Did you know that a whopping 72% of consumers look up health and medical information online? Are you passionate about sharing relevant health and medical information with other people? Running a website dedicated to these topics is a great way to promote and facilitate information exchange. In this digital age, fake news and conflicting information are rampant, especially on social media platforms. If you own a health establishment or if you’re a medical practitioner, your online presence boosts your credibility. In addition, it helps patients make informed decisions.
Building a website may seem like an intimidating task, but it is not! Even without a coding background, you can totally create a website from scratch. Check out the checklist below to guide you in launching a health and medical information website.
Selecting a Domain Name
The first step in website building is selecting your domain name. Your domain name is the name of your website address so it should be relevant to your page’s content or niche. Take note that your domain name is a branding opportunity, so you should select one that is unique and easily recalled. Competition is fierce in the industry, so avoid generic fluff as much as possible, as it will not make your website stand out. Your brand name should be short and easy to pronounce, read, and type.
That said, online website builders offer subdomain registrations for free, but this type of domain is not portable and does not grant you ownership of the website. It also acts as an extension of your service provider, so a free subdomain will include their name in your web address, which may not be a sound choice if you want to focus on building your brand on a long-term scale, so it’s best to purchase your domain name directly through domain providers.
Website Builder
You do not have to be an expert in website development or necessarily start coding from scratch to build your own website. Nowadays, there are several website builders you can choose from. With just a few clicks and drags, you can put your vision into life. For free website builders, you can try Wix, Weebly, and WordPress. For paid website builders, you have Squarespace and Gator Website Builder.
You can also find more website builders by looking up free services on Google and reading reviews or watching tutorials on YouTube. Each service provider has its own set of premium plans and features, so it is best to try out their trial versions to see if these platforms offer compelling features in their premium versions that are worth subscribing for, or if their free service suffices. A quick search for reviews online will also give you an idea about the overall pros and cons of your prospective website builder from their existing or previous clients.
Website Content
Content is key to gaining website traffic. No matter how fancy your website looks or how cool your domain name is, it is nothing without quality content. This is even more important when it comes to content that shares facts, especially in the medical field. For inspiration, you can visit this site to gain a better understanding of producing excellent content in the medical field. As health and medical information may sound foreign and boring to some people, it is your job to create socially relevant and engaging content. SEO best practices should also be applied in content creation. According to Dagmar Marketing, this means that you have to integrate strong, relevant keywords into your content. Using high-quality images to aid your articles can also be very helpful.
You may upload your own photographs or website designs, but if you don’t have that, you can hire a graphic designer or reach out to a photographer to do the work for you. Alternatively, there are several stock photo websites that offer graphic designs and photographs either for free or for a fee. Unsplash offers free image resources you can add to your website. For paid resources, you can check out Shutterstock, BigStock, and GettyImages.
Establishing Your Online Presence
Lastly, you have to let people know about your website. As mentioned earlier, applying SEO best practices is a good start as it can boost your website’s visibility on search engines. Aside from that, you should also list your website on major directories offered by Google or Bing. Sharing your content by posting website links on social media can drive people to your website, as well. There are several strategies that you can apply to get your website out there. In the long run, you may assign all marketing and outreach tasks to a dedicated employee to efficiently run your website.
Conclusion
Building a health and medical information website requires thorough planning and research. Not only does your website have to be visually appealing, but it must also be relevant, informative, factual, and engaging. You should always pay attention to how your website interface is designed, seeing as low-quality pages are ranked low in search engines, while correct SEO strategies will help you attract more visitors to your website.
