Check your website.
If your college website needs a revamp, don’t delay because every visitor to your website is a prospective student or knows someone who could be. First impressions count. Here are effective ways to make the transformation from sad to happy.
Improve usability and make navigation easy.
Your website can be the most beautiful ever but if prospective students or anyone doing business with you can’t find what they are looking for, they will leave. Who wants to click through one link to another link to another link and to another link just to find the course description for example, Sociology? Your goal should be three clicks or less to get to your destination.
Remove pedantic content.
There’s nothing as annoying as a labor-intensive search for relevant info when contemplating your choice of college or grad school. I have browsed many college websites and in most cases, it is very difficult to find info.
Users want to browse a website where the information is clear and concise, the content is easy to understand like 1-2-3 and they don’t have to guess where to go next. Who cares about pedantic stuff? Who really wants to read all that...? Students want to read about the program, tuition, scholarships, financial aid and college life. Too much info (TMI) is not necessary.
Why not try an infographic instead? A picture can say a thousand words!
Pay attention to your page load time.
If people have to wait for long for a page to load, expect them to leave your website and go to your competitor. Use Pingdom to check how your page is doing compared to other sites. If your website content management platform is WordPress, then be sure to install these plugins: WP Super Cache or W3 Total Cache.
Corporate branding is a must.
For universities with several schools, corporate branding is a must. I know for sure that if I want to apply to a school, I would immediately assume that the name of the school is xyzschool.edu, if not I would Google it to find out. All the schools websites do not have to look exactly the same but there should be a unique identifier or resemblance to keep the prospective student still interested in your school and not wondering if they are still on the right website or if what they have just seen is a namesake.
Always remember ~ college admissions is a two-way street:
- Service your customers – the students (answer their questions in a timely manner; no question is dumb because if they really know, they won't ask).
- The students service you (register, pay tuition, increase enrollment, etc).
Disclosure of Material Connection
I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
