Monthly newsletter: Patients, marketing, and the long-tail search

Offering education to rare disease patients through long-tail ads is a win-win for audiences and marketer

By Wendy White on May 11, 2011

Although the vast majority of time spent online is spent on long-tail sites-sites with an overall reach smaller than 1.5% of the Internet population-the majority of ad dollars are spent on short tail sites, according to comScore.

What an interesting disconnect between audiences and marketers.

A CONTEXTWEB study of 1,000 ad campaigns across 18,000 publisher sites during the second half of 2010 discovered that ads placed on long-tail sites lifted click rates by 24%, a big lift compared with larger Web properties.

The research identified that "health" had a 43% lift in click-through rates for long-tail ads.

Looking at content categories, the top one for long-tail searchers was "education."

Because most people start health searches with "Dr. Google," does this mean that WebMD has a smaller influence for niche populations than smaller community or foundation sites?

What about the new Google algorithm with its focus on quality content?

I think this will make the influence of long-tail searches even more relevant.

Rare disease patients and caregivers are the epitome of long-tail searchers.

Whether it be for a simple definition of the rare disease, an innovative treatment, or an outreach to find others, those touched by a rare disease are a Web-savvy bunch and know a good-click versus a bad-click.

Empowering rare disease patients by offering them education through powerful long-tail ads is a win-win for both the audience and the marketer.

Wendy White is founder and president of Siren Interactive.

For more on adherence, join the sector's key players at Patient Adherence, Communication & Engagement Europe on May 31-June 1 in Berlin and Customer Centric Marketing on June 27-28 in Philadelphia.

For all the latest business analysis and insight for the pharma industry, sign up to eyeforpharma's newsletters.