Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical and Health professionals face many new challenges in the web economy, especially when it comes to growing their presence online.

Online Challenges For The Medical Profession

Now, more than ever, medical or health-related practices must find smarter ways to remain competitive and source new clientele. Not only do you have to participate in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better market your practice online.

As well as investing dollars advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, you will need to assign a greater portion of your marketing budget to develop and maintain a website that drives new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps you create a wider amount of exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change over time and some aspects may need to be frequently updated. This requires having a sound website and content management strategy in place.

One other problem that health organizations face, as other businesses do for that matter, is that they have only about 30 seconds to give visitors the information they need or they will leave the site.

“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 The Health And Medical Profession In The Web Economy

As well as facing many business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the medical-related profession that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and think progressively in terms of marketing their business services better online.

The guide below will help you uncover new ways to attract more visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your health-related business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your medical-related website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see the articles below:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using A WordPress Blog To Grow Your Small Business

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

This section will show you ways to improve your health or medical website and get better results. We will look at what web pages you need, what content works best, navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, visit this page: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

Professional websites require a number of essential pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  need and how to structure your medical or health-related website for best results.

Description Of Products And Services

You need to include a page that describes your services or products. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page could include services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. acute pain management, orthopedics hematology, cancer, geriatric medicine, respiratory, bariatric surgery, ophtalmology surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral health, teeth whitening, dental braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal and Postnatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, x-ray, pap smears, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, homeopathy, reiki, tai chi, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, reproductive services, speech therapy, medical genetics, artificial limbs, assisted living, home care, sexual health, medical transport, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

It should list any awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your medical services and set yourself above your competitors.

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

Core Team

If you are searching for simple ways to sell more products online, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be that well-versed in medical terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas mean. It can include social buttons so your site visitors can follow 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 your person’s expertise, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add an employee description page. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily create and add an easy-to-maintain list directory of staff or team members in WordPress using a free plugin here: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff Directory On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

Work For Us

List any job opportunities available within the clinic. It can include type of training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include stories of recruits who have established a solid career path thanks to your business and information about new career opportunities in the medical and health industry.

Include also a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase what kind of services you offer. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials, you are also helping to establish social proof online for your business.

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

We have created a detailed article about using client case studies and reviews get better results online. For more info, see this article: Learn How To Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Meaningful Client Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a clean contact page is absolutely necessary.

It should provide:

• Name
• Your address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Email
• Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Live chat (optional)

If your business operates out of different areas you should make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking request, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like the latest announcements, updates, educational articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

You may not have been told about this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that will begin driving targeted traffic to your web site, simply by publishing content on a consistent basis to your website.

(WordPress can generate traffic automatically to your site)

For more details:

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

Legal Information

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a compliant website is important. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being broken wherever you provide services.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your health or medical 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 Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

Go here if you would like to learn more about adding legal pages to your site: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s highly competitive global business economy, the willingness to deliver valuable content free of charge has become one of the key differentiators for businesses that sell similar products or provide similar services.

You will want to provide great content with information or tips that will get your visitors to share your information and come back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

For example, if you provide products that help people lose weight, then some of the topics you can cover as content on your site:

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals)
• How to ask for support when embarking on a weight loss program (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• How to develop a better eating and exercise regime
• How to incorporate an occasional fast food into a healthy diet plan
• Etc.

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

Include keywords and terminology in your articles that readers will search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to 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 User Experience

Improving user experience (generally referred to 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.

RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides lots of benefits for your website.

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

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides links back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are multiple ways readers can receive your content (e.g. users can view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your site 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 search online for health-related government departments or industry bodies.

Here are a few feeds you could consider adding to a medical-related site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, 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, Minority women’s health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. The Oncologist, BMJ Heart, Neurology India, Neurology.org, The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 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 here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find feeds on fda-related topics like criminal investigations press releases, food allergy reports, product recalls, cosmetics, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.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. Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer, Migraine Headaches, Diabetes, Prevention & Wellness, Travel Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Gout, Fertility, Sexual Health/STDs, Body Aches, COPD, Cleft Palate, 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 topics, e.g. “vaccines rss feeds”, “cold rss feeds”, “IBD rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Adding Online Checklists

Adding checklists and charts to your site is a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Charts and checklists can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. They are great educational tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms could include topics such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Adding Online Tools

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

In part 2 of this detailed guide, we discuss a number of online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins that improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this guide on ways to grow your health or medical business presence online.

Click here to view Part 2:

• How To Successfully Grow Your Health & Medical Center Services Business Online – Part Two

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