It’s kind of nice to have just one work-related website to worry about.

The “C3”:http://www.c-three.org website has been enjoying some healthy growth and decent Google. Steady traffic improvement month to month, almost entirely due to the blogs on the site:

Half of our traffic is coming from search engines, from folks looking for very specific information about colon cancer. While we haven’t cracked the top 500 for “colon cancer” and we’re 104 for “colorectal cancer” on Google, most of the search terms people are using to find us are far more specific. Some examples: “2006 oncology demonstration project”:http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2005-09,GGGL:en&q=2006+oncology+demonstration+project (Medicare is changing how they reimburse doctors for cancer treatment consulting), “eloxatin and neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy”:http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGGL,GGGL:2005-09,GGGL:en&q=eloxatin+and+neoadjuvant+radiochemotherapy, “National Leadership Summit on Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health”:http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&rls=GGGL%2CGGGL%3A2005-09%2CGGGL%3Aen&q=national+leadership+summit+on+eliminating+racial+and+ethnic+disparities+in+health&btnG=Search. The list goes on. So what does that tell me? If you want general information about colon cancer, you’re not necessarily finding us. But if you want very specific information on a type of treatment or an issue facing cancer treatment today, we’re a top result. I’m proud of that.

This week I spent some time making minor changes to the “C3”:http://www.c-three.org site. First of all, I’ve modified our logo so it now includes the “C3”. It’s so much easier to say than Colorectal Cancer Coalition. We’ve been using the new logo for a while. Now it’s on the website.

Next step is to protect the name. We’re talking to a trademark attorney. We’ve already had to stop using “Advocacy in Action” as it was protected by “another organization”:http://vitaloptions.org/. They were very nice about it. They said we could continue to use the phrase as long as we credited them. We decided to remove it. No hard feelings. Their “Group Room” radio show on cancer topics is very popular and a great service. There are a lot of trademarks out on “C3” but none are advocacy organizations or cancer-related so I think we’re in the clear. It may be worth the expense to make sure. Having to change our name down the line could be disastrous.

Next big change was on the front page. Goodbye stock photography, hello real folks.

I decreased the size of the image from 267 pixels high to 200 pixels high. That allows more content visible on smaller monitors. I’ve also richened up some of the colors. The pictures are of people that are working closely with us. “Take Action” is “Dusty Weaver”:http://www.c-three.org/tellyourstory/weaver.htm who is our Grassroots Coordinator. The link goes our new “Advocacy forum”:http://www.c-three.org/forum that Dusty moderates. The middle picture for “Get Involved” is “Lisa Dubow”:http://www.c-three.org/tellyourstory/dubow.htm who has been an incredible patient advocate, counseling and supporting others while she fights her own Stage IV disease. Right now, it says “Get Involved” but we’re working on a new feature on our website focusing around Lisa and the work she’s doing. When it’s ready, that’s where that link will go. The far right picture for “Find Trials” is “Robb Kerr”:http://www.c-three.org/tellyourstory/kerr.htm who has been an articulate vocal advocate for the clinical trial process and insurance for underserved populations.

The plan is to update the pictures on a regular basis, showing the *true* face of colon cancer.

Tags: colon cancer, colorectal cancer