Bob Johnson's Blog on Internet Marketing

Using language that your key audiences use is one of the most effective things you can do to engage visitors when they arrive at your website and give you 2 to 10 seconds to capture their attention.

That came through to me again yesterday while reviewing 20 pages on a client's website for ways to increase their search engine visibility. While you never want to write for a search engine at the expense of your live visitors, sometimes the two overlap. When that happens, it is time to seize an opportunity.

In this case, the client was using the term "Graduate Programs" and "Undergraduate Programs" as major topic headings on the site. And so I used the free tool available from Wordtracker at http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ to run a quick check on alternative terms that might raise the search visibility of those pages and help capture interest from people interested in online degree programs.

Here's what I found:

• Very few people search for "graduate degrees online" or "graduate programs online" online.
• More, but not many more, search for "masters degrees online."
• The winner by a wide margin is "masters programs online."

Check the labels you're using now on pages with content in this area. Check the page title tags and the major headings on the page and your left-hand navigation. If you don't offer doctoral progams online, make a quick switch to "masters" programs from the "graduate" word. If you do offer doctoral programs (almost nobody searches for those, by the way),  break up the content so you can use both words.

Make changes like that and you'll please both people and search engines. Can't beat that combination.

Posted by Bob at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Both of my presentations last week at the ACT Enrollment Planners Conference included examples of colleges and universities that were using online scholarship and/or tuition cost calculators to give people who might want to enroll a better picture of what "real" costs might be than the usual published sticker price information.

Almost nobody in either audience (probably 150 or so combined) reported they had something like this online now.

10 Scholarship and Cost Calculators

That lead me to update the list at http://bobjohnsonconsulting.com/blog1/2007/12/5_online_financial_aid_scholar.html from 7 to 10 schools with online forms that mark a venture into new marketing territory. The new additions are Fleming College in Ontario, Northern Arizona University, and Wilkes University. Links to each of the 10 pages are included.

The Wilkes entry delivers a subtle marketing message that I'd guess in not intended. The form asks only for SAT results, excluding ACT. Does that mean this northeastern Pennsylvania school isn't interested in people from ACT states like Michigan and Ohio and Illinois and more? Not likely, but that's what this form implies.

Noel-Levitz student surveys continue to report that forms like these would be used by a great majority of college-bound high school students if available. But they are not.

A Special Benefit for "Stealth" Applicants

If you're concerned about "stealth" applicants, consider this option to get them to drop the invisibility cloak. Make the scholarship and/or cost calculator only available to people who become an online inquiry. In other words, offer a benefit for the act of revealing identity. Make your website more important to them by providing a service that isn't available anywhere else.

Do people use these?

We had a person from Bradley University in one audience. She verified that use of Bradley's online form has doubled or tripled the number of people getting estimates now over the number that once were forced to provide the information and then wait for a reply by regular mail. Instant gratification. Sometimes it works.

Posted by Bob at 11:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Is there growth potential in online doctoral programs? Capella University thinks there is. 

Not quite sure when the ads first started, but sometime in the last week or so I've noticed a new campaign for Capella appearing as banner ads on various websites.

The ad is very simple and doesn't feature any wiggly dancers or fetching women that seem out of place on other group ads for online college and university programs. Other than the name, the ad copy is limited to "Over 30 doctoral specializations, all focused on advancing your career." The call to action is for receipt of a "free university guide."

Follow the quest for a guide and you arrive at http://capellalearning.net/default.aspx?v=unilong 

Easy to Scan Degree Offerings

Some points of note about the landing page:

• You'll see a very visible question: "Does Capella have my program?" that leads to an easy to scan chart of the degree programs available. Seems very effective to answer that critical first question, "Do they have what I want to study."
• Visitors are told clearly that a follow-up call will come along if you complete the inquiry form as requested. That's a nice way to sort out who's serious from who is not. (And of course, if you just want the guide, you don't have to give them a real phone number.)
• At the bottom, you have an option to pick up the phone and call.

Complete the form and you get a quick thank you with a note that "An enrollment counselor will be contacting you."

There's also a PDF version of what I suspect is the guide (called "Capella Degree Programs") that will come in the mail. What's unusual about this one is that you can actually read it online without having to increase and decrease the size of the image to see the photos and read the print. Nicely done for a PDF. You can move directly from the content page to the major content area of most interest, so you don't have to scroll through each one of the 38 pages in the guide.

Building the Capella University Brand

Although the ad highlights doctoral degrees, the program information outlines everything available from the bachelor's level up. That makes sense, since many people who explore the opportunity may aspire to a doctoral degree without yet having the earlier degrees in place. And for some visitors, it might enhance the Capella brand to associate the bachelors and masters programs with the doctoral offerings.

Test the form for yourself at http://capellalearning.net/default.aspx?v=unilong

Posted by Bob at 09:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)