Showcase Our New Hospital Online

Virtual Tour Showcases New Facility at Children's Hospital Colorado

Showcasing a New Hospital

How do you effectively promote a new, stunning 1.4 million-square foot hospital? That was the challenge recently faced by Children's Hospital Colorado in Aurora, CO. From the 6.6-acre park to the four-story Boettcher Atrium, every aspect of Children's new facility was designed to incorporate the way art, light, color, scale, touch, sound and spirit can enhance patient care. It's an impressive healing environment, and together Children's and Geonetric used the Web to effectively introduce patients to this experience.

Enhancing the Microsite

To help generate interest in the facility, Children's architects created a 250-page microsite complete with virtual floor plans before the hospital was built. After the hospital opened, Children's recognized that there were a number of ways to use the tool and asked Geonetric to integrate the tour into Children's primary website.

Knowing there were portions of the microsite that could be improved, we began the project with research. Through extensive usability and content reviews, we identified which aspects of the microsite worked and which aspects presented opportunities to highlight the facility.

Starting with the existing tour, we worked with Children's to restructure the microsite. We created a new and improved design that included:

The tour was seamlessly integrated into the main website's internal search, as well as into the administrative functions so Children's could easily make changes to the tour.

We also helped Children's develop an improved content strategy. We helped them unify the tone across the site, optimize the tour for search engines, and include messages for a welcome page to help guide visitors through the tour.

132% Increase in Visits

During the first three months after launch, the new tour generated:

• 132% increase in visits from the previous quarter
• 55% increase in page views
• 18% decline in bounce rates

Searches for "Children's hospital virtual tour" brought the site up to No. 4 in Google (and climbing), above numerous children's hospital tours that had been higher just a few months prior. And online usability studies identified that site visitors were utilizing the suggestions on the tour's welcome page.

The new hospital is just one of many reasons why Children's is consistently ranked one of the Top 10 Children's Hospitals in the county by U.S. News and World Report. The online tour showcases the design and aesthetics of the world class pediatric facility, and shares the story of a hospital designed to be a special place to help kids get better, faster.