Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only transformed business around the world, it has also created new challenges and great opportunities for the medical-related industry.

Challenges Medical Services Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the medical sector must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to actively participate 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 market your business online.

As well as spending dollars in offline marketing, businesses in the health industry are now also finding that they need to assign a larger part of their budget towards the development and management of a website that brings in leads, engages visitors, outperforms the competition in search engines and increases their reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your pages have to be fast-loading, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change in time and some areas will need to be frequently updated. This requires a sound website and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that health or medical-related businesses face with their websites, as most businesses do for that matter, is that they have only around thirty seconds to help visitors find the information they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.

“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

As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the health industry that can evolve to meet online economy challenges and think outside the box in terms of improving their online marketing skills.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about new ways to attract more client accounts and establish stronger online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your medical or health-related website.

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS), go here:

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Lose You Customers And What To Do About It
• WordPress – A Small Business Owner’s Guide

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

This section will show you how to improve your health or medical website and get better results online. We will look at what web pages you need, what type of content works best for health or medical websites, ways of improving layout and navigation, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, visit this page: Planning Your Small Business Website - A Comprehensive Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

How To Improve Your Web Pages

All websites need several essential pages. Let’s review these.

Products And Services Description Page

You need a page that explains your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area you specialize in, your page could include services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose & throat, nephrology haematology, oral surgery, aged care, renal, bariatric surgery, optometry surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental implants, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac monitoring, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screening, skin cancer, x-ray, women’s health, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory 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 work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, reiki, tai chi, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, sports medicine, reproductive services, stomal therapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, mobility, home care, sexual health, medical equipment, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what these services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

About Us

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

It’s important to mention any medical or health-related awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, associations, publications, etc., that can be used to promote your practice and position yourself above the competition.

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

Your Team

Are you searching for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products online or increase user interaction with your site? Then something you can do, is help prospective clients get to know you, your team and your organization better.

You want prospects to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees or team members. This page should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in medical-related terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page can also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected 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 outline each team member’s experience, 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 an employee description page. Screenshot image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to easily add a list directory of employees to WordPress here: How To Add A Staff Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial

Job Opportunities Page

List any job opportunities available within the clinic. This page should include type of training provided, employee benefits, professional development, etc. You can include case studies of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to your business and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the health or medical industry.

Maintain 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 newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Case Studies

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with reviews from clients and case studies also helps to provide social proof online.

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

We have written a comprehensive article on using testimonials and reviews to grow your business online. To learn more about this go here: How To Get Better Results Online Using Profit-Boosting Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a functional contact page is vitally important.

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

• Name Of Your Business
• Address
• Telephone number
• Facsimile number
• Contact email
• Google Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Links to social media profiles
• Chat feature (optional)

If you have different areas you will want to make that clear when showing your address and contact information.

You can also include links pointing to commonly-asked questions page, main pages, online booking form, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog

A blog can be a very powerful business marketing tool. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing content like news and announcements, updates, educational articles, opinions and discussions, videos, webinars, etc.

If you already have an established website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to market your practice.

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

Something not many people know about, is that WordPress can turn into an automated traffic-generation system that will help deliver new visitors to your website, simply by adding regular content to your site.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can generate new visitors automatically to your website)

For more details:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – How To Create An Automated Traffic-Getting Machine With WordPress

Legal Information Pages

It’s very important for health providers organizations to ensure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking laws or regulations wherever your practice is located.

Adding the legal pages below to your health site will help keep you out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential legal threats or inconveniences:

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

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

Ways To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin publishing content on your site, the sooner you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

Providing great content with information, advice and tips will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more content. Content marketing is the most effective way to educate site visitors and prospects about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides weight management services, then some of the areas you could cover in your web content include:

• Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
• How to get support when embarking on a weight loss program (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• Recovering after weight loss surgery – useful tips and recommendations
• How to modify recipes for achieving healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Remember to use specific keywords and terminology in your articles that prospective clients will search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of training emails with actionable information that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your web site, save money creating high-quality content for your visitors and grow your website using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways To Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicating Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide lots of benefits for your site.

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 sites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Allows users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your content
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of 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 useful RSS feeds for your website, visit sites of relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.

For example, here are some examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and select individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Health care for women, 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. The Oncologist, Nutrition Journal, RadioGraphics, BMJ Tobacco Control, 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) - Find various health-related news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find feeds on fda-related topics like criminal investigations, MedWatch safety alerts (human medical products), tainted products, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Find various 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 RSS feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.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. Alzheimer’s Disease, Menopause, Chronic Pain, Depression, Senior Health, Sleep, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – MNT Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also choose individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Ovarian Cancer, Multiple Sclerosis, Cervical Cancer/HPV Vaccine, Dermatology, Nursing/Midwifery, Dyslexia, Clinical Trials/Drug Trials, etc.)

You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “ALS rss feeds”, “cholesterol rss feeds”, “obesity rss feeds”, etc.

(Use RSS feeds to improve your health-related website’s user experience.)

Provide Forms

Checklists and medical forms are a fantastic way to help increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Charts and checklists can give them useful instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and forms can also be great client instructional tools.

Checklists, charts and medical forms could include topics such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, active maintenance program, cosmetic 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.)

Provide Other Tools

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

In the next section, we look at a several online tools you can add to your health-related website using WordPress plugins that 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 improve your health-related business web presence.

To continue, click here:

• Your Medical Center Services Website – WordPress Plugins & Themes That Can Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Increase Web Traffic Generation

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