Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health & medical professionals today face significant challenges.

Challenges Professional Health Practitioners Face Online

Now, more than ever, medical services providers must work hard to stand apart from their competition and source new clientele. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop and maintain a strong web presence. This includes having a dynamic website and figuring out better ways to market your practice online.

As well as spending dollars advertising offline on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., businesses in the health or medical industry are also finding that they will need to assign a greater part of their marketing budget towards developing and managing a website that attracts prospective clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps give their business a wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your web pages have to load fast, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change over time and sections may need to be updated often. This requires the implementation of a sound web and content management strategy.

One other problem that health services professionals face online (as do all other professions for that matter), is that you have around thirty seconds or less to help users find what they are looking for or they will leave your 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

Online Opportunities For Medical Services Practitioners

As well as facing many challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for health or medical businesses that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and think progressively in terms of marketing their business services better online.

The guide below will help you uncover a number of ways to generate more traffic and create noticeable improvements in your online results.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS) to power your medical or health-related website.

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

• How A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• WordPress And Small Business – An Online Guide To Growing A Successful Business With WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

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

If you need website planning assistance, read this detailed step-by-step guide we have written: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Pages

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

Products And Services Description Page

You need a page that lists your products or services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could list services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. pain management, nephrology endocrinology, cancer, continence management, respiratory, endoscopy, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral hygiene, teeth whitening, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart monitoring, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, skin cancer, radiology, gynaecology, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, wellness, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, functional medicine, massage therapy, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, chiropody, reproductive endocrinology, rehabilitation, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about what your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

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

This page should list any awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and position yourself above similar service providers.

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

Meet Our Team

Are you searching for inexpensive ideas to grow your business online and get visitors to stay longer on your site? Then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust your business better.

You want potential clients 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 biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in medical-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow your team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to highlight your employee’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 ‘meet the team’ page. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial about how to add an easy-to-update simple team members directory in your site using free WP plugins here: Adding An Employee Directory

Recruitment Page

This is a listing of job opportunities available within your company. It should include training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. You can include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the medical-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 the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also establishes social proof.

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

We have created a comprehensive article about using client case studies and reviews to improve your business results online. For more details: How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With Compelling Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is absolutely vital.

Your contact page should include the following:

• Name Of Your Business
• Your physical address
• Telephone number
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media pages
• Live chat (optional)

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

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, online booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Or Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to easily promote your business by publishing content like news and announcements, product releases, educational information, informative posts, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing site is very hard to add new content to or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can act both as your business website and your blog.

Very few people know that WordPress can become an automated traffic-generation system that can begin to drive web traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can generate traffic automatically to your website)

For more details, go here:

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

Legal Information Pages

As a professional business, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucially important. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching local, regional or federal laws or regulations wherever your business is located.

Adding the legal pages below to your website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, 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 Linking Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website. For more details: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Improving Your Content

In today’s fiercely competitive global economy, the willingness to deliver valuable content to visitors free of charge has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

Providing great content with advice and tips will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more content. Using content is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospects about using your services and products.

For example, if you provide weight loss services, then some of the topics you could publish content about include the following:

• Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
• How to ask for support when embarking on a weight loss program (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• How to recover physically and emotionally after weight loss surgery – useful tips and recommendations
• How to incorporate a little fast food into a healthy diet plan
• And many other content topics

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

Include keywords in your articles that readers 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 easy-to-digest information that will show you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve User Experience

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

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

An RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed provides plenty of benefits for your site.

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

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
• Can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• A feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are various ways readers can 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 benefits when it comes to adding syndicated content to your website 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 by visiting sites of health and medical-related government departments and industry bodies.

Here are a few feeds you could consider adding to your site:

• 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, Mental health, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Haematologica, Neuroanatomy, BMJ Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, The AAPS Journal (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists), BMJ Postgraduate Medical Journal, 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
• FDA – Get feeds on fda-related news and topics like criminal investigations, FDA drug shortages, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, tobacco 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 - Find many feeds on health-related topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Neurology, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Prevention & Wellness, Travel Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Lung Cancer, Arthritis/Rheumatology, Depression, Emergency Medicine, CJD/vCJD/Mad Cow Disease, Biology/Biochemistry, Medical Practice Management, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “dentistry rss feeds”, “heart disease rss feeds”, “restless legs syndrome rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists & Charts

Adding checklists and explanatory charts to your site is a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Checklists and medical forms can provide step-by-step information and resources to complete a necessary task. They can also be great educational tools.

Forms, charts and checklists can include subjects such as:

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

Online Tools

Providing unique tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to potential clients. Health-related calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Other tools would include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In part two, we take a look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your site that can help to improve your seo, 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 continue:

• Your Health Center Website – How To Improve SEO, Increase User Engagement And Drive More Visitors To Your Website With WordPress Plugins

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