Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical services providers today face growing challenges.

Challenges Professional Health Services Practitioners Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the health and medical sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to participate in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective website and learning better ways to market your business online.

In addition to investing money advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to compete with other health or medical-related businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be directed to develop and manage a website that will attract new leads, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help give you a wider amount of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, 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 may need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other challenge that medical or health businesses (and all other businesses) face with their websites, is that they have only about 30 seconds or less to give visitors the information they need or they will go 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 Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for health-related practices that are willing to adapt to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think outside the box in terms of marketing their business better online.

This guide will help you uncover new ways to attract and engage new visitors and notice significant improvements in your business results online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your business online, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress CMS platform to power your health website.

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

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Prospective Clients And What To Do About It
• WordPress For Business Owners – An Online Guide To Growing Your Successful Business With A WordPress Site

How To Improve Your Website

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

If you need website planning assistance, read this detailed step-by-step guide: Planning Your Small Business Website: A Cost-Saving Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Website Pages

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

Products And Services Page

You need to include a page that lists your services and products. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page can include services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose & throat, nephrology blood disorders, reconstructive surgery, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, renal, endoscopy, eye diseases operating theaters, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral hygiene, restorations, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, audiology, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration biopsy, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, reflexology, hydrotherapy, shiatsu, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, othopedics, reproductive services, optical services, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, sleep therapy, home and community care, sexual health, medical equipment, 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 the benefits of using your services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

This page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropic activities, etc.

Remember to also include any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your medical services and to set yourself above similar service providers.

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

Meet Your Staff

If you are looking for quicker and simpler ideas to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know you, your team and your business better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas mean. It should include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow your staff members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people 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.

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

To learn more about how to easily create and add an easy-to-update list directory of staff or team members in your site without messing around with code, see this step-by-step tutorial: How To Create A Simple Staff List For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Career Opportunities

List any career opportunities within the organization. This page can include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. It should include case studies of recruits who have worked their way up in your organization and information about new career opportunities in the health-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, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective 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 online.

(Add a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

For a detailed article on using case studies, testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online, go here: Improve Your Sales Using Knockout Testimonials

Contact Page

A clean contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following information about your business:

• Company Name
• Your address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Interactive chat feature (optional)

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

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

Add A Medical Or Health-Related Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like the latest news, updates, educational information, discussions on current topics, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

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

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

Not many people know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that will help deliver new visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more about this:

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

Legal Pages

It’s vitally important for professional organizations to ensure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any laws or regulations in whichever area or location 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 (e.g. Google), and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

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

Go here if you want to learn more adding legal pages to your site: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Website

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

Provide useful content with great tips, information and advice that will get your visitors sharing your web pages online and coming back for more. Publishing content is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your services.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the areas you could write about include the following:

• Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
• What are calories and how they play a role in weight loss
• Hypnosis and weight loss
• How a personal chef can help you lose weight (what they do, is it affordable)
• Etc.

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

Use the same keywords and terminology 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 a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improving Visitor Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in many ways.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses will 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
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. read the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing valuable content on 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 just visit sites of medical or health-related government departments and industry bodies.

Below we have listed examples of useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to a medical-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 individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Healthy aging, Heart health and stroke, Mental health, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Quality and Safety in Health Care, Human Molecular Genetics, European Heart Journal, Occupational Medicine, Transplantation – Most Popular Articles, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get RSS feeds on fda-related news like enforcement reports, food safety, pet health, tobacco 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get many feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Medical research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also choose individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Cancer, Cholesterol, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Exercise & Fitness, High Blood Pressure, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Cystic Fibrosis, Pharmacy/Pharmacist, Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, Veterinary, COPD, 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 areas, e.g. “medical insurance rss feeds”, “general practice rss feeds”, “weight loss rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists & Charts

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. They can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Charts and checklists are also great client instructional tools.

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

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add value to users. Health-related calculators are some of the most popular tools for your website. Other tools could include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section, we look at a number of WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your website that can help to improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this article on ways to improve your medical web presence.

Click on this link to continue reading:

• How To Successfully Build And Grow Your Medical Services & Health-Related Website With WordPress – Part 2

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