Background
Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis is owned by Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis and operated by Clarian Healthcare. NetMediaOne was referred for the creation of a website meant to disseminate information to parents, patients, doctors and students. Additionally, Riley Hospital wanted to maximize their investment in this community outreach project by attracting internet users via search engines.

The Opportunity
Riley Hospital wanted to manage the informational contributions of over 10 departments and create an aesthetically pleasing, yet practical website. The subject matter was of the most serious in nature, but required a warm and inviting wrapper to reflect the caring and empathy for children.

In spite of the massive volume of information, the structure and navigation needed to be simple and targeted to the audience perspective.

The Response
NetMediaOne staff took personal tours of the hospital and arranged a photo shoot with a local newspaper photographer. Using the feel of the hospital lobby and the signature red wagons, we devised a colorful and personal design, targeting 4 specific user profiles (Parents, Kids, Doctors and general information seekers).

To address the content management needs, NetMediaOne created an administrative interface, complete with a scripted editor toolbar to enable individual departments to enter and publish their specific contributions. Today, the Riley Hospital website consists of over 1000 self-managed web pages. The site features newsletter publishing, online postcards, kids games, site search and sections devoted to child safety.

Conclusion
By taking a comprehensive approach, and outsourcing the web development to NetMediaOne, Riley Hospital was able to maximize a limited budget to create an information rich community resource. With professional guidance, the resources and contributions of many information sources were consolidated into a single, elegant information structure. By committing to a consistent search engine placement strategy, Riley Hospital has grown its website user traffic from 20,000 users monthly to nearly 60,000. In October, 2003 over 10,000 users visited the Riley website as the result of search engine referrals.

Website: www.rileyhospital.org