Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health and medical services professionals today face increasing challenges.

Challenges Health & Medical Businesses Face Online

Now, more than ever, health services practitioners must work hard to stand apart from their competition and find new clientele. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community you serve, you must also develop an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better market your practice online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing, businesses in the medical-related industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated towards the development and maintenance of a website that will drive leads, engage users, outperform the competition in search engines and social media, and increase their marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change over time and some areas may need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing sound website and content management strategy.

Another challenge that health organizations face online, as other businesses do for that matter, is that your site has only around thirty seconds to help users find the information they need or they will leave the 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

Opportunities For Health & Medical Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the medical or health profession that are willing to evolve to meet digital demands and think progressively when it comes to marketing themselves better online.

In this article, you will learn new opportunities to generate more potential clients and establish stronger online credibility for your medical business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform to power your medical-related website.

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

• Learn How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• A Complete Guide To Building Your Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Health Center Site

This section covers how to improve your medical or health-related website and get better results online. We will look at what pages you need, what content works best, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your health-related website, visit this page: A Money-Saving Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites require some basic pages. Let’s discuss these.

Products And Services

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

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. ear, nose & throat, orthopedics endocrinology, reconstructive surgery, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, respiratory, endoscopy, eye diseases emergency surgery, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral hygiene, restorations, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac monitoring, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, lung screening, radiology and imaging, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, couples, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, reiki, massage therapy, chiropractic, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, othopedics, fertility services, speech language therapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, assisted living, home care, sexual health, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and why they should book an appointment with you.

Who We Are

This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropy, etc.

It’s important to mention any professional awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and position yourself above other competitors.

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

Meet Our Team

Are you looking for simple ways to grow your business online? Then something you can do, is help your prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in medical-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page should include social buttons so your site visitors can follow your team members on their social pages.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to outline your employee’s experience, how they add value to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

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

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to easily add an easy-to-update simple team members directory to your web site using a free WordPress plugin here: How To Easily Add A Simple Employee Directory To Your WordPress Site

We’re Hiring

List any career opportunities within your practice. This page could include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include stories of recruits who have risen within your organization and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the medical or health-related industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

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

(Add a page to your site with case studies and testimonials from previous clients. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. If you would like to know more about this here: Create Better Results Online With Awesome Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is vitally important.

It should provide visitors with the following:

• Name
• Physical address
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – who to contact
• Links to social media pages
• Interactive chat feature

If you operate from several areas you should make that clear when showing the address and contact information.

You should also include links to an FAQ section, main pages, online booking request, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog Section

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as events, updates, educational articles and tutorials, discussions on current topics, promotional videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an existing health or medical site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to create more exposure for your services.

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

Something not many businesses know about, is that WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that will deliver targeted traffic to your business, simply by publishing content to your website on a consistent basis.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

For more details:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Automatically Grow Your Web Traffic For Your Business

Legal Info Pages

It’s vitally important to have a compliant website. This is not only important for establishing credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching any local, regional or federal laws and regulations in whatever area or location you provide services.

Depending on the services and products you provide, adding the following legal pages to your health-related website will help keep you out of legal hot water 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 Links Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your website. To learn more, go here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s fiercely competitive online business economy, the ability to deliver valuable content free of charge has become one of the key business differentiators.

Provide useful content with great information, tips and advice that will get your visitors sharing your web pages with others and coming back for more content. This is a great way to educate site visitors and prospects about using your services.

For example, if your business provides products or services that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you could write about include the following:

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (protein, carbs, minerals, vitamins, fats)
• How to set realistic, but challenging weight loss goals
• Diet sodas (common ones, side effects, long term results, do they work?)
• 3 tips that will help you avoid late night snacking (e.g. drink water with lemon)
• Etc.

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

Remember to include the same keywords and terminology in your articles that your readers would search for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for your site 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!

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 different ways to improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

Add RSS Feeds

Adding RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in several ways.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites may 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 kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides several ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. users can 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 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.

To find RSS feeds with useful content just visit sites of health or medical-related government departments or key industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few RSS feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding 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 search by departments and choose individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Fitness and nutrition, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental health, Pregnancy, 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. ACS Publications, Neuroanatomy, BMJ Injury Prevention, BMJ Tobacco Control, ADA DOC News, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get many health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get RSS feeds on fda-related news and topics like criminal investigations press releases, health fraud, pet health, foods, 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 many health-related 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 specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Men’s health, Cold & Flu, Oral Health, Eyesight, Thyroid, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. MRSA/Drug Resistance, Dentistry, Medical Insurance, Neurology/Neuroscience, Nursing/Midwifery, Allergy, Restless Legs Syndrome, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “HPV vaccine rss feeds”, “diet rss feeds”, “drug trials rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your health-related website’s user experience.)

Add Checklists And Forms

Checklists and educational charts are a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your audience. They can provide visitors with step-by-step instructions and resources to perform tasks. Forms and checklists are great client instructional tools.

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

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

Adding Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Calculators, for example are popular tools for your website. Other applications could include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In part two, we discuss a several online tools you can use in your health or medical-related site using WordPress plugins and themes that can also help 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 view the rest of this guide, click here:

• The Complete Step-By-Step Guide To Growing Your Medical Clinic Presence Online With WordPress – Part Two

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