Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionized business worldwide, it has also created a growing number of challenges and great opportunities for businesses offering health or medical-related services.

Online Challenges For Health And Medical Services Providers

Now, more than ever, medical providers must work hard to remain competitive and obtain new clientele. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better market your medical or health services services online.

As well as investing dollars in offline marketing, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy health businesses, you will need to delegate a more significant portion of your budget to develop and maintain a website that attracts clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and gives you wider reach 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 even more importantly, the needs of your website will change in time and sections will need to be updated often. This requires a well-developed web and content management strategy in place.

One other difficult challenge that health organizations (and most other businesses) face, is that your site has an average of thirty seconds or less to help visitors find the information they need or they will go away.

“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

Online Opportunities For Medical & Health Professionals

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to medical or health practices that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and can think outside the box in terms of marketing their business services better online.

In this detailed guide, you will discover new opportunities to attract and engage new visitors and establish stronger online credibility for your medical or health-related business.

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

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

• How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Potential Clients And What To Do About It
• The Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

How To Improve Your Health & Medical Services Site

We’ll start first by reviewing the basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your medical or health-related website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what content you need, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, go here: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Basic Website Pages

Professional websites need a number of basic web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  should have and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of Products And Services

You need to include a page that explains your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page can include services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, pulmonology endocrinology, oncology, continence management, renal, gastroenterology, eye diseases day surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, gum disease, veneers, crowns and bridges, braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal and 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, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, wellbeing, social development services
• Alternative treatments – Chinese medicine, reflexology, reiki, tai chi, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, chiropody, reproductive endocrinology, optical services, neurosciences, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home and community care, clinical information, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, community events, etc.

Remember to also mention any business awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical services and to position yourself above similar service providers.

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

Meet The Team

Are you looking for simple ways to grow your business online or get prospects to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for prospective clients to get to know your business better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not that well-versed in health or medical terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It can include social buttons so your site visitors can follow selected team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to highlight each employee’s experience, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your staff to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to add an easy-to-update simple employee directory to your website using free plugins here: How To Add A Simple Employee List On Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities Page

This is a listing of job opportunities within the practice. This page can include type of training provided, benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You should also include stories of trainees who have worked their way up in your company and information about upcoming career opportunities in the health-related industry.

Also include a positions available section in this 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

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with testimonials from past clients and case studies also provides social proof.

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

To learn more about using testimonials and user reviews improve your business online, go here: All You Need To Know To Start Getting Better Results Online Using Highly Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

Your contact page should include:

• Name Of Your Business
• Address
• Phone
• Fax
• Email
• Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Interactive chat

If your business operates from multiple locations you should make this clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Health-Related Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to promote your business by publishing content like news, updates, educational articles and tutorials, opinions and discussions, educational videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Very few people know that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can instantly begin driving new visitors to your site, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(WordPress can generate new traffic automatically to your site)

For more details, go here:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Attract More Web Traffic For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Information

It’s crucially important to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking laws and regulations in whatever area or location you service.

Adding the following legal pages to your medical site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal 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/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. To learn more, go here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve Your Content

In today’s highly competitive online business economy, the sooner you begin engaging in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to differentiate yourself from the competition.

Providing great content with useful information, tips and advice will get your readers to share your information online and come back for more. This is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your services.

For example, if you provide weight management services, then some of the topics you can cover as content on your site:

• What to do before you start any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
• What calories really are and how they play a role in weight loss
• Tips for developing a better eating and exercise regime
• Vitamins and minerals that help with weight loss (chromium, calcium, magnesium, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Include keywords and terminology in your articles that prospective clients would search to find you online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site 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!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Adding RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your site.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses may want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your 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 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 by visiting sites of relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed some feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to a medical or health-related 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 select specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Healthy aging, HIV/AIDS, Minority women’s health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of 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), BMJ Injury Prevention, BMJ Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Respiratory Research, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find various feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find feeds on fda-related news like consumer health information, FDA drug shortages, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find various health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Arthritis, Neurology, Diet & Weight Management, Prevention & Wellness, Travel Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Cardiovascular/Cardiology, Complementary Medicine/Alternative Medicine, Infectious Diseases/Bacteria/Viruses, Sleep/Sleep Disorders/Insomnia, Endocrinology, Tropical Diseases, Tuberculosis, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “obstetrics rss feeds”, “heart disease rss feeds”, “statins rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your visitors. They can give them useful step-by-step information and resources to complete necessary tasks. Checklists and forms are also great client instructional tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms can cover subjects such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Other Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to users. Calculators, for example are useful tools for your website. Other tools would include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In part 2 of this detailed article, we take a look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your health website that can help improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

To continue, click this link:

• How To Grow A Health & Medical Services Presence Online Successfully – Part Two

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