Snip Nets

Health issues drive women to the Web

OF the top 10 news and information sites of greatest interest to women, seven are directly related to health issues. ZD Net. That’s according to recent data from Nielsen//NetRatings. Why? The Web’s ability to transfer information efficiently, as well as provide disparate individuals with a community link to share issues and concerns in a private, anonymous manner.

Babycenter.com, tops for the month of October in this category, enables prospective moms and dads to be armed with the full range of information from pregnancy through early child-rearing years. A dynamic information source can do wonders to ease fears of parents mysteriously encountering a child’s first illness or wondering at what age their baby should begin uttering his or her first words. The Web, in this case, acts as a surrogate Dr. Spock to smooth out bumps in the parenting road. The extra value add is in being able to join informal, pressure-free communities of others to share personal information and ideas.

But health and well-being sites go far deeper in providing value to the lives of busy adult women. With so much information and misinformation about health-related issues, Web sites such as allhealth.com, webmd.com and drkoop.com offer reliable insight into such topics as diet, exercise, ageing and women’s medical problems. These sites offer advice from specialists who empower women to create a plan of action, be it self-medication or the need for medical attention. This empowerment also helps women establish a more productive dialog with medical providers.

Perhaps nothing pinpoints the Web’s interactive power more than the communities and forums that populate these women’s health sites. Topics such as breast cancer, infertility and eating disorders are discussed in a private, honest and candid manner in these groups, providing community support, idea exchange and heartfelt advice. The balance of providing professional, expert advice and community power often make these forums lifesavers for women who feel adrift in a sea of information and misinformation.

These top health and well-being sites are also attractive to advertisers and e-commerce partners. At babycenter.com, a prospective parent can buy things for the nursery, as well as clothing, toys, books (even car seats). It’s the concept of place-based marketing where the "right product" is offered at the "right place." And given that the Web plays to the value proposition of convenience, women might be inclined to shop as soon as they have gathered the information needed to make a decision or eliminate a possible concern. Of course, this data refers to Americans more than others because even now most of the Internet users are American, though this is changing.