Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Health & medical professionals face many challenges in the web economy, especially when it comes to growing a successful business presence online.

Challenges Medical Services Face Online

Today, more than ever, health businesses must work harder to remain competitive and generate new clients. Not only do you have to maintain a strong presence in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong web presence. This includes having an effective web presence and figuring out smarter ways to market your business online.

As well as spending money advertising offline, you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be directed to developing and maintaining a website that will attract new clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help you gain a wider amount of marketing reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that the needs of your website may change over time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires a well-developed web and content management strategy in place.

Another challenge that health or medical businesses (and most businesses) face online, is that your site has around thirty seconds or less to give visitors the information they need 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 Medical Services Providers In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to medical-related practices that are willing to adapt to meet online demands and think progressively in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn a number of ways to attract more visitors and see noticeable improvements in your medical business presence online.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System to power your medical-related website or blog.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform, see the articles below:

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Prospective Customers And What To Do About It
• The Business Owner’s Guide To Using WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

This section looks at how to improve your website and get better results. We show you what pages a health-related site needs, what type of content works best for health sites, ways to improve your navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: A Basic Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

Professional business websites need some essential web pages. Let’s go over the pages your  should have and how to structure your medical or health-related website for best results.

Products And Services Page

You need a page that explains your services or products. Depending on which area you specialize in, this page can list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, pulmonology diabetes, cosmetic surgery, aged care, renal, endoscopy, eye diseases palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, skin cancer, medical imaging, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration cytology, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, domestic abuse, wellbeing, social development services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, hydrotherapy, meditation, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, podiatry, reproductive services, physiotherapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, assisted living, home and community care, community health, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and why they should choose you.

About Us Page

This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.

It’s important to also mention any professional awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your services and position yourself above the competition.

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

Meet Your Staff

Are you searching for quicker and simpler ideas to grow your business online and get visitors to engage more with your site? Then help your prospective clients get to know you and your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with health or medical-related terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. It should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected staff members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your team member’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 staff description page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to create and add an easy-to-maintain list directory of employees in WordPress using free WP plugins here: Adding A Staff List Directory: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

Career Opportunities Page

List any career opportunities within the business. It could include training provided, employee benefits, professional development, social activities promoted by your organization, etc. You should also include stories of trainees who have worked their way up in your organization and information about additional career opportunities in the 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, join your contact list, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Customer 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 reviews from clients, you are also helping to will also be establishing social proof online for your business.

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

If you want to learn more about using testimonials and reviews, refer to this article: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects Using Engaging User Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a clean contact page is essential.

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

• Name
• Your physical location
• Phone number
• Fax
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Links to social media networks
• Live chat (optional)

If you operate out of different locations you want to make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

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

Add A Medical Or Health Blog

A blog is a powerful business marketing tool. Many blogging platforms typically include a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like announcements, product releases, useful articles, informative posts, educational videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing medical-related website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to promote your clinic.

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

Very few people know that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation machine that can instantly drive new targeted traffic to your web site, simply by adding new content to your website on a regular basis.

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

To learn more about this go here:

• WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Automatically Increase Your Website Visitors For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Information

It’s very important to make sure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional or federal laws and regulations wherever you practice.

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

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

If you want to learn more about adding legal pages to your website, refer to this article: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you start to engage in the practice of content marketing, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from your competitors.

You will want to provide useful content with tips, information or advice that will get your visitors sharing your information online with others and coming back for more. Using content is a great way to inform and teach site visitors and prospects about using your services.

For example, if you provide weight loss services, then some of the areas you could write content about include:

• Emotional causes for weight issues (possible causes, how to identify yours)
• What calories really are and how they play a role in weight loss
• Why using a measuring tape is better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress
• What salad dressings can derail your weight loss goals (and healthier choices)
• Etc.

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 keywords in your articles that readers would 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 website, save money creating useful content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your website using content marketing strategies. 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 (known as UX) helps to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and UX.

RSS Feeds

Adding RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in many ways.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other websites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feed can be shared
• RSS feeds allow for subscribing
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users 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 sites, 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 or well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of feeds you could consider adding to a health or medical 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 individual 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. PhysiologicalReviews, Epidemiology – Featured Articles, BMJ Medical Humanities, BMJ Journal of Clinical Pathology, Transplantation – Most Popular Articles, 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
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. FDA drug safety, FDA drug shortages, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get 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. Research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also select specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Men’s health, Neurology, Diet & Weight Management, Eyesight, Travel Health, etc.)
• Medical News Today – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Anxiety/Stress, Lupus, Palliative Care/Hospice Care, Menopause, Diabetes, Pediatrics/Children’s Health, Statins, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “drug resistance rss feeds”, “heart disease rss feeds”, “erectile dysfunction rss feeds”, etc.

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

Adding Forms & Checklists

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Checklists and medical forms can provide visitors with useful information and resources to complete a necessary task. Checklists and charts can also be great client educational tools.

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

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Provide Unique Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to potential clients. Calculators, for example are useful tools for your website. Others would include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.

In the next section, we will be discussing a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your website that can also help improve seo, increase user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this guide on ways to build your health-related web presence.

To view the rest of this article, click here:

• How To Build And Grow Your Medical-Related Business Online – Part 2

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