Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only transformed the way business is done worldwide, it has also created significant challenges and great opportunities for businesses in the medical sector.

Online Challenges For The Medical Profession

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 be fully involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning smarter ways to promote your health or medical services services online.

In addition to spending money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other health-related businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed towards the development and maintenance of a website that brings new prospective clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps you create a wider degree of marketing reach online.

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

One other challenge that medical services providers face with their websites (as do all other businesses for that matter), is that you have only around 30 seconds to give users what they are searching for or they will look 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 Health And Medical Services Professionals In The Digital Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for medical or health businesses that can evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and think strategically in terms of improving their online marketing skills.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn ways and opportunities to increase web traffic and establish online credibility for your health business.

As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your medical or health business online, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your health business website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), see these articles:

• Discover How A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Customers And What To Do About It
• Using WordPress To Grow A Successful Small Business

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section looks at ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what type of content works best, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your website, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: The Web Site Planning Process: A Practical Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Your Website Pages

All websites need some essential web pages. Let’s review these.

Description Of Services

It’s essential to have a page that describes your products and services. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page can list services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose and throat, nephrology endocrinology, plastic surgery, stroke, respiratory, urology, optometry palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral hygiene, veneers, crowns and bridges, orthodontics, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, radiology and imaging, pap smears, psychosis, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, massage therapy, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, othopedics, reproductive endocrinology, speech therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, mobility, home and community care, clinical information, medical transport, 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 choose you.

Who We Are

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

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

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

Staff

Are you searching for quicker, simpler and cost-effective ways to sell more products online and get prospects to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is help visitors get to know you, your team and your business better.

People need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. It should include a photo and a mini bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in medical terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. This page can include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow your staff members on their social pages.

In this page, make sure to highlight your employee’s expertise and qualifications, 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 staff description page. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

If you need help how to easily add an easy-to-maintain list of staff members in your website with no coding skills required, go here: Tutorial: Adding A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

Job Opportunities Page

This is a listing of career opportunities within the company. This page can include training offered, employee benefits, professional development, social aspects of working with your business, etc. You can include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the health-related industry.

Include also a positions available section in your 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.

Testimonials

Client reviews and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with case studies and testimonials from past clients, you are also helping to establish social proof for your business.

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

We have written extensively on using client testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online. If you would like to learn more about this here: Learn How To Improve Your Conversions With Effective Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is vitally important.

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

• Company Name
• Address
• Phone
• Fax
• Contact email
• Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Online chat

If you have multiple areas you should make that clear when displaying the address and contact information.

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

Blog Section

A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using timely content like news and events, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

You are probably not aware of this, but WordPress can turn into an automated traffic system that can instantly begin to attract web traffic to your website, simply by adding new content on a regular basis to your website.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

• WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Driving More Web Traffic For Your Business Automatically Using WordPress

Legal Information Pages

It’s crucial to make sure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no local, regional and federal laws or regulations are being contravened wherever you do business.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health and Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

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

Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Website

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

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

For example, if your business provides products that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you could cover in your content include:

• What’s the difference between being overweight and obese?
• How small efforts in portion control can help your weight loss efforts
• How to recover physically and emotionally after weight loss surgery – useful tips and recommendations
• Apps for tracking calories and exercise
• And endless other content topics

You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Include the keywords and terminology in your content that readers will be searching 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 and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content for your visitors and grow your presence 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 Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

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

If you provide useful content, 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 in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides several ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also benefits to providing valuable content 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 relevant government departments or industry bodies.

Here are a few feeds 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 choose specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Health care for women, Illnesses and disabilities, Minority women’s health, 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 leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. The Oncologist, BMJ Journal of Medical Genetics, TheLancet.com, Journal of Cell Science, ADA DOC News, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find various feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find RSS feeds on fda-related topics like consumer health information, FDA drug shortages, recalls, animal and veterinary news, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• UK Department Of Health (https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-of-health) – 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 - Find many health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also choose specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Menopause, Cholesterol, Depression, Prevention & Wellness, Infectious Disease, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Abortion, Lupus, ADHD/ADD, Autism, Bones/Orthopedics, Pediatrics/Children’s Health, Ear, Nose and Throat, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “eating disorders rss feeds”, “cold rss feeds”, “wearable technology rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Add Online Checklists

Adding checklists and explanatory charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. Checklists and charts can give them step-by-step instructions and resources to perform a task. They can also be great client educational tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms could include topics such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)

Other Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are useful tools for your website. Other applications can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part two of this guide, we will be discussing a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your website that can also help to improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one of this article on ways to build your health web presence.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• Your Medical Website – Improving SEO, Increase User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using WordPress Plugins And Themes

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