Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only transformed business globally, it has also created increasingly difficult challenges and opportunities for the health-related industry.

Challenges Professional Health Services Practitioners Face Online

Now, more than ever, businesses in the medical industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active web presence. This includes having an effective website and figuring out smarter ways to promote your services online.

In addition to spending dollars marketing offline, you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be assigned to develop and manage a website that drives prospective clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps you create wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change over time and some aspects may need to be updated often. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that health or medical businesses face with their websites (as do most professions for that matter), is that your site has only about 30 seconds or less to give users the information they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to get their needs met.

“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 And Health Services Professionals

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the medical or health-related industry that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think outside the box about marketing their business better online.

In this article, you will discover opportunities to generate new client accounts and build more online credibility for your business.

As well as providing practical tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your medical business online, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress to power your health or medical business website.

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

• Discover How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Business
• Mastering WordPress – The Business Owner’s Guide

Useful Tips For Improving Your Medical Clinic Services Site

In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you how to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what pages you need, what content works best for health websites, navigation structure, etc.

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

Ways To Improve Your Web Pages

All business websites require a number of basic web pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need and how to set up your website for best results.

Products And Services Page

You need a page that describes your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, your page could include services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, orthopedics hematology, oncology, geriatric medicine, respiratory, gastroenterology, optometry palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, teeth whitening, orthodontics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, lung screening, radiology, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration biopsy, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, couples, wellness, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, functional medicine, meditation, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, othopedics, reproductive services, rehabilitation, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, assisted living, home and community care, sexual health, medical equipment, 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.

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, causes supported, etc.

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

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

Core Team

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to grow your business online, then something you can do, is make it easier for your visitors to get to know your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors won’t be that well-versed in medical or health 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 can also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow your staff members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to outline each team 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 ‘meet the team’ page. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to easily add an easy-to-manage simple employee directory to a WordPress site without coding skills here: How To Create A Simple Employee Directory In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Recruitment Page

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your organization. It would include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You should also include information about upcoming career opportunities in the health-related 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 your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also helps to provide social proof online.

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

We have written extensively about using client testimonials and reviews get better results online here: Learn How To Improve Your Sales Conversions Using Standout Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should provide the following information:

• Name
• Physical address
• Phone number
• Fax number
• Email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media web addresses
• Live chat feature

If your business services several areas you will want to make that clear when displaying the address and contact information.

You can also include links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, online booking form, support page, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content like news and announcements, updates, educational information, informative posts, videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established health site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your services.

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

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can become an automated traffic system that will help begin attracting a stream of targeted traffic to your website, simply by adding content to your website on a consistent basis.

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

For more details, go here:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Generate More Website Visitors For Your Business

Legal Information Pages

Having a compliant website is crucially important. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws and regulations wherever you provide services.

Adding the legal pages below to your medical website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

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

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your website here: Why You Need To Add Legal Pages To Your Website

Improving Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you start to publish great content on your site, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from other competitors.

You want to provide useful content with tips or information that will get your readers to share your web pages and come back for more content. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate your visitors and prospects about your business and services.

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

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• How to figure out how many calories you burn each day
• Tips for developing a better eating and exercise plan
• Useful apps for tracking calories and exercise
• 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 medical-related services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Use keywords in your content that prospective clients will search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website, save money creating useful content that will add value to your 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!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Experience

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

Add RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in several ways.

If you provide valuable content, other businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides links to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are a number of ways readers can receive your content (e.g. view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing information on 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, search online for health or medical-related government departments and key industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to your 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 individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Environmental health, Illnesses and disabilities, Menopause, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Haematologica, PsychiatryOnline Journals, The Journal of Immunology, Neurology.org, American Institute of Biological Sciences, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find many RSS feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find RSS feeds on fda-related topics like enforcement reports, food allergy reports, tainted products, animal and veterinary news, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find many health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds in major news 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 select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Men’s health, Neurology, Diet & Weight Management, Senior Health, Infectious Disease, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. MRSA/Drug Resistance, Bird Flu/Avian Flu, Blood/Hematology, Hearing/Deafness, Smoking/Quit Smoking, Dyslexia, Psychology/Psychiatry, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “blindness rss feeds”, “men’s health rss feeds”, “weight loss rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Add Checklists

Checklists and charts are a great way to increase user engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. Charts and checklists can provide visitors with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Forms and checklists can also be great client educational tools.

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

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Provide Online Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Health-related calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Other applications 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 add to your medical-related website using WordPress plugins that can also help to improve seo, improve user engagement and generate more traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

Click here to continue reading:

• How To Successfully Grow A Health Clinic Website With WordPress – Part Two

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