Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed business around the world, it has also created new challenges and great opportunities for businesses offering health services.

Challenges Health & Medical Firms Face Online

Today, more than ever, health and medical services providers must find smarter ways to stand apart from the crowd and source new clientele. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community you serve, you must also maintain an active digital presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better market your services online.

In addition to spending money advertising offline on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the medical industry are now finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be assigned to developing and maintaining a website that attracts new clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps give them wider marketing exposure online.

This means that your website 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 the website may change over time and sections may need to be frequently updated. This requires a well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other difficult challenge that medical or health organizations (and most businesses) face with their websites, is that you have only around 30 seconds or less to help visitors find the information they need or they will 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 Medical Businesses In The Digital Economy

As well as facing many new business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available to businesses in the medical or health-related profession that can adapt to meet digital challenges and who can think outside the box when it comes to marketing their business better online.

In this detailed guide, you will learn ways and opportunities to attract and engage more visitors and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your medical business website.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using WordPress, see the articles below:

• Discover Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
• WordPress And Small Business – A Complete Guide To Growing A Business With WordPress

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

Let’s start by covering some basic stuff. In this section, we’ll look at how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages your site needs, what type of content works best for medical websites, your layout and navigation, etc.

If you need specific help with website planning, go here: A Practical Guide To Website Planning For Business Owners

Your Web Pages

Professional websites need a number of basic web pages. Let’s review these.

Description Of services And Products

You need a page that lists your products or services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, this page could include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. pain management, nephrology diabetes, reconstructive surgery, aged care, respiratory, bariatric surgery, ophtalmology surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, restorations, implants, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, skin cancer, audiology, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social development services
• Alternative treatments – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, holistic medicine, massage therapy, osteopathy, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – weight management, chiropody, reproductive services, physiotherapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home and community care, sexual health, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to 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

The ‘About Us’ page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what it stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical donations, etc.

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

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

Meet The Team

If you are searching for inexpensive ways to grow your business online, then make it easier for prospects to get to know you, your team and your business better.

Potential clients need 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 brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not familiar with health terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas mean. This page can include social buttons so your visitors can follow some of your team members on their social pages.

On this page, make sure to outline each person’s expertise, how they add value to your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a page that introduces your team members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to easily create and add a simple and easy-to-manage list directory of staff or team members to a WordPress site with no coding skills required, refer to this step-by-step tutorial: Tutorial: How To Add A Staff Directory

Job Opportunities Page

List any job opportunities within the clinic. This page should include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and career opportunities in the 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, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials And Case Studies

Case studies and reviews from clients are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase the services you offer. Adding a web page with case studies and reviews from clients also establishes social proof.

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

We have written extensively on using client case studies and reviews to improve your business results online. Go here to learn more about this: Learn How To Achieve Better Results Online With Meaningful Customer Testimonials

Contact Page

A contact page is absolutely vital.

Your contact page should include:

• Company Name
• Location of clinic
• Phone
• Facsimile number
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media links
• Interactive chat feature (optional feature)

If you operate out of different areas you should make that clear when displaying the address and contact info.

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

Add A Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content like news, updates, educational articles, informative posts, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an established website, then consider adding a WordPress blog to create more exposure for your medical practice.

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

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

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

• Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Site Into An Automated Web Traffic Machine

Legal Pages

It’s extremely important for professional companies to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws or regulations wherever your business is located.

Depending on what services you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your health or medical-related website will help you stay out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:

• Contact Us
• Privacy Statement
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your website. Go here to learn more: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

How To Improve The Content On Your Site

In today’s ultra-competitive online business economy, being generous with content that educates and informs visitors has become one of the key success factors for businesses.

Providing great content with useful tips, information or advice will get your readers to share your information and come back for more. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and teach your visitors and prospective clients about using your products and services.

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

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• Is weight loss surgery right for you? (who should get it, risks, rates of success)
• Hypnosis and weight loss
• What salad dressings can sabotage your diet (and healthier choices)
• Etc.

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

Use keywords in your content that your prospective clients will be searching for.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive a comprehensive series of 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 useful content that will add value to your visitors and grow your business online using content. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicating Content With RSS Feeds

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

If you provide valuable information, other sites may want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Can be shared and picked up by other sites online
• Users can subscribe to your feed
• An RSS feed provides links to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
• There are a number of ways readers can 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 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.

To find RSS feeds with useful content just search online for relevant government departments or well-known industry bodies.

Below we have listed a few feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to a health or medical-related website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can also choose individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Health care for women, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, Screening tests and vaccines, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. The Oncologist, BMJ Journal of Medical Genetics, BMJ Injury Prevention, BMJ Journal of Clinical Pathology, BMJ Evidence-Based Mental Health, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get various RSS feeds on health-related news here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find RSS feeds on fda-related news like FDA drug safety, health fraud, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, foods, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find many feeds on health-related news and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes RSS feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Mental Health, Chronic Pain, Depression, Sexual Health, Hearing, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Urology/Nephrology, Headache/Migraine, Pregnancy/Obstetrics, Swine Flu, Medical Devices/Diagnostics, Epilepsy, Obesity/Weight Loss/Fitness, etc.)

You can also just search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “fibromyalgia rss feeds”, “nutrition rss feeds”, “erectile dysfunction rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists And Forms

Checklists and charts are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. They can provide users with useful information and resources to perform necessary tasks. They are great educational tools.

You can provide forms and checklists covering a range of topics such as:

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists and charts for specific systems
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, maintenance program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. acidity level of different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)

Add Online Tools

Providing unique online tools and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and significantly add value to users. Calculators are some of the most popular tools for your website. Others would include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section of this detailed article, we take a look at a number of WordPress-based tools you can use in your health site that improve search engine optimization, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of part one.

To view Part Two, click this link:

• How To Grow A Medical Services & Health Center Online – Part 2

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