Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical professionals today face an increasing number of new challenges created by the web economy.

Challenges Professional Medical And Health Services Practitioners Face Online

Today, more than ever, health services practitioners must work hard to stand apart from the crowd and find new clients. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop an active web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and figuring out better ways to promote your practice online.

In addition to investing dollars advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy medical or health-related businesses, you will need to invest a bigger share of your marketing budget to developing and maintaining a website that will drive clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and increase your marketing reach 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 some areas may need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.

Another problem that health-related organizations face online (and most professions for that matter), is that they have around thirty seconds to provide users with what they are searching for or they will look 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 Services Practitioners In The Web Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the medical or health-related industry that are willing to adapt to meet the demands of the digital economy and think strategically about marketing their business services better online.

In this guide, you will learn about new ways to attract more visitors and improve your online results.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see these articles:

• Learn How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Prospective Buyers
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Small Business Using A WordPress Blog

Practical Tips For Improving Your Health Center Website

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

If you need website planning assistance, visit this page: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Your Website Pages

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

Products And Services Description Page

You need a page that lists your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, this page can list services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, pulmonology hematology, oncology, continence management, respiratory, weight loss surgery, eye diseases operating theaters, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, gum disease, teeth whitening, dental braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal and Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, x-ray, gynaecology, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, functional medicine, meditation, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, chiropody, reproductive endocrinology, optical services, medical genetics, prosthetics, hearing aids, home and community care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

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

About Us Page

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.

Remember to also include any health or medical-related awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your medical services and to position yourself above similar service providers.

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

Your Team

If you are looking for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online, then help prospects get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not well-versed in health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow individual staff members on their social networks.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each employee’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a staff page. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an easy-to-maintain directory of employees in your website using free plugins here: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff List For Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities

This is a listing of job opportunities available within your organization. It would include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can also include information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the 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, subscribe to your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials

Testimonials from previous 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 provides prospective clients with social proof.

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

For a detailed article about using client case studies and client reviews to grow your business online, go here: Learn How To Improve Your Conversions With Knockout Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is absolutely vital.

Your contact page should include:

• Name
• Physical location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Social media URLs
• Live Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If your business services different areas you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact information.

You should also include a few links point to commonly-asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, online booking form, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content like news and events, new releases, useful information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can instantly begin delivering web traffic to your website, simply by adding regular content to your website.

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

Go here to learn more:

• WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your Website Into An Automated Traffic Machine

Legal Information Pages

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

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions 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
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. For more details: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improving Your Web Content

In today’s ultra-competitive online economy, the sooner you start to publish good content on your site, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from other competing businesses.

By committing to providing great content with advice and tips, you will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more. Using content is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about using your services.

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

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (protein, carbs, fats, vitamins, minerals)
• How to set realistic, but challenging weight loss goals
• Why using a measuring tape is better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress
• A guide to making the smarter choices choices when eating at restaurants
• Etc.

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

Include the keywords and terminology in your content that your prospective clients will search to find you 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 show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides many benefits for your business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, 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 content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• An RSS feed provides links back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using feed readers)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes 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 useful RSS feeds for your website, visit sites of relevant government departments or key industry bodies.

Here are some feeds you could consider adding to a health or medical-related website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Fitness and nutrition, Heart health and stroke, Menopause, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, Obesity, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find RSS feeds on fda-related news and topics like consumer health information, food allergies, tainted products, tobacco news, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• 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 RSS feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Medical research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Arthritis, Chronic Pain, Diabetes, Senior Health, Infectious Disease, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Cardiovascular/Cardiology, Lupus, Cervical Cancer/HPV Vaccine, Emergency Medicine, Transplants/Organ Donations, Allergy, Genetics, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “pharmacist rss feeds”, “diabetes rss feeds”, “alzheimer’s rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS feeds to improve your health site’s UX.)

Adding Checklists

Checklists and medical forms are a great way to help increase user engagement and add value to your audience. They can give them useful step-by-step information and resources to complete a task. Charts and checklists are great client instructional tools.

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

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post treatment
• Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, general 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.)

Adding Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators, for example, are great tools you can add to your website. Others would include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this guide, we look at a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins and themes that improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this guide on ways to build your health business presence online.

Click here to view the rest of this guide:

• How To Build And Grow A Health And Medical Practice Services Web Presence Using WordPress – Part Two

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