Successful Health/Medical, Government and
Charitable/Non-Profit Web Sites
Autumn, 2002
In our Summer, 2002 Focus article, we looked at the most
successful web sites in the Consumer/E-business and Religion
categories. Through this analysis, we learned that key
elements for success in a consumer-oriented, e-business site
included features such as online tools, pricing information,
customer convenience and search utilities. On the other hand,
the most popular religious or faith-based web sites all
incorporated depth of information and ideas or features to
help site users to connect with their beliefs or one other.
This quarter, we look at the web site elements found in the
most successful Health/Medical, Government and
Charitable/Non-Profit sites.
Learn from the most successful sites
Applying the valuable site design tips, content creation,
online tools and strategies from these best-of-breed sites to
your own web site development can help you create an online
presence that actually produces the results you want for your
business or organization. Contact SW Communications for more
information on any of the research presented here.
Health/Medical
Nearly 45% of all adults with an internet connection have used
it to look for health information, and 91% have used it to
research a particular disease or condition. Overall, the
primary topics of interest include prescription drug research,
weight control and preparation for doctor's appointments.
Users like the anonymous nature of the internet when looking
for health information online, and tend to bookmark sites
they've found useful for future visits.
Top Health Web Sites
Nearly 45% of all adults with an internet connection have used it
to look for health information, and 91% have used it to research a
particular disease or condition. Overall, the primary topics
of interest include prescription drug research, weight control and
preparation for doctor's appointments. Users like the anonymous nature of the internet when looking
for health information online, and tend to bookmark sites they've
found useful for future visits.
Women are more likely to use the internet for health information than
men, and tend to shy away from sites that don't clearly identify the source
of the information or appear to be selling something.
In January, 2002, Nielsen/Netratings reported that the health and medical
sites receiving the most traffic growth were:
eDiets
eDiets.com has about one million subscribers who pay a fee to access
personalized, customized fitness, diet and nutrition information.
Online meal planning and recipes, fitness and counseling are available to
site subscribers. e-Diets encourages subscriptions for first time
users by the use of a short, simple web-based interview on weight loss
goals, meal preferences and health conditions. Ediets.com used
well-timed partnerships with AOL, Microsoft, ivillage and others, along with
strong online advertising to build traffic on the site.
iVillage
Health
ivillage.com is one of the top-rated and most experienced women's sites on
the Internet. By extending their familiar name strengths to focus on
women's health issues, ivillage provides useful information combined with
innovative, entertaining online quizzes and health tips to engage the user's
interest and extend the time spent on the site.
Weight
Watchers
Part of the power of WeightWatchers is the support community participants
become involved in during their weight loss program.
Weightwatchers.com complements the personal support group nature of their
service with the convenience of their online presence. Online tools
such as POINTS calculators and progress charts, as well as online
communities and WeightWatchers meetings make this web site a very effective
supplement to the entire WeightWatchers family of services.
CIGNA
The CIGNA family of company services include health care coverage, group
life, accident and disability insurance, retirement services, and investment
management, life insurance and employee benefits. The cigna.com site
provides one-stop access to general health care information, as well as
personalized account information for consumers, providers and professionals.
Mayo
Clinic
As one of the most trusted and recognizable specialty health clinics,
mayoclinic.com presents extremely thorough disease and condition information
targeted specifically to the consumer. Medical and scientific
terminology is defined in user-friendly language, coupled with fast-loading
graphic illustrations to help the user understand complex conditions.
The general tone of the language used on the entire site is calming and
professional, not advocating or "selling" any particular type of
treatment or medication. This tone increases the overall
credibility of the site.
About 50% of American adults with Internet access have used government web
sites, and most of those users began their search for government information
at a major search engine or general site such as MSN or AOL. The top
three types of information users want are tourism and recreation, research
for work or school, and services offered by particular agencies. In the
research category, the facts contained in government documents and
databases, information on civic issues, business climate and opportunities
are most popular.
There are distinct differences in the use of Federal, state and local
government web sites. Generally, 75-80% of those who report
using a government web site have visited a federal or state site; but only
40% have reported visiting a local site. Further research indicates
that many users are unaware that their local government has a web
site. Currently, finding information is much more important to
government web site users than conducting online transactions, such as
filing taxes or renewing driver's licenses.
The nature of government web sites requires the use of different criteria
to determine top sites. Overall site traffic or product/service sales
are not the objectives of online or e-government initiatives.
The sites presented here are a brief sample of those federal, state or local
sites that have been identified by a recent study of e-government by Center
for Public Policy at Brown University, the Center for Digital Government and
the Webby Awards, an international competition for the world's best web
sites as the best examples of government web sites. Sites were judged
on the basis of design, online services and functionality, privacy and
security measures, accessibility standards, innovative delivery of services
and cost and time efficiencies, among many other criteria.
Federal Communications
Commission
Identified as the top example of e-government, the FCC web site scored a 92
out of a possible 96 in the Brown University study. This study
focused on 24 specific web site features and assigned a point value to each
feature. (Editor's Note: Link to the Brown University study
and the specific features studied can be found at the end of this
article.)
State of Tennessee
Scoring a 56 in the Brown University study, the state of Tennessee web site
provides many online services, with a robust search utility and Spanish,
French and German translations of the site.
Montgomery County, Maryland
One of the only counties singled out in the Center for Digital Government's
Best of the Web competition, Montgomery County scored high marks in
categories such as innovation
and use of web-based online technology to deliver government services,
efficiencies and time saved for both the government entity and the citizen, monies
saved, site functionality and improved citizen access to services.
City of Conyers, Georgia
For a population of only about 11,000 citizens, the city of Conyers, Georgia
delivers more security and services on their site than some cities of far
greater size. This innovative approach was awarded by the Center for Digital Government's
competition.
Library of Congress
When considering the Library of Congress site, the Webby Awards focused on
how government sites used content, structure and navigation, visual design,
functionality, interactivity, and overall experience to provide information
and services pertaining to legal and government matters. This includes
the provision of online citizen action, self-help legal information, access
to government documents, forms and services.
Charitable and non-profit sites run a gamut of subject areas,
including spirituality, activism, community, politics and business
groups. These sites are often defined as communities, as
they focus on a particular segment of Internet users who have a
common interest. A survey completed by The Pew Research Center's
Internet and American Life project indicates that over half the
Internet users in the United States have used a business or
professional association/union web site or belong to online groups
that share their religious, spiritual or personal beliefs. Over
40% report using web sites that provide information and support
for medical or personal conditions,
neighborhood and local issues, family concerns, or involvement
with a local charity.
Community-oriented sites, such as those of charitable
non-profit organizations must also be evaluated by different
standards than those of a commercial site. Highly targeted
audiences, who for some sites may be members, and other sites may
be donors do not always want the same things.
Fundraising is not the same as product sales.
The sites mentioned here are a sampling of those combine
those who have been singled out by the Webby Awards or those who
have been referenced as newsworthy for their idea or online
accomplishment.
Red
Cross
After September 11, the Red Cross raised over $67 million dollars
via web initiatives and saw their online supporter database
increase over 2,200 percent. You may
have noticed that nearly every major web site on the internet
featured a banner ad urging donations to the Red Cross during this
time. Their innovative online web advertising donation
program/Public Service Announcements, complete with downloadable pre-built ad banners and
web site code allowed webmasters around the world to place the Red
Cross ad banner on their sites, helping to provide nearly 400,000
visitors per day to the Red Cross site during the week of the tragedy.
Tolerance.org
A web project of the Southern Poverty Law Center, this site focuses
on the communities who are best positioned to fight
hate and intolerance in society, including parents, teachers, kids and teens.
Tolerance Watch tracks issues in the news, provides proactive ideas to fight hate, newsletters, forums,
as well as downloadable tools and ideas.
Center
for Responsive Politics
Timely and information rich, the web site of the Center for
Responsive Politics, a non-partisan, non-profit research group
based in Washington, D.C. tracks money in politics, and its
effect on elections and public policy. Extensive, searchable
web tools providing users access to a wealth of data on money in
politics is a perfect example of a highly focused internet
strategy.
The
Hunger Site
A very creative idea that has fallen on hard times due to the dot.com
and web advertising crash, The Hunger Site was once ranked as
the Internet's most visited web site and raised hundreds of thousands
of dollars for charity groups. Their "click-to-give" concept
paired givers with charities, making it easy for site visitors to
make donations to causes of importance to them.
Resources
Links are presented as a service to site
visitors and we maintain no control over content presented on
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