Showing posts with label Medical Website Design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medical Website Design. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Why Your Hospital Needs More Than Just A Website
The internet has become the most important source of information in the world. A recent survey in India found that seventy two percent of Indians online search for healthcare related information. With an increasingly large number of people going online before making any healthcare related decision, it has become more important than ever for hospitals and doctors to have their websites.
All the larger and teaching hospitals have realized the importance of having a website. The web company, Webometrics has ranked all teaching hospitals of the world according to their web presence, taking into consideration their search engine visibility, available digital content and published studies in online databases. Here’s a list of the top 12 Indian teaching hospitals according to their web metrics in 2011.
Rank In India | Hospital | World Rank |
1 | Laparoscopy Hospital | 455 |
2 | Sankara Nethralaya Hospital | 584 |
3 | Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences | 690 |
4 | Tata Memorial Centre | 753 |
5 | Aravind Eye Care System | 840 |
6 | King George Medical College and Hospital | 859 |
7 | Sri Ramachandra University & Medical Centre | 1019 |
8 | Apollo Hospitals | 1037 |
9 | L.R.S. Institute of Tuberculosis & Respiratory Diseases | 1062 |
10 | Sir Ganga Ram Hospital | 1368 |
11 | Fortis Healthcare | 1808 |
12 | Max Healthcare | 1898 |
A number of comparatively smaller healthcare centers in India have also recognized the importance of having a high quality medical website ( eg: Skin Hair Clinic ,Cura Physiotherapy Clinic and Divinations Healthcare).
So what are the five main reasons for building a website for hospitals?
1) Provide Service Information:
Websites allow you to describe complex services available at your medical center in great details. This allows healthcare professionals to educate healthcare consumers about all the services available even before they visit the facility.
2) Build healthcare brand.
Healthcare services are people facing business and all people facing business need to build themselves into a Brand. Websites and blogs are wonderful tools for Brand building among people and news reporters looking for related information online.
3) Improve search optimization ranking.
Just having a website does not guarantee you a high visibility. Websites which contain posts focused on keywords and extensive link building help improve search engine rankings and therefore greater probability of being found online.
4) Distribute informative content.
Websites help hospitals/ doctors inform consumers about latest health research and guide them into healthy lifestyles. Thus medical websites can act as a great resource for people looking for information on preventive healthcare practices. In turn, consumers in need are more likely to turn to curative services which provide them information for their preventive healthcare needs.
5) Build a healthcare community.
Maybe the most important thing a website can do for any healthcare institution is to build an online community. Patients love to be able to connect with doctors and also other patients in similar circumstances as them. Having a website allows a healthcare provider to fill this huge gap of doctor-patient and patient-patient interaction.
A useful medical website is more than just an effort at ego boosting. A truly high quality medical website needs a good blend of technological and medical expertise. To get yourself a truly useful internet presence (as opposed to just a run-of-the-mill website), contact websites@plus91.in today.
Friday, September 23, 2011
Medical websites Help Clinics Compete Against Large Hospitals
Practicing medicine in the private sector is a very tough proposition. It’s not enough to be a very good doctor. You should be known to be a very good doctor. It’s not enough to provide all the latest treatment options and services. Everyone should know (or be able to find out easily) all the services provided at your clinic/ hospital.
Traditional Healthcare Communication Meant Word-Of-Mouth Publicity
Traditionally, physicians and medical practices have relied on word-of-mouth publicity to establish themselves. A patient who has undergone an event-free angiography at the local cardiac care center would then tell five others about his/her wonderful experience. So now five more people know about the latest angiography services at that cardiac center. Hopefully, this positive review continues in a geometric progression as more and more people visit the medical center. But is that enough? What about the high tech cardiac catheterization and latest stenting services also available at that center? There would be hundreds of bits of positive details about your hospital most patients don’t even get to know of. Hoping that all visitors to a medical center realize all its plus points and then remember to pass these plus points to others is so optimistic, it’s foolish. Thus word-of-mouth publicity serves a very limited role in evangelizing any healthcare services.
Challenges In Healthcare Communication
Medical practices can no longer rely only on word-of-mouth to inform the world about their existence. But they also face a big handicap. They need to make themselves and their quality services known without resorting to overt advertising. Clinics and smaller hospitals face a specially forbidding challenge in breaking through this glass ceiling of ‘perceived quality’. Sheer size has allowed larger hospitals to carry an aura of quality, irrespective of the services they provide. In contrast, many clinics which provide top-of-the-line services are just not accorded due respect or simply remain unknown.
Medical Websites In healthcare Communication
Despite providing the best services, many small practices are labeled ‘poor quality’ simply because of low visibility. Technology has broken down this artificial divide between small and larger medical practices. A high quality website has become the single most important way to establish your credibility, authority and niche online. Websites and social media channels provide an easy to access free platform for showcasing your expertise to any targeted/ segmented population.
A website becomes the way people remember and recall your clinic. A website creates a visual brand for your medical practice, allowing strong recall value even among people who may never have visited your clinic. With the help of a high quality medical website, a niche specialty clinic can achieve the same recognition as many large super-specialty hospitals.
Beyond branding, the practical utilities medical practices can provide the patients via their websites are plenty. Appointment scheduling and lab reports can easily be accessed via medical websites. Interactive patient communication widgets and electronic health records can add an entirely new dimension to the concept of medical websites. To know how a website can transform your medical practice, kindly write to a.patkar@plus91.in
You can also visit www.websitesfordoctors.in
Traditional Healthcare Communication Meant Word-Of-Mouth Publicity
Traditionally, physicians and medical practices have relied on word-of-mouth publicity to establish themselves. A patient who has undergone an event-free angiography at the local cardiac care center would then tell five others about his/her wonderful experience. So now five more people know about the latest angiography services at that cardiac center. Hopefully, this positive review continues in a geometric progression as more and more people visit the medical center. But is that enough? What about the high tech cardiac catheterization and latest stenting services also available at that center? There would be hundreds of bits of positive details about your hospital most patients don’t even get to know of. Hoping that all visitors to a medical center realize all its plus points and then remember to pass these plus points to others is so optimistic, it’s foolish. Thus word-of-mouth publicity serves a very limited role in evangelizing any healthcare services.
Challenges In Healthcare Communication
Medical practices can no longer rely only on word-of-mouth to inform the world about their existence. But they also face a big handicap. They need to make themselves and their quality services known without resorting to overt advertising. Clinics and smaller hospitals face a specially forbidding challenge in breaking through this glass ceiling of ‘perceived quality’. Sheer size has allowed larger hospitals to carry an aura of quality, irrespective of the services they provide. In contrast, many clinics which provide top-of-the-line services are just not accorded due respect or simply remain unknown.
Medical Websites In healthcare Communication
Despite providing the best services, many small practices are labeled ‘poor quality’ simply because of low visibility. Technology has broken down this artificial divide between small and larger medical practices. A high quality website has become the single most important way to establish your credibility, authority and niche online. Websites and social media channels provide an easy to access free platform for showcasing your expertise to any targeted/ segmented population.
A website becomes the way people remember and recall your clinic. A website creates a visual brand for your medical practice, allowing strong recall value even among people who may never have visited your clinic. With the help of a high quality medical website, a niche specialty clinic can achieve the same recognition as many large super-specialty hospitals.
Beyond branding, the practical utilities medical practices can provide the patients via their websites are plenty. Appointment scheduling and lab reports can easily be accessed via medical websites. Interactive patient communication widgets and electronic health records can add an entirely new dimension to the concept of medical websites. To know how a website can transform your medical practice, kindly write to a.patkar@plus91.in
You can also visit www.websitesfordoctors.in
Digital Identities for Providers and Provider Information Sources : Using IT to facilitate Information Therapy
The logical first step to creating rich Databanks of Provider Information is to create identities for Providers in the electronic world. The simplest way to do this is to Create Websites for Doctors, Clinics and Hospitals. This may not necessarily be individual websites for practices which don’t want to invest in one, but can even be simple informative single web pages to fulfill the purpose of creating an identity for them aka http://www.about.me
Such websites can be optimized to convey Services, Location and Contact Information, Medical Notes, Special Cases treated. Such optimization will help in disseminating useful provider information to people looking for the same. This isn’t advertising, it’s a service: people today face many choices and are hampered by lack of information, improving their ability to find information quickly is beneficial to them.
For those Practices and Practioneers who decide to engage IT to create digital identities (web sites), the following guidelines must be provided:
-- On your website, don’t only talk about you, tell the patients more about what diseases and disabilities you treat, what are the latest treatments, generic advice and maybe even help them going to right person if you weren’t involved.
-- Use tools like interactive patient forms which can be filled before the patient arrives at the center
-- Use query forms on the website so that patients can ask you about their problems and doubts; this gives the feeling to your patients that you are available to them 24/7 without actually being there
As was the case with Medical Information Sources, Advancements in Social Technology will provide new ways for sharing Provider Information.
Technology Vendors must provide easier ways for Provider information to be located and searched and which is available of different types of media.
-- Create Directories of Providers based on Provider Information
-- The Directories allow for Feedback on providers in a controlled environment
This is the 3rd Article in a series of Articles on Using IT to facilitate Information Therapy by Nrip Nihalani and Aditya Patkar
Saturday, September 3, 2011
Medical Practices Planning Websites Need 8 Answers Ready
All Top Websites should concentrate on a few things; Appearance, Content, Functionality, Ease of Usability and Search Engine Optimization. Medical websites are no different. They are just more focused. So once the basics of design and technology are taken care of, Medical websites need much more than form to rise to the top. Before you jump into the online world for reputation management and brand enhancement, all medical professionals and practices need to ask themselves some questions first. To focus your medical website for the right audience, you need to have these 8 answers ready when you plan your digital excursions:
1) What are the Three Top adjectives that describe your practice and Three Top services you provide:
All medical practices have some USP that distinguishes them. You should have yours defined before you create an online presence.
2) Who is your competition:
You are the best judge of your own competition. That’s where your patients go to when they don’t come to you. The same goes for the patients looking for Doctors online.
3) Which medical websites do you appreciate:
Your affiliations online decide your digital brand. Choose some idols of online medical presence and follow their best practices. Always link to and comment on good quality content.
4) Is there anything you don't want on your web site:
Your aversions decide you as much as your affiliations. Have a clear brand strategy for your professional appearance online.
5) What do you want visitors to do when they get to your site:
Have a clear navigation plan for your visitors and decide where you want them to finally land up on your website.
6) How do you want the web site to help your practice:
Know what you want to do and why you are doing it.
7) Do you have a collection of all digital media you might have created over the past 5 years:
PowerPoint slides, videos, text articles or posts online are good resources for high quality medical websites. A regularly updated website will always do better for your brand than an outdated one.
8) Do you plan to delegate people for managing your complete online presence via social media and PR:
Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and community platforms are the crux of an online presence. You need skilled people managing these channels for you 24/7/365. That’s a long term question ideally decided when you start a website.
Websites For Doctors allows you to create high quality websites by a simple template based process. You can check some examples here.
• Ankur Fertility Center
• Om Pathology Lab
• Dr Manoj Pradhan's Athena Heart Care Clinic
You can contact us here.
1) What are the Three Top adjectives that describe your practice and Three Top services you provide:
All medical practices have some USP that distinguishes them. You should have yours defined before you create an online presence.
2) Who is your competition:
You are the best judge of your own competition. That’s where your patients go to when they don’t come to you. The same goes for the patients looking for Doctors online.
3) Which medical websites do you appreciate:
Your affiliations online decide your digital brand. Choose some idols of online medical presence and follow their best practices. Always link to and comment on good quality content.
4) Is there anything you don't want on your web site:
Your aversions decide you as much as your affiliations. Have a clear brand strategy for your professional appearance online.
5) What do you want visitors to do when they get to your site:
Have a clear navigation plan for your visitors and decide where you want them to finally land up on your website.
6) How do you want the web site to help your practice:
Know what you want to do and why you are doing it.
7) Do you have a collection of all digital media you might have created over the past 5 years:
PowerPoint slides, videos, text articles or posts online are good resources for high quality medical websites. A regularly updated website will always do better for your brand than an outdated one.
8) Do you plan to delegate people for managing your complete online presence via social media and PR:
Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and community platforms are the crux of an online presence. You need skilled people managing these channels for you 24/7/365. That’s a long term question ideally decided when you start a website.
Websites For Doctors allows you to create high quality websites by a simple template based process. You can check some examples here.
• Ankur Fertility Center
• Om Pathology Lab
• Dr Manoj Pradhan's Athena Heart Care Clinic
You can contact us here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)