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2 July 2008 Summer is indeed upon us here north of the equator. Best wishes for a fine holiday break to the many of you who will soon celebrate July 4 with friends and family. The first item this month takes us back to public opinion about higher education in Illinois. It reminds me of what people are thinking about here in Michigan as public universities make their case for funding from the state. Public opinion continues to be skeptical that our universities are doing all they can to control spending and tuition increases. It makes for an interesting marketing environment. Looking back on the first 6 months of this year, the growing level of interest in improving web content, measured in my world by the strong interest in “Writing Right for the Web,” continues to impress. By August I’ll have done 8 on-campus presentations. And after a record registration of 144 schools earlier this year, Academic Impressions will repeat an updated version this October 14. Register here. The year closes with another December presentation at CASE V in Chicago. Gerry McGovern and partners have been busy adding new value to our Customer Carewords research program to help you make sure that your website content engages the interest of the audiences most important to you. I’ll have more on that in July and again after our partners meeting near Dublin in August, where I’ll do a case study report on our UC Davis project this year. If you haven’t visited yet, see our new website at www.customercarewords.com. And now here are your marketing news and notes for June. Public Opinion and Higher Education It must be small solace to community colleges in Illinois to learn that 18% of that state’s citizens believe they are doing an “excellent” job compared to 11% who feel that way about public 4-year colleges and universities. That doesn’t translate into strong brand equity. Regard for the value of higher education is high, but people don’t believe they are getting their money’s worth, particularly in light of tuition increase rates. An executive summary and a link to the full report are at theforum.ed.uiuc.edu/illinois-higher-education-summit-0. Follow and join the online discussion of the survey results here. Jakob Nielsen and “Deep Dips” on Your Website Nielsen’s Alert Box column this week starts with taking note of a major change in where people start at your website. While most still begin at the “home” page, more and more are starting deep within your site. And a high percent of those are leaving without venturing any further because often those alternative “start” pages are not especially welcoming. Nielsen’s article is at www.useit.com/alertbox/bounce-rates.html. Here’s the test you have to take. Do a Google search for your own website. See if what comes back isn’t 6 to 8 direct links to places on your website like “admissions” and “athletics” and “employment opportunities.” Once you see what’s listed there, make sure you track use of these pages in your analytics program as “start” pages by new visitors to your website. And also make sure they are user-friendly places for people new to your website. 4 Steps to Make Press Releases Visible to Search Engines Press releases scream for better online presentation at nearly all college and university websites. Most often today’s websites include press releases just as they were prepared for release on paper. And that makes them harder to find online than they need to be when journalists do online searches for topics that interest them. Kim Malseed offers 4 ways to rewrite your press releases in a MarketingProfs article here. Malseed focuses on keywords (how to decide what to use and how often to use them) and the value of title tags and subheads. For a few, this is basic stuff. For most, it is a good starting place to better online visibility for your university. Special Email for Special People Jeanne Jennings writes often about new ways to increase the effectiveness of email marketing. In “Really Simple Email Segmentation: Developing a Welcome Series” she’s offering really good ideas about how to focus on new inquiries who are interested in what you have to offer but whose relationship with you isn’t as solid as you’d like it to become. One part of the answer is a series of 3 to 5 emails designed to nurture initial interest, not only in the email itself but by also bringing people back to relevant sections of your website. Increase the strength of your email responses www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3630068. 12 Expert Tips to Start a Search Marketing Program The folks at Wordtracker offer an excellent series of articles on search marketing topics. At www.wordtracker.com/academy/mark-nunney-seo-expert-series you’ll find an interview with Mark Nunney that lists the 12 “most common” mistakes people make in building a program to optimize their websites. Everyone will have their own favorites. Mine were Number 2, “Not Having a Keyword or SEO Strategy” and Number 5, “Not Coordinating SEO With Your Editorial, Sales and Marketing Departments.” You’ll find more to work with in the 37 comments people have posted about the article. New Apollo Group University for Canada The Apollo Group is opening Meritus University, headquartered in New Brunswick, that will start enrolling students this fall. Tuition is $275 per credit for undergraduates and $600 for graduate students. Graduate students will take one course at a time for 6 weeks, while undergraduates will take 2 courses at a time over 10 weeks. See more about what’s on tap, including initial programs offered and the “Teaching and Learning Model,” at www.meritusu.ca. Podcasts: How Long is Too Long? MarketingSherpa reviewed podcast length on 150 business-to-business websites. Although college and university sites fall into the business-to-consumer category, the 4 “key takeaways” are worth reviewing if you have or plan to add podcasts to your marketing mix. Lengths varied from more than 31 minutes (10%) to less than 5 minutes (10%), with 52% between 11 and 20 minutes long. MarketingSherpa thinks that 10 minutes or less is best for most topics, but makes the point that the value of the content should drive the length. That’s wise advice for podcasts for any audience. See the comments, including the value of production quality, at www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30689&pop=no with open access until July 7. Google Expands Search Capability Google search efforts will now include text content with flash files. That’s considered a boon to online advertising efforts that depend on flash. The change is the result of new work by Adobe to make flash files search-engine compatible. Details of what Google can now do as well as what it can’t yet do are here. E-Books and Viewbooks A brief section on E-Books and Smartphones opens my ACT presentation next week on “Student Recruitment in an Online World: Creating a Marketing Communications Plan in World without Paper” as examples of new technologies that will impact future communications programs. For varies opinions on E-Books, see the comments in the Chronicle article here. E-Books are not yet ready for prime time. But this former skeptic is starting to believe that at some not-so-distant point they will become much more than a niche product. Color will appear and prices will fall. And viewbooks might well be distributed to an E-Book reader instead of through the mail in less time from now than we imagine. Kindle is the one most people know about now. Others are on the market. Evolution moves along. Ice Breaks in the Law School Marketplace Back in February, while doing a competitive review of 12 law school websites, I posted a blog entry about law schools as the “Lost World” of higher education marketing (see the entry). But everything can change. Northwestern School of Law, rated as one of the Top 10 in the country, is starting a two-year program to achieve competitive advantage with students who want faster access to the world of work. The details are in an article here. A University of Chicago professor has called the move “irresponsible” according to the Chicago Tribune. Others predict that with a prestigious law school leading, others will follow soon. My Upcoming Presentations in 2008 Share questions and answers with people like yourself who are building a competitive edge in higher education marketing. Hope to meet you at one or more of these events! July 9-ll, Chicago, IL: ACT Enrollment Planners Conference: “Student Recruitment in an Online World: Creating a Marketing Communications Plan in World without Paper,” (pre-conference workshop) and “Building and Borrowing from the Best: Crafting a Higher Impact Student Recruitment Website.” See the full program and register at www.act.org/epc/. October 14, Online Conference: Academic Impressions, “Writing Right for the Web.” Content outline and registration here. October 23-24, Boston, MA: Aslanian Group: Adult Students, Your Best Option for Enrollment Growth. Program details in August. November 19-21, Hilton Head, SC: NIRSA National Marketing Institute. Program details soon. December 14-16, Chicago, IL: CASE V Annual Conference: “Writing Right for the Web.” Get a better ROI on your online marketing. Expand the writing, editing, and search marketing skills of people on your campus. Host a campus seminar on online marketing. Contact me at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com. That’s All for Now Be a marketing champion on your campus.
Bob Johnson, Ph.D. (bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com) Bob Johnson Consulting, LLC Improve your online marketing success with these six services.
Marketing Communications Website Review Customer Carewords Research with Gerry McGovern Content Copywriting Services Competitive Website Reviews Writing Right for the Web On-Campus Workshops Start now at www.bobjohnsonconsulting.com/whatwedo.html. Newsletter Archive
29 October 2008 |