Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical professionals face many new challenges in today’s digital economy, especially in terms of growing their presence online.

Challenges Medical And Health Firms Face Online

Now, more than ever, businesses in the medical and health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. 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 a website and learning how to better market your business online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing activities like advertising 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 they need to allocate a more significant part of their marketing budget towards developing and maintaining a website that attracts clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and increases their marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and many areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires a well-developed website and content management strategy.

Another problem that medical or health-related organizations face (and all other businesses for that matter), is that your site has only around 30 seconds or less to give visitors the information they are looking for or they will leave your site.

“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 Businesses In The Web Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the health industry that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and can think outside the box about improving their online business marketing skills.

In this article, you will learn new ways to find more client bookings and create significant improvements in your business results online.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your health or medical web presence, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your health or medical-related business website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow A Successful Small Business Online

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we will show you how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages your site needs, what type of content works best for health or medical websites, tips for improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, see this detailed guide we have written: Planning A Web Site - A Useful Primer For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

All business websites need some essential pages. Let’s discuss these.

Description Of Products And Services

You need to include a page that describes your services and products. Depending on which area you specialize in, this page could include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, orthopedics haematology, oral surgery, stroke, renal, gastroenterology, ophtalmology operating theaters, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, veneers, crowns and bridges, implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac monitoring, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, medical imaging, women’s health, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, wellness, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, reiki, meditation, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, podiatry, reproductive services, speech language therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home and community care, community health, 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

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

It’s important to list any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and to set yourself above your competitors.

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

Team

Are you searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online or increase user interaction on your site? Then help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Prospective clients need to relate to your business. 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 mini biography. Since most visitors are probably not very well-versed in medical or health terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas mean. It can include social buttons so your visitors can follow your team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your employee’s experience, 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 page that introduces your staff members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to add an updatable list of employees in your WordPress site using free WP plugins, see this tutorial: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Work With Us

List any job opportunities available within your practice. This page should include training, benefits, professional development, social activities promoted or sponsored by your business, etc. You can include case studies of recruits who have worked their way up in your business and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the medical or health industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, subscribe to your updates list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. By adding a page with testimonials from past clients and case studies, you are also helping to are also providing visitors social proof online for your business.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and testimonials. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

To learn more about using testimonials and client reviews, see this article: All You Need To Know To Achieve Better Results Online Using Sales Boosting Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a clean contact page is vitally important.

Your contact page should provide visitors with some or all of the following information about your business:

• Name
• Address of premises
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Email address
• Map
• Website address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Live chat

If you have several locations you want to make that clear when showing your address and contact information.

You can also include links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, online booking request, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news and events, updates, educational articles, opinions and discussions, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something not many businesses know about, is that WordPress can become an automated traffic machine that can help attract new targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding regular content to your site.

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

Go here to learn more about this:

• WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Grow Your Website Traffic For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Pages

It’s crucially important to have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any local, regional and federal laws and regulations in whatever area you service.

Adding the legal pages below to your site will help you stay 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 And Conditions
• 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.

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

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

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

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

• Being overweight vs. being obese – what are the differences?
• How to calculate how many calories you consume each day
• How to incorporate exercise into your busy schedule
• 7 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 informative articles that will help your readers understand your health services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Include keywords and terminology in your articles that readers will be searching 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 exactly how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your website using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your health or medical business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites will 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 in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides links to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also 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.

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website, search online for medical-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are some examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could add to a health or medical-related website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Fitness and nutrition, Illnesses and disabilities, 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 well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, BMJ Heart, TheLancet.com, BMJ Tobacco Control, Molecular Biology and Evolution, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find many health-related news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find FDA-related feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, health fraud, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, drugs, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get many health-related news feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes 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 specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Asthma, Cholesterol, Depression, Eyesight, Travel Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News 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. Abortion, Headache/Migraine, Eczema/Psoriasis, Flu/Cold/SARS, Endocrinology, Cosmetic Medicine/Plastic Surgery, Obesity/Weight Loss/Fitness, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “obstetrics rss feeds”, “autism rss feeds”, “clinical trials rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS feeds can help to improve your medical-related website’s user experience.)

Add Online Forms

Checklists and explanatory charts are a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Checklists and medical forms can give them useful step-by-step information and resources to perform a necessary task. Charts and checklists can also be great instructional tools.

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

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

Add Other Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators are useful tools to add to your website. Other tools can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this guide, we will be discussing a several online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section 1 of this guide on ways to improve your medical business presence online.

To continue reading, click here:

• Your Medical Services And Health-Related Website – How To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation With WordPress Plugins & Themes

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