iHealthBeat.org – What Percentage of U.S. Adults Have Ever Gone Online To Look for Health Care Information?
More data to support the fact that searching for health care information is one of the most common online activities:
The Pew Internet & American Life Project has been tracking Internet usage for years now, and researching health care has consistently been in the top 5. No wonder, never before have consumers had access to so much information (and misinformation) about their health.
Search engines of course provide the most common entry point for online research, and recognized institutions like WebMD, Wikipedia, government health sites, Google Health, and disease-related societies and associations float to the top of many searches. In the paid column, well-funded national/international organizations are well represented, pushing bid rates up. How then, can a local or regional hospital or practice compete? There are several possible approaches:
- Get local. It’s a fool’s errand to try to compete with national brands for popular terms like “diabetes” or “cancer”, so let the WebMD’s and Wikipedias of the world roam the earth. But once someone has progressed from gathering information to seeking additional information, advice and treatment, be there for them.
- Grow a tail, a long tail. Instead of “diabetes” try for natural or paid placement on more specific terms like “living with diabetes”, “managing diabetes”, “diabetes groups in new jersey” etc… There will be much less traffic on these longer terms, but you’ll have increased odd of being well-positioned. It’s not all puppies and unicorns though; managing a long-tail strategy takes considerably more time and effort to get going and start seeing results.
- Burnish your reputation. Get more involved in local publications, websites and blogs. Become a recognized local expert. This will help local searches.
These are just a few ideas to think about, which of course should be part of a larger multichannel marketing strategy. Hope this helps…
