Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionised the way business is done worldwide, it has also created growing challenges and great opportunities for health services providers.

Challenges Professional Health Practitioners Face Online

Now, more than ever, medical providers must find smarter ways to remain competitive and generate new clientele. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better market your practice online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing activities, businesses in the health-related industry are now finding that they need to assign a larger portion of their marketing budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that can drive clients, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help to increase their reach online.

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

One other difficult challenge that medical or health businesses (and other professions) face online, is that they have an average of thirty seconds to provide visitors what they are looking 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 Medical Services Professionals In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for medical-related practices that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think progressively in terms of marketing their business better online.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about new ways to generate new clients and create significant improvements in your online results.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your website, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your health business website.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Prospective Buyers
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Small Business With WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Medical Site

This section covers ways to improve your health website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what content works best, layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: A Money-Saving Guide To Website Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All business websites require several essential web pages. Let’s review these.

Services And Products

It’s essential to have a page that lists your products and services. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, your page can list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose and throat, pulmonology endocrinology, cancer, rehabilitation medicine, rheumatology, urology, ophtalmology operating theaters, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, gum disease, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental implants, emergency dental services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, medical imaging, gynaecology, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, wellness, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, natural therapy, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, chiropody, reproductive services, physiotherapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, hearing aids, home and community care, community health, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about what these services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community services, etc.

It’s important to also include any professional awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your practice and to position yourself above the competition.

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

Team

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cheaper ideas to grow your business online or increase user interaction with your site? Then help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

You want potential clients to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in medical or health-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It can include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow some of your staff members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline each staff member’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 page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

If you need help how to easily add a simple and easy-to-maintain list directory of employees or team members in WordPress using a free WP plugin, refer to this tutorial: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee Directory For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Work With Us

List any job or career opportunities available within the clinic. It could include type of training provided, benefits, professional development, social activities encouraged or sponsored by your organization, etc. It should include stories of trainees who have worked their way up in your organization and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the medical industry.

Maintain 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 your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

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

(Add a page with case studies and reviews from clients. Screenshot image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have written a detailed article about using testimonials, case studies and reviews here: How To Achieve Better Results Online Using Meaningful Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is vitally important.

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

• Business Name
• Physical address
• Telephone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Live Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If your business operates in multiple locations you should make this clear when displaying the address and contact information.

You can also include a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, online booking request, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content such as events, updates, educational articles, opinions on current topics, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to create more exposure for your practice.

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

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that will begin to deliver new visitors to your business, simply by adding content to your website on a consistent basis.

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

Go here to learn more:

• WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Create A Web Traffic-Getting Machine

Legal Information

As a professional health practitioner, having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is really important. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws and regulations wherever your business is located.

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

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms Of Use
• 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 on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improving The Content On Your Site

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

Provide useful content with great tips, advice and information that will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more. Using content is a great way to educate your visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

For example, if you provide weight management services, then some of the areas you can cover in your web content include:

• Emotional causes for weight issues (possible causes, identifying yours)
• What calories really are and how they play a role in weight loss
• Is hypnosis and effective weight loss treatment?
• Vitamins and minerals that aid in weight loss (chromium, calcium, magnesium, etc.)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your readers understand your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Remember to use specific keywords in your articles that your readers will search to find you online.

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

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides many benefits for your medical business.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• A feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is 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 many useful RSS feeds by visiting sites of health and medical-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Here are some examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can search by departments and select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Environmental health, Illnesses and disabilities, Menopause, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of RSS feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Rheumatology, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP), Journal of Cell Biology, American Chemical Society, BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), product recalls, radiological health, 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 - Find various health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS 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 select individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Neurology, Diet & Weight Management, Digestion, Travel Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Schizophrenia, Fertility, Infectious Diseases/Bacteria/Viruses, Irritable-Bowel Syndrome, Bones/Orthopedics, Prostate/Prostate Cancer, Psychology/Psychiatry, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “nuclear medicine rss feeds”, “food intolerance rss feeds”, “weight loss rss feeds”, etc.

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

Adding Checklists & Charts

Adding checklists and charts to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and medical forms can provide useful information and resources to perform a necessary task. Charts and checklists are great client instructional tools.

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

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

Adding Unique Tools

Providing useful tools and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Other applications would include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In part 2, we will be discussing a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this article on ways to build your health-related business web presence.

Click here to access the rest of this article:

• Your Medical Website – Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins And Themes

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