Grow Your Medical Or Healthcare Business Online With WordPress

The web economy has not only transformed business globally, it has also created significant challenges and great opportunities for medical services practitioners.

Challenges Professional Health Services Practitioners Face Online

Today, more than ever, businesses in the health and medical industry must work harder than ever to remain competitive. Not only do you have to be fully involved in the community you serve, you must also develop a strong digital presence. This includes having a dynamic website and searching for better ways to promote your practice online.

As well as spending money marketing offline, you will probably find (if you haven’t already) that in order to compete, you will need to invest a more significant part of your budget towards the development and maintenance of a website that can attract prospective clients, engage users, outrank the competition in search engines and social media, and give your business a wider degree of reach online.

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

Another challenge that health services practitioners face (and other businesses for that matter), is that your site has around 30 seconds to help users find what they are searching 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 Medical And Health Services Practitioners In The Digital Economy

As well as facing significant challenges, there are also many online opportunities available for medical-related practices that are willing to adapt to meet online demands and who can think strategically about improving their online marketing skills.

In this comprehensive guide, you will learn about new opportunities to find new clientele and improve your online results.

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

For more information about the benefits and advantages of using the WordPress CMS platform, see the articles below:

• Learn Why A Poorly Designed Website Can Cost You Money
• Using A WordPress Site To Grow A Successful Business Online

Practical Tips For Improving Your Website

This section explains how to improve your website and get better results online. We show you what pages your website needs, what type of content you need, navigation structure, etc.

If you need website planning assistance, go here: The Web Site Planning Process Explained: A Cost-Saving Blueprint For Non-Technical Business Owners

Essential Web Pages

All websites need several essential web pages. Let’s review these.

Services And Products

You need to include a page that lists your products and services. Depending on which area of health you specialize in, your page can include services such as:

• Medical And Surgical – e.g. anaesthetics, nephrology haematology, oral surgery, incontinence, renal, bariatric surgery, ophtalmology surgical outpatients, etc.
• Dentistry – e.g. cosmetic dentistry, children’s dentistry, oral health, veneers, crowns and bridges, dentofacial orthopedics, emergency dental, etc.
• Cardiology – e.g. cardiac surgery, coronary care
• Prenatal/Neonatal – e.g. obstetrics, maternity services, etc.
• Child Health – paediatrics, child development, children services, etc.
• Diagnostic services – mammography, lung screening, x-ray, gynaecology, psychosis, allergy testing, etc.
• Pathology services – laboratory testing and analysis, emergency pathology testing, fine-needle aspiration, speech pathology, etc
• Counselling – mental health, alcohol, tobacco & other drug services, marriage counselling, wellbeing, social development services
• Alternative therapies – Chinese medicine, homeopathy, functional medicine, tai chi, chiropractic services, hypnosis, etc.
• Other medical services – weight management, podiatry, reproductive endocrinology, optical services, inherited diseases, prosthetics, sleep therapy, home and community care, community health, medical equipment, etc.

Make sure to list all of the services you provide. Provide your visitors with information that will educate them about what your services do and direct them to your appointment booking page.

Who We Are

This page should give a description of your business and explain to visitors what your business stands for, its unique approach, philanthropical activities, etc.

It’s important to also mention any industry awards, recognitions, accreditations, certifications, publications, associations, etc., that you can use to promote your medical, dental, chiropractic, surgery services, etc. and to position yourself above your competitors.

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

Team Profile Page

If you are looking for quicker and easier ways to sell more products or services online and increase user interaction on your site, then one of the things you can do, is help your visitors 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. It should include a photo and a mini biography. Since most visitors will not tend to be that well-versed in medical or health terms it should tell who they are and what their specialties are. It should also explain what those specialties mean. This page can include social buttons that will allow your prospective clients to follow some of your staff members on their social networks.

On this page, make sure to highlight each team member’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 a page that introduces your staff or team members to prospective new clients. Image sourced from: southperthchiro.com.au)

We have created a detailed tutorial about how to add a simple and easy-to-manage simple team members directory in WordPress here: How To Add A Simple Employee List On Your WordPress Site With No Coding Skills Required

Recruitment

This is a listing of job opportunities within the company. This page can include training, benefits, opportunities for advancement, social activities sponsored or encouraged by your business, etc. You should also include information such as the job outlook and 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 the page, subscribe to your newsletter, follow your social pages, etc.

Testimonials & Case Studies

Testimonials from previous clients and case studies are a great way to attract potential clients and showcase what kind of services you offer. By adding a page with testimonials from previous clients and case studies, you will also help to provide social proof for your business.

(Add a page with case studies and client reviews. Image sourced from: arrowsmiledental.com)

If you want to learn more using case studies, testimonials and client reviews go here: How To Improve Your Sales With Engaging Customer Testimonials

Contact Us Page

Having a contact page is absolutely necessary.

Your contact page should provide:

• Business Name
• Your physical address
• Phone
• Facsimile
• Email address
• Google Map
• Web address
• Contact form
• Contact name
• Social media links
• Online chat

If your business services different locations you should make that clear when displaying your address and contact information.

Consider also including links pointing to the most commonly asked questions page, main pages, online booking request, support area, newsletter, blog, etc.

Add A Medical Blog Section

A blog is a powerful marketing tool for your business. Blogs typically comprise of a content management system that allows you to easily promote your business by publishing timely content such as events, updates, training information, opinions and discussions, promotional videos, infographics, etc.

If you already have an existing website, then consider adding a WordPress-powered blog to market your practice.

If you don’t have a website yet, or if your existing website is hard to manage or not delivering you the results you want, then WordPress can be used both as your business website and your blog.

You may not know this, but WordPress can turn your web presence into an automated traffic-generation machine that can begin driving an ongoing stream of new targeted traffic to your business, simply by publishing regular content to your site.

(WordPress can automate your traffic generation)

Go here to learn more:

• WordPress Web Traffic Blueprint – A Complete Guide To Attracting More Traffic For Your Business Automatically With WordPress

Legal Info Pages

It’s vital for professional organizations to make sure they have a website that complies will all legal requirements online. This is not only important for building credibility with visitors, but also to ensure that you are not contravening laws and regulations wherever you practice.

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

• Contact Page
• Privacy Policy
• Terms And Conditions Of Use
• Website Disclaimer
• Affiliate Agreement
• Anti-Spam Policy
• Compensation Disclosure
• DMCA Notice
• Earnings Disclaimer
• External Links Policy
• Health/Financial Disclaimers
• Refund Policy
• Video/Audio Terms
• and others

To learn more about adding legal pages to your site, see this article: The Importance Of Adding Legal Pages To Your Website

Improving Your Content

In today’s globally competitive economy, the sooner you begin to engage in the practice of content marketing, the quicker you will begin to see results and differentiate yourself from competing businesses.

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

For example, if your business provides solutions that help people lose weight, then some of the topics 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 to set realistic, but achievable weight loss goals
• Why using a measuring tape is better than a scale when it comes to weight loss progress
• How to make right choices when eating in restaurants
• Etc.

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

Use the same keywords in your articles that prospective clients will be searching for.

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, save money creating high-quality content that will add value to your site visitors and grow your website using content marketing strategies. 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 engaging with your site. This section will show you ways you can improve visitor engagement and user experience.

Content Syndication – RSS Feeds

RSS feeds can help to improve your visitor engagement and UX in many ways.

If you provide content 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 websites using RSS feeds, include:

• All of your updates are in one place
• Content distribution doesn’t rely on email
• RSS feeds can be shared
• Users can subscribe to your RSS feed
• It provides a way for links to point back to your site
• RSS feeds can be submitted to RSS directories and aggregator services
• RSS provides various ways for your readers to receive your content (e.g. subscribers can view your content on their mobile device using different applications)
• It’s built into WordPress

There are also a number of benefits when it comes 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 for your website by searching online for medical and health-related government departments and key industry bodies.

Below we have listed some feeds you could consider adding to your website:

• US Department Of Health And Human Services – e.g. Blog posts 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. Breastfeeding, Health care for women, Illnesses and disabilities, Mental health, Pregnancy, etc.) here: http://womenshealth.gov/news/rss/rss-feeds.html
• US National Libraries Of Medicine – For a directory of RSS feeds from various medical journals, publications and websites (e.g. BMJ Disease in Childhood – Education and Practice, ADA DiabetesCare , Stem Cells, Journal of Cell Science, Neuropsychopharmacology, etc.) go here: http://www.healthplusplus.com/wiki/List_of_RSS_feeds_on_health
• National Institutes Of Health - Find various RSS feeds on health-related topics here: http://www.nih.gov/Subscriptions.htm
• US Food And Drug Administration (FDA) – Get FDA-related feeds (e.g. enforcement reports, health fraud, 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. Western Australia – http://www.public.health.wa.gov.au/feed/?types=news
• Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (www.cdc.gov) - Get various 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 places like the NYTimes feeds section (e.g. Fitness and nutrition: http://www.nytimes.com/services/xml/rss/nyt/Nutrition.xml)
• MedicineNet – MedTerms Medical Word of the Day: http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/dailyword.xml. You can also select individual RSS feeds here (http://www.medicinenet.com/rss/article.htm) (e.g. Alzheimer’s Disease, Cancer, Cholesterol, Pediatrics / Healthy Kids, Sexual Health, Skin, etc.)
• MedicalNewsToday.com – Medical News Headlines: http://rss.medicalnewstoday.com/featurednews.xml
• Medical News Today – You can also select individual RSS feeds here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/newsfeeds-rss (e.g. Medical Students/Training, Ebola, Lymphology/Lymphedema, Preventive Medicine, Alcohol/Addiction/Illegal Drugs, Tropical Diseases, Erectile Dysfunction/Premature Ejaculation, etc.)

You can also just search online for general feeds, e.g. “medical rss feeds” or search for feeds on specific subjects, e.g. “stem cell research rss feeds”, “endocrinology rss feeds”, “IBD rss feeds”, etc.

(Add RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds to improve your medical-related website’s UX.)

Checklists And Charts

Checklists and explanatory charts are a fantastic way to increase user engagement and add value to your audience. Forms and checklists can provide visitors with useful information and resources to complete necessary tasks. They are great client educational tools.

You can provide a range of checklists, charts and forms (or links to these) covering topics 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
• General charts & infographics (e.g. sugar content in different foods, the importance of sleep at different ages, etc.)

Unique Tools

Providing unique tools, gadgets and applications on your website is a great way to increase visitor engagement and add significant value to users. Calculators are some of the most popular tools for your website. Other applications would include things like nutritional tools, and even recipes.

In the next section, we look at a several online tools you can add to your site using WordPress plugins that can also help to improve seo, improve user engagement and generate more visitors to your business.

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This is the end of section one.

Click on this link to continue:

• How To Grow A Health And Medical Practice Presence Online Using WordPress – Part 2

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