Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical services providers today face an increasing number of new challenges brought about by the digital economy.

Online Challenges For Health Services Providers

Today, more than ever, businesses in the medical sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop a strong digital presence. This includes having a website and learning smarter ways to grow your business online.

In addition to investing money advertising offline, businesses in the health industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed towards the development and management of a website that drives new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps give their business wider marketing exposure online.

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

One other problem that medical and health services professionals (and most other professions) face online, is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to provide users what they are searching for or they will go away.

“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 Practitioners

As well as facing many business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the health or medical profession that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and who can think outside the box in terms of marketing their business services better online.

In this guide, you will discover new ways and opportunities to attract new visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your medical-related business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your health-related business online, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your health-related business website.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• WordPress For Small Business – The Complete Guide To Building Your Successful Small Business With WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Health Center Website

In this section we’ll show you ways to improve your health or medical-related website and get better results online. We show you what pages a health-related website needs, what type of content works best for medical or health-related sites, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, see this detailed guide we have written: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need some essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to set up your website for best results.

Services Description Page

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, pulmonology endocrinology, plastic surgery, geriatric medicine, respiratory, weight loss surgery, eye diseases elective surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, gum disease, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, audiology, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, couples, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, yoga, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, lymphedema therapy, optical services, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home care, clinical information, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

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

This page should include any medical-related awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your services and position yourself above your competitors.

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

Your Staff

If you are searching for simple ideas to sell more products online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. 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 will not tend to be familiar with medical-related terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas mean. This page can also include social buttons so your site visitors can follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your person’s qualifications, 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 members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage simple team members directory to your website using free plugins, refer to this tutorial: Step-By-Step Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities

List any job opportunities within your organization. It should include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the health-related industry.

Maintain 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 announcements list, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also helps to provide social proof online.

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

If you want to learn more about using testimonials and reviews, see this article: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Engaging Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should provide visitors with some or all of the following:

• Name Of Your Business
• Location
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – contact details
• Social media links
• Live chat (optional)

If you operate from different locations you will want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

Consider also including links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, main pages, booking form, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content like news and events, new releases, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an health or medical website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to create more exposure for your company.

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

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that will help begin driving an ongoing stream of targeted traffic to your site, simply by adding content to your website on a consistent basis.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into A Traffic Machine

Legal Information

It’s important for professional organizations to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws or regulations are being contravened wherever you provide services.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• 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
• etc.

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

How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s ultra-competitive online business economy, the sooner you begin to publish great content on your site, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from your competitors.

Providing useful content with great information, advice or tips will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides solutions that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you can cover in your content include:

• What is fiber and how can it help you with weight loss?
• How to calculate how many calories you burn each day
• Weight loss pills (common ones, side effects, long term results, do they work?)
• How to make smarter choices choices when eating at restaurants
• Etc.

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

Include the keywords and terms in your content that prospective clients will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your business 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 user experience (known as UX) helps to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and UX.

Use RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your site.

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

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

• All of your content updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are various 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 providing valuable information on your site from other sites, 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 for your website, search online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Here are a few RSS 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 also choose specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Health care for women, Heart health and stroke, Minority women’s health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Quality and Safety in Health Care, ADA DiabetesCare , BMJ Emergency Medicine Journal, BMJ Archives of Disease, BMJ Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, 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 RSS feeds on fda-related news and topics like criminal investigations press releases, health fraud, tainted products, animal and veterinary news, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (www.gov.uk) – 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 - Find various health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. 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 choose specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Menopause, Migraine Headaches, Oral Health, Eyesight, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – 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. Cystic Fibrosis, Multiple Sclerosis, Blood/Hematology, Neurology/Neuroscience, Nursing/Midwifery, Biology/Biochemistry, 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. “seniors rss feeds”, “sports medicine rss feeds”, “ear, nose and throat rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your medical or health site’s UX.)

Provide Checklists

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. They can provide step-by-step information and resources to get necessary steps done. Checklists and charts are also great instructional tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms can cover subjects such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Provide Online Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Calculators are some of the most popular tools for your website. Other tools could include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part 2 of this detailed guide, we look at a number of online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can help improve your seo, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this article on ways to improve your medical or health business web presence.

Click on this link to keep reading:

• The Complete Guide To Successfully Growing Your Health And Medical Clinic Services Business Online – Part 2

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