Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital business age has not only transformed businesses globally, it has also created difficult challenges and great opportunities for medical services professionals.

Online Challenges For Medical Services Providers

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to actively participate in the community your business serves, you must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better market your services online.

In addition to spending money advertising offline, businesses in the health industry are now finding that they need to designate a larger portion of their marketing budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that can attract prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and help them gain a wider degree of exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change over time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

One other problem that medical or health-related businesses (and most other professions) face with their websites, is that your site has around 30 seconds to give visitors the information they are searching for 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

Opportunities For Medical Practitioners

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the health industry that can adapt to meet online challenges and think outside the box when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about new ways to attract and engage new visitors and improve your online results.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your health website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Customers
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow Your Business Online With WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section will show you ways to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages you need, what content works best for medical or health-related websites, ways to improve your navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: The Website Planning Process Explained - A Practical Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

How To Improve Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require several essential pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need to have and how to set up your health or medical website for best results.

Description Of Services

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose & throat, pulmonology diabetes, cancer, neurology, renal, infection control, ophtalmology day surgery, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, bad breath treatment, restorations, orthodontics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart monitoring, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, skin cancer, medical imaging, women’s health, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, wellness, social development services
• Alternative treatments – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, functional medicine, tai chi, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, podiatry, reproductive endocrinology, physiotherapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, mobility, home care, clinical information, medical transport, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us Page

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community activities, etc.

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

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

Your Staff Page

Are you looking for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online or increase user interaction on your site? Then help your visitors get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in health or medical terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page should include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline each employee’s expertise, 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 page that introduces your staff members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to easily create and add a list of staff members in your website here: How To Add A Staff Directory: Plugin Tutorial

Career Opportunities Page

This is a listing of career opportunities within your clinic. It should include training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You should also include case studies of graduates who have worked their way up in your organization and information about additional career opportunities in the medical-related 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 announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

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

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

If you would like to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and client reviews improve your business online, go here: How To Improve Your Sales Conversions Using Effective Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is vitally important.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Name Of Your Business
• Address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media profiles
• Chat feature (optional)

If your business services multiple locations you should make this clear when showing your address and contact info.

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

Add A Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business using content like the latest announcements, updates, training articles and tutorials, informative posts, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established medical-related site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your services.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing medical site is very hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used as both your business website and business blog.

Something not many people know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic system that will help drive new targeted traffic to your site, simply by adding new content to your website on a consistent basis.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

To learn more about this go here:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Generating More Web Traffic For Your Business Automatically

Legal Info Pages

Having a compliant website is extremely important. This is not only important for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any laws or regulations wherever you practice.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, see this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve Your Content

In today’s highly competitive global economy, the ability to deliver valuable content at no cost has become one of the key business differentiators.

By committing to providing great content with useful tips, advice and information, you will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about your services.

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

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• How to set realistic, but achievable weight loss goals
• How you eat your food is just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• Smartphone apps for tracking calories and exercise
• Etc.

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

Use the same keywords and terms in your content that 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 easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, 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 100% FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your site’s 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.

Add RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

If you provide valuable content, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides links to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also 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.

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by searching online for medical and health-related government departments or key industry bodies.

For example, here are some feeds you could consider adding to your site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Healthy aging, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, Smoking and how to quit, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Journal of Applied Physiology, PsychiatryOnline Journals, BMJ Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, The Journal of Physiology, ADA DOC News, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get many feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. criminal investigations press releases, health fraud, pet health, vaccines, blood and biologics, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find many health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Medical research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also select specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Arthritis, Migraine Headaches, Diabetes, Eyesight, Skin, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Urology/Nephrology, Pharmacy/Pharmacist, Infectious Diseases/Bacteria/Viruses, Preventive Medicine, Alcohol/Addiction/Illegal Drugs, Litigation/Medical Malpractice, Restless Legs Syndrome, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “vascular rss feeds”, “epilepsy rss feeds”, “drug trials rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and charts can provide useful information and resources to perform necessary steps. Checklists and charts are also great educational tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Provide Online Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Calculators are great tools to add to your website. Other tools would include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section, we will look at a several online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

To view the rest of this article, click here:

• Tips For Health Services Professionals – WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving SEO, Increasing User Engagement And Driving More Traffic

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