1 SHELLI GOUGH COMMUNICATING HEALTH ONLINE APRIL 12, 2013 2 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to share my deep gratitude to those who have helped make this possible. To my family and friends, thank you for being patient while I dedicated significant time to this project. To Trace1media, thank you for sharing your time and talent towards the video production, your service was tremendously helpful and greatly appreciated. To my advisors, Dr. Edwards and Dr. Olpin, I am grateful for your support and advice as we developed this project. It’s been a pleasure working with you. To my employers and clients, thank you for being flexible when papers were due and time was limited. To my schoolmates, thank you for your encouragement, it’s been enjoyable taking this journey with you. And to all those who believed in me and offered support and words of encouragement along the way, thank you. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction.…………………………………………………………………………….…4 Key Issues Facing the Organization…………………………………………………...….7 Key Publics………………………………………………………………………………11 Methods Used to Gather Information About Key Publics……………………………….14 SWOT……………………………………………………………………………………16 Informal Communication Audit………………………………………………………….20 Goals and Objectives…………………………………………………………………….23 Message Strategies…………………………………………………………………….…25 Evaluative Research……………………………………………………………………...26 Website Outline.……………………………………………………………..…………..28 REMFiT Videos …………………………………………………………………………36 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………….37 Continuing the Project………………………………………………………………...…42 References………………………………………………………………………………..43 Appendixes………………………………………………………………………………………………………..45 5 Introduction Purpose: To help people engage in healthy lifestyle habits by communicating simplified trustworthy health content online. Target Audience: REMFiT clients, potential clients, and anyone seeking health information. Technology has provided new means of communication over the last decade. Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control report that more than half of Americans look up health information on the internet (Washington, 2010). These statistics show there is ample opportunity to reach out to the public to promote and communicate health information over the web. Health is a topic that affects everyone, but many people seem to be too busy or have developed enough bad habits to not keep up with the demands of a healthy lifestyle. Others may be uneducated and lack the means to reach communication channels for obtaining trustworthy health content. The National Centre for Social Research performed a study to find out how to best communicate health and safety messages to young learners. They found that health messages were not being communicated effectively and a big lack of clarity was the problem with most messages. They suggest methods to improve the communication factor such as, “Having a website which signpost learners by profession and reinforce these messages with further information” (Mowlam, pg. 41). Simplified health information published online is needed to help individuals clarify health content to help them transition into a healthy lifestyle. REMFiT is a small company designed to help people develop habits to enhance their life. The objective is to trigger people to engage in a healthier lifestyle by letting 6 them take advantage of the simple educational resources the company provides online. With an undergraduate degree in the field of Health Promotions with a physical fitness emphasis and my experience as a personal trainer, I have already gained substantial knowledge and skills needed to lead individuals to a healthier lifestyle. I am able to prescribe fitness programs, develop personal nutritional allotments and food plans, create habit-changing outlines and use motivational techniques to help someone create a healthier change. However, in order to accomplish the objective of REMFiT by displaying this and additional information online in simple educational terms there are many steps that need to be completed. To serve as the database for health content, a professional and trustworthy website needs to be developed, credible and trustworthy information needs to be gathered from research, and this information needs be broken down into simple terms for wider distribution. The health content will then be displayed through video, articles or podcasts. Having obtained communication skills as a current Weber State Master’s of Professional Communication student I am able to develop this information into the correct formats through learned skills such as video production, research tactics, social media interaction, writing and interpersonal and public communication skills to effectively communicate it online. In order to develop this online database it is important to first dissect the issues and challenges that may face REMFiT in order to produce a successful company. 7 KEY ISSUES FACING THE ORGANIZATION One of the main issues facing REMFiT is that many current websites already support health and fitness. Health and wellness websites or blogs with health content such as healthy recipes, new health ideas, food tracking availabilities, health articles, workouts, social networks, and other tools available for obtaining a healthy lifestyle are accessible for the public. In order to make REMFiT standout it needs to be different. The goal for the REMFiT website is to make it simple and professional. Users need to know they can trust the information they see on the website and that it is something more credible than information that was “heard” somewhere or an opinion that seems to be right. The information put on REMFiT will be sourced by credible researchers and will explain the “why” of certain actions so users know it is a website they can trust. Another way to make it professional as well as distinguished is by simplifying the information. A lot of information is of no use if it is laid out in a confusing manner. Imagine Design, a website established to educate about web design says, “Saying too much, having too many neat little widgets, putting too much on the screen at once causes the effectiveness of a site – not to mention a brand – to suffer. A cluttered, confusing website reflects a cluttered, confusing organization” (ImagineDesign, n.d.). They also communicated that eye tracking studies were completed to measure eye movement on a screen when a page is uploaded. It was found that viewers that came to a cluttered or overloaded webpage leave it in 3 seconds (ImagineDesign, n.d.). 8 The REMFiT site will not only be simple to navigate but the information will be broken down into simple terms made clear and short enough for understanding. REMFiT will be known for its ease of use and credibility. Another issue facing REMFiT is that posting continuous information as well as establishing a foundation of information is time consuming for such a small company. The need to post information, as well as answer comments and respond to users, may be heavier than what can be produced. Any standstill in information may lessen the relevance of the website. Mike Robertson, a guide to creating a successful health website, talks about the steps to making a health website prosperous. He stresses consistency and continual posts as a foundational aspect (Robertson, n.d.). With only one producer, REMFiT doesn’t have the means to continually post information and answer comments on a daily basis or post a large amount of information the moment it becomes live. The goal to solve this problem is to establish REMFiT initially as a small database with enough needed information to satisfy a specific group of people. REMFiT will then add information on a weekly basis leaving the opportunity to build into a bigger database. As of now posting new information every week is sustainable for REMFiT. This will keep the website active. If viewership continues to increase and more content is needed, an investment in writers and researchers would be made. The third issue facing REMFiT is how to make it cost effective. Time is needed to produce a valuable website. Researching and developing content can be very time consuming. The barrier of trying to make a living while trying to produce something that does not generate revenue could become cost prohibitive. Lisa Irby, writer of “How to Make Money on The Internet,” suggests the first step to monetizing a website is by 9 creating value first. She states that to make money a website needs viewers and viewers that interact on the site. The only way to get viewers is by having valuable content. She suggests three tactics to bring viewers to website and essentially make money. These tactics are building trust by giving away information viewers can’t get anywhere else, providing solutions to viewers main problems and showing the number one priority of the site is to help and not make money (Irby, n.d.). REMFiT will accomplish these tactics as the website is designed. When these components are intact, making money with the website will not be a problem. Another issue facing this organization is the ability to drive traffic to the website. Robertson states that a website with good content is of no value unless viewers are able to find it. He suggests posting links and information from other websites to drive traffic to your own website (Robertson, n.d.). Links will be posted from other websites, as Robertson suggests, which may help bring in additional traffic. The use of social media will also be used to drive traffic to the site. The article “How to Drive Traffic to a website“ advises to answer questions and interact on social networking sites in order to increase brand awareness (West, 2013). This advice will be taken by REMFiT to help attract viewers to the site. Another technique that will be initiated by REMFiT is videos posted on YouTube. If YouTube was a search engine, by itself it would account for over 12% of Internet searches (Webstarts, n.d.). With video production capabilities REMFiT can set itself apart from other health websites by drawing traffic in with short intriguing videos posted on YouTube. Word of mouth will also be a pursuit to attract viewers. Again this will be achieved through the content of the site. Although it would be nice to have a lot of traffic coming to REMFiT, its main purpose is not to compete with the 10 major health websites out there. It is simply meant as an information base to refer clients to so they can understand a concept and gain information. The main purpose of REMFiT is to help viewers in an organized manner. If viewers are satisfied with what is received on REMFiT they will refer friends and continue to visit for additional information as their needs are satisfied. Another issue facing REMFiT is the Web design that is required to help it become professional. Forming a website takes a lot of work. There are many factors such as web design, graphics, and technical set up that need to be initiated. Without the professional knowledge of a web designer, REMFiT could miss its professional look. A web design guide called “The Gem Site” states, “Something a beginner might put into her/his website might look fine to them but to the professional world it may look ridiculous” (The Gem, 2012). In order to avoid this problem research will be done as part of this project and professionals will be recruited to help to ensure a professional and trustworthy layout. 11 KEY PUBLICS In order to help produce communication materials, REMfiT must know their key publics or audiences. Key publics are defined as, “A group with common interests who are affected by the acts of a company, or whose acts affect that company” (Stern and Company, n.d.). Key publics whom REMFiT has affected by helping them engage in a healthy lifestyle can also in turn help REMFiT by acting as spokesmen for them. One key public for REMFiT is Alan Hall. He is a well-known entrepreneur and philanthropist beginning his entrepreneurship as the founder of MarketStar, a prosperous marketing company. Alan is successful in the activities he engages in and many around him respect his opinion. He has also been a participant of REMFiT as he has engaged in their fitness programs aside from the website. Alan can help REMFiT by serving as an active voice in favor of the true knowledge they present. Not only can he add an active voice, but also he can help the business side of REMFiT as he advises on the correct business strategies to take while establishing the site. Lifelong Fitness clients will also be an important key public. Lifelong fitness is a personal training gym that sets people on wellness programs and helps them establish a healthy lifestyle. One thing Lifelong Fitness clients are missing out on is a resource that they can turn to for constant health information. With direct access to these clients REMFiT can fill in the gap for this group. REMFiT will serve as their constant trusted source that supplements the personal coaching they receive. These key publics will be foundational to engaging in the website and starting the REMFiT community. In addition to Lifelong Fitness Clients, independent clients can benefit from the REMFiT website as well. Independent clients are clients that seek health guidance from 12 me outside of the Lifelong Fitness gym. Over 40 individuals have benefited or are currently seeking this information. These clients may benefit from REMFiT more than Lifelong Clients because they are receiving personal training and nutritional programs but do not have a gym or “community” to gather with for accountability. Having REMFiT as a means to share information and become an active participant in the community will help them in their goal and will be foundational in feeding their health needs. Another key public is Matt Oyler. Matt was an independent client that had great success in his weight loss. He went from 270 to 180 pounds in five months. He can also serve as a great spokesman for REMFiT. Matt not only has had tremendous success, but also has many acquaintances and is pursing training as a career. He works with young athletes and establishing REMFiT will serve as a foundation for Matt to turn to as well as refer his young athletes for fitness and nutritional information. Other acquaintances, such as church friends and schoolmates, seeking health facts, recipes, and tips are key publics of REMFiT. It would be beneficial to have somewhere to point them to in order to receive the information that would take more time to relay to them personally. This more organized way to distribute the health information effectively can reach a greater number of individuals who can in turn share this database with their friends. Weber State University Women’s Soccer is potentially another key public. There is an opportunity to help the players participate in better nutritional programs to help them on and off the field. Having an established website would make it easy to 13 design the programs for them as well as refer them to a webpage to keep on top of their nutritional needs. Acquaintances of businesses such as Striders, Lifelong Fitness, and Max Muscle can also serve as key publics. Having their logo on the REMFiT website can serve as means to draw customers to the site as well as help the credible component of the website. 14 METHODS USED TO GATHER INFORMATION ABOUT KEY PUBLICS To reach the key publics listed above, work needs to be completed to get them actively involved. It is important to discuss methods used to gather data and involve these contributors. To involve Alan Hall as a key public it will be important to learn how Alan’s personal experiences support REMFiT. This information will be gathered by a personal interview with Alan. His comments will be captured with a video recording, which may later be used as a testimonial. It will also be beneficial to know who his business partners are and how they may be able to contribute to REMFiT. The needs and opportunities for REMFiT can be worked on together through a one-on-one discussion with Alan. His ideas and feedback will be greatly beneficial to the REMFiT. In order to help Lifelong Fitness clients more fully, it is necessary to learn of their needs. A survey will be distributed to each client to find out the most effective ways they respond to instruction as well as how REMFiT can add to the value they are receiving with Lifelong in order to satisfy their health needs more fully. This survey will also serve as a great source to reference periodically to be sure REMFiT is continually serving the needs of its viewers. It will also be necessary to learn of the needs of Independent Clients. Their needs will most likely be greater than Lifelong Fitness clients and will help to make REMFiT more complete. The same survey will be distributed to these clients in order gain this information. This information will likely give me a better idea as to what information the general public is looking for to help them sustain a healthy lifestyle. Matt Oyler can serve as another great testimonial. Setting up an interview with him to get another video recording will strengthen the validity of REMFiT. Other 15 information to discuss with Matt will be his young client and the benefits of referring them to the website. Another avenue of discussion with Matt may be how he can contribute to REMFiT with his ideas on personal training and fitness. 16 SWOT Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) of REMFiT will now be reviewed in order to help develop a business plan for the company. SWOT analysis has been described as “specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective” (Wikipedia, n.d.). SWOT will help identify whether the project is achievable and can inform of later steps in planning to accomplish the project (Wikipedia). Having already addressed the objective of the project, favorable and unfavorable analysis of internal and external factors of REMFiT will now be reviewed. STRENGTHS One of the strengths for REMFiT is that health and fitness is of high interest right now. There are many people jumping on the opportunity to get healthy and engage in a healthy lifestyle. “Clean” eating, a technique used for describing nutritious meals, is of great interest to many. Having the topic of health and fitness as a hype helps REMFiT as people are already intrigued will the subject matter. Good relations are another strength to REMFiT. There are many clients whom REMFiT has good relations with. There are business such as Lifelong, Striders and Max Muscle who REMFiT can team up with in order to get more viewers to the site. Other sources such as Alan Hall will serve as a good testimonial and contribute to the credibility of the website. The fact that REMFiT will be simple and serve as one trusted source where viewers may turn, adds to the strength of REMFiT. Being established by experts in the field of health and fitness and cited with trustworthy information it will be of value 17 because it will provide truth. The content posted will satisfy viewer’s questions by explaining the “why” of engaging in an action. The website’s content will also consist of health ideas, recipes and forums to exchange information, which will suit the interest of those not looking for deep explanations. The main brand of the page will be simplicity, which will add value as it will communicate information in a clear manner in order to help individuals. Another strength to the site is that following the content of the site naturally produces a “feel good” effect as individuals become healthy. The product of feeling good helps viewers return to the site as well as share the information with others around them. WEAKNESSES One weakness of REMFiT is that many health websites are already available to the public. However REMFiT will set itself apart with the value and clarity of their page. There is enough evidence that REMFiT can already help enough people within a community to make it worthwhile. The goal isn’t to have it compete with other major websites, it is only to help others understand the why and clarify the science leading to truth. REMFiT will display consistency and simplicity in setting goals to engage in the steps of truth by blocking out the noise of fallacies on quick steps to getting healthy and in shape. This will add to the uniqueness of the page. Another weakness to REMFiT is that there is only one producer. But as discussed earlier, enough information will be gathered initially to start the page and satisfy a specific group of people. Content will be added weekly to grow the data. The important things in order to move forward with REMFiT is making sure viewers are kept happy. In 18 order to achieve this it may be necessary to invest in other researchers and writers quickly. Lack of funding is another weakness of REMFiT. Sometimes in order to create a good and professional website a lot of money invested. In order to work around this issue professionals have been kind to agree to help with the site in order to give it the professional background needed. OPPORTUNITIES There are many opportunities in store for REMFiT. The fact that the health industry is a growing gives REMFiT the potential to grow and attract a lot of people. Being online also gives it the opportunity to reach out to many individuals. People don’t have to come to a physical establishment to participate in the practices or benefit from REMFiT. Another opportunity for REMFiT is that it can produce revenue. As viewers use the website it could be sponsored by businesses. As it grows more hired help can be attained which will produce the content of the site and REMFiT can grow to be a well-established informational web base. REMFiT will also provide the means for viewers to participate in a community. It will provide individuals, with a common interest, to share ideas, exchange recipes, deliver stories, and make friendships. This chance to contribute to this community can create a feeling of belonging, which creates another “feel good” effect. This link of a “feel good” feeling while on the website will benefit the REMFiT community. THREATS Threats facing REMFiT may consist of competitors. Bigger businesses may 19 wash out REMFiT if viewers feel like the same information can be gained from the bigger companies. REMFiT needs to be sure to provide something different or be sure to establish loyal viewers in order to keep viewers coming to the site. Not having a physical existence could also be a threat to REMFiT. Sometimes having a physical presence helps establish credibility. The thought of it being a website only may not convince others that it is professional. REMFiT needs to be sure to compensate for this by the professional set up and credibility of the articles and content. The fact that the health industry is a fad right now could also be a threat. If the fad dies the potential for REMFiT to get viewers may fall as well. For this case it’s important that viewers are satisfied with the content and intrigued enough to continue to visit the site for more interaction. If this is the goal it should always be of use as it can continue to serve those who come seeking for credible information. 20 INFORMAL COMMUNICATION AUDIT It is not possible to carry out a communication audit for REMFiT since it is not yet an active site. For this purpose a communication audit will be performed with Lifelong Fitness, to serve as a guide for REMFiT’s means of communication. A communication audit is an analysis of a company’s internal and/or external communication policies (Frontier, 2004). It provides useful data and information that a company can use to evaluate and improve inefficient programs in the company. The forms of communication I have experienced in Lifelong Fitness are explained below. Website Lifelong Fitness has a website established for the gym. The website is intended to help the public learn more about this personal training gym to attract them as clients. The website does not seem to be intended for current clients because it mainly explains about the gym works. There is a blog with recipes, but it doesn’t seem to be very active. Recently the website has been under construction to make it more effective. It could allow room for clients to interact online to build a community, it could become transactional by providing items to be bought online and it could be made easier to navigate. As of now the website does not seem to bring in many clients. Seeing the changes that need to be made on this fitness website has been informational in designing REMFiT. Posters Lifelong Fitness has used posters to communicate health seminars. The posters contain pictures and are placed on the doors into the gym as well as around the gym, making them available for everyone to see. The posters contain before and after pictures as well 21 as pictures of healthy food. The purpose of these posters is to draw all clients to their seminars to help them gain more information. The posters are somewhat effective because they inform clients about these trainers, however most clients stick with their own trainers. The posters could be more effective by getting all trainers to announce the seminars and encourage everyone to attend them together. Facebook Facebook is being used to inform clients of Lifelong Fitness. Clients can chat and share success stores, and trainers can share information and techniques. This is effective for the Kaysville branch to help their Lifelong community grow, but unsuccessful at the Layton branch. A lot of the clients at Layton don’t interact through Facebook but the Layton employees don’t either. This could be improved by having the employees stay active on social media. Word of mouth Word of mouth is a big source to help bring clients into the gym. If current clients refer someone who signs up, they get a free session. This seems to be quite effective and is a main source for my clients. This could be done in person or online and could be more effective by posting something online to give clients something good to talk about. Seminars Seminars are held every so often to help rejuvenate clients and inform them with different health content. It is effective for those who come to the seminars because they are getting information immediately. They also have the opportunity to ask questions. Again, the seminars are announced with posters and are not very effective in getting 22 clients to the seminars. REMFiT could hold seminars online to give clients the same effect. Emails These are sent to all clients at the gym. Email is used to share recipes and make announcements. These messages have received a lot of positive feedback, mainly because clients are receiving what they want. The information comes to them and it is good information. Having options for viewers to sign up for free emails would be a great way for REMFiT to communicate health information and market their products. 23 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Because there is so much needed in producing a website, it wouldn’t be reasonable to form the whole site and have it running within a couple of months. For this reason I have determined three goals I want to achieve for the project which will be foundational in helping me further my website. The first goal is to learn the best ways to communicate health information to clients in order to persuade them to a healthier change. The Elaborated Likelihood Model (ELM) is a communication theory founded by Richard Petty and John Cacioppo describing routes of attitude change in individuals after listening to a persuasive speech. Petty and Cacioppo found there are two mental routes to attitude change that a listener could choose, the central route and peripheral route. The central route requires “the path of cognitive processing that involves scrutiny of message content“ (Griffin, Pg. 194). Individuals who are interested in the message topic and put forth effort to think about the message take this route. After they scrutinize the message and find it favorable they engage in a strong positive attitude change. This route requires the presenter to present strong arguments to win their thoughts toward the attitude change. If they cognitively think about the message and don’t find favor, they create a strong negative attitude change and don’t accept the message. The peripheral route is a “mental shortcut process that accepts or rejects a message based on irrelevant cues as opposed to actively thinking about the issue” (Griffin, Pg. 194). The cues consist of speaker credibility, reaction of others and external rewards, things that don’t require elaboration of the message. If the peripheral route is taken it produces a weak attitude change or no attitude change. Lynch and Horton, the writer of “Web Style Guide” instructs, “ identify the potential readers of 24 your Web site so that you can structure the site design to meet their needs and expectations” (Lynch, pg. 2). The ELM will be used to help learn how to persuade clients to a strong attitude change. The first objective to learn this information is to create a survey involving questions that would reveal which route clients are likely to take when thinking of health and fitness. The second objective is to perform the survey and the last objective is to evaluate the survey to learn which route to take when creating the website. The second goal of the project is to produce health content to help viewers understand basic nutrition. Four videos about the basics of nutrition will be created in a simple format to help viewers understand the message. The first objective is to research information to gain accurate information to be placed in the videos. The second objective is to break the information down and write the scripts of the videos. The third objective is to record the voice of the videos. The fourth objective is to create the videos. Because “Web design is one of the most vital aspect of modern online marketing,” the third goal of the project is to learn how to design a successful website (Kasier, 2011). Dan Cooper said, “Choosing the right host and package is extremely important. Get it wrong and your website will suffer” (Cooper, 2011). The first objective for designing a successful website is to perform research to learn of the components involved in making successful websites. The second objective is to research the technicalities of how to design a website. The third objective is to start the outline of the website that will be used as a starting point to place the content when it is created. 25 MESSAGE STRATEGIES To support these objectives, formal and informal research will be conducted online. The survey will be created and conducted online through Survey Monkey. This will make the survey easier to distribute as well as making it easier to obtain results. Email will be used to inform clients of the survey and to ask for their participation. YouTube will be used to share the videos by enabling me to display them on a site. The videos will be displayed on the REMFiT website. The project will help me accomplish the goals of this communication plan by helping me recognize the most beneficial ways to communicate health, then creating content according to my research to communicate health information effectively and help others engage in a healthy lifestyle. I will learn the “how to’s” of communicating effectively online and will then produce a website and videos to share this information with others. 26 EVALUATIVE RESEARCH Without having the website fully established it will be difficult to evaluate the page. I will not yet have analytics to measure website statistics. Once the website is established, Google analytics will be used to obtain website traffic results. Social Media such as Tweets and Facebook likes will also be used to measure the popularity of the page. A study could also be conducted to test the knowledge of clients’ nutrition before watching the videos and using the website as well as after to see if there is an increase of knowledge. However it could take as long as a year before any big evaluations are taken. To measure the current success of the project, YouTube “likes” will be used to measure the popularity of the videos. Measuring the number of clients that join the gym after the website is launched will also be used as a measure of success. As a Master’s of Professional Communication student there are many skills, theories, and tactics I have acquired that will be applied to this project. One will be the knowledge of the ELM theory that deals with persuading individuals through different thinking routes. This theory will be used as the website is designed and videos are written to persuade the audience towards healthy habits. As an undergrad in Health Promotions with a physical fitness emphasis I have acquired the accurate skills to produce health content. I have learned how to dilute information that doesn’t matter to find the information that it true and solid. I have learned means of planning and CHES competencies that will be applied in health programs. My professional experience as a trainer and health coach provides me with the skills of nutritional coaching in order to develop videos and produce health content. These skills will all be used to start the REMFiT website. As Alan Hall wrote, “There has never been a greater need or time for 27 women to start businesses” (Hall, 2012). With these skills and experiences I know I can produce something that has potential to create a great change in the lives of others. 28 WEBSITE OUTLINE AND VIDEOS Below are snapshots of the REMFiT website outline. The goal of the homepage is to have it clean, clear and easy to manage. Social media tools are placed on the page to connect viewers to each other and help promote the business. The homepage also makes it easy to contact REMFiT with an email link at the bottom of the page. This will help viewers feel supported and cared for. The search bar at the top right of the page will be active so viewers can search a topic to find information on a subject. 29 Recipes The purpose of the recipes section is to provide viewers easy access to healthy recipes. When the cursor is placed on a picture the macronutrient ratios will show up on the left hand side of the page. This will help viewers know ratios before they start cooking, in order to meet their nutritional needs. The different sections for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks will also provide an organized manner for accessing specific meals. 30 31 32 Nutrition, Fitness and Equipment The nutrition, fitness and equipment sections are designed to provide viewers with correct information on a subject. Viewers will be able to click on a topic at the left of the page, which will lead them to informational charts and content on a specific subject. The goal is to keep the pages clean, clear and easy to manage. 33 34 Community The community page is designed to help viewers have accountability and provide a place for them to interact with others involved in the same activities. The subjects on the left of the page allows viewers to share their success stories as well as their personal ideas to making healthy living more convenient. The idea is to have this be an active and interactive page. 35 About Us and Contact The “About Us” and “Contact” pages are designed to help users become acquainted with REMFiT. The “About Us” section provides information on the purpose of REMFiT. The “Contact” page allows users to express their concerns and to REMFiT in order to fulfill the needs of the viewers. 36 REMFIT VIDEOS REMFiT videos can be found at: http://soccershelli28.wix.com/remfit-videos 37 DATA ANALYSIS In order to know the kind of information individuals were wanting on a health website and how to best communicate this information to them, I conducted a survey of 67 Lifelong fitness clients, including 44 women and 23 men. The age ranged from 18 to over 75 years. The majority of respondents are between 35 to 44 years of age. The survey was mainly based on the persuasive communication theory the Elaborated Likelihood Model (ELM). This theory reveals the thinking process individuals take when accepting an idea. The survey consisted of nine multiple choice questions and one open-ended question to see if clients were more cognitive or peripheral thinkers. The answers they provided helped distinguish the kind of information that needed to be put on the website. Peripheral route attitude choices were choices that were based off of irrelevant cues, not requiring actively thinking about the issue. Central route attitude choices are indicated in red and show responses that require more scrutiny of the message content (See survey questions in Appendix A). Results The survey showed that close to half of the participants were central route thinkers and half were peripheral route thinkers. This led me to know that the website needed to contain information that had both active thinking content as well as irrelevant cues to satisfy both parties. Components such as a professional looking website, orderly design, pictures, options to participate in competitions and receive rewards are available for more peripheral route viewers. Educational videos that supply viewers with knowledge on nutrition as well as articles and charts will be available for central route thinkers. This allows them to process the information to become persuaded into choosing 38 healthy eating habits. The goal behind displaying persuasion options for both routes is to provide facts and truth in order to persuade viewers to engage in REMfit for a long-term conversion yet capture peripheral thinkers with short-term persuasion until they are ready to shift to a central, long-term persuasion change. Project Strengths Conducting this project helped me learn key ideas about the Elaborated Likelihood Model theory to effectively communicate health online. ELM suggests that the tactic for long-term persuasion is to guide able and willing participants through a cognitive process that allows them to choose to support or not support the item being presented. If the persuader is able to get the audience to listen cognitively, it is crucial to provide strong arguments. When first learning of the ELM theory, I understood that the central route was the desired route in order to persuade people long term. I was most interested in long-term and only thought of peripheral persuasion as unimportant. I would only talk science and details to persuade them for a long-term change. This worked for a small percentage of clients, but I soon found my numbers low and sensed disinterest in many clients. I then began to have fun, talk about incentives; looking good and used other peripheral cues and saw my numbers increase. I soon realized the central route was still the desired route, however, a lot of people think peripherally until they are ready to think centrally. For this reason it is important to persuade peripheral thinkers and continually persuade them until they are ready to become central thinkers. After delving into the ELM theory the components of the project were designed to persuade all parties. 39 I also learned different design tactics to persuade viewers. The color wheel was used to accomplish the right affects of the website. Blue was used to portray, health, and truth and sincerity and yellow was used as an accent color for learning and joy (Appendix C). The feedback I received on the survey let me hear the opinions of clients. I realized a lot of them just want truth. When asked what they wanted to see online to help them with their fitness goals one replied, “Something that has low cost, simple to follow, something that isn't gimmicky and hypey and doesn't "guarantee" and "promise" amazing, unbelievable results. I just want real, honest information. I don't want the "latest weight loss breakthrough" type of advertising.” This showed me that real, honest information is needed. Viewers want the simple truth from a source they can trust. This helped me see the need for this type of information online. My skill in the technical aspects of video and web design became stronger skill throughout the course of completing this project. As a Master’s student I took a video class and learned many foundational components of creating a video. However creating longer informational videos presented a different aspect of video design and I learned more about the world of video making. The script took much longer than planned and when communicating facts, especially on health I wanted to make sure each line was correct. Everyone hears a lot of health information, but I wanted to be sure they felt it was true. Another barrier was recognizing how much information to put in to make it complete yet simplified. A lot of articles I read seemed like they were missing details, but this video project helped me realize a reason for that could’ve been the need to be 40 brief. It took a while to find the right length to make a complete video that was short enough to hold the viewer’s attention. I also learned a lot about website design. Wix.com was used to create the outline of my website. Again, I didn’t realize the detail and time put into developing a website. Choosing how to organize and which tabs to post while keeping it simplified was a challenge. Again, I could see why websites filled with a lot of information easily clutter the page. Even though I was only creating an outline, I had to be aware of keeping it clean while designing it. As I got into the project my purpose for doing it and my target audience started to vary. This threw off the whole project as my thoughts began to sway in different directions and my project became obscure. I had to take myself back to my original plan and audience to think clearly again about what I wanted and the original purpose of the project in order to move forward. WEAKNESSES Wording in the survey may have caused survey responders to misinterpret the meaning of the questions. Certain questions would have been worded differently to ensure more accurate results. Question seven asked, “Are you more of a long-term or short-term thinker?” This is a broad question and could have been better worded by asking, “When facing a problem, do you think more of long-term or short-term solutions?” Changes also would’ve included making the survey longer in order to receive more feedback on preferences for the website. Many roadblocks came about by having the idea for the website but when it came to creating the website my mind was open to multiple options of design. This led me to be 41 lost in what I was doing. In the future I will create the idea, then go with the idea instead of getting off track by looking at other options. Formats also limited original plans for REMFiT. Not having all the content to put on the website made it hard to format it the way it was designed. Once more content is created it will help the navigation aspect of the website. Upgrades will need to be purchased to create navigation options on the website as well. Options such as a search button will need to be installed as the project moves forward. 42 CONTINUING THE PROJECT Now that the outline of the website is established I will move forward with the project by adding content to the website. Requests gathered by the survey revealed that many people are looking for “how to” videos for exercises. This will be the first step in continuing the project, creating videos that demonstrate exercise movements and their proper form. Gathering recipes will be the next big step. Not only did I hear of this high demand through the survey but also I have learned from experience in the professional field that clients love recipe ideas. It gives the community something to talk about and engage in. The source of the recipes still needs to be determined but research and experience have revealed it may be a key aspect of the website. Writing articles and continuing to gather content will be achieved next. Once I have added a sustainable amount of information, the website will become live and I will continue to post information on a weekly basis. At a point when the website is running in a controllable manner I’ll begin promoting the website. This will be achieved by promoting it through social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Verbal communication as well as brochures and seminars may also be used to promote the site. 43 REFERENCES Cooper, Danny. (2011). A Comprehensive Checklist To Creating The Perfect WordPress Website. [ONLINE] Available at http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2011/12/14/15-step-checklist-creating-perfect-wordpress- website/. [Last Accessed October 26, 2012]. Griffin Em. (2009). A First Look At communication Theory. 7th ed. New York: McGraw Hill. Frontier Communications. (2004). What is a Communication Audit. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.e-frontier.net/archives/what_is_a_communications_audit.html. [Last Accessed March 4, 2013]. Hall, Alan. (2012). Top Lessons From Exceptional Women Entrepreneurs. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/alanhall/2012/07/29/top-lessons-from-exceptional- women-entrepreneurs/. [Last Accessed September 1, 2012]. ImaginDesign. (n.d.). Cluttered Websites: Causes and Fixes. [ONLINE] Available at: http://imaginedc.net/blog/2012/11/13/cluttered-websites-fixes/. [Last Accessed February 27, 2013]. Irby, Lisa. (n.d.). How to Make Money on The Internet (Free Guide). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.2createawebsite.com/. [Last Accessed February 27, 2013] Kasier the Sage. (2011). Guiding Principles in Creating an Effective Web Design. [ONLINE] Available at: http://kaiserthesage.com/effective-web-design/. [Last Accessed October 26, 2012]. Lynch, J.P., Horton, S. (1999). Web Style Guide. 1st ed. Yale University: Yale University Center for Advanced Instructional Media. Mowlam, A; Mitchell M; Jones, N; Ludford, H. (n.d.). How Best to Communicate Health and Safety Messages to Young Learners n Vocational Education and Training. National Centre for Social Research, Health and Safety Executive (2010, pg. 41). Robertson, Mike. (n.d.). Three Keys to a Successful Fitness Website. [ONLINE} Available at: http://robertsontrainingsystems.com/blog/3-keys-to-a-successful-fitness- website/). [Last Accessed January 18, 2013]. Stern and Company (n.d.). Key Publics. [ONLINE] Available at: http://asternglance.com/sternco-essays-2/key-publics/. [Last Accessed October 20, 2012]. 44 The Gem Site. (2012). Web Design Best Practices. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thegemsites.com/?p=968. [Last Accessed October 26, 2012]. Ty West. (2013). How to drive traffic to you website in 2013. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/blog/2013/01/how-to-drive-traffic-to-your- website.html. [Last Accessed February 27, 2013]. Washington. (2010). More than half of Americans use Internet for health. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/02/03/us-internet-health-idUSTRE6120HM20100203. [Last Accessed October 26, 2012]. Webstarts. (n.d.). How To Drive Traffic To Your Website With YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: http://webstarts.com/blog/internet-marketing/how-to-drive-traffic-to- your-website-with-youtube/. [Last Accessed February 28, 2013]. Wikipedia. (n.d.). SWOT Analysis. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SWOT_analysis. [Last Accessed March 2, 2013]. 45 Appendix A‐ Survey Effective Communication Survey Q1 1. What is your gender?  Female  Male Q2 2. What is your age?  18 to 24  25 to 34  35 to 44  45 to 54  55 to 64  65 to 74  75 or older Q3 3. Which is most helpful in achieving your fitness goals?  Positive reinforcement from family and friends.  Positive reinforcement from professional help.  Seeing results from the work. (Central route choice)  Tangible rewards and incentives. Q4 4. Which attitude best describes you?  I really enjoy a task that involves coming up with new solutions to problems. (Central route)  I prefer my life to be filled with puzzles that I must solve. (Central route)  I like tasks that require little thought once I've learned them.  Thinking is not my idea of fun. Q5 5. How much do you analyze an activity before you engage in it? (Rate on a scale from 1 to 5, 1 being low analysis and 5 being high analysis).  1  2  3  4 (Central route)  5 (Central route) 46 Q6 6. Which is the most likely reason you participate in an activity?  I will get something by participating.  I feel I can add something to better the activity.  I get good vibes about the activity.  After thinking about it, it makes sense to participate. (Central route) Q7 7. Are you more of a long-term or short-term thinker?  Long-term (Central route)  Short-term Q8 8. Which do you find most persuasive?  Credibility of the presenter.  Professional looking and neat presenter.  The content of the presentation is true and logical. (Central route)  The presenter has persuaded other people. Q9 9. From which source do you learn best?  Videos  Articles  Podcasts  Personal coaching Q10 10. What would you like to see online to help you engage in your fitness goals? 47 Appendix B‐ Survey Results Question three showed that 76.12% of the group responded with a central route thinking choice leaving 23.89% responding with a peripheral route choice. Question four showed 64.18% responded with central route answers and 35.82% responding with peripheral route attitudes. Question five resulted in 13.43% choosing a peripheral route in attitude choice, 29.85% choosing a neutral position and 56.72% choosing a central route attitude when thinking of the situation. Question six showed 77.61% choosing a peripheral route response for the situation with 22.39% choosing a central route response. In question seven, 51.52% chose a central route response and 48.48% chose a peripheral route response to the situation. Question eight showed 61.19% chose a central route response to the question and 38.51% chose a peripheral response. Question nine showed that 82.09% of respondents learn best from personal interaction with a coach, with articles coming in as the next as best learning source with 10.45%. Overall 55.35% showed central route response attitudes, 39.62 % showed peripheral response attitudes and 5.03% of the questions had a neutral response. 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Appendix C‐ Timeline and Resources TIMELINE AND RESOURCES TIME ASSIGNMENTS November week 1 1. Research ELM theory for survey. 2. Research information for video 1. 3. Research different all-in-one web pages. week 2 1. Write survey. 2. Research information for video 1. 3. Choose all-in-one web page. week 3 1. Post survey and send to clients. 2. Write script 1. 3. Work on color for Webpage. week 4 1. Wait for survey results. 2. Story board for video 1. 3. Work on Logo December week 1 1. Wait for survey Results. 2. Create video 1. 3. Organization of webpage. week 2 1. Analyze results. 2. Create video 1. 3. Begin to work on web design. week 3 1. Use results to form webpage. 2. Research video 2. 3. Design web page. week 4 1. Research video 2. 2. Research video two. 3. Begin to design tabs. January week 1 1. Write script 2. 61 2. Write script 2. 3. Graphic design for webpage. week 2 1. Story board for video 2. 2. Story board for video 2. 3. More graphics and design for webpage. week 3 1. Create/Edit video 2. 2. Edit/create video 2 3. Continue webpage design. week 4 1. Research video 3. 2. Research video 3. 3. Review webpage, make adjustments. February week 1 1. Write script 3. 2. Write script 3. 3. Final touches webpage. week 2 1. Story board video 3. 2. Storyboard video 3. 3. Final touches webpage. . week 3 1. Compose video 3. 2. Compose video 3. 3. Review website and survey. week 4 1. Final touches to videos. 2. Final touches to website. 3. Finish papers. BUDGET Since I am independently employed I will be funding the project. The project will be of low cost because I will be doing the work and will be supplying most of the materials. The costs for the project will be as follows: 62 LIST OF RESOURCES ‐ Survey Monkey ‐ Microphone ‐ Headset ‐ Video program ‐ Video editor Appendix D‐ Color Mood Chart PRODUCT COST website Domain name $12.99/Year Hosting service $8.99/month Template Free Plus upgrades Video Production Cost Free Email campaign $10/month TOTAL $220/year