Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

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

Online Challenges For Medical Practitioners

Now, more than ever, businesses in the health industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop and maintain a strong presence online. This includes having a website and figuring out smarter ways to grow your services online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities such as advertising on newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and television spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to remain competitive, you will need to allocate a greater portion of your budget towards developing and managing a website that can bring in prospects, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help you create a wider amount of reach online.

This means that your website not only has to look great, your web pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and some areas may need to be updated often. This requires a well-planned web and content management strategy.

One other problem that health businesses face online, and most businesses for that matter, is that your site has an average of 30 seconds to provide users with what they are searching for or they will find what they are looking for 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 Health And Medical Services Practitioners In The Online Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the health or medical sector that can adapt to meet the challenges of the online economy and think outside the box in terms of improving their online business marketing skills.

The article below will help you uncover opportunities to increase web traffic and create noticeable improvements in your online results.

As well as providing general website improvement tips, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your health or medical business website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system (CMS), see the articles below:

• How A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Potential Customers
• WordPress And Small Business – An Online Guide To Growing Your Successful Small Business Using WordPress

Ways To Improve Your Health Site

This section will show you how to improve your health or medical-related website and get better results. We will look at what pages your site needs, what content you need, your layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: How To Plan A Website - A Basic Primer For Non-Technical Business Owners

Basic Web Pages

All websites require some essential pages. Let’s discuss these.

Services Description Page

You need a page that lists your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area you specialize in, this page can list services like:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. ear, nose and throat, pulmonology diabetes, cosmetic surgery, aged care, rheumatology, urology, eye diseases elective surgery, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, bad breath treatment, veneers, crowns and bridges, orthodontics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal/Postnatal – e.g. birthing, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, skin cancer, radiology and imaging, women’s health, magnetic resonance imaging, food allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, domestic abuse, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative therapies – acupuncture, aromatherapy, colloidal silver therapy, meditation, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, othopedics, lymphedema therapy, physiotherapy, medical genetics, prosthetics, sleep therapy, home and community care, sexual health, medical supplies, etc.

List all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what these services do and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

About Us Page

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

Remember to list any awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that can be used to promote your practice and set yourself above the competition.

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

Our Team

Are you searching for simple ideas to grow your business online or get people to stay longer on your site? Then something you can do, is make it easier for prospects to get to know, like and trust your organization better.

Prospective clients need 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 mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in medical or 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 mean. This page should include social buttons that will allow your site visitors to follow selected team members on their social pages.

In this page, don’t be afraid to show the human side of your people with personal stories, hobbies, etc., but make sure to highlight each staff member’s expertise, how they contribute to the success of your team, and more importantly, how they can help add value to your clients’ business.

(Add an employee description page. Screenshot source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial about how to easily add a simple employee directory in your site using free WordPress plugins here: How To Easily Add A Simple Staff Directory On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills

We’re Hiring

This is a listing of career opportunities within the organization. It should include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You should also include information about new career opportunities in the health or medical-related industry.

Maintain 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.

Case Studies

Case studies and client reviews are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with testimonials from past clients and case studies, you will also help to provide prospective clients with social proof online.

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

If you want to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and user reviews, refer to this article: Learn How To Improve Your Sales Conversions With Awesome Customer Testimonials

Contact Page

Having a contact page is crucial.

It should include the following information about your consulting practice:

• Name
• Location of premises
• Telephone number
• Fax number
• Email
• Google Map
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media web addresses
• Chat/Skype

If your business services multiple locations you will want to make that clear when displaying your address and contact info.

You should also include links to an FAQ page, frequently-visited pages, booking form, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Medical-Related Blog

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that is simple to use and allows you to promote your business by publishing timely content such as news and announcements, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, media presentations, etc.

If you already have an established medical or health-related site, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to create more exposure for your practice.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing medical or health website is 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 business blog.

Not many people know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic system that can help deliver targeted visitors to your web site, simply by publishing content to your website on a consistent basis.

(WordPress can generate new visitors automatically to your site)

For more details:

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

Legal Info Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is really important. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that no laws and regulations are being broken wherever you practice.

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

• Contact Us
• 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 detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. For more details: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your WordPress Site

Tips On How To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, content marketing has become one of the key success differentiators for businesses.

By providing great content with useful information, tips or advice, you will get your readers sharing it with others and coming back for more. This is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospective clients about using your products and services.

For example, if your business provides products that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you can write content about include:

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (protein, carbs, vitamins, minerals, fats)
• How small efforts in portion control can help achieve weight loss results
• How to develop an exercise regime you can enjoy and will stick with
• Vitamins and minerals that help with weight loss (chromium, calcium, magnesium, etc.)
• Etc.

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

Remember to use specific keywords and terms in your content that your prospective clients would search for online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your visitors and grow your presence online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improve Visitor Engagement And User Experience

Improving your site’s user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you different ways to improve your visitor engagement and user experience.

RSS Feeds

An RSS feed provides plenty of benefits for your medical-related business.

If you provide information that adds value to others, other businesses will 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 content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Feeds can be shared
• Feeds allow for subscribing
• A feed provides a way for external links to point back to your site
• Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view the 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 content on your website from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.

To find RSS feeds with loads of useful content just search online for relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.

Here are some feeds you could add to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Latest news feed: http://www.hhs.gov/rss/news/hhsnews.xml, etc. You can search by departments and choose specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Environmental health, HIV/AIDS, Menopause, Pregnancy, 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. Nucleic Acids Research, Neuroanatomy, BMJ Injury Prevention, Current Psychiatry, American Institute of Biological Sciences, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Get various health-related news feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get RSS feeds on fda-related news and topics like criminal investigations, food safety, recalls, vaccines, blood and biologics, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get many health-related RSS feeds and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News Feeds: You can search medical news RSS feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Medical research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
• MedicineNet.com – Weekly Health and Medical News Digest: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/weeklyhealth.xml. You can also choose specific RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Asthma, Nutrition, Food, & Recipes, Depression, Senior Health, HIV, 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. Anxiety/Stress, Seniors/Aging, Cervical Cancer/HPV Vaccine, Swine Flu, Endocrinology, Tropical Diseases, Clinical Trials/Drug Trials, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “ADD rss feeds”, “general practice rss feeds”, “tuberculosis rss feeds”, etc.

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

Checklists & Charts

Checklists and charts are a great way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Charts and checklists can provide users with useful step-by-step instructions and resources to perform necessary tasks. Checklists and charts can also be great educational tools.

You can provide a range of checklists, charts and forms (or links to these) covering areas such as:

• Checklists and forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for post-surgery recovery
• Health checklists for specific medical conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene program, cosmetic dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Online Tools

Providing useful online tools, gadgets and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add value to your potential clients. Health-related calculators are great tools you can add to your website. Other applications could include things like diagnostic tools, or even recipes.

In the next section, we will be discussing a several WordPress plugins you can use in your site that can help improve search engine optimization, increase user engagement and generate more web traffic to your business.

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This is the end of part 1 of this guide on ways to improve your medical-related business web presence.

To continue, click here:

• Grow Your Medical Services & Health-Related Website – Improve SEO, Improve User Engagement And Drive More Traffic Using Plugins & Themes

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