an apple a day

As stated on the Overview and Community pages, the bulk of my plan would involve splitting my site into two separate sections—one for men and one for women. The main page would contain general health news and information, but then users would choose which site they wanted to visit.

I’d also want to add original reporting—posting at least one interview each week with a dietitian, researcher or other notable person in the fields of health, nutrition and preventive medicine. But beyond that, I’d increase the depth of my content, both in reporting and in more blog-style posts.

According to project editor Jen Allen of prevention.com, “A simple 300-word entry on heart disease, similar to what you’d find at sites like Wikipedia, won’t be enough in the health realm, because there are so many related and overlapping conversations, e.g. high blood pressure, stroke, family history, diet, exercise — these are all part of heart disease, and you must have an understanding of how each of those elements works in concert. When we relaunched our site last August, we kept an eye ever toward deepening our content.”

Finally, I’d focus a lot of time and space on boosting interactivity on the site. Health enthusiasts, especially those interested in alternative medicine, love to see what their peers have to say about conditions, medications and treatment. Think about the last time you had a cold — chances are, you didn’t spend the time or the money to visit the doctor. You probably went about your normal routine (Tylenol, chicken soup, etc.), searched for some treatments online, and complained to your friends about how you were feeling—and many of them probably had personal-experience advice for you. And chances are, that advice meant more to you than a doctor’s advice probably would.

It is in the realm of community development that I expect my blog to have an edge in the competitive space. When I visit a huge health site, I hesitate to comment or post on forums because I’m not sure if there will be a registration process; I’m nervous posting something where so many people will see it; and I don’t even know if anyone will actually read or respond to my posting. But at a smaller site like An Apple A Day, posting comments or forum threads is less intimidating and, since I’d be monitoring everything, more likely to elicit a response.