Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

Medical and health services providers today face growing challenges.

Challenges Health And Medical Businesses Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the medical industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to become more involved in the community your business serves, you must also develop a strong presence online. This includes having a dynamic website and learning how to better market your health or medical services services online.

As well as investing money in offline marketing activities like advertising on local newspapers, ads in industry publications and magazines, radio and tv spots, etc., you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other web-marketing savvy medical or health-related businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be assigned towards developing and managing a website that brings in clients, engages users, outperforms the competition in search engines and helps give you a wider degree of marketing exposure online.

This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your website has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change in time and sections will need to be frequently updated. This requires a sound web and content management strategy.

Another problem that health-related businesses (and most businesses) face, is that you have only about 30 seconds to provide visitors what they are looking for or they will leave the site.

“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 The Medical Profession In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of significant business and technology changes, there are also plenty of online opportunities available for businesses in the medical profession that can evolve to meet online challenges and can think strategically about improving their online marketing skills.

In this detailed guide, you will learn about ways to source new potential clients and build more online credibility for your medical business.

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

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, go here:

• Learn Why A Poorly Built Web Site Can Cost You Money And What To Do About It
• Learn How To Grow Your Business Using WordPress

Useful Tips For Improving Your Website

In this section we will start with the basics and show you ways to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what web pages you need, what content you need, your navigation structure, etc.

If you need specific help with website planning, see this detailed guide: The Web Site Planning Process Explained - A Basic Primer For Business Owners

Improving Your Web Pages

All business websites require some basic pages. Let’s go over the pages your  need and how to set up your medical website for best results.

Products And Services

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. acute pain management, pulmonology endocrinology, reconstructive surgery, stroke, respiratory, colon/rectal surgery, ophtalmology palliative care, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. general dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral hygiene, veneers, crowns and bridges, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. heart surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal & Postnatal – e.g. obstetrics, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – breast screens, lung screening, radiology and imaging, gynaecology, MRI scanning, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – lab testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, food and water testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, couples, wellness, social development services
• Alternative treatments – acupuncture, aromatherapy, colloidal silver therapy, shiatsu, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, podiatry, reproductive endocrinology, speech language therapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, mobility, home care, sexual health, medical transport, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide, not just the ones you specialize in. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using these services and why they should book an appointment with you.

About Us Page

This page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes supported, etc.

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

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

Team

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cheaper ideas to sell more products online and get people to stay longer on your site, then help prospects get to know, like and trust you, your team and your business better.

You want prospective clients 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 mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be familiar with medical or health-related terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. It should also include social buttons so your prospective clients can follow individual staff members on their social networks.

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

(Make sure to add an employee description page. Image source: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have written a detailed tutorial on how to add an easy-to-maintain list directory of staff members in your web site using free plugins here: How To Easily Create A Simple Staff List For Your WordPress Site

Career Opportunities Page

This is a listing of job opportunities available within the clinic. It would include training, benefits, professional development, etc. You should also include case studies of trainees who have worked their way up in your business and information such as the job outlook and upcoming career opportunities in the medical-related industry.

Include also a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to this page, join your contact list, follow your social pages, etc.

Case Studies

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. By adding a page with reviews from clients and case studies, you will also help to will also be providing visitors social proof.

(Add a page to your site with case studies and testimonials. Image source: arrowsmiledental.com)

If you want to learn more using client testimonials and client reviews go here: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Prospects With Profit-Boosting Testimonials

Contact Us

Having a contact page is crucial.

It should provide some or all of the following information:

• Name Of Your Business
• Your physical address
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Contact email address
• Map and directions
• Website URL
• Contact form
• Name of person to contact
• Social media URLs
• Chat

If your business operates from several locations you will want to make that clear when showing your address and contact information.

Consider also including links to an FAQ section, frequently-visited pages, online booking request, support page, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.

Add A Blog

A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms are built around a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using content such as the latest announcements, updates, useful information, opinions and discussions, how-to videos, webinars, etc.

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

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

Not many people know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that will deliver web traffic to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

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

For more details, go here:

• Web Traffic Blueprint – Discover How To Drive More Website Traffic For Your Business Using WordPress

Legal Info Pages

As a professional medical practitioner, ensuring that you have a website that complies will all legal requirements online is 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.

Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your site will help keep you out of legal hot water 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 Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Linking Policy
• Health and Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a detailed article about adding legal pages to your site here: How To Add Legal Pages To Your Site

Improve The Content On Your Website

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

Providing useful content with information, tips and advice will get your readers sharing your information and coming back for more content. Content marketing is the most effective way to inform and educate your visitors and prospects about your business and services.

For example, if you provide weight loss services, then some of the areas you can cover as content on your site:

• Nutrients your body needs on a daily basis (protein, carbs, minerals, vitamins, fats)
• How to ask for support for your weight loss efforts (friends, family, weight loss seekers)
• Diet sodas (common ones, side effects, long term results, do they work?)
• 7 tips that will help you avoid late night snacking (e.g. sleep earlier)
• Etc.

You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients gain a better understanding of your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.

Include the keywords in your articles that prospective clients will be searching to find you online.

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 show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating useful content for your visitors and grow your business online using content marketing. It’s not only a great course with loads of useful information, it’s also completely FREE!

Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your website.

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

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

• All of your content 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
• It provides a way for links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• There are various ways your readers can receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read the content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
• RSS is built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits to providing great content on your site from other websites, 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 for your website, visit sites of medical-related government departments and industry bodies.

For example, here are examples of useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to a health-related website:

• 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 specific feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Fitness and nutrition, HIV/AIDS, Minority women’s health, 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. Haematologica, The Journal of General Physiology (JGP), Stem Cells, Toxicological Sciences, Neuropsychopharmacology, 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 RSS feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. consumer health information, food safety reports, recalls, tobacco news, 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. NSW – http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/pages/rss.aspx
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention - Find various RSS feeds on health-related news and topics and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
• Medical News: You can search medical news feeds in major news publications like the NYTimes 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 choose individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Asthma, Cold & Flu, Depression, Exercise & Fitness, Heart, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Gout, Arthritis/Rheumatology, Asbestos/Mesothelioma, Cholesterol, Endocrinology, Pediatrics/Children’s Health, Medical Practice Management, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific topics, e.g. “pharmacy rss feeds”, “prostate cancer rss feeds”, “medical practice management rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your site’s UX.)

Checklists And Forms

Adding checklists and medical forms to your site is a great way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your audience and provide something unique. They can provide useful instructions and resources to complete steps. They are also great client instructional tools.

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

• Checklists and 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.
• Fitness and nutrition program checklists and charts
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, sleep requirements at different stages of development, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique online tools, gadgets and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add significant value to your visitors. Calculators are useful tools for your website. Other applications can include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section, we will be discussing a number of WordPress-based tools you can add to your website 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 section one of this article on ways to improve your health or medical-related business presence online.

Click here to access Part Two:

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

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