Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress
The digital business age has not only transformed business globally, it has also created increasingly difficult challenges and great opportunities for medical or health-related businesses.
Challenges Health Firms Face Online
Today, more than ever, medical practitioners must find smarter ways to remain competitive and generate new clients. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and learning better ways to grow your business online.
As well as spending money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv, etc., businesses in the medical-related industry are also finding that they will need to delegate a more significant portion of their budget to develop and maintain a website that attracts prospective clients, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and social media, and helps to give their business wider marketing reach online.
This means that your website not only has to look professional, load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website may change in time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires a well-developed website and content management strategy in place.
One other challenge that medical practitioners face online, as all other professions do for that matter, is that you have an average of thirty seconds to help visitors find what they are looking for 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
Online Opportunities For Medical And Health Services Providers
As well as facing many new challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for medical-related businesses that are willing to evolve to meet the demands of the digital economy and think progressively in terms of marketing their services better online.
This guide will help you uncover opportunities to increase web traffic and improve your health or medical business presence online.
As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress platform to power your health or medical-related website or blog.
For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see these articles:
- How A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Business And What To Do About It
- The Beginner’s Guide To Building A Successful Small Business Using A WordPress Blog
Useful Tips To Improve Your Medical And Health Practice Website
In this section we will show you ways to improve your website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a health or medical website needs, what content works best for health or medical-related sites, navigation structure, etc.
If you need website planning assistance, read this detailed guide: How To Plan A Website - A Basic Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners
Your Web Pages
Professional websites require some basic pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your need and how to structure your medical-related website for best results.
Your Products And Services
It’s essential to have a page that describes your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area you specialize in, this page could list services like:
- Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, pulmonology diabetes, cosmetic surgery, aged care, rheumatology, colon/rectal surgery, optometry palliative care, etc.
- Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, cleaning services, teeth whitening, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
- Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
- Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
- Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
- Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, radiology and imaging, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
- Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration cytology, speech pathology, etc
- Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
- Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, functional medicine, massage therapy, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
- Other medical services/therapies – weight management, othopedics, reproductive services, optical services, medical genetics, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home and community care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.
List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.
Who We Are
This page should give a description of your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical donations, etc.
This page should also include any health or medical-related awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your practice and to set yourself above other competitors.
(List all of your awards recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc. in the About Us page. Screenshot image source: squaremedical.com.au)
Meet The Team
If you are looking for cost-effective ways to grow your business online, then make it easier for visitors to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.
You want potential clients to relate to your business. 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 terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It can include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your staff members on their social networks.
On this page, make sure to highlight each 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 staff description page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)
If you need help how to easily add a simple and easy-to-manage simple team directory to a WordPress site without coding skills, go here: Tutorial: Adding A Staff List Directory
Job Opportunities
This is a listing of job or career opportunities within the practice. It should include type of training provided, benefits, advancement opportunities, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the medical or health-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 this page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.
Case Studies
Case studies and testimonials from past clients are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with case studies and reviews from clients, you are also helping to establish social proof.
(Add a web page with case studies and testimonials. Screenshot image source: arrowsmiledental.com)
We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and client reviews get better results online. Go here to learn more about this: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects With More Effective Client Testimonials
Contact Page
A contact page is essential.
Your contact page should include the following:
- Business Name
- Street address of clinic
- Phone
- Fax number
- Contact email address
- Map and directions
- Website URL
- Contact form
- Name of person to contact
- Links to social media profiles
- Chat
If you operate out of multiple areas you should make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.
You can also include a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking request, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.
Add A Health Or Medical-Related Blog Section
A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content such as news and announcements, new releases, useful articles and tutorials, informative posts, educational videos, media presentations, etc.
If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to create more exposure for your business.
If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing health or medical-related website is very hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can serve both as your website and your blog.
Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that will help begin delivering a stream of web traffic to your business, simply by publishing new content on a consistent basis to your website.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive web traffic automatically to your website)
Go here to learn more about this:
Legal Information
Having a compliant website is crucial. This is not only important for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any local, regional or federal laws or regulations wherever you do business.
Depending on the services you provide, adding the legal pages below to your site will help you stay 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 Of Use
- Website Disclaimer
- Affiliate Agreement
- Anti-Spam Policy
- Compensation Disclosure
- DMCA Notice
- Earnings Disclaimer
- External Links Policy
- Health Disclaimers
- Refund Policy
- Video/Audio Terms
- etc.
To learn more about adding legal pages to your site, refer to this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Site
Tips On How To Improve The Content On Your Site
In today’s highly competitive digital economy, the sooner you begin to publish content on your site, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from other competing businesses.
You will want to provide great content with useful information, advice or tips that will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more content. This is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospects about using your products and services.
For example, if you provide weight management services, then some of the areas you could cover in your content include:
- Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
- Is weight loss surgery right for you? (who should get it, risks, success rates)
- Is hypnosis and effective weight loss treatment?
- What processed foods can ruin your diet (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 medical or health-related services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.
Use the same keywords in your content that your readers would search for.
We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information and practical tips that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating useful content for your site visitors and grow your website using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!
Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience
Improving your user experience (known as UX) helps 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 – Content Syndication
RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your health-related business.
If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses 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 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 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 several ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
- RSS is 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.
To find RSS feeds with useful content just search online for relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.
Here are some examples of feeds 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 select specific RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breastfeeding, Healthy aging, HIV/AIDS, Mental health, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
- US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Journal of Neurophysiology, Neuroanatomy, European Heart Journal, BMJ Journal of Clinical Pathology, BMJ Postgraduate Medical Journal, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
- National Institutes Of Health - Find many RSS feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
- US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get RSS feeds on fda-related news like criminal investigations, food allergy reports, product recalls, animal and veterinary news, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
- Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get many RSS feeds on health-related news and topics 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 – Daily Health and Medical News: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyhealth.xml. You can also choose individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Mental Health, Neurology, Depression, Exercise & Fitness, Travel Health, etc.)
- MedicalNewsToday.com – Featured 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. Eye Health/Blindness, Dentistry, Depression, Neurology/Neuroscience, Diabetes, Epilepsy, Genetics, etc.)
You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “headache rss feeds”, “medical malpractice rss feeds”, “ultrasound rss feeds”, etc.
(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your medical or health website’s UX.)
Checklists & Charts
Adding checklists and charts to your site is a great way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. Checklists and medical forms can provide visitors with useful instructions and resources to complete a necessary task. Checklists and forms are great educational tools.
You can provide online or downloadable checklists, charts and forms covering a range of subjects such as:
- Checklists/forms for booking appointments
- Checklists for pre or post treatment
- Health checklists and charts for specific medical conditions
- Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
- Weight loss and exercise program checklists
- General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)
Unique Tools
Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your potential clients. Calculators are great tools to add to your website. Others can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.
In the next section, we take a look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your health or medical-related site that can improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.
***
This is the end of section 1.
To view the rest of this article, click here:
***
***
"If you're new to WordPress, this can stand on its own as a training course and will stay with you as you progress from beginner to advanced and even guru status." - Bruce (Columbus, Ohio)