Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress
Health or medical professionals face a number of challenges in the digital economy, especially when it comes to growing their business online.
Online Challenges For The Health & Medical Profession
Now, more than ever, health and medical services professionals must work harder and find smarter ways to stand apart from the crowd and generate new clientele. Not only do you have to become actively involved in the community you serve, you must also develop and maintain an active presence online. This includes having a website and learning how to better promote your health or medical services services online.
In addition to spending money advertising offline, businesses in the medical-related industry are also finding that they will need to delegate a larger part of their marketing budget to develop and maintain a website that drives clients, engages users, outranks the competition in search engines and gives them wider reach online.
This means that your website not only has to look professional, your web pages have to be fast-loading, and your site layout has to be easy to navigate, but it’s also important to keep in mind that your site’s needs may change over time and sections may need to be updated frequently. This requires having a sound website and content management strategy.
Another challenge that health or medical businesses face online, as do all other businesses for that matter, is that they have only around 30 seconds or less to help users find the information they are looking for or they will look 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 Related Businesses Online
As well as facing significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available to medical businesses that are willing to evolve to meet the challenges of the digital economy and who can think progressively in terms of improving their online marketing skills.
In this article, you will discover opportunities to generate web traffic and notice significant improvements in your medical or health-related business presence online.
As well as providing tips and information on cost-effective ways to improve your business online, we also emphasize the benefits and advantages of using WordPress to power your health-related business website.
For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress Content Management System, see these articles:
Useful Tips For Improving Your Medical Services & Health-Related Site
This section covers how to improve your medical or health website and get better results online. We show you what pages a health or medical site needs, what type of content works best for medical websites, suggestions for improving layout and navigation structure, etc.
If you need assistance or help planning your website, go here: A Cost-Saving Guide To Web Site Planning For Business Owners
Essential Pages
All websites require some basic pages. Let’s take a look at the pages your need and how to set up your website for best results.
Services Page
You need to include a page that explains your services and any products that you offer. Depending on which area of health or medical services you specialize in, your page can include services such as:
- Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, orthopedics endocrinology, plastic surgery, neurology, rheumatology, bariatric surgery, eye diseases palliative care, etc.
- Dental Services – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, holistic dentistry, gum disease, teeth whitening, orthodontics, emergency dentistry, etc.
- Cardiology – e.g. cardiac surgery, chronic heart conditions
- Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. birth suites, maternity services, etc.
- Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
- Diagnostic services – breast screens, skin cancer, x-ray, pap smears, MRI scanning, food allergy testing, etc.
- Pathology – laboratory testing and analysis, routine pathology testing, clinical trials, speech pathology, etc
- Counselling – mental health services, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, marriage counselling, wellness coaching, social development services
- Alternative therapies – acupuncture, homeopathy, hydrotherapy, yoga, chiropractic, hypnotherapy, etc.
- Other medical services – weight management, othopedics, reproductive endocrinology, speech language therapy, neurosciences, artificial limbs, assisted living, home and community care, community health, medical equipment, etc.
List all of the services you provide. Educate your visitors about what these services do and why they should choose you.
About Us Page
This page needs to describe your business and what it stands for, its unique approach, supported community services, etc.
It’s important to mention any health or medical-related awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that could be used to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and position yourself above your competitors.
(List all of your awards certifications, accreditations, recognitions, publications, associations, etc. in your About page. Image source: squaremedical.com.au)
Your Staff
If you are looking for cost-effective ways to sell more products online, then make it easier for your prospective clients to get to know your business better.
You want prospective clients to relate to your business. One great way to do that is to have a page that introduces your employees. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors won’t be well-versed in medical-related terms your descriptions should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page should also include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow individual team members on their social networks.
In this page, make sure to outline each staff member’s expertise, why they are an asset to your team, and more importantly, how they will help add value to your clients’ business.
(Add an employee description page. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)
We have created a detailed tutorial about how to easily add an easy-to-update list of employees to your site using a free WP plugin here: How To Easily Create A Simple Employee List In Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills
Job Opportunities Page
List any job or career opportunities within the clinic. This page can include training, employee benefits, opportunities for advancement, etc. You can include stories of graduates who have risen within your organization and information about 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 this page, subscribe to your announcements list, follow you on social media, etc.
Testimonials
Case studies and testimonials from previous clients are a great way to attract prospective clients and showcase your services. Adding a web page with client reviews and case studies also provides social proof.
(Add a page with case studies and client reviews. Screenshot source: arrowsmiledental.com)
For a detailed article about using client testimonials and reviews improve your business online, go here: Convert More Visitors Into Qualified Prospects With More Effective Testimonials
Contact Us
A functional contact page is absolutely vital.
It should include the following information:
- Company Name
- Address
- Telephone
- Fax
- Contact email
- Google Map and directions
- Website URL
- Contact form
- Contact name
- Social media links
- Chat
If you operate in different areas you will want to make this clear when showing your address and contact information.
Consider also including links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, booking request, support area, newsletter opt-in form, blog, etc.
Add A Health Blog
A blog can be a very powerful marketing tool for your business. Most blogging platforms typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content like news, new releases, educational articles, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, media presentations, etc.
If you already have an established site, then consider adding a WordPress blog to create more exposure for your business.
If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing website is very hard to add new content to or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used as both your business website and business blog.
Very few businesses know that an expertly configured WordPress site can turn into an automated traffic machine that will begin attracting a stream of targeted traffic to your site, simply by adding content on a consistent basis to your website.
(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)
For more info, see this article:
Legal Info Pages
Having a website that complies will all legal requirements online is crucial. This is not only important for building trust with prospective clients, but also to ensure that you are not breaking any laws or regulations wherever you provide services.
Adding some or all of the following legal pages to your website will help keep you out of trouble with most regulatory authorities, third-party service providers, and other potential sources of threats and legal inconveniences:
- Contact Page
- Privacy Policy
- 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
- and others
We have written a comprehensive article on adding legal pages to your site here: Adding Legal Pages To Your Site
Ways To Improve The Content On Your Website
In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin publishing content on your site, the faster you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.
Providing useful content with tips, advice and information will get your visitors sharing it with others and coming back for more. This is a great way to inform and educate your visitors and prospective clients about your business and services.
For example, if you provide products that help people manage their weight, then some of the areas you could write content about include:
- What to do before starting any weight loss program (e.g. consult with doctor, record measurements, set goals, etc.)
- How small efforts in portion control can help your weight loss efforts
- Comparing different diets, e.g. Low carb diet, South Beach diet, Nutrisystem diet (what these are, how they can benefit you, are they effective)
- What salad dressings can derail your diet (and healthier choices)
- And endless other content topics
You can also create a series of educational articles that will help your readers understand your services, by explaining benefits, procedures, costs (including payment plans, insurance coverage, etc).
Use the same keywords and terms in your content that 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 actionable information and practical tips that will show exactly how to drive more traffic to your website or blog, 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 user experience (known as UX) helps you keep visitors coming back and using your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and UX.
Content Syndication – RSS Feeds
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds can help to improve visitor engagement and UX in several ways.
If you provide valuable information, other businesses will want to syndicate your content.
Some of the benefits of syndicating your content to other sites using RSS feeds, include:
- All of your updates are in one place
- your content distribution doesn’t rely on email
- Can be shared
- Users can subscribe to your feed
- It provides links to your content
- RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregators
- RSS provides various ways for readers to receive your content (e.g. users can read your content on their mobile device using a feed reader)
- It’s built into WordPress
There are also a number of benefits to providing valuable information on your site from other sites, such as the fact that you don’t have to write, manage or update the content.
To find useful RSS feeds for your website, visit sites of relevant government departments or respected industry bodies.
Below we have listed some feeds you could consider adding to a health-related 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 individual feeds, like feeds on women’s health issues (e.g. Emergency preparedness, Healthy aging, Heart health and stroke, Menopause, 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 leading medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. ACS Publications, CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal, CDC USA, 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 (www.nih.gov) - Find many RSS feeds on health-related topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
- FDA – Find FDA-related news feeds (e.g. FDA drug safety, food safety, tainted products marked as dietary supplements, vaccines, blood and biologics, etc.) and podcasts here: http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/ContactFDA/StayInformed/RSSFeeds
- UK Department Of Health (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 - Get various RSS feeds on health-related 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. 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 select individual feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Lung Conditions, Men’s health, Cold & Flu, Depression, Exercise & Fitness, Thyroid, etc.)
- Medical News Today – Featured Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
- MedicalNewsToday.com – You can also choose individual feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Medical Students/Training, Seniors/Aging, Surgery, Menopause, Men’s Health, Epilepsy, Alzheimer’s/Dementia, etc.)
You can also search online for general RSS feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific areas, e.g. “abortion rss feeds”, “mental health rss feeds”, “psychiatry rss feeds”, etc.
(Use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to provide your visitors with a better user experience.)
Checklists & Forms
Checklists and educational charts are a fantastic way to help increase user engagement, add value to your readers and set yourself apart from the competition. Charts and checklists can provide visitors with useful information and resources to complete a necessary task. Checklists and forms are great educational tools.
You can provide a range of online or downloadable checklists, charts and forms (or links to these) covering subjects such as:
- Checklists/forms for booking appointments
- Checklists for post-surgery recovery
- Health checklists for specific conditions
- Dental checklists – e.g. first visit, oral hygiene 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 stages of development, etc.)
Online Tools
Providing useful tools and applications on your site can help increase visitor engagement and add value to users. Calculators are useful tools for your website. Other applications could include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.
In the next section, we will be discussing a several online tools you can use in your website using WordPress plugins that improve your search engine optimization, improve user engagement and drive more web traffic to your business.
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This is the end of part one of this step-by-step article on ways to improve your health or medical web presence.
To view Part 2, click this link:
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