Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress
The digital business age has not only transformed the way business is done around the world, it has also created significant challenges and opportunities for the health or medical sector.
Challenges Medical & Health Professionals Face Online
Now, more than ever, medical and health services professionals must work hard to stand out from their competition and source new clients. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community you serve, you must also develop an active digital presence. This includes having an effective web presence and learning how to better promote your health or medical services services online.
As well as spending money in offline marketing, you will probably find that in order to remain competitive, increasingly larger amounts of their marketing budget will need to be allocated towards the development and maintenance of a website that will attract prospective clients, engage visitors, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and help increase your marketing exposure online.
This means that your website not only has to look great, your pages have to load fast, and be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, the needs of your website will change over time and many aspects will need to be frequently updated. This requires the implementation of a sound web and content management strategy.
One other challenge that health or medical-related businesses face, as other businesses do for that matter, is that your site has only around 30 seconds to give users what they are looking for or they will go elsewhere to find what they need.
“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 Professionals In The Online Economy
As well as facing significant business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available to health practices that can evolve to meet the challenges of the online economy and who can think progressively in terms of marketing their business services better online.
In this guide, you will discover new opportunities to increase traffic and establish stronger online credibility for your medical or health business.
As well as providing practical tips and information on ways to improve your medical-related website, we also focus on the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress content management system to power your health-related website.
For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform, see these articles:
- Discover How A Poorly Built Website Can Cost You Business
- The Beginner’s Guide To Building Your Successful Small Business With A WordPress Site
Practical Tips For Improving Your Website
In this section we’ll start with the basics and show you ways to improve your website and get better results. We will look at what web pages you need, what content works best, ways to improve layout and navigation structure, etc.
If you need specific help with website planning, go here: The Web Site Planning Process - A Money-Saving Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners
Basic Web Pages
Professional websites require a number of basic web pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your should have and how to structure your medical or health-related website for best results.
Services Page
It’s essential to include a page that explains your products or services. Depending on which area you specialize in, this page can list services such as:
- Medicine & Surgery – e.g. anaesthetics, pulmonology haematology, reconstructive surgery, incontinence, respiratory, gastroenterology, optometry emergency surgery, etc.
- Dental Services – e.g. general dentistry, holistic dentistry, cleaning services, restorations, orthodontics, emergency dental, etc.
- Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient rehabilitation, coronary care
- Prenatal & Neonatal – e.g. birthing, maternity services, etc.
- Child Health services – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
- Diagnostic services – breast screens, skin cancer, medical imaging, pap smears, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
- Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, insurance and corporate testing, speech pathology, etc
- Counselling services – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug counselling, marriage counselling, wellness coaching, social development services
- Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, natural therapy, yoga, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
- Other medical services – diet and nutrition, podiatry, lymphedema therapy, physiotherapy, neurosciences, prosthetics, hearing aids, home care, clinical information, 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 your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.
About Us
This page needs to describe your business and what your business stands for, its unique approach, causes that you support, etc.
It should list any business awards, certifications, recognitions, accreditations, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and to position yourself above similar service providers.
(List all of your awards recognitions, certifications, accreditations, publications, associations, etc. in the About page. Image source: squaremedical.com.au)
Meet The Team
If you are searching for cost-effective ideas to sell more products online or get people to interact more with your site, then make it easier for prospects to get to know your business better.
Your business needs to be relatable. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team. It should include a photo and a brief biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be that well-versed in health-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialized areas mean. It can include social buttons so your site visitors can follow selected team 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 person’s qualifications, why they are an asset 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. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)
To learn more about how to easily create and add a simple and easily updatable simple team members directory to your website using a free WP plugin, go here: Adding A Staff List Directory: Step-By-Step Tutorial
Work With Us
List any career opportunities within the organization. This page can include training provided, benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include stories of graduates who have worked their way up in your organization and information about new career opportunities in the medical industry.
Maintain a positions available section in this page. If there are no positions currently available, consider inviting people to return periodically to the page, join your newsletter, follow you on social media, etc.
Case Studies
Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies also establishes social proof.
(Add a page to your site with case studies and testimonials from past clients. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)
If you want to learn more about using case studies, testimonials and reviews, see this article: Discover How To Turn More Visitors Into Qualified Leads With Standout User Testimonials
Contact Us
Having a contact page is absolutely vital.
Your contact page should include some or all of the following:
- Business Name
- Location
- Phone number
- Facsimile
- Contact email address
- Map and directions
- Website address
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Social media web addresses
- Online Chat/Skype
If your business operates from different locations you want to make that clear when showing your address and contact information.
Consider also including links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, useful pages, booking request, helpdesk, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.
Blog Section
A blog can be a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs are built around a content management system that is easy to use and allows you to easily promote your business using timely content like the latest news, updates, useful information, informative posts, educational videos, media presentations, etc.
If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to market your medical practice.
If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing medical or health-related website is hard to keep updated or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your business website and blog.
Not many businesses know this, but an expertly configured WordPress site can become an automated traffic machine that will help drive a stream of new visitors to your website, simply by publishing regular content to your site.
(An expertly configured WordPress site can automate your traffic generation)
Go here to learn more:
Legal Information
It’s essential for health providers organizations to make sure they have a compliant website. This is not only important for building trust and credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any laws or regulations wherever you do business.
Depending on what services and products you provide, adding some or all of the legal pages below to your site will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Google), and other potential legal threats and inconveniences:
- Contact Us
- Privacy Policy
- 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 detailed article about adding legal pages to your website. You can learn more here: What You Need To Know About Adding Legal Pages To Your Site
Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website
In today’s ultra-competitive global business economy, the sooner you begin publishing great content on your site, the faster you will begin to differentiate yourself from other competitors.
By providing great content with tips, information or advice, you will get your visitors sharing your information and coming back for more content. Using content is the most effective way to inform and educate site visitors and prospects about using your services and products.
For example, if you provide services that help people manage their weight, then some of the topics you could cover in your content include:
- What is BMI (what it stands for, what it does, how to calculate yours)
- Is weight loss surgery right for you? (who should get it, risks, success rates)
- Is hypnosis and effective weight loss treatment?
- Useful apps for tracking calories and exercise
- And many other content topics
You can also create a series of informative articles that will help your your prospective clients understand your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, terminology, etc.
Include keywords and terminology in your content that your prospective clients will be searching for 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 that will teach you how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site 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 your website’s user experience (generally referred to as UX) will help to keep visitors coming back and engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and user experience.
Add RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds provide plenty of benefits for your health or medical business.
If you provide content that adds value to others, other businesses may want to syndicate your content to their visitors.
Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other websites using RSS feeds, include:
- All of your updates are kept in one place
- Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
- Feeds can be shared online
- Users can subscribe to your feed
- An RSS feed provides a way for links to point back to your site
- Feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
- RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. view the content on their mobile device using feed readers)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits when it comes to providing content on your website from other websites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.
You can find many useful RSS feeds by searching online for relevant government departments and respected industry bodies.
For example, here are some examples of useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to your website:
- US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also select individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Breast cancer, Fitness and nutrition, Heart health and stroke, 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 directory of RSS feeds from leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Investigative Ophthalmology & Visual Science, ADA ClinicalDiabetes, BMJ Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, Medscape, Pediatrics, 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 topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
- FDA – Get FDA-related news feeds (e.g. criminal investigations press releases, food safety reports, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, drugs, 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 various feeds on health-related news and podcasts here: http://www2c.cdc.gov/podcasts/rss.asp
- Medical News: You can search medical news RSS feeds by going to publications like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Medical research: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Research.xml)
- MedicineNet – 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. Alzheimer’s Disease, Asthma, Nutrition, Food, & Recipes, Depression, Digestion, Thyroid, etc.)
- MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
- Medical News Today – You can also select individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Public Health, Immune System/Vaccines, Blood/Hematology, Neurology/Neuroscience, Bones/Orthopedics, Women’s Health/Gynecology, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, etc.)
You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “compliance rss feeds”, “organ donations rss feeds”, “fitness rss feeds”, etc.
(Use RSS feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)
Provide Forms
Adding checklists and charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase visitor engagement, add value to your readers and provide something unique. Charts and checklists can give them useful step-by-step information and resources to complete steps. Checklists and forms are also great educational tools.
You can provide a range of online or downloadable forms and checklists (or links to these) covering topics such as:
- Booking appointments
- Checklists for pre or post treatment
- Health checklists and charts for specific conditions
- Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, general dentistry, etc.
- Fitness and exercise program checklists and charts
- General charts & infographics (e.g. caloric level of different foods, sleep requirements at different ages, etc.)
Other Tools
Providing useful tools and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add value to your visitors. Health-related calculators, for example, are great tools you can add to your website. Other tools would include things like diagnostic tools, and even recipes.
In part 2 of this guide, we discuss a several online tools you can use in your site using WordPress plugins and themes that can also help improve your seo, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.
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This is the end of section one of this step-by-step guide on ways to build your medical or health-related business presence online.
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