Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The information economy has not only transformed business worldwide, it has also created growing challenges and great opportunities for medical or health businesses.

Online Challenges For Health Services Professionals

Today, more than ever, health and medical services providers must work hard to remain competitive and source new clients. Not only do you have to participate in the community your business serves, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your practice online.

As well as investing dollars in offline marketing, businesses in the health-related industry are now also finding that they need to invest a more significant share of their marketing budget towards the development and management of a website that will drive new prospective clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and increase their reach online.

This means that your site not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website layout 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 may need to be frequently updated. This requires having a well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other challenge that health professionals face (as do most professions for that matter), is that your site has only about thirty seconds or less to give users what they are looking for or they will look 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 Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant challenges, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the medical or health-related profession that are willing to evolve to meet digital challenges and who can think strategically in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

This article will help you uncover opportunities to source more potential clients and improve your business online.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), go here:

• Discover How A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• Mastering WordPress – A Small Business Owner’s Guide

Useful Tips To Improve Your Medical And Health Practice Site

This section explains ways to improve your medical-related website and get better results. We show you what pages you need, what content you need, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need additional information about website planning, read this guide: A Practical Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners

Essential Pages

All business websites need several basic web pages. Let’s review these.

Products And Services

It’s essential to have a page that lists your products or services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, pulmonology hematology, cancer, aged care, rheumatology, endoscopy, ophtalmology palliative care, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. preventive dentistry, children’s dentistry, cleaning services, teeth whitening, dental implants, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, coronary care
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, skin cancer, audiology, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, trauma counselling, wellbeing, social work services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, reiki, yoga, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, podiatry, reproductive endocrinology, physiotherapy, inherited diseases, artificial limbs, mobility, home care, community health, medical transport, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us

The ‘About Us’ page needs to describe your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

It should list any industry awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, associations, publications, etc., that could be used to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and to set yourself above your competitors.

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

Core Team

If you are looking for quicker and easier ideas to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust you and your organization better.

You want people to relate to your business. A great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. It should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in health terms your bio descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It should also include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to highlight each staff member’s qualifications, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add an employee description page. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial on how to create and add a simple and easy-to-update list directory of staff members to your site here: Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory In WordPress

Recruitment Page

This is a listing of career opportunities within your organization. It would include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social aspects of working with your organization, etc. You can also include stories of recruits who have risen within your company and information about career opportunities in the medical industry.

Also include a positions available section in your page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

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

(Add a page to your site with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot source: arrowsmiledental.com)

If you want to learn more about using testimonials and client reviews, see this article: Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads Using Captivating Testimonials

Contact Us Page

A functional contact page is crucial.

It should provide:

• Business Name
• Your address
• Telephone
• Fax number
• Contact email address
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Chat

If your business operates from multiple areas you will want to make this clear when displaying your address and contact info.

Consider also including links to an FAQ page, useful pages, booking form, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content such as news, new releases, educational information, opinions and discussions, videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Something not many businesses know about, is that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that can instantly attract new targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing new content to your website on a consistent basis.

(An expertly configured WordPress site can drive traffic automatically to your site)

Go here to learn more about this:

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

Legal Info Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is essential. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any laws or regulations wherever your practice is located.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Statement
• 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 website here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Tips On How To Improve Your Content

In today’s highly competitive global business economy, having a content marketing strategy has become one of the key differentiators for businesses.

You will want to provide great content with tips, information or advice that will get your readers sharing your information and coming back for more. This is a great way to educate site visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides weight management services, then some of the areas you could publish content about include the following:

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• How to develop portion control habits (smaller plate, don’t put food on the table, more vegetables)
• Characteristics of different diets, e.g. HCG diet, Raw Food diet, Weight Watchers diet (what these are, how they can benefit you, are they effective)
• Smartphone apps for tracking calories and exercise
• And many other content topics

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

Remember to use relevant keywords and terminology in your articles that prospective clients will be searching for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for 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!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Experience

Improving your site’s 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 your visitor engagement and user experience.

Syndicating Content - RSS Feeds

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) 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 businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Feeds allow users to subscribe
• It provides links back to your site
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. view 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 providing valuable information on your website 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 by searching online for relevant government departments or industry bodies.

Here are some RSS feeds you could add to a health or medical website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also choose individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Environmental health, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, Screening tests and vaccines, 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. Rheumatology, BMJ Disease in Childhood – Fetal and Neonatal Edition, BMJ Emergency Medicine Journal, Medscape, BMJ Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find various feeds on health-related topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related feeds (e.g. FDA drug safety, food safety, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, foods, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
• Department of Health UK (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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find many health-related news feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS 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. Allergies, Arthritis, Cholesterol, Diabetes, Senior Health, Travel Health, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select specific RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Public Health, Headache/Migraine, Depression, Autism, Back Pain, Breast Cancer, Restless Legs Syndrome, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “ovarian cancer rss feeds”, “quit smoking rss feeds”, “restless legs syndrome rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better UX.)

Checklists & Forms

Checklists and charts are a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and medical forms can provide visitors with useful information and resources to get necessary steps completed. Forms and checklists are also great client instructional tools.

You can provide a range of online or downloadable checklists and forms covering subjects such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Other Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to users. Calculators are useful tools for your website. Others could include things like nutritional tools, or even recipes.

In part 2, we will look at a number of online tools you can add to your website using WordPress plugins that can improve your seo, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To view Part 2, click this link:

• Tips For Health And Medical Services Practitioners – WordPress Plugins And Themes For Improving Search Engine Optimization, Better User Engagement And Web Traffic Generation

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