Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical professionals face a number of challenges in the digital economy, especially when it comes to growing a business presence online.

Online Challenges For Health And Medical Businesses

Today, more than ever, businesses in the medical and health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your health or medical services services online.

In addition to spending money marketing offline, businesses in the health or medical industry are now also finding that they need to designate a more significant share of their marketing budget to develop and manage a website that will drive new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and help give their business a wider amount of exposure online.

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

One other difficult challenge that medical-related organizations face, as do most other professions for that matter, is that they have only around thirty seconds or less to give visitors the information 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 The Health And Medical Profession In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for medical or health businesses that can adapt to meet online demands and think progressively about improving their online business marketing skills.

In this article, you will discover new ways and opportunities to generate traffic and improve your medical business presence online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your health-related website, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress platform to power your medical or health-related business website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• Learn Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Cost You Prospective Buyers And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress – A Small Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips To Improve Your Health Practice Site

In this section we’ll show you ways to improve your medical website and get better results. We will look at what pages your site needs, what content you need, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, visit this page: How To Plan A Web Site: A Cost-Saving Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s review the pages your  should have and how to structure your health website for best results.

Services And Products

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, neurosurgery hematology, plastic surgery, incontinence, rheumatology, bariatric surgery, eye diseases surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, oral health, pap smears, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, couples, wellness, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, reiki, tai chi, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, othopedics, reproductive endocrinology, speech therapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, sleep therapy, home care, community health, medical equipment, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

It’s important to also include any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your practice and set yourself above the competition.

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

Core Team

Are you searching for simple ideas to sell more products or services online or get visitors to interact more on your site? Then help your prospective clients get to know your organization better.

Prospective clients need 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 will not tend to be that well-versed in medical or health-related terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should include social buttons so your visitors can follow selected team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your employee’s expertise and qualifications, how they add value to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to add an easy-to-manage list directory of staff members to your website using a free plugin, see this tutorial: How To Create A Simple Staff List In Your WordPress Site

Work With Us

List any job or career opportunities available within the clinic. It can include type of training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your business, etc. You can also include information about new career opportunities in the medical or health industry.

Also include 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 announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

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

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

To learn more about using testimonials and user reviews to grow your business online, go here: How To Convert More Visitors Into Prospects With Knockout Testimonials

Contact Page

A functional contact page is vitally important.

Your contact page should provide the following information:

• Business Name
• Location
• Phone
• Fax
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – who to contact
• Social media links
• Interactive chat feature (optional)

If you operate out of different areas you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You could also include links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, booking request, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Or Health-Related Blog

A blog can be a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as news and events, updates, educational information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to market your clinic.

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

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation system that will begin to attract targeted traffic to your site, simply by adding content on a consistent basis to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate web traffic automatically to your site)

To learn more about this go here:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Turn Your WordPress Web Site Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Info Pages

It’s crucial for professional organizations to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being broken wherever you practice.

Adding the following legal pages to your medical or health site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• 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
• and others

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. For more info, see this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

How To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the sooner you will begin to differentiate yourself from other competitors.

Providing great content with useful advice, information and tips will get your readers to share your web pages with others and come back for more content. This is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

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

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (carbs, proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats)
• How to identify the bad habits you need to correct to ensure permanent weight loss
• How you eat your food - just as important as what you eat (eat at table, chew slowly)
• 10 tips that will help you curb the late night urges for a snack (e.g. drink water with lemon)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, costs (including payment plans, insurance coverage, etc).

Include keywords and terms in your content that readers would 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 show you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your site.

If you provide useful information, other sites 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 updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. read the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits 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.

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by visiting sites of medical and health-related government departments and respected industry bodies.

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

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts RSS 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. Breastfeeding, Healthy aging, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental health, Screening tests and vaccines, 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. BioMed Central, Journal of Biological Chemistry, BMJ Injury Prevention, The Journal of Physiology, 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 RSS feeds on health-related topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find RSS feeds on fda-related topics like consumer health information updates, food allergies, product recalls, cosmetics, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• UK Department Of Health (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 many health-related RSS feeds 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 feeds section (e.g. Fitness and 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 RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Menopause, Neurology, Depression, Sexual Health, Travel Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Colorectal Cancer, Pulmonary System, Medical Insurance, Dermatology, Medical Devices/Diagnostics, Biology/Biochemistry, 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 subjects, e.g. “mesothelioma rss feeds”, “heart disease rss feeds”, “restless legs syndrome rss feeds”, etc.

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

Provide Online Charts And Checklists

Checklists and explanatory charts are a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your readers. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Checklists and forms are great instructional tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable checklists and forms (or links to these) covering topics such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Adding Online Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are useful tools to add to your website. Other applications would include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.

In part 2 of this guide, we look at a number of WordPress plugins and themes you can use in your site that can help to improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

***

This is the end of section 1 of this article on ways to improve your health or medical web presence.

Click on this link to keep reading:

• A Complete Guide To Growing A Medical Clinic Business Online Successfully – Part Two

***

***