Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionised businesses worldwide, it has also created difficult challenges and great opportunities for health practitioners.

Challenges Professional Health Services Providers Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to participate in the community your business serves, you must also maintain an active web presence. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your medical or health services services online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing, businesses in the health or medical industry are also finding that they need to invest a bigger amount of their budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that will drive leads, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help to give their business a wider amount of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change in time and many areas may need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a sound website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that medical-related businesses face online (as do all other professions for that matter), is that your site has only around 30 seconds or less to provide visitors with what they are looking for or they will look 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 And Health Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for health or medical practices that are willing to evolve to meet online economy challenges and can think outside the box when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This article will help you uncover opportunities to find more potential clients and establish online credibility for your health or medical business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system to power your medical or health-related website.

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

• How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Health Practice Services Website

This section will show you how to improve your health or medical-related website and get better results online. We show you what pages a health or medical site needs, what type of content works best for health-related websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, read this article we have written: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Improving Your Web Pages

All websites require several essential web pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, orthopedics endocrinology, oncology, gerontology, rheumatology, urology, ophtalmology elective surgery, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, cleaning services, teeth whitening, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, lung screening, medical imaging, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, colloidal silver therapy, meditation, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, chiropody, reproductive services, speech therapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, mobility, home care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

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

It’s important to include any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your medical services and to set yourself above the competition.

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

Meet The Team

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then help visitors get to know, like and trust your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be very well-versed in health-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. It can also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow individual staff members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline your team member’s qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can 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 a simple team members directory to your website without touching code here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee List For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Work For Us

This is a listing of job opportunities within the clinic. This page should include training offered, benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working for your business, etc. It should include stories of trainees who have risen within your organization and information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the health or medical-related 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.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also provides visitors social proof.

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

If you would like to learn more about using client testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online, go here: Achieve Better Results Online With Sales Boosting Testimonials

Contact Us

A clean contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following:

• Name
• Physical address
• Telephone
• Facsimile number
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Online Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If you operate out of multiple areas you should make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

You can also include links to an FAQ section, main pages, booking form, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news and events, updates, training articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that WordPress can become an automated traffic system that can instantly drive targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding content to your website on a regular basis.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

You can learn more here:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – How To Turn Your WordPress Website Into An Automated Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

As a professional health practitioner, having a compliant website is vitally important. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any laws and regulations in whatever location you do business.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below 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 legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website here: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips For Improving The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, the ability to deliver valuable content free of charge has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

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

For example, if you provide products or services that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you could write content about include:

• Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
• How to get support when embarking on a weight loss program (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• Why using a measuring tape is better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress
• Useful apps for tracking calories and exercise
• And many other content topics

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

Include keywords and terms in your content that prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your website 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 keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses may 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 in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of 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 RSS feeds with useful content by searching online for relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are some feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to a health or medical site:

• 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 choose individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Health care for women, Illnesses and disabilities, Menopause, Smoking and how to quit, 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. Nucleic Acids Research, JAMA & Archives, The Journal of Immunology, The AAPS Journal (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists), ADA DOC News, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get various health-related news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find FDA-related feeds (e.g. criminal investigations press releases, health fraud, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, radiological health, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (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 (www.cdc.gov) - Get many health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds in places like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. 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 specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Cold & Flu, Pregnancy, Prevention & Wellness, Hearing, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Colorectal Cancer, Fertility, ADHD/ADD, Lymphoma/Leukemia/Myeloma, Transplants/Organ Donations, Sports Medicine/Fitness, Crohn’s/IBD, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “migraine rss feeds”, “fitness rss feeds”, “IBD rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS feeds can help to improve your medical-related site’s user experience.)

Provide Forms

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. They can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to get necessary tasks done. Charts and checklists are great educational 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 post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Other tools could include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section, we will look at a number of online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can help to improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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

To view Part 2, click here:

• How To Grow Your Health Clinic Website Successfully With WordPress – Part Two

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