YOUR BIGGEST MARKETING TOOL: YOUR WEBSITE IN HIGHER EDUCATION - Presented by: Melissa Rekos EVP, Enrollment & Marketing Strategy @Twitter if ...

YOUR
THE  DIGITAL
       BIGGEST
             LANDSCAPE
               MARKETING
FOR GRADUATE
TOOL:  YOUR WEBSITE
                MARKETING
IN HIGHER EDUCATION

      PresentedName
      Presenter   by: Melissa Rekos
      Title Enrollment & Marketing Strategy
      EVP,
      @Twitter if applicable
      @RekosM

Let’s Talk About Your Website
 Every student who applies to your institution will visit your website.

                       Every. Single. Student.

So Then, We Have Some Things
To Talk About
      Can prospective students find your website?

How Well Do You Understand The
Student Journey?
     Do you know exactly what they are looking for?

How Easy Is It To Find Information?
          Is your navigation easy to follow?

Does Your Website Make Sense?
    Is your website clear and concise; or a confusing maze?

Does The Information Exist?
     Do you have content that answers their questions?

Are You Ready To Convert?
  Is it easy for students to submit an RFI, register for an event,
                      or submit an application?

Let’s Do A Quick Experiment
Imagine you are a prospective
graduate student interested in
earning an MBA.

You arrive at the university’s
homepage:

How quickly can you find the
MBA page?

(Bonus points for those who try
on their phones!)

Instructions:
1. Start on your university’s homepage
2. Using only site navigation (no site search!), try to find the page with
   information about the MBA Program.
3. Count the number of times you have to click between the homepage and
   the MBA page (or any program of your choice).
4. Assess the program page content: does it answer all (or most) prospective
   student questions?

How Many Clicks?
     How long did it take you to find the program page
              from a student’s perspective?

3 Clicks From The Homepage To The
Program Page
     Any extra or unnecessary clicks are a leak in your
      enrollment funnel that will cause you to lose
                   prospective students.

Pay Attention To Content
   Content that doesn’t answer questions or address concerns
           will send prospective students elsewhere.

So, Then...
              How can we fix this?

User Experience (UX)
        Be focused on more than looking pretty.

Site Structure
        The way you build your website matters.

Think Clearly About Navigation
 Don’t make users navigate through school or college pages to
find their major. They likely don’t know what school or college
                    their major falls under!

Have Consistent Navigation

Organize Intuitively

Organize your content according to
your prospective students’
expectations in order to make it
easier to find and reduce melt.

 ●   Programs/Degrees
 ●   Undergraduate/Graduate
 ●   Online/Satellite Campus

And If All Navigation Fails...
           Does your internal site search work?

      In a recent study conducted by the Nielsen Norman
       Group on college and university websites, 48% of
     users didn’t realize the university offered the program
            they were looking for, even when it did.

Beware The Dreaded 404

Fix Your 404s
      Redirect all important pages with a 301 redirect.

What Content Is Missing
From Your Website?
      When students can work their way through your
              navigation, what do they find?

                              It doesn’t say if this program is
                              offered online or at night or on
                                  weekends, so I guess I’ll
                                 check out other schools…

Your Website Is Where
Recruitment Happens
     The top content prospective students look for on a
                   university website…

Academics
•   Do you offer the program I’m looking for?
•   How long does it take to complete?
•   What classes will I get to take?
•   What are the career outcomes?
•   Is the program accredited?

Cost
• What is the cost of tuition?
• Are there scholarships or assistantships
  available?
• What are the additional fees?
• What kind of support is there for
  research funding?

Enrollment
•   How can I request more info?
•   Can I talk to someone at the school?
•   How do I apply?
•   What documents do I need to apply?
•   Once accepted, how do I enroll?

Location
• Can I complete classes near work or near home?
• Are there online, weekend, or night classes available?

Student Testimonials
  Your current students are your best recruiters—they chose your
        school after all—get their voices on your website!

Time To Ask The Tough Question:

     Does your website answer all your
   prospective students’ questions? If not,
       they will go somewhere else...

How Can You Help Students
Find Your Website?

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    SEO (or Search Engine Optimization) is the process of
     optimizing your website and web content for search
                  engines such as Google.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    Anticipate the questions your audience types into search.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
   So you can appear in the organic search results when they
                  are seeking information.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    Increase the flow of prospective students directly to your
               website from organic search results.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
    Gain lasting inflow of qualified prospective students to
                    your enrollment funnel.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
   SEO leads have a 14.6% close rate, compared to only 1.7% for
          outbound leads such as print advertisements.

On-Page Content Optimization
Optimizing Content for SEO

●   Choose intelligent keywords
●   Craft keyword-inspired content

SEO Keywords
  Keywords are the secret to effective SEO content marketing.

SEO Keywords
   Keywords tell us what questions your students are asking
        and what information they want to know.

SEO Keywords
   When you target the right keywords with relevant content,
     your prospective students see you as an institution that
  understands them and wants to help them—and they return to
                 your website again and again.

How Do You Know Which
Keywords To Target?
           Short Tail vs Long Tail

          MBA              Part-time MBA in California

How Do You Find Keywords
You need to do keyword research!

●   Google Keyword Planner
●   Keywords Everywhere
●   AnswerThePublic

Even Google Search Results
Have Keyword Data

But What About Keyword Intent?
     Not all keywords are created equal. “MBA careers” and “MBA jobs”
   sound similar, but they have completely different intent. Intent is the
                  reason why someone is using a keyword.

MBA Careers

MBA Jobs

Understanding Search Intent
The difference in the search intent is clear:

 ●   MBA careers: People are searching for information on potential career paths
     after earning an MBA degree.
 ●   MBA jobs: People are searching for information on current job openings for
     individuals with an MBA degree.

  Which keyword should be included in a university’s MBA degree content strategy?

Importance Of Search Intent
    If you try to target a keyword with content aimed at the
                 wrong intent, you will not rank!

Weave The Keywords
Into Your Content

Add New Content To Your Website

Did You Know?
 Adding a blog to your site will increase your chances of ranking on
                     search engines by 434%.

Adjust Your Content Strategy!

    Your website is your most effective marketing
   tool. It’s where most of your conversations with
   prospective students happen. Be prepared to add
       content that continues the conversation.

Google My Business
In just two months…

   • 73 users who interacted with La
     Verne’s properties filled out an
     RFI!

   • 13 users who interacted with La
     Verne’s properties submitted an
     application!

Claim All Your GMB Properties

    You may have many for different locations, schools, or
                   even departments.

Optimize Your GMB

• Add categories
• Update photos
• Set up tracking on the website
  click button
• Ensure hours and phone
  number are correct
• Link up with social accounts
• Manage reviews

After Optimizing Marquette’s GMB

• 2,000% increase in
  interactions in just five days!

• 8,361 users interacted with
  the property from a non-
  branded search

Gain Behind-The-Scenes Insights

See How You Appeared In Search...

Google Posts

 Google Posts are great for
 advertising upcoming events
 or application deadlines at no
 cost!

      This is a post

Are You Ready For The Traffic?
 Adding new, organic SEO content and focusing on Google My Business will drive
 increased traffic of qualified, interested prospective students to your website—but
                                  is your website ready?

How Is The Funnel On Your Website?

       awareness
      consideration
          RFI
       application
      consideration
         deposit
       enrollment

Is It Easy To Request More Info?

Does Your RFI Form Look More
Like A Job Application?

Is It Easy To Sign Up For An Event?

Are Your Forms Mobile Responsive?

Speaking Of Mobile...
   Have you considered how your website performs on mobile?

How Is Your Site Speed?

Google PageSpeed Insights
Find out what is slowing your speed down and how to fix it with this
                    helpful free tool from Google.

Site Speed Is Important
53% of people will leave a page if it takes longer than three seconds to load.

Is Your Website ADA Compliant?
•   Do your images have alt text?
•   Do your videos have closed captioning?
•   Is your contrast sufficient?
•   Are links named properly?
•   Have you converted your PDFs to be accessible?

Think About Admitted
And Current Students Too

Is Your Website Making It Easy
To Stay Enrolled?
            Do they know how to pay tuition?
                  Register for classes?
      Do they know what the heck the “Registrar” is?

How Do You Know If It’s All Working?

Google Analytics
   Powerful free tool that tracks user behavior on your website,
    allowing you to evaluate the performance of your paid and
                        organic marketing.

Key Takeaways
Your website is your biggest marketing tool→Optimize it!

1. Clean up your navigation and make it intuitive.
2. Create content that answers students’ questions.
3. Use SEO to put content in front of wider audiences.
4. Make key milestones in your enrollment funnel easily available
    throughout your website.
5. Consistently analyze and reassess performance with Google Analytics
    and Search Console.

Every Student Will Visit Your Website
      Turn your website into a powerful recruiting tool that starts
    conversations and holds prospective students interest throughout
                   the enrollment funnel and beyond.

Questions?