Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed businesses around the world, it has also created a number of challenges and great opportunities for health or medical-related businesses.

Online Challenges For Medical Businesses

Now, more than ever, medical providers must find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd and source new clients. Not only do you have to participate in the community you serve, you must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your practice online.

As well as investing dollars in offline marketing activities, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, you will need to assign a bigger portion of your marketing budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that will attract new clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help you create a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change in time and many aspects will need to be updated frequently. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that health and medical services providers face, as most businesses do for that matter, is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to give visitors 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 Health & Medical Businesses In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the health or medical-related profession that can adapt to meet digital economy demands and can think outside the box when it comes to marketing their services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn new opportunities to find new business and improve your business presence 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 Content Management System (CMS) to power your medical or health website or blog.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Potential Customers And What To Do About It
• A Beginner’s Guide To Growing A Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section looks at ways to improve your medical or health-related website and get better results. We will look at what pages your website needs, what type of content works best for medical or health websites, ways to improve layout and navigation, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, read this guide: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Website Pages

All websites need some basic pages. Let’s go over these.

Services And Products Page

You need a page that explains your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could list services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. acute pain management, orthopedics hematology, cosmetic surgery, stroke, rheumatology, gastroenterology, optometry palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental braces, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, skin cancer, x-ray, 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, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, reflexology, hydrotherapy, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, reproductive services, speech therapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, mobility, home care, community health, medical supplies, 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 direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

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

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

Team Profile

If you are looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online and increase user interaction on your site, then help prospective clients get to know you and your organization better.

You want prospective clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It should include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your team members on their social pages.

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 and qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your employees or team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to add an easy-to-update simple team members directory in WordPress using a free plugin, see this tutorial: Tutorial: How To Easily Add An Employee List Directory To Your Site

Job Opportunities Page

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your business. This page should include training offered, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the health or medical-related 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 newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with client reviews and case studies, you are also helping to are also providing social proof for your business.

(Add a page with case studies and reviews from clients. Image source: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more: Discover How To Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Captivating User Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is absolutely vital.

Your contact page should include the following information about your consulting practice:

• Name Of Your Business
• Physical location
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Google Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Live chat (optional feature)

If your business services several areas you want to make this clear when displaying the address and contact information.

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

Add A Medical Or Health Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content like news and events, new releases, educational information, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing health-related site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to create more exposure for your medical company.

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

Something few businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that will help begin to drive targeted visitors to your business, simply by adding new content on a consistent basis to your website.

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

For more info, see this article:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create A Traffic Generation Machine With WordPress

Legal Pages

It’s crucially important for professional organizations to make sure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws or regulations wherever you provide services.

Adding the legal pages below to your health or medical-related website will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), 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 and 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: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improving The Content On Your Site

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

You will want to provide useful content with tips or information that will get your visitors to share your information online with others and come back for more content. This is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospects about using your services and products.

For example, if you provide products or services that help people lose weight, then some of the topics 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.)
• Easy portion control habits (smaller plate, don’t put food on the table, more vegetables)
• How to recover physically and emotionally after weight loss surgery – useful tips and suggestions
• 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 prospective clients gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Include the keywords and terms in your articles that your readers will be searching for online.

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

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

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

If you provide valuable information, 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
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides links to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides a number of ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing content on your site 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 visiting sites of relevant government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of feeds you could add to a health-related 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 choose individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Healthy aging, Heart health and stroke, Minority women’s health, Screening tests and vaccines, 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. Nucleic Acids Research, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP), Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Medscape, The New England Journal of Medicine, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get many RSS feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, food allergy reports, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, drugs, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find various RSS feeds on health-related news and topics 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 feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also choose specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Men’s health, Cold & Flu, Pregnancy, Eyesight, Hearing, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT 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. Gout, Headache/Migraine, Surgery, Menopause, Endocrinology, Breast Cancer, Ear, Nose and Throat, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “seniors rss feeds”, “alcohol addiction rss feeds”, “liver disease rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists & Charts

Checklists and explanatory charts are a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. They can provide users with step-by-step instructions and resources to complete a necessary task. Forms and checklists can also be great educational tools.

You can provide online or downloadable forms and checklists covering a range of areas such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Adding Other Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your visitors. Calculators, for example are great tools you can add to your website. Other tools could include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.

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

***

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

Click here to continue reading:

• Online Business Tips For Medical And Health Services Practitioners – Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Generate More Traffic Using Plugins & Themes

***

***