My favorite comparison to the question of “I need a price for SEO services” is “I need a price for a car.” So, what type of car? What are your goals? Drive short distances, long distances, 2 people, 6 people, environmental considerations, how much get up and go, etc. The same applies to SEO – we need to understand your goals and needs before we can give you a price.

We have recently received several  SEO specific proposals. For many healthcare organizations, search engine optimization is a priority in theory, but tough to allocate enough time on a day to day basis. So, we have the conversation, provide SEO best estimates, and our content team jumps in to help. At AVID Design, we can take care of project based sections or an entire website, putting strong metadata in place and incorporating keyword phrases into content for improved SEO. The dilemma is most often pricing these services in line with client needs – both short and long term.

For a successful SEO plan to come into fruition, what needs to happen first are the conversations about organizational goals and objectives, understanding new services and advances in technology, processing the keyword research, and making sure we are working together as a team to drive strong results.

Here are a few things to consider when you go into a conversation about SEO with your current or potential web partner:

• How big is your site? A clinic that specializes in one area, such as orthopedics or diabetes, is going to have a very different SEO experience than a large hospital group. You can choose to tackle your entire site  for improved traffic, or you can choose to focus on a more specific area of your expertise.
• Do you need content? Be honest about this one, because no amount of SEO work will really improve your site unless you have excellent content in place. At AVID Design, we help clients with these needs by offering a variety of content writing services,  depending on their needs.
• Are you a local hospital with some competition, or a nationally recognized organization? Geographical information can be a huge help in getting your targeted clientele to your website, but you may want to expand this if you’re hoping to reach out to the entire country or an international clientele.
• Does your current website support SEO best practices? Metadata, robots.txt files, XML sitemaps, and proper redirects all have an impact on your site.  Make sure that all of these capabilities are not only available, but also in use, or they won’t do you any good.
• Do you have resources to dedicate to ongoing SEO management? Many organizations don’t have the option of dedicating personnel to SEO maintenance, but  may be able to set up a plan with a web partner for ongoing SEO work.

Sometimes it’s hard to justify and/or spend money on maintenance – on cars or on websites – but taking good care of anything on a routine basis means that performance is improved – both short and long term. And, just like car services, not all technicians are created equal. You take your car to a mechanic that knows your specific engine and model idiosyncrasies and the same applies to SEO. Not all search engine experts have the necessary expertise in service line specific clinical knowledge and healthcare industry trends. Make sure you take your website content and SEO needs to the most qualified expert to get the job done!      

 How does your organization manage SEO intiatives?

AVID Design offers full-scale written and visual communication services for hospitals and healthcare systems, including SharePoint, Web design, SEO and PPC content development and assessment, online video and rich media, analytics and measurement, content management systems and more.

Meredith Rose and Dani Holland | Content Services Team | AVID Design

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There’s a phenomenon called banner blindness, where users tend to overlook big colorful banners in an attempt to find more relevant content, thinking that the banner is really just an ad. While this is sometimes an issue for sites that sell products, banners are very useful for helping healthcare website users find what they need.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities have a unique set of needs when it comes to web marketing strategy, and the effective use of banners to showcase key services can actually be a more compelling strategy not just for marketing but also for improving the user experience.

At AVID Design, we try to use banners as effectively as possible to improve the user experience and create more striking visual navigation. Here are some of our ideas for strategic banner use:

1. Service page banners are navigational cues – Because hospital websites tend to cover a large number of topics, e.g. services offered, physicians, locations, health information, etc., it can get confusing. Use banners as a guide to indicate users have found the correct information.
2. Use that real estate to reinforce your message and create familiarity – If you’re going to put a banner the top of your content page; don’t simply repeat the same verbiage that’s in your header. You have the space, so use the opportunity to reinforce what your organization can offer to the user, and what factors make your services different from everyone else.
3. Use branding – We’ve talked in the past about the importance of branding, but it’s worth repeating. Your website should represent your organization and create a recognizable brand, so when it’s appropriate, use your hospital or system branding to reinforce your presence.
4. Be consistent – When you create your banners, they should be unique and relevant to each specialty service or area of differentiation without being completely discordant. If you have one wide banner that has a full sentence about your services on one page and another that’s more narrow and has a quote on it, your site begins to be seen as too busy and confusing.
5. Homepage banners show users the advantages of your organization – This is really a category on its own, because homepage banners are so different from your content page banners. Home page banners should be reserved for those differentiating factors your hospital offers: new minimally invasive technology, specialty services, new departments, upcoming events, and other content that makes your organization stand out. By regularly updating these, you can always ensure that your homepage has the most up-to-date information about your organization and services.

How does your organization use banners to your advantage?

AVID Design offers full-scale written and visual communication services for hospitals and healthcare systems, including Web design, SEO and PPC content development and assessment, online video and rich media, analytics and measurement, content management systems and more.

Evan Daeschler | Creative Director | AVID Design

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With two in college, I have a hard time spending more money on anything, much less a more expensive shared data plan. Coming from a Scottish heritage, thrifty defines much of my family! Advances in technology are great, but why do they seem to always cost so much more money? I finally bit the bullet this week and moved ahead with technology. And, I must admit that after only one day with a more capable phone and a shared data plan, I am so much more efficient and effective with my communications!

A client of ours is having the same dilemma with allocating resources for content development and SEO improvements. For their website – yes, content pages and metadata are in place, but it wasn’t as current and strategic as possible. I used an example of another one of our clients that needed to refresh SEO for orthopedics – content was there, metadata was in place, but both needed to be dusted off and more strategically focused on new services and relevant key words that consumers were using to search for services. Guess what? Within one week, they were #1 in search…and ahead of their competition!  

Another client is wrestling with moving ahead to more advanced technology for their website. Yes, just like me, sometimes it’s hard to bite the bullet and move into the next phase of what’s available with advanced technology. You can test drive a car and demo the iPhone 5, so we gave a prospective client access to our AVIDCMS™ demo site and they are amazed at improved features and more efficient capabilities. More efficient and effective…sometimes you just have to jump on in!       

AVID Design offers full-scale written and visual communication services for hospitals and healthcare systems, including SharePoint, Web design, SEO and PPC content development and assessment, online video and rich media, analytics and measurement, content management systems and more.

Meredith Rose | Director of Content Services | AVID Design

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Is your organization considering a mobile site? There are a lot of decisions that have to be made throughout the entire process. This quarter’s AVID Insight, our regular eNewsletter, which you can subscribe to here, investigates many of the big questions and challenges that healthcare organizations face when it comes to creating a mobile site.

Mobile Content – Strategic Navigation

Figuring out how to prioritize your content for mobile can be difficult. This article discusses how to use analytics to make your decisions.

Mobile Expectations

This article discusses the increasing popularity of mobile usage across every industry and how it’s having an impact on healthcare web marketing.

Dedicated vs. Adaptive/Responsive Design

It’s important to pay attention to industry trends, but it’s even more important to make sure that every decision you make, including how you go about design your mobile site, is the best one for your particular organization.

What is the Best Mobile Approach for your Hospital?

If your organization is considering a mobile site, you need to make the decision, based on your site traffic and analytics, how you should develop your mobile site to be tailored to your specific market.

Please subscribe to AVID Insight and our blog, and let us know what you think!

AVID Design offers full-scale written and visual communication services for hospitals and healthcare systems, including SharePoint, Web design, SEO and PPC content development and assessment, online video and rich media, analytics and measurement, content management systems and more.

Dani Robinson Holland | Content and SEO Specialist | AVID Design

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Please take a minute to check out AVID Design’s Director of Web Development, Keir Bradshaw’s new article about SharePoint in the Healthcare industry in eHealthcare Strategy and Trends. The article, “SharePoint – The Real Opportunities for Healthcare” discusses the evolution of SharePoint in the healthcare industry, the advantages and disadvantages of SharePoint, and how to make the right choices when it comes to implementing SharePoint for your hospital or healthcare organization.

Is your organization considering turning to SharePoint? What challenges do you feel you’re facing when it comes to implementation or strategy?

AVID Design offers full-scale written and visual communication services for hospitals and healthcare systems, including SharePoint, Web design, SEO and PPC content development and assessment, online video and rich media, analytics and measurement, content management systems and more.

Dani Robinson Holland | Content and SEO Specialist | AVID Design

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