Put away those white shoes (it’s after Labor Day) and the mosquito repellent! It’s time to take out your boots and get yourself a flu shot.

See ya, summer! Revisiting our top 5 blog posts from this past summer.

Say goodbye to the warm summer season and hello to the (looming) crisp autumn air.

As the weather in Atlanta has been rather cool and cloudy lately, and although I do love it at times, I’ve been feeling slightly nostalgic and missing the warmth of the sun.

So, with the changing of the seasons, let’s revisit this past summer’s top 5 blog posts.

• How Long Keyword Phrases Can Play to Your Strengths

• Hospital Mobile Strategy: Best Practices for Quick Response (QR) Codes

• Learn it, Know it, Live it – 7 Link Building Strategies for your Hospital

• Quick Tips on PPC Ad Writing

• AVID Design Gets Mentioned in Ragan Communications’ eNewsletter

So long, summer!  It’s been a hot one.

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.

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By now, developing a mobile site for your hospital is something you’ve probably considered, if you haven’t already started developing one.

AVID Insight totally rocks! Sign up today to receive our e-Newsletter.

If you’ve looked at the trends and growth of visitors coming from a mobile device to your main site, most likely you’ve seen a steady increase.

In our next edition of AVID Insight, we’ll be discussing how to start-up your first mobile site, focusing on the following:

• Goals for your mobile site – start small and provide users with basic information that they are looking for, then expand later.

• Building a mobile site – deploy your mobile site on your existing CMS or basic HTML.

• DOs and DON’Ts for content planning – simple tips to follow for mobile content usability and optimization.

Check your inbox soon for our ALL mobile edition of AVID Insight. If you are not a subscriber yet…what are you waiting for?! Sign up today!

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QR codes, or quick response codes, seem to be the latest “craze” for marketers, businesses and organizations. Lately, I’ve seen them everywhere, from fashion magazines, to Guitar Center print ads to televised sporting events (during Summer X Games 17), to hospitals.

Check out this QR code I generated for a mobile site we designed for one of our clients!

Yes, hospitals.

While hospitals are usually on the slow end of embracing the “latest” technology and/or trend, more and more are incorporating mobile strategy into their marketing plan, and even using QR codes.

Scratching the Surface: QR Code Benefits

Simply to scratch the surface of the many benefits of implementing a QR code campaign into your hospital’s mobile strategy, here are a few reasons that stick out:

• Instant information for users

• Consumer to company interaction

• Easy to include in all marketing materials

• Relatively inexpensive in terms of advertising dollars

QR Code Best Practices for Hospitals

If your hospital is thinking about creating a QR code campaign, here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• Mobile Optimized Landing Page – Nearly 100% of QR codes are scanned by a mobile device, so if you send users to a URL or landing page on your hospital’s Website, make sure it is optimized for mobile devices. Do this so users can easily navigate through your site (if they want, and you definitely want them to). Don’t have a mobile site for your hospital? What are you waiting for? Contact AVID Design and we can start developing a mobile site for your hospital today!

• Value Exchange With the User – Give users something interesting and useful, like rich media or a video of your hospital’s new maternity wing, maps/directions of direct locations from your hospital’s directory, or even offer a discount to something in conjunction with a 3rd party affiliated with your healthcare organization. Be creative!

• Placement – Place the QR code where it is easily accessible for the user (i.e. not a billboard off the highway). Better examples include in health (e-)newsletters, direct hospital mail pieces, etc.

• Test- Perhaps one of the most important! Test in several mobile phone platforms, as well as with bar code scanning apps. This is the best way to spot problems.

• Track – As with any kind of Web strategy or communication effort, set up in your analytics, such as in Google Analytics, and track user engagement. See how many users “hit” your page, see if they go anywhere else.

• Short URL – Use a shorter URL rather than a longer one to keep the code smaller. The longer the URL, the larger the code. Try using goo.gl or bit.ly to shorten it.

Check out how some hospitals are using QR codes and other tips:

• QR Codes Gaining Popularity

• Hospital Enhances Print Ads with Barcode Technology

Do you have any QR code best practices to add?  Is your hospital currently using QR codes within their mobile strategy?

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