Who better to manage your online reputation and create a positive first impression, than you? Here’s a couple of free on-line profile services to consider.

About.me

Think of it as an on-line business card, About.me is an online service that allows providers to create a professional on-line profile.

Start by creating a profile on www.about.me and then linking your profile to your practice website (or directly to your physician profile or bios). Your splash page points visitors to your content from around the web – including social media sites, review sites and email, should you wish. Your profile also provides some basic stats – i.e., how many people see your profile, where they’re coming from, and what they do on your page.

View an example.

Zerply

Zerply is great way to present yourself professionally on-line. They offer professionally designed templates, including mobile. What’s unique, patients can give you an endorsement and help build your “personal brand”.

How to promote your profile

So you’ve set up a profile but not really sure how to use or promote it. Here are some handy suggestions:

• Add it to your physician bio or profile page
• Add it to a hospital and or payor provider directory
• Add it to your Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter accounts, or blog
• Add it to your e-mail footer
• Print it on your business card

Where to start

Plan. Start by determining what you’re trying to accomplish. This will set the course for what you need to improve upon with your website. For example, if you feel that your website isn’t coming up when searching for vague terms such as “hysterectomy”, or “ent doctor”, realize you’re asking for the impossible. Be sure to be specific (and realistic) on what you’re trying to do well with in terms of search engine results.  Are your trying to be found for a particular service in a certain geographical area? Remember – health care is for the most part local.. Be sure to include those words or phrases within the content and markup of your website. Give some thought about what your business metrics need to be to determine success? Are they based on conversions, pageviews, patients or some other measure? Strategy should identify the tactical, not the other way around.

Research. Determine what your visitors are searching for online, how it relates to you and create content that is relevant. It’s important to consider how patients will be searching for this information and not necessarily how you think they should be searching.

Write Content. Yes it’s true … content is king. Without relevant website content there’s little, if any, SEO can improve. Bottom line – create useful accessible content to earn links and references from relevant, credible sources that ultimately lead to higher search engine rankings and greater traffic.

Measure Accessibility. Make your website pages and materials accessible and optimized for search engines so they can properly display it when relevant searches are performed. Here’s where you may need to rely on your web developer for some help.

Next Steps

So now you have a sense of what needs to be done, its time to identify who is going to get it done.

Website content. If you’re adding content (and hopefully you are), consider whether to use someone internal or external to write copy. Regardless of who is writing your content, be sure that they follow a content model.  You’ll want a consistent tone and an organized approach. Random content that doesn’t enhance usability nor convey the right message will impair your visitor’s experience. Another key consideration – is this person familiar with SEO? Since optimization starts with good content, not having the right person develop this content with SEO in mind may mean redoing things.

Updating website code. While many firms provide SEO guidance, the reality is that your current website developer will most likely need to implement those changes. You don’t want an SEO firm mirroring your website simply to make coding changes. This can negatively impact your desired results. Also if you’re on a content management system, some of the suggestions made may require recoding that can typically be done with your current website developer. Its not to say that someone else cannot make these changes but they will need to get up to speed on your application, host environment and your website. Additional time spent will likely mean a higher budget to implement. And if the SEO expert breaks something in the process, you’ll need to contact your current website developer to get it fixed. Finally, keep in mind that you’ll need to provide ftp access to this outside company in order for them to make changes. If you offer any secure services on your website, you may not want to give this information out.

Link building. Bottom line it’s the quality of your inbound links, not the quantity. Google, and other search engines, see inbound links as a vote of popularity. Be sure to have your website listed on online directories that are relevant to health care, and more importantly your specialty.  Search engines reward websites that provide relevant search query results. Simply by listing your site on multiple unrelated directories will have little, if any, SEO value.

Keep in mind, it’s the tried and true, that wins the SEO race.

Let’s start with the domain name

Chances are at some point, someone from your group registered a domain name through a domain registrar such as GoDaddy or Network Solutions, or through the IT company you do business with.

When its time to develop or redesign your website, one of the first questions your website developer will ask you is the log-in information to the registrar of your domain name. If you’re like some groups, you’ve may have not done a good job at keeping your registration information current.

What may be even worse is that whoever originally registered your domain name may not have listed you as the registrant and administrative contacts – the way that registrars confirm who owns and has access to the domain. This contact can make changes to it, such as updating passwords and where your domain name points.

What you can do

• Find out how your domain is currently registered and what the contact information is by visiting www.whois.sc.

• Regardless of who registers your domain, insist that the contact information for both the registrant and administrative record for the domain is the legal owner of the domain. Do not allow your IT vendor, or anyone else, be listed as the registrant or administrative contact.

• Be sure to utilize a generic email address such as info@ or admin@. This will ensure that if someone leaves the practice, control over the domain name doesn’t go with them.

• Keep track of your domain name’s expiration date and who the registrar is. There are many registration services that solicit you into migrate your domain without your knowledge.

Website maintenance

One of the most asked questions we hear from potential clients is how they can make changes to their website themselves. Most firms today provide a content management tool that allows clients to easily manage website updates themselves without contacting their website developer. Since this is a crucial part of your website, it is a good idea to know what type of content management system they are using – a database driven application or website editor.

What you should know

Be sure to ask what content management system (CMS) your developer uses. Also take time to familiarize yourself with how easy (or not!) it is to make changes using this application. While all CMS’s allow you to make changes to your website, there may be some limitations based on the type of application used.

Open-Source CMS

There are many database driven applications available – Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, to name a few. However, these popular open-source CMS programs tend to be a target for hackers. Generally there are updates (software) available to minimize the risk of an attack. Be sure to budget for these updates.

On the host server, there are also software version updates. This may also dictate that you update your CMS or your website may not work properly. Bottom line, you can’t just set it and forget it. These types of applications require ongoing maintenance.

Finally, keep in mind that because the applications rely on server configurations, they may not be as easy to migrate (move) to a different host without some additional development time. This can get costly, depending on what reconfiguration is needed.

Website Editors

There are also a number of website editors, such as Adobe Contribute. These applications may run client-side (from your desk-top) or through a hosted provider via the web.

Some scripting is added to website pages during development. This allows you to make website changes to editable regions. Since these pages are files that sit on your account on the server, you can migrate existing website files to a new host without much reconfiguration.

However, as new browser versions are made available, older editors may not be compliant. This does not mean your website will not display properly, only that you may not be able to continue to make changes using that application.

Don’t overlook content

Take this opportunity to re-evaluate your website structure (information architecture) and content. Think of this like moving. Wouldn’t you be cleaning out your closets, donating things to good will and, perhaps, buying that new refrigerator?

Chances are that over time, content has been added to your existing site without giving much thought to where and how best to add it.  You may not even know what content is on your current website. Now is the right time to take an inventory of that content, re-organize it and clean up your copy. Also, come up with a plan for how to best add content in the future.

Let’s talk about search engine optimization

There are many online marketing firms who will vie for your business. While they may provide much needed advice in how to better position your website on search engines, much of what needs to happen is driven off proper and compliant development practices.

A few things to consider:

• Is there ample content? It all starts with having good keyword rich, deep content on your site. Without content, there isn’t much a developer can work with to optimize.

• How is your website coded? Chances are that if it’s an older website, it may not be XHTML compliant and set-up for optimal load time. These elements may play a roll in how well your website is ranked. Be sure that if you’re developing a new website, that these good practices are used.

• Does your website have keyword rich file-naming conventions, relevant meta tags and valid mark-up? It’s best if your developer updates these items as they know your website and how it was originally coded. If you authorize an outside firm to do this, they may break something on your website. When redesigning your website, be sure that these items are there upon development.

One final thought – don’t forget to have some fun! Its your opportunity to be creative.

Let’s take a moment to learn what it all means.

Clarifying the Terminology

While many loosely equate hits with unique users, a “hit” really represents a single file request. For example, one page view may generate more than 10 hits.  The real focus should be on the number of visitors, and more importantly, the number of unique visitors. This will give you better insight as to how much traffic your site is seeing and if there is some stickiness (i.e., return visitors) to your traffic.

Types of Statistical Programs

Server-based Statistical Programs (Webalizer)

Every time something visits your website and requests a file (an HTML file, CSS file, JavaScript file, graphic file, Flash file, PDF document, etc), the web server records this information in your account’s log files. Things to keep in mind:

• All requests are counted as traffic including search engine bots.
• User agent strings offer minimal information and can be faked (to ensure sites do not block the browser).
• Server-based programs cannot normally assess a visitor’s screen resolution or whether they had JavaScript and Flash enabled.
• If a visitor is sharing the same IP address and or user agent string, the program will show that activity as the same visitor.
• Server log files cannot record cached files from either your browser or ISP’s proxy servers. When you enter a web address, you may see files returned from that proxy server rather than the originating website. As your site increases in popularity, you could even experience a drop in file access as more proxy servers cache your site. This is important as it will lower your reported visitor traffic.
• IP/user agents set a “visitor session” at different time intervals. For example:  access from the same IP/user agent with a 10 minute interval would reflect two sessions if a user who visits a page then waits 11 minutes before clicking a link elsewhere. But an application which assumed a 15 minute interval would only record only one visitor.

Client-side Data Collection and Analysis (Google Analytics)

Client-side data collection requires JavaScript code to be inserted on every page you want to analyze. Although many client-side programs produce informative reports, the data collection process is more volatile than server-side methods. Things to keep in mind:

• Client-side programs collect more detailed information such as the time spent on a page, clicked links, the screen resolution, etc.
• If users have JavaScript and cookies disabled or blocked, you will not be able to collect data from their activity. In general, you can expect around 5% of your traffic to not run JavaScript. Keep in mind that this will differ from site to site.
• If another script on your page causes an error it could prevent data collection either in general or with just one browser.

Physicians are responding by utilizing their practice site to not only provide healthcare information, but supplement communication with their patients. As medical practices increasingly develop their own web sites, standards, guidelines for use and liability are growing concerns.

Providing healthcare information on-line comes with an immense responsibility – both ethical and legal. If a practice web site provides healthcare information that is inaccurate or out of date, physicians may leave themselves open to legal risk and liability.

So what are the key points for a practice to consider when developing and maintaining their web site?

• Establish Web Site Review Group - A web site review group should propose and review site content – including linked sites – for accuracy, appropriateness and usage. Ensure that proper permission for usage is obtained from all sources.
• Familiarize Yourself With Established Guidelines - Familiarize yourself with ethical guidelines for on-line healthcare content from reputable ehealth organizations such as the URAC .
• Establish a Privacy Policy - Establish a posted web site privacy policy , site disclaimer(s) and, if appropriate, terms of use policy.
• Protect Privacy - Protect patient privacy when collecting personal medical information on-line through your web site by utilizing encryption technology and firewalls.
• Follow Privacy Policy - Follow the established practice privacy policy in all cases and in all respects.
• Adopt Standards & Process Adopt standards and process for on-going site content review and maintenance. This will ensure that the healthcare information provided on your site stays up to date.
• Consultant Site Review - To minimize liability, subcontract site review and content development to others outside the practice that have expertise in ewriting for healthcare organizations.
• Insurance Coverage - Obtain insurance coverage, or rider, to cover liability associated with your site. These policies are becoming much more common.

To adequately harness this rapidly developing trend, it is crucial that physicians and other healthcare organizations become aware of erisk issues, be proactive in addressing and managing these issues and make the informed decisions necessary to limit liability.

Say less

This is the most important thing. Because web users are generally scanning and not reading your text, the more concise the content, the better. A good approach is to write concisely, then cut, edit, boil down, paraphrase and finally trim.

Put important information first

Put essential information first. A quick overview helps the reader get the purpose of a page instantly, letting them make a quick judgement whether to read on for more detail.

Front-loading content

Put your most important content first. Doing so gets it above the “fold” and viewed without scrolling. It also aids scanning and helps the user to quickly decide whether to read on.

Front-loading also applies to paragraphs and sentences. Start paragraphs with the most relevant words, to work like a header to the paragraph.

Short and succinct

Remove any paragraphs, sentences and words that don’t directly help get your point across.

Use headlines and headings

A strong, attractive headline at the top of a page can make the difference between the page being read or not. So they attract the eye, headlines and lower-order headings benefit from being large and high-contrast. It needs a hook to catch your reader’s attention

Use headings within a document makes it easy to scan the document’s meaning. Good headings read like a bullet-point summary of the document’s contents, so a reader can scan down the page, get a quick idea of what’s there and decide whether to read on.

Web Link: 8 Examples of compelling headlines from Sitepoint.com.

Consider the user’s goals

The imperative voice (commanding) is attention-grabbing, so it should go at the front of a phrase. “Register for our event ” “Subscribe to our listserv” “Place order”.

Be factual, not cryptic

Use an appropriate tone. Your tone of voice should be immediately appropriate to the audience, and their relationship with your web site.

Don’t be cryptic. Don’t assume you have your audience’s attention. You really have to work to grab someone’s attention online.

Be factual. Being factual means avoiding starting with questions. Bottom line – TELL THEM QUICK, before they go!

Establish trust

Remember you’re operating in an environment of low trust and you only have a short opportunity to get your message across. Be enthusiastic, but not pushy.

Use active voice

English grammar uses two ‘voices’: active and passive.

• Active voice – is when something does something.
• Passive voice – is when something is done to something.

Active good, Passive bad. This is because passive voice uses slightly more words than Active, and takes slightly more decoding.

Source: www.webdesignfromscratch.com/writing_for_the_web.cfm

The following ideas should help get you started.

Advertise your website to patients

• Put your URL on all appointment reminder cards, encounter forms, practice stationery, patient education material, etc.
• Put you URL as a billing message on all patient statements.
• Put a promo for your web site on your “on hold” phone message.
• Advertise your web site using other forms of marketing – local newspapers, on the radio, practice brochure, etc.
• List your URL (your web site address) in your local phone book listing or advertisement.

Promote Your Site in Your Waiting & Exam Rooms

• Display promotional signs for your web site in your waiting and exam rooms indicating site address as well as key features – patient education materials, mailing lists, etc.
• Display informational flyers that include your URL at your front and check-out desks.
• Hand out business card-sized web address cards.
• Feature your web site on a waiting room computer that will allow patients to explore your site and sign up for interactive features such as a mailing list.

Promote Your Web Site On-Line

• Establish a patient mailing list on your site and generate monthly on-line newsletters.
• To encourage patients to register with your listserv (mailing list), run a give-a-way promotion (i.e. gift certificate) in your office.
• Determine and set practice policy on email communication with patients. Communicate the specific “do’s & don’ts” of office email policy, process and confidentiality issues by distributing a flyer or card to inform patients.
• Establish web site links with your referring physician web sites, hospitals, doctor finder services, community health directories.
• Provide access and links to valuable local healthcare resources for your patients.
• Post on-line disease, age or gender-specific electronic information and links to credible and reliable health information sites.
• Periodically re-register your site with major search engines as existing listings may drop off engine databases.
• Work with a web development company to optimize your rankings.
• Establish a Paid Placement advertising campaign.

Website Communication Elements

So you may ask yourself how does a website communicate to its visitors. Text is, of course, the most obvious form, whether in main body of a page or page title. The approach taken or tone used will depend on the purpose of the website. For example, sales copy on an e-commerce website will differ from an article on an informational website.

Page titling and subtitling breaks down the amount of text on a page into readable “chucks of information”. Online, your visitors like to skim content and focus on the areas that pertain specifically to their interests.

Images can also effectively get your message across. The right image can make your message captivating and compelling, invoking a desired call to action.

Other things like the overall design style, use of known icons, color and video also play a part in website communication.

Effective Communication Tips

Providing the right amount of content is a critical success factor. Of course, having a lot of quality information is a good thing on a number of fronts. At the same time,  excess information can make it difficult to clearly get your message across.

By trying to fit too much content onto a page, the page becomes cluttered and confuse visitors. Primary messages are often overpowered by the busyness of a page.

Remembering that each site visitor is different and they will not respond differently. Things like demographics, purpose, level of knowledge and how they are referred to your site, make your visitors unique. Therefore, keep your target audience in mind.

Getting and keeping your visitors attention is a challenge. Bottom line – you have a short amount of time to speak to your visitor. Avoid the noise, or clutter. Make sure that your point is brief, clear, consise and most importantly, compelling.

Your website should have personality. Make sure that the website adequately reflects who you are as an organization. It should be a virtual representation of the practice, organization or the person behind it.

What Should be Communicated

Don’t confuse and disappoint your visitors. When they visit your site, quickly and accurately identify what the purpose of your website is as well as what you offer, or to put it simply, your value proposition. Your visitors are interested in knowing if they can trust you and learning how you can help them.

To Do List

• Prioritize and appropriately categorize your information
• Determine what your visitors should know about you
• Keep your message simple
• Make your information revelant to your target audience
• Make your message compelling
• Add visual cues such as colored text, sub-tiling, etc
• Use a design that enhances your message
• Deploy a website structure and navigation that supports your information and enhances usability

In our ongoing effort towards transparency, we put together some useful tips.

• The answer is not always found in the bottom line. I know it’s hard to say but look beyond cost. Be sure that you’re comparing apples to apples and ask questions. What one firm considers as part of development, others will not. The devil is in the details and these projects are wrought with many of them! Be sure to inquire if there is:
  1. content provided as part of the project
  2. the ability to make site updates yourself
  3. ongoing maintenance charges and what the charges are for
  4. training and support included or available
  5. supporting documentation provided such as a site map to detail site architecture, content checklist, and go live materials
  6. source files provided once the site is live

• Be sure to look under the hood. All sites today should be using CSS to control layout and stylization (also known as tableless layout), and tested to work in many of the latest browsers including Internet Explorer (IE) v6.0, v7.0, v8.0, Firefox, Opera and Safari. Supporting IE 6.0 is important within the healthcare industry as many hospital based applications require older versions of IE. If you on a hospital network, chances are you’re apt to be using IE 6.

• Content is king. At Practis, you’ll hear us make this claim over and over. Designing and developing a website is the easy part. Writing content is the challenge. Ask for specifics – what content will be provided by the company and what will you be expected to provide. Someone who has worked in the industry is going to better know and understand what content and functional requirements you’ll need. They may also have licensed materials to make your life easier and project come to closure sooner.

• Who is running the show. Project management is an overlooked, but extremely important, aspect of a successful project. For your website, are there dedicated resources, i.e., a project manager, allocated to oversee your project, provide guidance, check on questionable details and ensure timely completion of tasks. If there isn’t a project manager, chances are you, the client, will take on more of this role.

• It’s not a one person, one skill set type of job. Developing a solid website that stands the test of time requires a diverse skill set. It’s difficult to find someone who is the best at architecture, graphic and interactive design, coding, application development, search engine optimization and project management- all at the same time. Be sure to know the limitations of those you select to work with.

• Do they have a track record. Over and above knowing how long someone has been in business, do a little digging and get more facts. Has this firm produced award-winning sites, what do their customers say about them, do they offer resources for collecting feedback from their clients as well as ongoing support? Chances are you’ll be with this firm for a long time. Make sure you do your due diligence.

• Proud to be American made. If you find comfort in knowing that you can pick up a phone and speak to someone state-side whether it be about your project under development or, in the future, site enhancements, then you should avoid companies who only offer web or email only based support. Be sure to ask who is working on your site as it’s a plus if you can pick up the phone and contact them directly.

Go to the Source

It’s important during times of crisis, whether it be a true crisis or just some mild excitement, to keep our stories straight. You want to make sure you are passing accurate and valid information onto your patients so there is as little confusion as possible. A source for global health information is the World Health Organization. Beyond that you will want to refer to your own countries health organizations like the Center for Disease Control for information that pertains to your specific geographic location.

I’ve identified some links below from the WHO and CDC that you can post on your websites about the Swine Flu:

Swine Influenza and You (CDC) – http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

Influenza A(H1N1) maintained by WHO – http://www.who.int/csr/disease/swineflu/en/index.html

PandemicFlu.gov (maintained by U.S. Government) – http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

Swine Influenza (H1N1) Questions and Answers (specific to NY state) – http://www.health.state.ny.us/diseases/communicable/influenza/seasonal/swine_flu/swine_flu_questions_and_answers.htm

Get the Information Out

Now that you have some links and accurate information you need to find a way to get it out to your patients. Below are a few options:

E-mail

One form of communication most everyone is familiar with is e-mail. If you collect e-mail addresses for your patients and have the ability to send a mass e-mail this is probably the quick and dirty option. You can include links and information specific to your practice or patients.

Twitter/RSS

If your practice has a Twitter account or anything that has an integrated RSS feed this will work well to get the word out to your patients that keep track of those tools. Post a quick message to your Twitter account or news manager about how the Swine Flu affects them and what they can do to protect themselves and the next time your patients check their RSS feed reader they will see your update front and center.

Website Update

Finally, if you want more of an “official” way of getting the word out you could always post an update to your website. One of the websites mentioned above, PandemicFlu.gov, has a widget that can be added to your own website to help keep your patients informed. A website update could be as simple as a note on the homepage or as complicated as a new page with details on the Swine Flu and links to resources for your patients.

Keep Your Patients Informed

In times of crisis communication is critical to keeping everyone calm and finding a solution to the problem at hand. During this, and future, global health incidents be sure to leverage your website and other Internet technologies to keep your patients informed and out of danger.

How are you handling the Swine Flu pandemic? If you are using other methods of communication or websites that wern’t mentioned in this post please let us know by leaving a comment.