Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only transformed business worldwide, it has also created a number of difficult challenges and great opportunities for medical or health businesses.

Online Challenges For The Medical & Health Profession

Now, more than ever, health services professionals must find smarter ways to remain competitive and find new clientele. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better promote your health services online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy medical businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be assigned to developing and maintaining a website that drives new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps you gain wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a well-planned web and content management strategy.

Another difficult challenge that medical businesses (and most professions) face with their websites, is that you have only around thirty seconds or less to help visitors find the information they need or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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 And Medical Services Providers In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for medical businesses that can evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and can think outside the box in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

This guide will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to increase web traffic and establish online credibility for your medical or health-related business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your medical or health business online, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your health-related business website.

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Business And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow A Successful Small Business Online

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your medical-related website and get better results. We will look at what web pages you need, what type of content you need, suggestions for improving layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, go here: The Website Planning Process - A Practical Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Improve Your Website Pages

All websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s discuss the pages your  should have and how to set up your health-related website for best results.

Services And Products Description Page

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. pain management, pulmonology hematology, plastic surgery, stroke, rheumatology, colon/rectal surgery, eye diseases surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, veneers, crowns and bridges, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac monitoring, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, skin cancer, hearing, gynaecology, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, homeopathy, reiki, meditation, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, othopedics, reproductive endocrinology, stomal therapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, mobility, home care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

The ‘About Us’ 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 mention any medical or health-related awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your services and position yourself above the competition.

(List all of your business awards recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc. in your About Us page. Image source: 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 prospective clients get to know, like and trust your organization better.

You want prospects to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be very well-versed in health or medical terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas mean. It should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline each 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.

(Add a page that introduces your team to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to create and add a list directory of employees in a WordPress site using a free WP plugin here: Plugin Tutorial: Adding An Employee List Directory To Your Site

Career Opportunities

List any job or career opportunities available within the business. It would include training offered, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You can include stories of graduates who have worked their way up in your business and information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the health or medical-related industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a web page with case studies and reviews from clients also helps your medical or health site to provide social proof.

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

If you would like to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and reviews improve your business online, go here: How To Create Better Results Online Using Awesome Client Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following:

• Company Name
• Your address
• Phone
• Fax
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Interactive chat (optional feature)

If you operate in different locations you should make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, booking form, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content such as news, new releases, useful articles, opinions and discussions, videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin to drive targeted traffic to your business, simply by adding regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can generate web traffic automatically to your website)

Go here to learn more:

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

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 no laws and regulations are being contravened wherever your business is located.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your medical or health-related site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• 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.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s fiercely competitive online business economy, the sooner you begin to publish good content on your site, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing useful content with great tips and information will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about using your products and services.

For example, if your business provides products that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you can write about include the following:

• Emotional causes for weight issues (possible causes, identifying yours)
• Weight loss surgery – benefits vs risks (who should get it, risks, success rates)
• Comparing different diets, e.g. Atkins diet, GI diet, Nutrisystem diet (what these are, how they can benefit you, how effective they are)
• Useful apps for tracking calories and exercise
• Etc.

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your health or medical-related services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Remember to include keywords and terminology in your articles 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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your website, 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 100% FREE!

Improving User Experience

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

Syndicating Content - RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your site.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites may 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
• Your feed can be shared online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides links to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes 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 for your website by visiting sites of medical and health-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Here are some 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, Healthy aging, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental 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, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Indian Journal of Plastic Surgery, 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 - Find various feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find FDA-related news feeds (e.g. consumer health information updates, food allergy reports, tainted products, drugs, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find various feeds on health-related news and topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also select specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Arthritis, Nutrition, Food, & Recipes, Diabetes, Senior Health, Women’s Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News 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. Hypertension, Immune System/Vaccines, ADHD/ADD, Autism, Parkinson’s Disease, Epilepsy, Clinical Trials/Drug Trials, 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. “palliative care rss feeds”, “dyslexia rss feeds”, “tuberculosis rss feeds”, etc.

(Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your health-related site’s UX.)

Checklists And Charts

Checklists and educational charts are a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and charts can provide useful step-by-step instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Charts and checklists are also great client educational tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Other Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Calculators, for example are useful tools you can add to your website. Others would include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In part two, we take a look at a number of WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your website that can also help improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this article on ways to grow your medical business presence online.

Click here to keep reading:

• How To Successfully Grow A Medical Services & Health-Related Business Online With WordPress – Part Two

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