Cancer Risk Website Receives More than 1 Million Hits on First Day
If a website's success is measured by visitor hits, then Your Cancer Risk, www.yourcancerrisk.harvard.edu, of the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention, is a verified winner. The website, launched on January 19, received a staggering 1 million hits on its first day and a total of 2.7 million hits in its first week, making it the most successful site launched at HSPH.
And the website has yet to be registered with search engines.
"It's a huge success," said Deane Eastwood, HSPH webmaster, who has overseen the launch of more than a dozen sites for the school. "It had as many unique visitors in its first week as the entire HSPH site has in an average week."
With
more than 13,000 visits to the site in one week, Your Cancer Risk logged
about one-fourth the traffic of the main Harvard University website, which
receives about 50,000 visitors a week. Graham Colditz, director of education
at the center, and David Hunter, director of the center, developed the
site.
The website asks users to complete anonymous questionnaires to determine their risks of developing breast, prostate, colon or lung cancer. Their risks are demonstrated through a bar graph that users can manipulate to see what factors can increase or decrease their susceptibility. The site emphasizes prevention methods.
Your Cancer Risk received the most visits the day after its launch, spurred by media coverage.
Nearly 15 percent of the hits resulted from home networks, which may reflect the personal nature of the questionnaire. "It's easy to speculate that people may feel more comfortable in the privacy of their own homes," said Colditz.
Most users remained on the site for more than 11 minutes, which is a century in Internet time. "The challenge will be keeping the traffic high," said Dana Jessup, communications coordinator for the center, "and that means innovating the site." Eight other cancers will be added to the site this June.
Harvard Vanguard HMO is testing the site's concepts to determine how they can be most effective. The evaluation may be used to revise Your Cancer Risk.
"You never can tell if something you've dreamed will be as big
a hit as you want it to be," said Colditz. Or bigger than ever expected.
