Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical and health services providers today face increasing challenges.

Challenges Professional Medical Practitioners Face Online

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health industry 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 maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out better ways to market your practice online.

As well as spending dollars advertising offline, businesses in the health or medical-related industry are now also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed towards the development and management of a website that brings new clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps give them wider marketing exposure online.

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

One other problem that medical services practitioners face with their websites, as do other businesses for that matter, is that you have only about thirty seconds to provide users with what they need or they will find what they are looking for 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 Professionals In The Web Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to businesses in the medical profession that can evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and can think progressively when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

In this detailed guide, you will discover new ways to source more clients and see noticeable improvements in your online results.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your health or medical-related business website or blog.

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

• Why A Poorly Constructed Web Site Can Lose You Potential Clients
• Using WordPress – The Small Business Owner’s Guide

How To Improve Your Medical Site

Let’s start by reviewing some basics. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what web pages you need, what content works best for health websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, see this guide: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Pages

All business websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s discuss these.

Your Services And Products

You need to include a page that explains your services and products. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, your page could list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, orthopedics blood disorders, cancer, gerontology, rheumatology, weight loss surgery, eye diseases surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, braces, emergency dental services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac surgery, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, lung screening, x-ray, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, holistic medicine, shiatsu, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, podiatry, reproductive services, optical services, neurosciences, artificial limbs, assisted living, home care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical programs, etc.

It’s important to mention any awards, accreditations, recognitions, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your business and set yourself above similar service providers.

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

Team Profile Page

If you are searching for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online or get people to stay longer on your site, then make it easier for prospective clients to get to know, like and trust you and your business better.

Prospects need to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff or team members. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in medical or health-related terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas mean. It can include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow individual team members on their social networks.

In this page, make sure to highlight your person’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to create and add an updatable simple team members directory in WordPress without coding skills, refer to this tutorial: Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff Directory

Recruitment Page

This is a listing of job or career opportunities available within the company. This page should include training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. It should include information about additional career opportunities in the health or medical-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, join your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase what kind of services you offer. By adding a page with case studies and client reviews, you will also help to provide social proof online.

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

We have created a detailed article on using client testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Sales Conversions With Powerful Client Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is absolutely vital.

It should include the following information:

• Name Of Your Business
• Physical location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Online chat feature (optional)

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

You can also include links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, booking form, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Health Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business using content like news and announcements, updates, useful information, informative posts, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

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

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

Something not many businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that will begin delivering an ongoing stream of web traffic to your site, simply by adding content on a regular basis to your website.

(WordPress can generate traffic automatically to your site)

To learn more about this go here:

• WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Generate More Web Visitors For Your Business

Legal Information

Having a compliant website is really important. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no laws or regulations are being contravened wherever you practice.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your medical or 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 Page
• Privacy Statement
• Terms Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health and Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

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

Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website

In today’s ultra-competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from the competition.

By committing to providing useful content with information, advice or tips, you will get your readers sharing your web pages and coming back for more. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about using your services and products.

For example, if you provide solutions that help people lose weight, then some of the topics you can write content about include:

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• How to set realistic, but achievable weight loss goals
• Incorporating exercise into your weight loss program
• Could a personal chef help you lose weight (what they do, is it affordable)
• Etc.

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

Include keywords in your content that your readers will be searching for.

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 site 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!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Using RSS Feeds

Using RSS feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and user experience in a number of different ways.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

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

There are also benefits to providing great content on your site 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 useful content for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments or industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of 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 specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Healthy aging, HIV/AIDS, Mental health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. PhysiologicalReviews, BMJ Disease in Childhood – Fetal and Neonatal Edition, BMJ Injury Prevention, jobs.ac.uk health and medical jobs, American Institute of Biological Sciences, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get various RSS feeds on health-related topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related RSS feeds (e.g. criminal investigations, health fraud, product recalls, drugs, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (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 - Get various health-related news 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. Fitness and 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 feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Mental Health, Cholesterol, Diet & Weight Management, Exercise & Fitness, Women’s Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Anxiety/Stress, Bird Flu/Avian Flu, ADHD/ADD, Conferences, CJD/vCJD/Mad Cow Disease, Cosmetic Medicine/Plastic Surgery, Cancer/Oncology, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “skin cancer rss feeds”, “deafness rss feeds”, “hepatitis rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your website’s UX.)

Checklists & Charts

Adding checklists and educational charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Charts and checklists can provide visitors with useful information and resources to get necessary steps done. Forms and checklists are great educational tools.

You can provide online or downloadable checklists and forms (or links to these) covering a range of 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, maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Fitness and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Provide Online Tools

Providing useful tools and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your visitors. Calculators are popular tools for your website. Other applications can include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.

In part two of this guide, we look at a several online tools you can use in your medical website using WordPress plugins and themes that can improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one of this step-by-step article on ways to build your health or medical business web presence.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• Your Health & Medical Practice Website – Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation Using Plugins

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