Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionised businesses globally, it has also created difficult challenges and opportunities for health and medical services providers and financial service providers.

Online Challenges For The Medical Profession

Now, more than ever, health and medical services providers must find smarter ways to stand apart from the crowd and find new clients. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better promote your business online.

In addition to spending dollars in offline marketing activities, you will probably find that in order to compete with other medical or health-related businesses, you will need to designate a larger amount of your budget towards developing and managing a website that will drive clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and increase your reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, your 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 sound web and content management strategy.

Another problem that medical-related businesses (and all other professions) face with their websites, is that your site has only around thirty seconds to provide users what they need or they will leave your site and go 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 Businesses

As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the medical-related industry that can evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and who can think outside the box when it comes to marketing their business better online.

The guide below will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to find more client accounts and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

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

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see the articles below:

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Customers
• WordPress For Business – A Complete Guide To Growing Your Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Useful Tips To Improve Your Website

Let’s start by covering the basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at ways to improve your website and get better results. We show you what web pages you need, what content works best for medical-related websites, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your medical-related website, see this article: Planning A Website - A Money-Saving Guide For Business Owners

Your Website Pages

Professional business websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your  need to have and how to set up your website for best results.

Services And Products

You need a page that describes your products or services. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page can list services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, orthopedics blood disorders, oncology, continence management, renal, infection control, ophtalmology palliative care, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, holistic dentistry, bad breath treatment, veneers, crowns and bridges, implants, emergency dentistry services, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screens, skin cancer, radiology, pap smears, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, trauma counselling, wellness coaching, social development services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, natural therapy, shiatsu, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, chiropody, reproductive services, occupational therapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, mobility, home and community care, community health, medical equipment, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

It’s important to list any business awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your services and to set yourself above other competitors.

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

Team

If you are searching for ways to sell more products online, then make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your people. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. It should include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight your person’s expertise and qualifications, how their skills add value to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a staff description page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to create and add an updatable directory of employees or team members in your site using a free WP plugin, go here: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory To Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities Page

List any job or career opportunities within the organization. It could include training, benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You should also include information about upcoming career opportunities in the medical 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 contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients also establishes social proof.

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

We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more about this: How To Improve Your Visitor-To-Lead Conversions Using Highly Effective Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A clean contact page is absolutely vital.

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

• Business Name
• Location
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Request for more information – contact details
• Social media links
• Live chat feature (optional)

If your business services several areas you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact information.

You should also include links to an FAQ section, main pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Medical-Related Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically include a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as news and events, new releases, training information, discussions on current topics, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to create more exposure for your clinic.

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

Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that can help begin attracting a stream of web traffic to your site, simply by publishing new content to your website on a regular basis.

(WordPress can generate web traffic automatically to your website)

For more details:

• WordPress Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Automatically Grow Your Website Visitors For Your Business With WordPress

Legal Information

As a professional health provider, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is very important. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening local, regional and federal laws or regulations in whichever location you service.

Adding the following legal pages to your health website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• 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
• and others

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with information has become one of the key business differentiators.

By providing useful content with great tips or information, you will get your visitors to share your web pages and come back for more. Using content is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides solutions that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you can publish content about include the following:

• What is BMI (what it stands for, what it does, how to calculate yours)
• Easy portion control habits (smaller plate, don’t put food on the table, more vegetables)
• How to develop an exercise routine you can enjoy and will stick with
• Smartphone apps for tracking calories and exercise
• And endless other content topics

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

Include the keywords and terminology in your content that your prospective clients 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 exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing strategies. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and user experience in many ways.

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

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• Doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• A feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are multiple ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. read 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 websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

You can find many useful RSS feeds for your website by visiting sites of relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Here are examples of useful RSS 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 select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Environmental health, Heart health and stroke, Mental 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 RSS feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Quality and Safety in Health Care, Human Molecular Genetics, Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Respiratory Research, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find many RSS feeds on health-related news and topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, health fraud, product recalls, tobacco 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds in places like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also select specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Mental Health, Chronic Pain, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Eyesight, Skin, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Cardiovascular/Cardiology, Arthritis/Rheumatology, Fibromyalgia, Preventive Medicine, Medical Devices/Diagnostics, Nutrition/Diet, Clinical Trials/Drug Trials, etc.)

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

(Use RSS feeds to improve your site’s user experience.)

Provide Online Checklists

Checklists and explanatory charts are a fantastic way to increase user engagement, add value to your visitors and provide something unique. Checklists and medical forms can provide useful information and resources to complete tasks. They are also great client educational tools.

You can provide a range of forms, charts and checklists covering subjects such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists and charts for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral maintenance program, general 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.)

Adding Other Tools

Providing useful tools and applications on your website can help increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to your potential clients. Health-related calculators, for example, are useful tools for your website. Other applications would include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.

In part 2 of this guide, we will look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your medical or health website that improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this guide on ways to build your health or medical-related business presence online.

Click on this link to view the rest of this guide:

• How To Successfully Build And Grow A Medical Services & Health-Related Business Online – Part 2

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