It’s autumn and everything is changing. On a personal level, I’ve gotten a new job here at Avid Design, I’ve gotten engaged, and I’m moving in just a few months. All of these are great and fun things that I’m excited about, but they are big changes and a little bit stressful/scary. But that’s change for you. It’s difficult sometimes, it takes time to get things right, but the end result is really great.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Yes, this is me about relating my planning a wedding and nice-ing up a bachelor pad to redesigning a healthcare website. And my first piece of advice: Don’t let people scare you into thinking that your website redesign is going to be a logistical nightmare. It doesn’t have to be.

1. Be open-minded when you’re dealing with your experts. Come with a firm idea of what you want, but listen to the advice and ideas offered to you and take them into consideration. They’re experienced, and they don’t benefit by leading you astray. They only do well if you’re satisfied with your site.
2. Decide on a look and feel and stick to that. Most hospitals have already established their theme, colors, and how they want to represent themselves to the public. Keep that in mind when you’re working on your videos, content management, widgets/modules, and your different page layouts/themes. Healthcare sites are notoriously busy, but having a consistent look and feel will lead to a more organized and less scattered looking site.
3. Art in Brevity. This is one of my favorite phrases for papers, ceremonies, and websites. Keep your content relevant and to the point. On a patient/client facing website you have about 15 seconds and the span of an iPhone screen to get and retain a person’s attention. Use it wisely.
4. Tackle one thing at a time. Yes, you have a lot of decisions to make. Yes, it will take time to make all of those decisions. It will also probably take about the same amount of time to make those decisions one at a time in a logical order as it will for you to panic and think about all of them at the same time. So take it easy, make a list of your priorities, and go down the list.
5. It’s mostly about you, but it’s important to be a gracious host. It’s important that you get all of your information across, but it’s just as important to convey it in a user-friendly way. That means easy navigation, simple but thorough content, and limiting the amount of content and content types that occur on each page. This will make it easy for your patients/clients to find the information they need and understand it quickly and easily.

All you want is a comprehensive, user-friendly, engaging website that will direct your clients to where they need to go. And all I want is a wedding venue coordinator that doesn’t yell at me for just wanting to marry my best friend then have a nice party with a cake.

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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I recently got back from a trip to the sugary, white sands of Florida’s Gulf Coast, Panama City Beach, to be exact. When I was not bronzing in the sweltering sun or sipping some fruity concoction, I was visiting the neighborhood shops and enjoying local fare at various establishments.

Cowabunga, dude! Surf's up!

I noticed that most of the locals spoke in a different language. Not different per se that it was not English, but just in a different way.

Yes, it is a beach town with a laid-back attitude, so that is not to be completely unexpected, but when I heard the 20-year-old-something male at one of the local surf shops speak to me (in surfer lingo) the same way an older 40+ woman server spoke to me at a fancy restaurant, it made me think about languages, slang and jargon.  Ultimately, it made me think about writing in natural language for Web sites.

Natural Language…Write on!

Writing in natural, simple language is the way to go in order for your audience to understand what you are trying to tell them. It flows more naturally, and is similar to a conversation you would have with a friend, family member or co-worker.

Writing in natural, simple language allows for:

• More traffic to your site (this is far out for SEO)

• Engagement with your audience (readers will be stoked if they can connect to your content).

• Your info to be read from beginning to end (bailing mid-way through your content = total burn).

• Better usability in understanding what information you are trying to get across (let your audience shred through your content and dig it).

Web Content Writing Basics

While having natural, simple language on the brain, don’t forget the other gnarly basics for Website content writing, which basically breaks down to:

• Having clear calls-to-action

• Writing with one-topic per paragraph

• Using specific and focus-driven copy

• Providing short and easy-to-read copy

AVID Design creates optimized Web content for hospital and healthcare systems.  Contact AVID today to see how we can help you.

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With Memorial Day right around the corner, we are reminded to reflect and honor.

Reflect and remember this Memorial Day...and remember these tips for writing for the Web.

With that being said, I thought it might be a good time to remind (or educate) hospital marketers and/or those that write copy for hospital Web sites about a few things. I often come across content that is paragraph after paragraph of non-relevant copy with no clear calls to action.

Writing for the Web differs from any other form of writing simply because users don’t actually read on the Web, then scan content. And they tend to scan bite-sized chunks of copy.

When writing for your Web audience, remember to:

• Write to one person in natural language

• Keep copy short and easy-to-read (like this is, with a bulleted list)

• Start with keyword research and choose keywords relevant to each page’s copy

• Narrow the focus of each page and write with one idea per paragraph, or bite-sized chunk

• Create calls-to-action, or conversions (make an appointment with our cardiologists, sign up for our health e-newsletter, etc.)

It’s important to properly write the way users will see it, that way they will be more likely to get the information they need, remember that information and perhaps act upon it by completing a conversion.

AVID Design is a leader in writing optimized content for hospital and healthcare Web sites. Contact us today to learn how we can write for your Web site to improve your conversion rate and increase site traffic.

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I was able to speak at the 16th annual Healthcare Maketing Strategies Summit in Orlando today. Since we didn’t get the final presentation slides finished until after the deadline for inclusion on the conference Web site and flash drive, I decided that I could post the PDF here.

Pam and I enjoyed presenting this and had some really good follow up questions. There was good interest in the videos that have been produced at Bayhealth and how we were able to get the physicians involved in the process. There was some discussion about intranets, which I didn’t expect, but it is so true that if you are integrating your public facing Web site, you should make sure to include strategy about integrating your intranet also. Your internal staff and employees are so valuable in the community that they can be your front line when educating the public about your public Web site.

Integrating Content and Applications: Creating a Better Online User Experience PDF Download

Andy Darnell | Director of Web Development | AVID Design

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Our last blog post, invited readers to vote in our current poll about hospital Website conversions. While that poll is underway, we wanted to review the results from our previous online poll about integrating quality of care information into a hospital’s Website (we also wrote a feature article about this topic in our May 2010 newsletter).

What the Results Mean

Although voters were split 50/50 about which was the most important, the relativity of the choices suggests that there is no question that patients and Website visitors must come first, as compared to matters that involve tone, logistics and conversions.

Although that may seem obvious, it’s an important concept to keep in mind when planning and drafting content—especially when attempting to integrate editorial feedback from hospital adminstrators and physicians.

As you might have experienced when developing content for other Website pages—such as content for your hospital’s service lines—there can occasionally be conflicts when trying to craft content that balances readability, SEO, technical language, credibility, etc. But when it comes to quality of care content, it may be best to defer to Website reader expectations before all else.

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