Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only revolutionized businesses globally, it has also created growing challenges and great opportunities for medical-related businesses.

Challenges Health Services Face Online

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health and medical sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to participate in the community your business serves, you must also maintain an active digital presence. This includes having an effective website and figuring out smarter ways to market your practice online.

As well as spending dollars advertising offline, businesses in the health-related industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated to developing and managing a website that will bring in leads, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and help to increase their reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs will change over time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires having a sound website and content management strategy in place.

Another problem that health or medical businesses (and most professions) face online, is that your site has around 30 seconds to provide users what they are searching for or they will go 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 Medical & Health Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the health industry that are willing to adapt to meet online demands and can think strategically when it comes to marketing their business better online.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about new ways to attract and engage more visitors and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your web presence, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your medical-related website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see these articles:

• How A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Customers
• Learn How To Grow Your Business Using A WordPress Blog

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

This section will show you ways to improve your medical website and get better results. We show you what pages a medical or health-related website needs, what content works best for medical websites, navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, check out the guide we have written here: Planning Your Business Web Site - A Comprehensive Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

Professional business websites require several essential pages. Let’s go over these.

Services And Products Page

It’s essential to have a page that lists your services and products. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, your page can list services like:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, neurosurgery hematology, cancer, aged care, rheumatology, gastroenterology, eye diseases operating theaters, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental braces, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac monitoring, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, lung screening, hearing, women’s health, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, wellness coaching, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, homeopathy, natural therapy, massage therapy, chiropractic services, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, podiatry, reproductive endocrinology, stomal therapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, hearing aids, home 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 why they should book an appointment.

About Us

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

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

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

Team Profile Page

Are you looking for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ideas to grow your business online? Then make it easier for your visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

You want people to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in medical terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons so your site visitors can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

On 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 person’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

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

To learn more about how to easily create and add an easy-to-manage list of staff members to your website using free WordPress plugins, see this tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory To WordPress: Tutorial

Work With Us

This is a listing of career opportunities within your practice. This page can include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working for your organization, etc. It should include stories of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to your company and information about upcoming career opportunities in the medical or 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 the page, join your updates list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Client reviews and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you will also help to provide visitors social proof for your business.

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

If you want to learn more about using client testimonials and client reviews, refer to this article: All You Need To Know To Start Getting Better Results Online With Engaging Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is crucial.

It should include:

• Name
• Your physical location
• Phone number
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media networks
• Live chat feature

If your business operates out of different locations you should make that clear when showing your address and contact info.

Consider also including a few links point to commonly-asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, online booking form, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as the latest announcements, new releases, educational articles and tutorials, informative posts, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing site is hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used as both your website and blog.

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic machine that will help begin delivering new visitors to your web site, simply by publishing regular content to your website.

(WordPress can drive new traffic automatically to your website)

For more details:

• WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Attracting More Web Traffic For Your Business Automatically

Legal Information Pages

It’s vital to make sure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being breached wherever you practice.

Depending on the products and services you provide, adding some or all of the following legal pages to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

Go here if you would like to learn more about adding legal pages to your website: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips For Improving Your Content

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

Provide useful content with tips and information that will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about using your services.

For example, if your business provides products or services that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you could cover as content on your site:

• Overweight vs. Obese – what are the differences?
• What are calories and how understanding them helps in weight loss
• Is hypnosis and effective weight loss treatment?
• A guide to making the smarter choices choices when eating out at any restaurant
• And endless other content topics

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

Include the keywords and terminology in your content that prospective clients 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 teach you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your site visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. 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 user experience (generally referred to as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and UX.

Add RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your health business.

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 syndicating your content to other businesses using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• It’s 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 RSS feeds with loads of useful content for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments and well-known industry bodies.

Here are some feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to a 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 also select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Healthy aging, Heart health and stroke, 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 feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Quality and Safety in Health Care, PsychiatryOnline Journals, RadioGraphics, Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Infectious Agents and Cancer, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find many health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get RSS feeds on fda-related topics like criminal investigations press releases, food allergy reports, product recalls, drugs, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get various health-related RSS feeds 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 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 choose specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Arthritis, Migraine Headaches, Depression, Sexual Health, Travel Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Pharma Industry/Biotech Industry, Acid Reflux/GERD, Eczema/Psoriasis, Autism, Endocrinology, Sports Medicine/Fitness, Erectile Dysfunction/Premature Ejaculation, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “immune system rss feeds”, “mental health rss feeds”, “obesity rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Checklists and medical forms can give them useful information and resources to perform necessary steps. Forms and checklists are also great educational tools.

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

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists for specific conditions
• 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, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Adding Unique Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are useful tools to add to your website. Other tools would include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section of this guide, we look at a several WordPress plugins and themes you can add to your site that can help to improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To continue, click here:

• Grow Your Health & Medical Services Website – Improve Search Engine Optimization, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors With Plugins And Themes

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