Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health and medical services professionals today are facing an increasing number challenges brought about by the digital economy.

Online Challenges For Medical And Health Businesses

Now, more than ever, businesses in the medical and health sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community your business serves, you must also maintain an active web presence. This includes having a dynamic website and figuring out better ways to grow your medical services online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., businesses in the medical or health-related industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be directed towards developing and managing a website that drives leads, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and gives them a wider marketing exposure online.

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

Another problem that medical professionals face online (and all other professions for that matter), is that they have around thirty seconds to provide visitors with what they are looking 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 Medical And Health Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available to health or medical practices that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and who can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn a number of ways to attract and engage more visitors and establish online credibility for your medical or health business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your health business website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, go here:

• Learn How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Prospective Clients
• How To Grow Your Business With A WordPress Site

Practical Tips For Improving Your Medical Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages you need, what content works best, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, go here: The Web Site Planning Process - A Useful Guide For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All websites need several basic web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Products And Services

It’s essential to include a page that explains your services or products. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, orthopedics hematology, cancer, neurology, renal, endoscopy, ophtalmology emergency surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, restorations, dental braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, skin cancer, audiology, women’s health, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration cytology, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, natural therapy, massage therapy, chiropractic services, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, chiropody, reproductive endocrinology, stomal therapy, inherited diseases, prosthetics, hearing aids, home care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

Who We Are

This page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

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

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

Meet Our Team

If you are searching for quicker and easier ideas to grow your business online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know, like and trust you and your organization 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 members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in health or medical terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. This page should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected team members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each employee’s experience, how their skills and knowledge add value to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an easy-to-maintain list of employees in your site using a free plugin here: How To Create A Simple Staff Directory In Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Recruitment Page

List any job or career opportunities within the company. This page can include training, benefits, professional development, etc. You can also include stories of trainees who have risen within your company and information about upcoming career opportunities in the medical-related industry.

Maintain 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 you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also establishes social proof.

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

We have written a comprehensive article about using client testimonials and user reviews improve your business online. To learn more about this go here: How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Engaging Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is essential.

It should include:

• Name
• Physical location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media web addresses
• Chat

If your business services several locations you should make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, online booking request, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as the latest news, updates, training articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Not many people know this, but WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that will help begin delivering a stream of web traffic to your website, simply by adding content to your website on a consistent basis.

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

To learn more about this go here:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Growing Your Web Visitors Automatically

Legal Information Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is vitally important. This is not only important for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional and federal laws and regulations wherever you do business.

Adding the legal pages below to your medical-related site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

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

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Ways To Improve Your Content

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

Providing useful content with tips and information will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Using content is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

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

• Emotional causes for weight issues (possible causes, how to identify yours)
• Tips for developing portion control habits (smaller plate, don’t put food on the table, more vegetables)
• How you eat your food - just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• How to modify recipes for healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Include the keywords and terminology in your articles that prospective clients 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 easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your website using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your medical or health-related business.

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

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to adding syndicated content to your site from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with useful content for your website, visit sites of medical-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

Here are examples of useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to a medical or health-related website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also choose individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Health care for women, HIV/AIDS, 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 RSS feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Disease in Childhood – Education and Practice, Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC), RadioGraphics, The Journal of Physiology, Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get many health-related news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find RSS feeds on fda-related news like enforcement reports, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), pet health, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find various health-related news feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also choose individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Arthritis, Cold & Flu, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Exercise & Fitness, Heart, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Public Health, Complementary Medicine/Alternative Medicine, Compliance, Dermatology, CJD/vCJD/Mad Cow Disease, Dyslexia, Obesity/Weight Loss/Fitness, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “lung cancer rss feeds”, “drug approvals rss feeds”, “restless legs syndrome rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. Forms and checklists can provide step-by-step instructions and resources to complete necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are also great instructional tools.

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

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Add Unique Tools

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

In the next section, we will look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your website that can also help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of part one of this guide on ways to improve your medical-related business web presence.

To keep reading, click this link:

• A Practical Guide On How To Build And Grow Your Health And Medical Practice Website – Part Two

***

***