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Apologies if you have already seen this.
Regards
Nicola
Nicola Walsh
Hon. Secretary to HLG
0161 219 3900
HLG is a UK based network of individuals working in or professionally interested in health and social care information. Our strength is our diverse and
active membership covering all health and social sectors, and geographical areas in the UK. Members work for the health service, the academic sector, the independent sector, government departments, professional associations, charities and public libraries.
Students with an interest in health and social care information are also welcome. Several HLG members live and work abroad.
Website: www.cilip.org.uk/hlg
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Twitter: @ciliphlg
Discussion list: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/hlg-members
From: Mark Taylor [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 21 August 2014 16:35
Subject: CILIP guest blog: 7 tips for health website managers
Post NHS reforms, many organisations now exist to provide the NHS with advice, consultancy and training. A few have excellent websites that deliver good content in an engaging, accessible way.
More though fall short, making the lives of information professionals harder. If they were to ask for his advice as a user, this is what Matt Holland would tell them.
It’s good to think of your home page as your front door. Just have one. Otherwise it gets confusing for the users.
If you have a members only area, link from your home page. If you think your users know you, then a login button on the top right will do. Better to divide your home page in two. Right hand
side – members login here – on the left hand side your free to access corporate information. If you have changed URL, check that you have redirects in place. If you have legacy pages, kill them off.
Search Google and see what results come up. Could your potential users navigate to your home page based on those results? Don’t assume all your users will come from one place, the corporate
intranet for example.
You can attract people to your website if you have the right offer. Share some knowledge based on your area of expertise, something users can’t get elsewhere.
Imagine you are student, even a manager, trying to understand the regional health infrastructure for an essay or a report. Say they find a distilled analysis in a free-to-access report with
your name, marketing and logo on it. Imagine that.
Good free content gets around the internet. It drives traffic to your site and gives those who are trying to promote you something to work with. It’s classic internet marketing, especially
for those selling services, even to members.
Think carefully about what goes behind the member or registered user only barrier, if you have one. There is very little point in having a link to ‘More about us...’ if you have to be a member
to find out.
While protecting premium content, you should provide content in the public space to inform non-users, potential users and funders. Present a coherent picture of who you are and what you do before
they get to the members only area.
Spare a thought for the people who are trying to help you to promote yourself. In other words, your public facing website is your marketing opportunity. You need to get this right.
You know when the web page is a ‘cut and paste’ from a Word document. No need to read it. No one else will. Writing for the web is easy... and hard. The very short version is here:
l Imagine you have one screen to get your point across. The screen you are looking at now. That’s your metaphorical side of A4. Don’t be tempted to write on side two.
Ever get the feeling you are alone? You click down endless corridors of the website and find, well, just the odd document. People have been there, but not for a year or two.
If you think that describes your website, maybe you have a content management system that has encouraged you to build a big feature-laden website that you don’t need and can’t fill. Don’t spread
your content too wide. It’s a form and function question.
Build a really good section around your publications up front and centre, breaking it down by topic or date. If you atomise that content and create a separate area for each topic with one publication
in, it’s hard to find and it looks thin. In other words create critical mass, aggregate to accumulate.
Close some of those empty rooms and make the place look full. It’s easier for users to find things and that generates activity. It’s a virtuous circle.
If you don’t tell your own story, users won’t put it -together for you. This is where website management, editorial and corporate communications need to talk.
This is never truer than for those who offer or sell services. You need to tell your story in a compelling and coherent way. You may offer courses. Website users may eventually find a link to
a lengthy course description with some outputs from one or two courses. Hmm… Why not just let them have it? Here is our next course, it’s great. Here’s some video of past participants saying, it’s great. Here’s the course leader saying, I’m great. Do my course.
Here are some of the quotes from participants telling you to do this course and here’s why. Here’s a flyer you can show your manager/employee. Here’s how to register. Here’s how we make it easy for you to do this course… use this service… contact our expert
consultant.
Opportunities are missed if you just do one size fits all. It’s good to specialise.
Get someone who knows about marketing to write, review or edit your copy. In a world where you are competing with everyone, no one likes bland. The flip side is do you have the vision to see
it differently? If you collect good multimedia content from courses or conferences, don’t just archive it. Why not repurpose it to write an online course for users who weren’t there? Can you use it in your marketing? Can you allow others to reuse your material
(with permission) on their websites or intranets? Why not go a step further. Why not plan to collect good multimedia content that suits your needs?
Some very bright people have put a lot of thought into website design so you don’t have to. No need to read a multi-volume encyclopaedia on website design to understand it.
Get everyone round the table and ask for examples of existing websites that are best for you. Chances are the one you like uses a content management system similar to yours. Then you can just
do that one. At least it’s a place to start.
Read our
blog comment guidelines.
Matt Holland is Outreach Librarian, North West Ambulance Service,
Library & Knowledge Service. NWAS LKS is supported by the
Health Care Libraries Unit, NW.
Email:
[log in to unmask]
Twitter: @MatthewHolland, @NWASLibrary
This article was originally published in CILIP Update Magazine, July 2014.
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