Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical and health services providers face many new challenges in today’s digital economy, especially when it comes to growing a presence online.

Challenges Professional Health And Medical Services Practitioners Face Online

Now, more than ever, health and medical services providers must find smarter ways to remain competitive and generate new clientele. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having a dynamic website and searching for better ways to market your business online.

As well as investing dollars in offline marketing activities such as advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the health or medical-related industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be allocated towards the development and maintenance of a website that can bring in prospective clients, engage visitors, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and help give them a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs will change in time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires having a well-planned web and content management strategy in place.

Another difficult challenge that medical services professionals (and most other businesses) face with their websites, is that your site has around 30 seconds to give visitors what 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

Opportunities For Medical & Health Services

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for medical or health-related practices that are willing to adapt to meet online economy demands and can think outside the box about marketing their services better online.

The article below will help you uncover ways to generate more bookings and establish online credibility for your medical-related business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System to power your medical-related business website or blog.

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

• How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
• Understanding WordPress – A Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips To Improve Your Website

In this section we’ll show you how to improve your medical-related website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what type of content works best for medical or health websites, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need help with website planning, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: How To Plan A Website: A Money-Saving Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Pages

All websites require several basic web pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services Page

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. acute pain management, pulmonology diabetes, reconstructive surgery, neurology, renal, urology, optometry operating theaters, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, restorations, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dental services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, skin cancer, radiology, women’s health, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, natural therapy, yoga, chiropractic services, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, chiropody, reproductive endocrinology, optical services, inherited diseases, prosthetics, mobility, home care, sexual health, medical equipment, etc.

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

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, community involvement, etc.

It should include any awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your practice and set yourself above similar service providers.

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

Staff

If you are searching for inexpensive ideas to sell more products online or get people to stay longer on your site, then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know you, your team and your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with medical or health 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 visitors can follow your staff members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your staff member’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your staff members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

If you need help how to easily add an easy-to-update simple team directory in your website without editing code, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff List To Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code

Recruitment Page

List any career opportunities within the business. It could include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include case studies of recruits who have risen within your organization and information such as the job outlook and upcoming 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, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you will also help to provide social proof online for your business.

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

If you would like to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and reviews to improve your business results online, go here: How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads Using Engaging Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is vitally important.

It should provide:

• Business Name
• Physical location
• Telephone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Chat/Skype

If you operate from different locations you should make that clear when showing the address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking request, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like announcements, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established medical website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to create more exposure for your medical clinic.

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

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic machine that will help begin attracting web traffic to your site, simply by adding regular content to your website.

(WordPress can drive traffic automatically to your website)

To learn more about this go here:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Create An Automated Web Traffic-Getting Machine With WordPress

Legal Information Pages

It’s important to ensure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being broken wherever you do business.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your website 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 Statement
• Terms And Conditions
• 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

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, refer to this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

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

By providing great content with tips and information, you will get your readers sharing your information with others online and coming back for more content. Publishing content is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospects about using your products and services.

For example, if you provide products or services that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you could write content about include:

• What’s the difference between being overweight and obese?
• What are calories and how understanding them helps in weight loss
• Incorporating exercise into your busy schedule
• How to make smarter choices choices when eating out at any restaurant
• And endless other content topics

You can also create a series of informative 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 keywords and terminology in your articles that your prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show you how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your website.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses 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
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits 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.

You can find RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of RSS feeds you could consider adding to your site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog 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, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, Screening tests and vaccines, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Journal of Applied Physiology, Journal of Biological Chemistry, Stem Cells, Neurology.org, BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get various health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, food safety reports, recalls, radiological health, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various RSS feeds on health-related news and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – 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, Diabetes, Digestion, Women’s Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Medical News Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Cystic Fibrosis, Seniors/Aging, Eczema/Psoriasis, Swine Flu, Parkinson’s Disease, Litigation/Medical Malpractice, Statins, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “bird flu rss feeds”, “lymphoma rss feeds”, “medical practice management rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS feeds can help to improve your site’s user experience.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and explanatory charts to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and medical forms can provide useful instructions and resources to perform tasks. They can also be great client educational tools.

You can provide checklists, charts and forms covering a range of subjects such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Online Tools

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

In the next section, we will look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your website that can improve your seo, increase user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1.

Click on this link to access Part Two:

• How To Build And Grow Your Health Center Web Presence Successfully With WordPress – Part 2

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