Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only revolutionised the way business is done globally, it has also created a growing number of challenges and great opportunities for the medical profession.

Challenges Health Services Providers Face Online

Today, more than ever, medical practices must work hard to stand out from their competition and obtain new clients. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop a strong web presence. This includes having a dynamic website and learning better ways to promote your practice online.

In addition to investing money marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be directed to developing and managing a website that will bring in prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and give you a wider amount of reach online.

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

One other problem that medical or health-related businesses (and most other professions) face, is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to give users what they are looking for or they will leave the 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 Providers In The Digital Economy

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

In this guide, you will discover opportunities to attract new potential clients and create noticeable improvements in your online results.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your health or medical-related website.

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

• Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Prospective Buyers And What To Do About It
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Small Business Using A WordPress Site

Useful Tips For Improving Your Health Center Website

This section explains ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages your website needs, what content works best for medical or health-related websites, layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your medical or health-related website, read this detailed step-by-step guide: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional business websites need some basic web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services And Products Description Page

It’s essential to have a page that explains your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page could include services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, neurosurgery endocrinology, maxillofacial surgery, continence management, renal, colon/rectal surgery, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral hygiene, restorations, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, skin cancer, medical imaging, gynaecology, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, holistic medicine, massage therapy, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, podiatry, fertility services, stomal therapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, sleep therapy, home care, community health, medical transport, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

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

It’s important to also mention any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your business and position yourself above other competitors.

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

Meet The Team

Are you looking for inexpensive ways to sell more products or services online? Then something you can do, is make it easier for visitors to get to know you, your team and 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 employees. This page should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with medical or health-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page can also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow your 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 outline each team member’s expertise, 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 source: southperthchiro.com.au)

For a detailed step-by-step tutorial on how to easily create and add an easy-to-update directory of staff or team members in a WordPress site without touching code, go here: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff List For Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Job Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities available within the practice. This page could include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working for your business, etc. You can include information about new career opportunities in the health or 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 this page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies, you will also help to establish social proof.

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

We have written extensively on using testimonials, case studies and reviews to grow your business online here: Create Better Results Online Using Highly Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone number
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Interactive chat

If your business operates in multiple locations you will want to make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, online booking request, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful business marketing tool. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content such as announcements, new releases, useful information, opinions and discussions, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing medical website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to market your organization.

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

Something not many businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that can instantly begin attracting targeted visitors to your website, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

• WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Grow Your Website Traffic For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Information Pages

Having a compliant website is very important. This is not only important for building trust with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being contravened wherever you do business.

Depending on what products and services you provide, adding the following legal pages to your health or medical website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential sources of legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• 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.

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content that educates and informs readers has become one of the key business differentiators.

By providing useful content with information, advice and tips, you will get your readers to share your web pages and come back for more. Using content is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about using your products and services.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the areas you can write about include the following:

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (carbs, proteins, minerals, fats, vitamins)
• Is weight loss surgery right for you? (who should get it, risks, success rates)
• Is hypnosis and effective weight loss treatment?
• How to modify recipes for achieving healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Include the keywords 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 actionable information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your website using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor Experience

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

RSS Feeds – Content Syndication

RSS feeds provide plenty of benefits for your website.

If you provide useful content, other businesses will want to syndicate your content.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• It provides links to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides a number of ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

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

You can find RSS feeds with useful content for your website by searching online for medical-related government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Here are some examples of feeds you could add to a medical or health-related website:

• 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, Fitness and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Minority women’s health, Screening tests and vaccines, 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. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, Epidemiology – Featured Articles, BMJ Emergency Medicine Journal, BMJ Journal of Clinical Pathology, BMJ British Journal of Ophthalmology, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find various RSS feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find feeds on fda-related news and topics like consumer health information updates, food allergies, product recalls, radiological health, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find many 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. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Arthritis, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Prevention & Wellness, Women’s Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT 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. Abortion, Seniors/Aging, ADHD/ADD, Lymphoma/Leukemia/Myeloma, Back Pain, Tropical Diseases, Tuberculosis, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “lupus rss feeds”, “lymphoma rss feeds”, “ear, nose and throat rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your health website’s user experience.)

Adding Downloadable Checklists

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with step-by-step information and resources to complete tasks. Forms and checklists are great client instructional tools.

Forms, charts and checklists can include subjects such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Calculators are useful tools to add to your website. Other tools can include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In part 2, we will look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your site that can help to improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click here to view Part Two:

• A Practical Guide To Building And Growing Your Health-Related Website – Part Two

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