds”, “restless legs syndrome rss feeds”, etc.

(Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. They can provide step-by-step instructions and resources to get necessary tasks completed. They are also great instructional tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your users. Calculators are useful tools you can add to your website. Others could include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In the next section, we take a look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your health site that can improve your seo, increase user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to access the rest of this article:

• Online Business Tips For Health Services Practitioners – WordPress Plugins And Themes That Can Help Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Generate More Visitors To Your Site

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