Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical professionals today are facing increasing challenges created by the online economy.

Challenges Health Firms Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the health and medical industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and figuring out better ways to grow your practice online.

As well as spending money in offline marketing activities, you will probably find that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy medical businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget need to be delegated towards developing and maintaining a website that drives prospective clients, engages visitors, outranks the competition in search engines and social media, and helps give your business a wider amount of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website layout has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of the website may change over time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires having a sound web and content management strategy.

One other challenge that medical or health-related organizations (and most other businesses) face, is that they have around thirty seconds to provide users with what they are searching for or they will go away.

“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 Web Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also many online opportunities available for businesses in the health profession that are willing to evolve to meet online demands and can think progressively about marketing themselves better online.

This guide will help you uncover new ways and opportunities to increase traffic and improve your business online.

As well as providing useful website improvement tips, we also recommend that you consider using WordPress 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), see these articles:

• How A Poorly Built Website Can Lose You Business
• WordPress In Business – A Complete Guide To Growing A Successful Business Using A WordPress Blog

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

This section explains how to improve your health or medical-related website and get better results online. We will look at what pages a health-related website needs, what content works best for health websites, suggestions for improving your navigation structure, etc.

If you need any help with website planning, visit this page: Planning A Website: A Comprehensive Guide For Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

All websites need a number of basic pages. Let’s review the pages your  should have and how to set up your website for best results.

Description Of services And Products

It’s essential to include a page that lists your products and services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, your page could include services such as:

• Medicine & Surgery – e.g. acute pain management, orthopedics haematology, reconstructive surgery, stroke, rheumatology, endoscopy, ophtalmology elective surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, gum disease, teeth whitening, implants, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal & Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, lung screening, audiology, women’s health, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, wellness coaching, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, reflexology, natural therapy, tai chi, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services/therapies – diet and nutrition, othopedics, lymphedema therapy, physiotherapy, inherited diseases, prosthetics, mobility, home and community care, clinical information, medical supplies, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and why they should book an appointment.

About Us Page

This page should give a description of your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, supported community programs, etc.

It should also include any awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and position yourself above your competitors.

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

Team Profile Page

Are you looking for ways to sell more products online and get prospective clients to stay longer on your site? Then one of the things you can do, is make it easier for your prospects to get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

You want your business to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your staff members. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be familiar with medical or health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what they specialize in. You may also want to explain what those specialized areas do. It can include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow selected staff members on their social networks.

On this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your team members with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each employee’s expertise and qualifications, why they are an invaluable asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.

(Make sure to add a ‘meet the team’ page. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

To learn more about how to add an easy-to-manage directory of employees or team members in WordPress using free plugins, go here: WordPress Plugin Tutorial: How To Easily Add A Staff List Directory To Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities Page

List any job opportunities within your business. It should include training provided, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities promoted or encouraged by your business, etc. You can also include stories of trainees who have established a solid career path thanks to your organization and information such as the job outlook and new career opportunities in the medical and 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.

Case Studies And Testimonials

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with case studies and testimonials from previous clients also provides social proof.

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

If you want to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews, refer to this article: Improve Your Sales Conversions Using More Effective Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a clean contact page is essential.

Your contact page should provide some or all of the following information:

• Name Of Your Business
• Address
• Telephone
• Fax
• Contact email address
• Google Map and directions
• Web URL
• Contact form
• Request for information – contact details
• Links to social media pages
• Online Chat/Skype

If your business services several areas you want to make this clear when showing the address and contact information.

Consider also including a few links point to the most commonly asked questions page, frequently-visited pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Blog Section

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Many blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to promote your business using content such as news and events, updates, training information, opinions and discussions, videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established health website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your company.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing site is very hard to keep updated with new content or not giving you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your website and your blog.

Very few people know that an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic-generation system that can instantly begin attracting new targeted traffic to your web site, simply by publishing new content on a consistent basis to your website.

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

For more details:

• WordPress Website Traffic Blueprint – Learn How To Turn Your WordPress Web Site Into A Traffic Generation Machine

Legal Pages

It’s extremely important to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that no local, regional or federal laws and regulations are being breached in whatever area you do business.

Depending on what services and products you provide, adding the legal pages below to your site will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), 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 Linking Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a comprehensive article about adding legal pages to your website. To learn more, go here: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips For Improving Your Content

In today’s ultra-competitive online economy, having a well-planned content marketing strategy has become one of the key differentiators for businesses selling similar products or services.

By providing great content with useful information, advice or tips, you will get your readers to share your web pages online with others and come back for more content. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and teach site visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.

For example, if your business provides weight loss services, then some of the areas you can write about include the following:

• Potential health issues caused by being overweight
• How to identify the bad habits you need to correct to ensure lifetime weight loss
• How to develop an exercise plan you can enjoy and will stick with
• Vitamins and minerals that aid in weight loss (chromium, calcium, magnesium, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Use keywords in your articles that your readers will search 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 website, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also 100% FREE!

Improving Visitor Experience

Improving your user experience (known as UX) will help to 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

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

If you provide useful information, other sites will want to syndicate your content to their visitors.

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

• All of your content updates are kept in one place
• your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared online
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• An RSS feed provides links to your content
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can 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 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.

You can find RSS feeds with loads of useful content by visiting sites of health-related government departments or key industry bodies.

Here are examples of RSS feeds containing useful information that you could consider adding to a health site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts 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, Violence against women, 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. BioMed Central, The Psychiatrist, TheLancet.com, BMJ Journal of Clinical Pathology, Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Get many health-related RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find FDA-related feeds (e.g. consumer health information updates, FDA drug shortages, product recalls, radiological health, 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get many health-related feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also choose specific feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Cold & Flu, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Prevention & Wellness, Hearing, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Eye Health/Blindness, Pulmonary System, Fibromyalgia, Dermatology, Back Pain, GastroIntestinal/Gastroenterology, Liver Disease/Hepatitis, etc.)

You can also search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “headache rss feeds”, “cosmetic medicine rss feeds”, “huntingtons disease rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS feeds to improve your health or medical website’s user experience.)

Checklists And Charts

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and set yourself apart from the competition. Forms and checklists can provide users with useful step-by-step information and resources to complete steps. Checklists and forms can also be great instructional tools.

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

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

Provide Other Tools

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

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

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This is the end of section one.

Click here to keep reading:

• Your Health Practice Website – WordPress Plugins That Can Help To Improve Search Engine Optimization, Improve User Engagement And Increase Traffic To Your Site Generation

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