Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionised businesses globally, it has also created growing challenges and opportunities for the medical or health-related industry.

Challenges Professional Medical Services Providers Face Online

Now, more than ever, health services providers must work harder to remain competitive and generate new clients. Not only do you have to actively participate in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and figuring out better ways to promote your business online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other medical-related businesses, you will need to delegate a greater portion of your marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that drives clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and increases your marketing exposure online.

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

One other difficult challenge that health providers (and other professions) face online, is that your site has only about thirty seconds to give visitors what they are searching for 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 Health And Medical Services Practitioners In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to businesses in the health sector that can evolve to meet digital economy challenges and can think strategically when it comes to marketing their business services better online.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn new ways to generate new potential clients and build more online credibility for your health or medical-related business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your health web presence, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your health or medical-related website or blog.

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

• Learn Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Potential Clients
• The Small Business Owner’s Guide To Understanding WordPress

Practical Tips To Improve Your Website

We’ll start first by reviewing the basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your health or medical website and get better results online. We show you what pages your site needs, what content works best for medical sites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your medical or health website, visit this page: The Web Site Planning Process Explained: A Money-Saving Primer For Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

All business websites require a number of essential web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  should have and how to set up your website for best results.

Products And Services

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose & throat, nephrology haematology, oncology, neurology, rheumatology, gastroenterology, ophtalmology emergency surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, teeth whitening, braces, emergency dental services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, radiology and imaging, women’s health, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration cytology, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, homeopathy, reiki, yoga, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, podiatry, fertility services, rehabilitation, medical genetics, artificial limbs, assisted living, home care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, community projects, etc.

This page should mention any medical-related awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and set yourself above the competition.

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

Meet Your Staff

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products online and get people to interact more with your site, then help your prospective clients get to know 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 team. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors are probably not very 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 do. This page can also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your person’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add an employee description page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to add a simple staff directory in your site using free WP plugins, go here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee List For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Job Opportunities

This is a listing of job or career opportunities available within your practice. It could include training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working for your organization, etc. You can include information about additional career opportunities in the medical or health-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, join your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients also helps your health or medical-related website to establish social proof online.

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

If you would like to learn more about using client testimonials and reviews go here: How To Improve Your Sales Using Meaningful User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide visitors with the following:

• Name
• Your physical address
• Phone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Live chat feature

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

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, main pages, booking request, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as events, updates, training information, informative posts, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established medical-related website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to market your clinic.

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

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can help begin delivering a stream of targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing content on a regular basis to your website.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

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

Legal Pages

As a professional medical provider, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial. This is not only important for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being contravened wherever you do business.

Depending on what products and services you provide, adding the following legal pages to your health or medical-related website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), 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 and Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. For more details, go here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s highly competitive global economy, the sooner you start to publish content on your site, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from other competing businesses.

You will want to provide great content with tips or information that will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Content marketing is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospects about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides products that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you could write content about include:

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• Is weight loss surgery right for you? (who should get it, risks, success rates)
• How to develop an exercise regime you can enjoy and will stick with
• Vitamins and minerals that aid in weight loss (chromium, calcium, magnesium, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Remember to use the same keywords in your content that your readers will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your presence online using content. 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 your website’s user experience (generally referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Use RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your website.

If you provide useful content, other businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared online
• RSS feeds allow users to subscribe
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides a number of ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s 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 searching online for relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are some feeds you could consider adding to a health or medical-related website:

• 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 specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Healthy aging, Illnesses and disabilities, Menopause, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention (American Association for Cancer Research), PsychiatryOnline Journals, BMJ Medical Humanities, BMJ Archives of Disease, BMJ British Journal of Ophthalmology, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get many health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find FDA-related news feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, FDA drug shortages, tainted products, drugs, 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 feeds on health-related news and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes 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 RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Cancer, Chronic Pain, Diabetes, Eyesight, Hearing, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Medical News Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Ovarian Cancer, Pulmonary System, Infectious Diseases/Bacteria/Viruses, Dermatology, Primary Care/General Practice, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s/IBD, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “anxiety rss feeds”, “preventive medicine rss feeds”, “statins rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Add Online Checklists And Charts

Checklists and educational charts are a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and medical forms can give them useful information and resources to perform steps. Charts and checklists are great client instructional tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are popular tools for your website. Other tools can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this guide, we discuss a several WordPress-based tools you can use in your website that can also help to improve seo, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.

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

To keep reading, click here:

• Online Business Tips For Health Services Professionals – Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Site With Plugins

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