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Finding the Right Health Content For You
By MatthewD | February 27, 2008
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A lot of hospital web sites have a health library that either they created or they purchased from a third-party vendor. In some cases the content works for the hospital in many cases it does not. There are several reasons for this ranging from materials management made the marketing department pick the lowest bidder to the organization thought they could write their own content. Both of course are problematic.
Lowest bidder does not mean value to the hospital. If you purchase content that is not easy to integrate, does not reflect the mission of the hospital or is just poorly written, like most inexpensive content. What is the value to the hospital? True you may have saved a couple thousand dollars, but did you get what you needed, what your patients needed? Most likely not. Though the procurement department of any hospital is valuable, they should not call the shots on what should be put on a web site. They know how to procure MRI machines, not health content. Cheap does not mean value. It also does not mean a better ROI. Spending a little extra on quality health content that works with your site will bring much more value and ROI, than taking the cheap route. Look at the big picture… Long-term goals…
Very few organizations have the resources to create valuable educational content. Stanford Medical and the Mayo Clinic do, but most do not. Many have tried, but have come to the conclusion that they just do not have the time to write a health library. It is noble, but not practical. This is where health content vendors come into play. There are so many to choose from, so you have to do a lot of research and comparisons to find the right one for your organization. As with any vendor relationship you will need to not only find health content that jives with the style and goals of your site, but you will also want to make sure that people you are working with at the vendor of your choice will work with you. Both a content and personality fit. A difficult task, but well worth the effort.
A web site audit will help identify the best content to use for your site.
Topics: Health Content |