Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health professionals today face difficult challenges brought about by the online economy.

Challenges Medical Services Face Online

Today, more than ever, health-related businesses must work harder to remain competitive and source new clients. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and searching for smarter ways to market your services online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to compete, you will need to assign a more significant portion of your budget to develop and maintain a website that brings new leads, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and increases your marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of the website may change over time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires implementing sound web and content management strategy.

One other problem that medical or health businesses face with their websites, as do all other professions for that matter, is that your site has only about thirty seconds to help visitors find the information they are looking for or they will find what they are looking for 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 Health And Medical Services Providers

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available to health practices that can adapt to meet online demands and can think progressively about improving their online business marketing skills.

In this guide, you will discover new opportunities to find new client bookings and create significant improvements in your business online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your medical website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform, go here:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• A Beginner’s Guide To Building Your Successful Business Using A WordPress Site

Practical Tips For Improving Your Medical Clinic Website

Let’s start by reviewing some basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your health or medical website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content works best, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: A Comprehensive Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improving Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s discuss these.

Description Of Products And Services

You need to include a page that lists your products or services. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, your page could include services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose & throat, nephrology haematology, oncology, stroke, rheumatology, infection control, eye diseases elective surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, lung screening, radiology, pap smears, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, wellbeing, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, reflexology, functional medicine, tai chi, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, chiropody, reproductive endocrinology, optical services, neurosciences, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home care, clinical information, medical transport, 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 Page

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, supported community activities, etc.

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

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

Team Profile Page

Are you looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products online and get prospects to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know your business better.

Prospective clients need 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 familiar with medical-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It can include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your team members on their social networks.

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

(Add a staff description page. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to create and add a simple and easy-to-maintain simple team members directory in WordPress using free plugins, go here: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities within your organization. It can include training, benefits, professional development, etc. It should include case studies of graduates who have risen within your organization and information about additional career opportunities in the health or 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 this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. By adding a page with client reviews and case studies, you will also help to establish social proof for your business.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

For a detailed article about using case studies, testimonials and reviews improve your business online, go here: How To Create Better Results Online With Standout Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is absolutely necessary.

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

• Name Of Your Business
• Your address
• Phone
• Facsimile number
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Online chat feature

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

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, online booking request, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content like events, updates, training articles, opinions on current topics, educational videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established health or medical website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your medical company.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing medical or health site is very hard to add new content to or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can act as both your website and your blog.

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can instantly attract web traffic to your business, simply by adding new content to your website on a regular basis.

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

Go here to learn more:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into An Automated Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

It’s extremely important for professional businesses to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional or federal laws or regulations wherever your business is located.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• 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.

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

How To Improve Your Content

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

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

For example, if your business provides weight management services, then some of the topics you can write content about include:

• What is fiber and how can it help you with weight loss?
• How to set realistic, but achievable weight loss goals
• How you eat your food - just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• What processed foods can derail your diet (and healthier choices)
• And endless other content topics

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your medical or health-related services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Remember to use the same keywords and terminology in your articles that your prospective clients will be searching for online.

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 web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your website’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 your visitor engagement and UX.

Add RSS Feeds

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

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites will 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
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides links to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are several ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits 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 RSS feeds with loads of useful content by searching online for relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

For example, here are some RSS feeds you could consider adding to a medical or health-related site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can also choose specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Healthy aging, 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 feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Journal of Applied Physiology, CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, BMJ Emergency Medicine Journal, BMJ Archives of Disease, Pediatrics, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get various RSS feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related feeds (e.g. consumer health information, food allergies, recalls, radiological health, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get many feeds on health-related news 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. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Arthritis, Nutrition, Food, & Recipes, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Eyesight, Heart, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Lung Cancer, Pulmonary System, Eczema/Psoriasis, Menopause, CJD/vCJD/Mad Cow Disease, Sports Medicine/Fitness, Personal Monitoring/Wearable Technology, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “depression rss feeds”, “prostate rss feeds”, “crohn’s rss feeds”, etc.

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

Adding Online Charts & Checklists

Checklists and explanatory charts are a great way to help increase user engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. They can give them useful step-by-step information and resources to complete tasks. Checklists and charts can also be great instructional tools.

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

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

Other Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to potential clients. Health-related calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Other applications would include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In part two, we will look at a several online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To continue, click this link:

• Grow Your Health And Medical Clinic Services Website – Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Web Traffic With WordPress Plugins And Themes

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