Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress
The digital age has not only transformed business globally, it has also created new challenges and opportunities for businesses in the health or medical-related industry.
Online Challenges For The Health Profession
Now, more than ever, medical services practitioners must find smarter ways to stand out from their competition and generate new clients. Not only do you have to participate in the community your business serves, you must also maintain an active web presence. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better market your services online.
In addition to investing money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television, etc., businesses in the medical industry are also finding that increasingly larger amounts of their budget need to be directed to developing and maintaining a website that attracts clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and creates wider reach online.
This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change over time and many areas will need to be updated frequently. This requires implementing well-planned website and content management strategy.
Another challenge that health or medical businesses face with their websites (and most professions for that matter), is that they have only about 30 seconds or less to give users what 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 Professionals
As well as facing many new challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for health or medical businesses that can adapt to meet the demands of the online economy and who can think outside the box in terms of improving their online marketing skills.
This article will help you uncover new ways to drive more traffic and build more online credibility for your health business.
As well as providing tips and information on ways to improve your medical business online, we also place special emphasis on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System (CMS) to power your health or medical business website.
To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system, see these articles:
- Why A Poorly Designed Web Site Can Lose You Money And What To Do About It
- WordPress For Business Owners – A Beginner’s Guide To Growing A Successful Business Using A WordPress Blog
Useful Tips To Improve Your Health Center Services Site
This section covers how to improve your health or medical website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a health site needs, what type of content works best, tips for improving your site’s layout and navigation, etc.
If you need website planning assistance, go here: Planning Your Website - A Comprehensive Blueprint For Business Owners
How To Improve Your Website Pages
Professional business websites require several basic pages. Let’s go over the pages your should have and how to structure your medical or health-related website for best results.
Services And Products Description Page
It’s essential to include a page that describes your products and services. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, this page can include services like:
- Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, pulmonology haematology, cosmetic surgery, stroke, renal, gastroenterology, optometry operating theaters, etc.
- Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, dental implants, emergency dental, etc.
- Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
- Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
- Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
- Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, audiology, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
- Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
- Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
- Alternative treatments – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, natural therapy, meditation, chiropractic services, hypnotherapy, etc.
- Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, sports medicine, reproductive services, stomal therapy, medical genetics, artificial limbs, hearing aids, home care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.
Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about the benefits of using these services and direct them to your appointment booking page.
About Us
This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, sponsored community projects, etc.
It’s important to also mention any health-related awards, certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your practice and position yourself above similar service providers.
(List all of your business awards certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc. in your About Us page. Screenshot image sourced from: squaremedical.com.au)
Team
If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ideas to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help prospects get to know, like and trust 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 team members. This page should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors are probably not that well-versed in health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas mean. It can also include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected staff members on their social networks.
In this page, don’t be afraid to humanize your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each team member’s expertise, why they are an 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. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)
If you need help how to easily create and add an easy-to-update list directory of staff or team members in WordPress without coding skills, refer to this tutorial: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff Directory For Your WordPress Site Without Editing Code
Job Opportunities Page
This is a listing of job opportunities within your business. It could include type of training provided, employee benefits, advancement opportunities, social activities sponsored or encouraged by your business, etc. It should include information such as the job outlook and 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 this page, subscribe to your announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.
Case Studies & Testimonials
Reviews from clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase the services you offer. By adding a page with case studies and client reviews, you are also helping to establish social proof.
(Add a web page with reviews from clients and case studies. Screenshot source: arrowsmiledental.com)
We have written extensively about using case studies, testimonials and reviews to improve your business results online. To learn more about this go here: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With Highly Effective Customer Testimonials
Contact Page
A contact page is absolutely vital.
Your contact page should include the following:
- Company Name
- Your physical address
- Telephone
- Fax number
- Contact email
- Google Map
- Web URL
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Links to social media pages
- Online chat feature
If your business operates from multiple locations you should make that clear when showing the address and contact info.
You should also include links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.
Add A Blog
A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using content such as the latest announcements, product releases, useful information, opinions on current topics, educational videos, media presentations, etc.
If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your medical company.
If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing medical-related website is hard to keep updated with new content or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used as both your website and your blog.
Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that can drive web traffic to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your site.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)
For more details, go here:
Legal Information
It’s extremely important for health professionals companies to have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for establishing credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening any local, regional or federal laws or regulations wherever you provide services.
Depending on what services and products you provide, adding the following legal pages to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- 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 comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your website here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site
Improve The Content On Your Site
In today’s ultra-competitive online business economy, the sooner you begin to publish good content on your site, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from other competitors.
By committing to providing useful content with great advice, information and tips, you will get your readers sharing your information with others and coming back for more content. This is a great way to educate site visitors and prospects about using your services and products.
For example, if your business provides services that help people manage their weight, then some of the areas you could cover in your content include:
- What to do before starting any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
- How small efforts in portion control can help your weight loss efforts
- Incorporating exercise into your busy schedule
- How a personal chef can help you lose weight (what they do, is it affordable)
- 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).
Include the keywords and terms in your articles that readers would search for.
We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will teach exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content that will add value to your 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!
Tips For Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience
Improving your user experience (generally referred to as UX) helps to keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve your visitor engagement and user experience.
Use RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in many ways.
If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses will want to syndicate your content.
Some of the benefits of having other businesses syndicate your content, include:
- All of your content updates are kept in one place
- Doesn’t rely on email
- Your feeds can be shared online
- Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
- It provides links to your content
- Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
- There are a number of ways readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the content on their mobile device using different applications)
- RSS is built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits to adding syndicated content to your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.
To find useful RSS feeds just visit sites of medical-related government departments or respected industry bodies.
Below we have listed examples of useful RSS feeds you could add to your site:
- US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can search by departments and choose individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Environmental health, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
- US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a list of RSS feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Disease in Childhood – Education and Practice, ADA DiabetesCare , RadioGraphics, BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine, BMJ British Journal of Ophthalmology, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
- National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
- US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Find RSS feeds on fda-related topics like enforcement reports, FDA drug shortages, recalls, vaccines, blood and biologics, etc. and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
- UK Department Of Health (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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
- Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Get many RSS feeds on health-related news and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
- Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Health news: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Health.xml)
- MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also select specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Medications, Mental Health, Chronic Pain, Pregnancy, Digestion, HIV, etc.)
- MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
- MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Ovarian Cancer, Headache/Migraine, Compliance, Swine Flu, Medical Devices/Diagnostics, Prostate/Prostate Cancer, Liver Disease/Hepatitis, 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. “lymphology rss feeds”, “diagnostics rss feeds”, “tuberculosis rss feeds”, etc.
(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your medical website’s UX.)
Checklists And Forms
Checklists and charts are a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your readers. They can provide users with step-by-step information and resources to complete a task. Charts and checklists are great client instructional tools.
You can provide online or downloadable checklists and forms covering a range of topics such as:
- Booking appointments
- Checklists for post-surgery recovery
- Health checklists for specific medical conditions
- Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
- Weight loss and nutrition program checklists and charts
- General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different stages of development, etc.)
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. Health-related calculators, for example, are great tools to add to your website. Other tools can include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.
In part two, we will look at a several online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that improve your search engine optimization, increase user engagement and drive more traffic to your business.
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This is the end of part 1 of this guide on ways to grow your health or medical business online.
To continue reading, click this link:
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"These tutorials have so much information and are easy to understand. If you use WordPress or plan to in the future these will help you with everything you need to know." - Valisa (Mesa, Arizona)