Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The online economy has not only revolutionised the way business is done globally, it has also created increasingly difficult challenges and opportunities for health services professionals and financial service providers.

Online Challenges For The Medical Profession

Today, more than ever, medical or health businesses must work harder and find smarter ways to stand out from the crowd and find new clients. Not only do you have to maintain an active presence in the community your business serves, you must also maintain a strong digital presence. This includes having an effective website and learning how to better market your services online.

In addition to spending money advertising offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete with other medical or health-related businesses, increasingly larger amounts of their budget will need to be delegated towards the development and management of a website that brings new clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and increases your marketing exposure online.

This means that your site not only has to look great, load fast, and your site has to be easy to navigate, but even more importantly, your site’s needs may change over time and many aspects may need to be frequently updated. This requires implementing well-developed website and content management strategy.

One other problem that health organizations face with their websites, as do all other professions for that matter, is that they have only around thirty seconds or less to help visitors find the information they are looking 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 Businesses In The Online Economy

As well as facing a number of business and technology changes, there are also loads of online opportunities available for businesses in the health industry that are willing to adapt to meet the challenges of the online economy and can think strategically when it comes to improving their online marketing skills.

This article will help you uncover a number of ways to drive more web traffic and establish online credibility for your business.

As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your medical or health-related business online, we also recommend that you consider using the WordPress Content Management System to power your medical or health website or blog.

To learn more about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform, see these articles:

• Why A Poorly Constructed Website Can Cost You Prospective Clients And What To Do About It
• Everything You Need To Know About Growing Your Business Online With A WordPress Blog

Ways To Improve Your Health And Medical Practice Services Website

This section explains how to improve your health-related website and get better results. We show you what pages a health-related website needs, what type of content works best, tips for improving layout and navigation structure, etc.

If you need assistance or help planning your medical-related website, check out the detailed step-by-step guide we have written here: The Website Planning Process - A Practical Guide For Non-Technical Business Owners

Ways To Improve Your Website Pages

All websites require a number of essential web pages. Let’s go over these.

Your Services And Products

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

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, orthopedics diabetes, oral surgery, neurology, respiratory, infection control, eye diseases palliative care, etc.
• Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, oral health, restorations, implants, emergency dentistry, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac patient education, chronic heart conditions
• Prenatal and Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, midwifery, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic – breast screening, lung screening, radiology and imaging, gynaecology, magnetic resonance imaging, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology – lab testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, occupational and environmental testing, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling services – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, couples, diet and nutrition counselling, social work services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, aromatherapy, reiki, yoga, osteopathy, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – diet and nutrition, othopedics, fertility services, stomal therapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, mobility, home care, clinical information, medical transport, etc.

List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your services and direct them to your contact or appointment booking page.

Who We Are

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

It’s important to list any professional awards, accreditations, certifications, recognitions, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your business and position yourself above your competitors.

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

Staff Page

If you are looking for quicker, easier and cost-effective ways to sell more products or services online, then something you can do, is help prospective clients get to know, like and trust you, your team and your organization better.

You want people to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your team members. This page should include a photo and a brief bio. Since most visitors will not tend to be well-versed in medical or health terms it should tell who they are and what they specialize in. It should also explain what those specialized areas do. This page can include social buttons that will allow your visitors to follow individual team 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 outline your staff member’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 page that introduces your staff members to prospective new clients. Screenshot image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

If you need help how to create and add an updatable list directory of staff members to your web site, go here: How To Easily Add An Employee Directory To Your Site: Tutorial

Work For Us

List any career opportunities within your organization. This page could include type of training provided, benefits, professional development, etc. It should include case studies of graduates who have established a solid career path thanks to your business and information about new career opportunities in the health industry.

Include also 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 your social pages, etc.

Case Studies & Testimonials

Testimonials from past clients and case studies are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a page with case studies and client reviews also provides social proof online.

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

If you want to learn more about using testimonials, case studies and reviews, see this article: How To Achieve Better Results Online With Compelling Client Testimonials

Contact Us

A contact page is essential.

Your contact page should include some or all of the following information about your clinic:

• Name Of Your Business
• Address of clinic
• Telephone
• Facsimile
• Email
• Map and directions
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Links to social media profiles
• Online Chat/Skype

If your business operates out of different locations you want to make that clear when showing the address and contact information.

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

Blog

A blog is a very powerful marketing tool. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business using timely content such as the latest news, product releases, educational information, informative posts, videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-driven blog to promote your medical 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 act as both your business website and blog.

Not many businesses know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic machine that will begin delivering new targeted traffic to your site, simply by publishing regular content to your web site.

(WordPress can generate web traffic automatically to your website)

For more details, go here:

• Web Site Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Getting More Web Visitors Automatically With WordPress

Legal Information Pages

Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial. This is not only important for building credibility with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaching laws or regulations wherever you provide services.

Adding some or all of the legal pages below to your health-related website will help you stay out of legal hot water with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers (e.g. Facebook), and other potential sources of 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 Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• etc.

We have written a detailed article on adding legal pages to your website. If you are interested in learning more here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site

Ways To Improve Your Web Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, being generous with content that educates and informs readers has become one of the key success differentiators for businesses selling similar products or providing similar services.

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

For example, if you provide products or services that help people lose weight, then some of the areas you can cover in your content include:

• Common medical conditions that can cause weight gain
• How to calculate how many calories you burn each day
• Tips for developing an exercise regimen you can enjoy and will stick with
• How to modify recipes for healthier results (e.g. replacing sugars, fats, etc.)
• And endless other content topics

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

Use keywords in your articles that prospective clients will search to find you online.

We recommend subscribing to our Content Marketing Email Training Series. You will receive regular training emails with easy-to-digest information that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your site, save money creating high-quality content for 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 100% FREE!

Ways Of Improving Visitor Engagement And User Experience

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

Syndicate Content Using RSS Feeds

RSS feeds provide lots of benefits for your business.

If you provide content that adds value to others, other sites will want to syndicate your content.

Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other businesses using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your content updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• Your feeds can be shared online
• Allows users to subscribe
• An RSS feed provides a way for external links to point back to your content
• Your feeds can be submitted to RSS directories
• RSS provides several ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can read your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also benefits to adding syndicated content to your site from other websites, 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 and medical-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some examples of useful RSS feeds you could consider adding to your site:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SelectedHhsBlogPosts, etc. You can also choose individual RSS feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Body image, Environmental health, HIV/AIDS, Mental health, Violence against women, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of RSS feeds from well-known medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. Nucleic Acids Research, BMJ Journal of Medical Genetics, Stem Cells, The AAPS Journal (American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists), Cambridge Journals Online, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health (www.nih.gov) - Find various health-related feeds here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• FDA – Find FDA-related feeds (e.g. FDA drug safety, food safety, product 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. Victoria – http://www.health.vic.gov.au/rss/newsfeed.xml
• 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 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 – 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. Allergies, Mental Health, Cholesterol, Oral Health, Sexual Health, Sleep, etc.)
• Medical News Today – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also select specific feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Pharma Industry/Biotech Industry, Stroke, Radiology/Nuclear Medicine, Dermatology, Water – Air Quality/Agriculture, Tropical Diseases, 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. “bird flu rss feeds”, “pancreatic cancer rss feeds”, “statins rss feeds”, etc.

(RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve your medical or health site’s UX.)

Checklists & Forms

Adding checklists and charts to your site is a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Checklists and medical forms can give them useful step-by-step information and resources to perform necessary tasks. They can also be great client educational tools.

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

• Checklists/forms for booking appointments
• Checklists for pre or post surgery
• Health checklists for specific conditions
• Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, caries prevention program, general dentistry, etc.
• Weight loss and exercise program checklists
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Online Tools

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

In part 2 of this detailed article, we will be discussing a several WordPress-based tools you can add to your site that can help improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

To continue, click here:

• How To Grow A Medical & Health Center Website Successfully – Part 2

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