This sponsored article was written by Jeremy Dietz, Executive Digital Editor at Coffey Communications. Coffey offers content creation and design services exclusively for healthcare organizations.
Service line pages are some of the most valuable content on your healthcare website.
This is the content that helps you engage people who have a specific health need and are ready to take action by scheduling an appointment or otherwise engaging with your organization.
Service pages are also one of your biggest areas of organic search opportunity. While your home page probably performs well for searches for your brand name, service pages can help you reach people who have a healthcare need but aren't searching for your organization specifically—think searches like "urgent care near me" or "where to go for a mammogram."
Creating and maintaining service content isn't a small undertaking—especially if you have a large organization. But it's an investment worth making.
Here are some best practices that can help ensure the work you put into service line content is successful.
5 things you can do to make your service line pages great
- Focus on what makes you stand out. It can be tempting to fill service pages with general information about conditions and treatments. But people who visit your website are looking for specific details about who you are and what you offer. Make your service pages valuable by answering the questions that your readers have and helping them make an informed healthcare choice. Talk about things like your staff, your facilities, the technology you offer and your approach to patient care. These are the kind of details that will help people understand why they should choose you.
- Make time for search engine optimization (SEO). Optimizing for organic search will help you bring people to your website who are specifically looking for the services you offer. But there's another benefit to SEO. If you've done the work to understand what terms people search for and the kind of questions they're asking when they look for a healthcare service, you'll write content that is valuable for anyone who reads it—whether they come from search or another channel.
- Include a measurable call to action (CTA). Your service pages should never leave people at a dead end. Think about what next step the person should take to learn more or make an appointment. Then offer a phone number, an online form, a list of providers, or another way for them to take that action.
It's also a good idea to include additional next step opportunities like links to related health information or events.
- Format for easy reading. Pages that have short paragraphs and lots of visual entry points, like subheads and bulleted lists, are easier to read on a screen—particularly on mobile.
- Measure and improve. Service pages need two kinds of regular reviews. One should be done by your subject matter experts to ensure that the content is still relevant and up-to-date. The other should be done by your content strategy team and should make sure that the pages are still performing well and meeting your goals. Reviewing data about organic search performance and whether people are engaging with your CTAs will help you celebrate successes and head off any potential problems early on.
If you have a large number of services, creating and maintaining content for them can be a major undertaking. Fortunately, you don't have to do it all at once. If you're short on staff or budget, break the project up. A content audit can help you understand what areas need your attention first.