Factors that Affect Survivability of the Medical Websites

18.3Factors that Affect Survivability of the Medical Websites

Following the same methodological steps as in the previous section, the medical websites were ranked according to their “Lifetime” variable value and the 50 “oldest” and the 50 “youngest” websites were chosen and the same descriptive metrics were calculated as it was done before, concerning the assessment that affected the excellence of the websites according to their traffic flow rank and overall popularity. Almost all of the medical websites in the sample were established more than 10-12 years ago. Since the choice of the 50 “youngest” medical websites included more websites with lifespan between 1-6 years, it is implied that other factors affect the survivability of the medical websites and the results are be affected from the inclusion of “new-born” medical websites.

It is interesting that from the 50 websites with the greater lifespan, 25% of them were appearing also in the 100 “highest ranked” medical websites according to the global rank as criterion of ranking and 18% was appearing also in the 50 medical websites of the final classification of the most successful ones, ranked according to all criteria. Moreover, from the medical websites with the lower lifespan value, also 26% of them were appearing in the 50 less successful websites, ranked according to all criteria, and 41% of them were appearing to the 100 “lowest ranked” medical websites of our sample, according to the global rank criterion.

Table 21, presents the metrics that appear to exhibit the greatest difference between the medical websites with high and low lifespan values. The highest ranked medical websites in this classification include a greater percentage of websites offering the “Ask a doctor” interactive medical application/service, they have also greater participation in social networks with 64% of them offering links for communication via social networks, and more average “Facebook likes” than the lowest ranked websites according to their “lifespan” value as ranking criterion. In addition to these, they present a higher average global rank, reputation among the Alexa tool users, a greater percentage of visits referred from search engines, a much greater percentage of total Internet users visiting the website as well as more unique visits and a greater number of websites that include their links. Finally, they include a greater percentage of websites that have as source of income donations, sponsorships and financial support from non-for-profit organizations and charity institutions, in contrast to the lower ranked medical websites (according to lifespan) that present a greater percentage compared to the highest ranked of websites that have as source of income the product promotion and online shopping websites.