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Our Most Recent Higher Education Minute

August 26, 2008

Beyond Bricks and Mortar:
Building Prospective Student Relationships on the Web

It used to be enough to be in the right place at the right time. Students would request information, apply and enroll...and life was good. But then, along came the World Wide Web and the definition of the "right place", as well as the "right time", evolved. Your web site became the dominant "right place" for sharing information and engaging students. As competition for students continues to increase, you need to consider how to get and maintain student (and parent) interest throughout the entire enrollment process.

Charles Kreitzber recently shared in Website Magazine, "You want to not only attract visitors to your website but encourage them to return over and over again, to develop a relationship with your site." He cites his method, E3T as a way to deliver a positive online experience.

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Engage: The rules of engagement are simple: go for maximum face time with your visitor, keep the user on the site and encourage them to explore. It is this type of site/user "relationship" which has fueled the incredible success of Facebook and MySpace.

Empower: Prospective students and parents (as well as others) come to your site for a reason - to get information, to perform a task or be entertained. They want tools and content that informs them on issues of academics, financial aid and campus atmosphere. (See our E-Expectations research for more information). Your web site succeeds when you empower them and give them what it is they are seeking.

Ease: When your site isn't easy to use the end result is user fatigue and site abandonment. Enhance usability by speaking with students in their language, with terms they know. Clearly identify primary actions and navigation links and don't take the user to a new page unless they can easily find their way back.

Trust: As in a 'real' relationship, it's important to build trust in your on-line relationship. A trusting relationship can be described as one that offers competence, predictability, benevolence and honesty. These characteristics can be a guide to making your web site trustworthy. (Click here to read the entire Website Magazine article.)

Think of E3T as an extension of the personalized attention and focus of your campus. You work hard to engage students, maintain their attention and get them to visit. If your web site creates a superior E3T experience, you are building essential opportunities for student involvement and enrollment.

Here's to another great Monday!

Archive:

June 30, 2008	If a Marketing Minute is valuable, what about 60?
April 21, 2008	Motivate Your Bloggers
April 7, 2008	Creating an Admitted Student Community
March 24, 2008	Latest Marketing Techniques Get Results
February 25, 2008	Don't Take it Personally
February 11, 2008	Don't Talk to Me That Way
January 28, 2008	Growing Up on the Internet
January 14, 2008	Put Your Web Site on a Diet
December 17, 2007	What's Your Reputation?
December 3, 2007	The Results Are In
November 19, 2007	How Much Is Your Web site Worth?
November 5, 2007	Creating Brand With Your Campus Stories
October 22, 2007	Make It Easy For Prospects To Contact You
October 8, 2007	What Is The Meaning of "Web site Redesign"
September 24, 2007	Send Text Messages to Teens with Ease
September 10, 2007	The Marketing Mix Up
August 27, 2007	The Importance of Video on your Web site
August 13, 2007	Web 2.0 Presentations Available for Download
July 30, 2007	It's a Blog Eat Blog World
July 16, 2007	Building an E-Recruitment Network: Connecting with Prospective Students in the Era of MySpace
July 2, 2007	Does Your Web site Make a Good First Impression?
June 18, 2007	Are You Ready for the "Helicopter Parents"?
June 4, 2007	It is Critical That Students Easily Find Their Intended Major
May 21, 2007	Is Your Web site Frustrating Prospective Students?

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Our Most Recent Internet Marketing Minute

May 12, 2008
The Buzz Around Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s)

Archive:

April 28, 2008	Handling Inactive Email Subscribers
April 14, 2008	How Do Your Keywords Measure Up
March 31, 2008	Flash Making Headway or Headaches
March 17, 2008	Rich Media is Getting Richer
March 3, 2008	Email Marketing is Far from Dead
February 18, 2008	Find the Right Hosting Provider
February 4, 2008	Design Matters. Function Matters More.
January 21, 2008	Social Networking on Your Web Site
January 7, 2008	SEO Web Site Best Practices
December 10, 2007	Get Clients Attention with Print
November 26, 2007	Your Site Could Mean Your Success
November 12, 2007	Marketing With Online Video
October 29, 2007	Online Shopping Gets Social
October 15, 2007	Turning Green Into Green
October 1, 2007	World-Wide-Widgets
September 17, 2007	Forrester Report Finds B2B Web sites Lacking in Usability
September 3, 2007	Building a Business Case for Rich Media Applications
August 20, 2007	Beyond Your Google Rank - Part 1
August 6, 2007	Online Video is now Mainstream
July 23, 2007	Google Introduces Low-Cost Site Search Service
July 9, 2007	Critical Considerations When Choosing a Hosting Partner
June 25, 2007	Get Keyed Up Over Keywords for Higher Quality Web Traffic
June 11, 2007	Has Web 2.0 Destroyed Your Web site?
May 28, 2007	Web site Hosting Nightmares: Avoid the Pitfalls

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