Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The digital age has not only revolutionized business around the world, it has also created a growing number of challenges and opportunities for the medical-related sector.

Challenges Professional Health Services Providers Face Online

Now, more than ever, health services practitioners must work hard to remain competitive and source new clients. Not only do you have to participate in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having an effective website and figuring out smarter ways to market your services online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv, etc., businesses in the health industry are now finding that they will need to delegate a greater portion of their budget to developing and managing a website that will drive prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and give them a wider degree of marketing reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and sections will need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that health or medical organizations (and all other professions) face with their websites, is that they have only around thirty seconds to give users what they are searching 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

Opportunities For Medical Practitioners In The Web Economy

As well as facing many new challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the medical or health profession that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and can think strategically in terms of marketing their services better online.

In this article, you will learn about opportunities to increase traffic and establish online credibility for your health-related business.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress content management system to power your medical or health 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 Money And What To Do About It
• Everything You Need To Know To Grow A Successful Business Using WordPress

Tips To Improve Your Medical Practice Site

Let’s start by going over some basic information you need. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your medical or health website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a medical-related site needs, what content works best, suggestions for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.

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

Basic Pages

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

Services Page

You need a page that describes your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, your page could list services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. pain management, orthopedics diabetes, cosmetic surgery, aged care, rheumatology, weight loss surgery, eye diseases palliative care, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, teeth whitening, dental braces, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, hearing, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, wellness, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, tai chi, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, podiatry, reproductive services, stomal therapy, inherited diseases, prosthetics, hearing aids, home care, clinical information, medical equipment, 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 what your services do and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us

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

This page should mention any awards, recognitions, certifications, accreditations, associations, publications, etc., that you can use to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and position yourself above other competitors.

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

Team

If you are searching for simple ways to sell more products or services online or get people to engage more on your site, then something you can do, is help prospective clients get to know you and your business better.

You want prospects to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be very well-versed in health or medical-related terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialties mean. It should also include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow selected staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to outline your team member’s experience, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add a page that introduces your team to prospective new clients. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

For a detailed tutorial on how to add an updatable directory of employees or team members in WordPress using free WordPress plugins, go here: Adding An Employee Directory To Your Site: WordPress Plugin Tutorial

Job Opportunities

This is a listing of career opportunities available within your organization. It can include type of training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and additional career opportunities in the medical or health industry.

Also include a positions available section in this 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.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Customer reviews and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a page with client reviews and case studies also helps your health or medical website to establish social proof online.

(Add a page with reviews from clients and case studies. Screenshot image source: arrowsmiledental.com)

We have created a detailed article on using testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. For more info, see this article: Create Better Results Online With Knockout Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is absolutely vital.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following:

• Name
• Address
• Phone
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Online Chat/Skype (optional feature)

If your business services multiple locations you should make this clear when showing your address and contact information.

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

Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful business marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as news and announcements, updates, useful articles, informative posts, educational videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established medical website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to market your medical clinic.

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

Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic system that will begin to attract web traffic to your website, simply by publishing content to your website on a regular basis.

(WordPress can generate new visitors automatically to your website)

For more details:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Get More Web Visitors For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Information Pages

Having a compliant website is crucially important. This is not only important for establishing trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws and regulations wherever you practice.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your medical or health-related website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions
• 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
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site. Go here to learn more about this: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve Your Web Content

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

Providing useful content with great advice, information and tips will get your readers to share your web pages with others and come back for more content. Publishing content is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospects about using your services.

For example, if your business provides products that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you could write content about include:

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals, fats)
• How small efforts in portion control can help you lose weight
• Is using a measuring tape better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress?
• A guide to making the smarter choices choices when eating in restaurants
• Etc.

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

Remember to use specific keywords and terms in your content that your readers will be searching 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 exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your 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!

Ways To Improve Visitor Experience

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

Use RSS Feeds

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

If you provide useful information, other sites 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 in one place
• Content distribution 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 links back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• RSS provides multiple ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. 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 site from other sites, 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 and respected industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of feeds you could consider adding to a medical or health-related 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. Breast cancer, Fitness and nutrition, Heart health and stroke, Mental health, Pregnancy, 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. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP), BMJ Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Current Psychiatry, Infectious Agents and Cancer, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related feeds (e.g. consumer health information updates, food safety reports, product recalls, drugs, 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) - Find many health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Fitness & nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Allergies, Men’s health, Migraine Headaches, Diabetes, Senior Health, Heart, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Urology/Nephrology, Seniors/Aging, Medical Insurance, Autism, Transplants/Organ Donations, Cleft Palate, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, 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”, “midwifery rss feeds”, “premature ejaculation rss feeds”, etc.

(Using RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your website’s UX.)

Add Downloadable Forms

Checklists and educational charts are a great way to help increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. Checklists and charts can provide users with useful step-by-step information and resources to complete necessary steps. Checklists and forms can also be great client educational tools.

You can provide a range of checklists and forms (or links to these) covering areas such as:

• Booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Online Tools

Providing useful tools, gadgets and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators are useful tools you can add to your website. Others could include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section of this detailed article, we take a look at a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your medical site that can improve seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this guide on ways to grow your medical web presence.

Click on this link to view Part Two:

• How To Build And Grow A Health-Related Presence Online Successfully – Part 2

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