Bob Johnson's Blog on Internet Marketing

Late this afternoon I started revising August's web seminar on Writing for the Web for a CASE session for publications professionals in October. And as often happens, minor tweaking turned into a substantial revision based on new examples found while doing competitive web reviews these last few weeks.

Pepperdine University does a great online annual report

Here are thoughts on the current state of web writing based on these recent reviews:

• My crusade to eliminate the use of PDFs for viewbooks, alumni magazines, and annual reports hasn't made a great deal of progress. Whether its during a competitive review or a simple google search, its really easy to find a plethora of horrible examples. I found a new favorite for October... an alumni magazine at an Engineering college that was just about impossible to read.
• For the CASE audience, I wanted examples of annual reports done for the web, from print as PDF to something done in web-friendly style. The PDF example is from Australia, so I'm pretty sure nobody in the audience will mind. The web-friendly example was found at Pepperdine University. Check the 2005 version at http://www.pepperdine.edu/annualreports/2005/ for an annual report designed for the web. Love the row of photographs at the top of the page that let you click on the ones you'd most like to read about. Indeed, check the earlier annual reports online to see the remarkable transition that has taken place.
• The Pepperdine Annual report puts the reader in charge. You can pick from a clear table of contents and easily go to the topics of highest interest. Your choice, as it should be on the web. Yes, some pages can use more subheads and I'm not nuts about the color scheme but the former is easily fixed in the next version and the latter is personal choice as much as anything. So, while PDFs still are far more common than they should be for things like this, its nice to see Pepperdine showing how to break away and make a major move in the right direction.

I've also revised the section on writing for more search engine visibility to put more emphasis on content elements that writers can influence without being technical wizards. The most important thing for search engine marketing is significant content rather than tech tricks. This session will cover that better than earlier ones.

You really should try Wordtracker

Everyone, for instance, can write better title tags for website pages and learn how to explore relevant key words. If you've never taken the free trial at Wordtracker, for instance, get right along to http://www.wordtracker.com/ and see how easy it is. If you decide the value is enough to pay a fee, you're looking at less than $200 a year to use it however often you want. That's a bargain.

If you'd like to spend a couple of fine days and evenings in San Antonio in the fall, come along to the CASE Annual Conference for Communications Professions that starts October 16. Details are at http://www.case.org/conferences/chfpub/frames.cfm

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This is your chance to get in on the proverbial ground floor with a new presidential blog.

Jack Calareso is starting to blog on "issues of the day" and "Readers will have an opportunity to provide feedback directly to President Calareso." If you visit now, you can leave your name and email address to track this blog right from the start. The blog starts on September 1.

Ohio Dominican creates memories of a very early consulting task way back in the 1980s with the Council of Independent Colleges. The issue then was whether or not to start Allied Health Programs to boost sagging enrollment. All these years later, curiosity made me check the roster of majors. No Allied Health programs.

President Calareso is about to blog at http://www.ohiodominican.edu/about/president/subscribeblog/default.aspx

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Not nearly as many people listent to podcasts as read blogs but the number is growing... one projection says 10 million people by the end of this year.

With that in mind, I spent time today using Yahoo and Google search to roam through lists of professional schools to find out who was using this relatively young communications technology to provide a more alive experience for prospective law school, MBA, and medical school students. Results were slim but interesting.

MBA programs in the lead

MBA programs seem to be out in front. Nothing came back for law schools or medical schools where the admissions office was using podcasts to help recruit students. I suspect that with more time and more combinations of search words, more results might have come back to me. But check out these three examples at University of California - Berkeley, University of Notre Dame, and Stanford University. Mix and match what you find here for a good initial guide to a new way of speaking to potential new students.

University of California - Berkeley at  http://mba.haas.berkeley.edu/ 

University of Notre Dame at http://www.nd.edu/~mba/admissions/index1-podcast.shtml 

Stanford University at http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/mba/admission/more_resources.html 

News and lecture podcasts for business, law, and medicine

What did come back in relatively large numbers from schools of every type were podcasts of faculty presentations and class lectures. Most of these are intended for either internal use by current students or available as general news announcements for the media. Of course, podcasts like this make excellent connections for future students as well. Let's hope that the admissions websites of these same business, law, and medical schools have clear connections to the podcasts.

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Man Bites Dog? 

OK, we know that Elle and Teen People earlier this year both cancelled their print magazines due to declining ad pages and thus declining profit. But online versions of both will continue.

Now comes early word in today's AdvertisingAge article that the company that last year paid more than half a billion dollars to own MySpace.com, presumably to take advantage of online advertising opportunities, is exploring the idea of creating a MySpace magazine.

The explorers, needless to say, are not quite sure the brand will transfer from web to print. No word in the article of how long it will be before a decision is made. The financial risk is said to be small.

By the way, will your college or university be a MySpace.com advertiser anytime soon?

You can read the article at http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=111469 

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If you want to stay up to date on your campus by reading articles, newsletters, and blogs on Internet Marketing in general and Search Engine Marketing in particular, you won't find a better place than this website.

Robert Clough searches sources throughout the web for the latest postings that you can translate into better college and university Internet marketing strategy and techniques. Best of all, most of what you'll find here is easily understand by "normal human beings" with an interest in the topic and just a little experience. In fact, if you have no experience at all and want to get up to speed quickly, this is still a good place to visit.

The newsletter almost always has something worth reading. I'd recommend this as a natural starting place to stay connected.

Visit http://www.searchengineguide.com/ and explore to find what's best for your interests.

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Google is a wonderful place to assemble a list of who's doing what in just about anything. So in response to a question from a newsletter reader about instant messaging vs. text messaging in student recruitment, Google reports that IM is a hands down winner over TM when measured by adoption.

The list proves one point again... adoption of a new technology isn't related in any way to size or type of institution. Skim this list and you'll quickly see everything from huge universities to small private colleges. 

Pick your favorites and explore how people are implementing IM in their recruitment communications. Mix and match from several sites and get the "best of the best" for your program.

If you aren't doing either IM or TM right now, where should you start? Keep in mind that today far more teens use IM than TM if that's your primary audience.

If your college belongs here and escaped Google, add a comment or send me the name at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com

Instant Messaging at Colleges and Universities
 
 
Augustana College http://www.augustana.edu/admissions/im/

Boise State University http://admissions.boisestate.edu/additionalinfo.shtml 

Calvin College http://www.calvin.edu/admin/admissions/contact.htm

Catawba College at http://www.catawba.edu/admissions/meet/im.htm 

Clarkson University http://www.clarkson.edu/getting_into_clarkson/high_school/staff.html 

Clearwater Christian College at http://www.clearwater.edu/admissions/im.asp

Concordia College http://www.cord.edu/dept/admissions/im.php

Creighton University https://admissions.creighton.edu/CULive/InstantMessaging/tabid/342/Default.aspx

Frostburg State University http://www.frostburg.edu/ungrad/admiss/contact.htm

Gustavus Adolphus College at http://admission.gustavus.edu/admissions/connect/im.asp 

Hofstra University at http://www.hofstra.edu/Admission/adm_aim.html

Loyola Marymount University http://www.lmu.edu/Page9841.aspx 

Marywood University http://mymarywood.com/home_gen_v2.asp

McKendree College http://www.mckendree.edu/prospective/admissions/IM_the_admission_staff.aspx 

Medaille College http://www.medaille.edu/admission/undergraduate/people/
 
Michigan State University http://admissions.msu.edu/learnMore/IM.asp

Monroe Community College http://www.monroecc.edu/depts/admiss/index.htm

Mount Mercy College http://www2.mtmercy.edu/admission/meetrep.html

Northwestern Iowa Community College at http://www.nwicc.cc.ia.us/pages/admissions/admissions/im.html?&TYPE=M&PID=CORE-WBMAIN&TOKENIDX=8987400988

Northwestern Oklahoma State University http://www.nwosu.edu/recruit/chat.htm 

Philadelphia University http://www.philau.edu/Admissions/imstatus.htm
 
 
Purdue University North Central http://www.pnc.edu/admissions/im.html

SUNY Plattsburgh at http://www.plattsburgh.edu/admissions/chat

University of South Carolina http://www.sc.edu/admissions/imchat.htm

Villa Julie College http://www.vjc.edu/admissions/index.aspx?id=9258


West Virginia University http://admissions.wvu.edu/undergraduate/im_askwvu.asp

Text messaging at Colleges and Universities
 
Centenary College http://www.centenary.edu/admissions/news/text

Testimonial from an IM user...

"Thank you so much for listing us among those who use IM-- we are a regional campus of Purdue-- with just under 4000 students-- and our admissions staff find that IM "keeps it real"-- the ability to have real-time, spontaneous conversations puts prospective students at ease-- no need to dot your i's and cross your t's--just get the message to the customer. Quicker, easier, and most important-- student-centered!!"

Judy Jacobi, Director of Marketing, Purdue University North Central

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"What role does the website play within the context of the entire communication strategy, e.g. magazine, broadcast?" was the big picture question from Michele during the Academic Impressions web seminar last week...

The right strategy for university websites...

"That's truly a large question. And the answer depends in part on the audience and the nature of the engagement with you at a particular time. That said, it is best to assume that the website is the core of your communication strategy in more cases than not. It is very often the first place that people will come to learn things about you. Because of this, that's why websites need to (1) profide the information you know your most important visitors want, (2) enable asking questions about that information, and (3) provide a way to engage for ongoing contact (RSS feeds, newsletters, blogs, podcasts and such).

Everything that's important to advertise in any format and everything that is highlighted in publications should have a corresponding location on your website for people who want to follow up and learn more about what they have heard in your ad or read in your publication. Consider this rule of thumb: if it is important enough to advertise about or to feature in a publication, isn't it important enough to include in a substantive way on your website? The answer should pretty much always be 'Yes.' "

A new role for print publications...

I'll be talking more about this in my presentation at the TargetX "Recruiting Revolution" workshop in September in my session on "The Evolution of Publications in an Electronic World."

Print isn't going away anytime soon, but more and more today needs it needs to be developed as part of an overall communications strategy with your website at the center. Many universities already go through an elaborate and valuable process of determining what content to highlight in print to gain audience interest. Relatively few do the same to decide what content to highlight on their websites. Universities with a true marketing orientation will lead the way in changing that and others will follow.

Join me in Philadelphia to explore why magazines are hot and view books are not.

Register for "The Recruiting Revolution"

To see the entire program and to register for the "Recruiting Revolution" visit http://www.targetx.com/workshops/index.html

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Here is another question from last week's web writing seminar for Academic Impressions.

If you've ever been to one of my web writing sessions, you know that I'm on a crusade to eliminate the practice of posting view books, alumni magazines, and annual reports on websites as PDFs if you have any expectation that a sane person is goint to read them in that format.

Take the test for yourself. If you want to see a full page, you have to view the image at about 50 percent of the full PDF size. If you want to read the text, you have to increase the size to 100 percent or more. And you have to keep doing this as you move through the view book or magazine. That's just nuts.

To top it all off, you probably paid good $$$ for the photography in the publication. In a PDF file, you usually can't see the full photograph as you are trying to read the text, or if you view the page small enough to show the full photo, you most likely can't see the detail in it.

The bottom line: just don't do it. If you are creating archives for posterity, OK. But don't post them in public where they become frustration points for someone who might be interested. Instead, repurpose the publication in a web-friendly format.

"Q: Is there merit in making pdf viewbooks available for those who want to print them and read later?"

Not in my mind. That's an incredible use of ink and only on the very best printers will the quality, especially of the photos, even be close to the quaiity in the original print version. If you want the view book to make the impression it was designed to make, send one in the mail. I just can't imagine that very many people, for instance, would want to print the Boston University view book from a website rather than have one in the mail."

For a good example of a publication done right for the web, see the Carleton University magazine at http://magazine.carleton.ca

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My web writing seminar last Thursday for Academic Impressions went out to just over 120 colleges. From the three dozen or so follow-up questions a few seemed especially important and I'll repeat those here over the next few days.

"Q: what is the recommendation for the use of photos and other visual aids in text?

Photos and visual should not dominate the primary text content. Exceptions include things like showing the interior of dorm rooms in the appropriate places. But for the most part, think of visuals and photos as accent marks to primary content.

Also follow a rule that works in print. If the photo image is small, don't make it an image of something that people have to squint or use a magnifier to identify. Check that Smith College photo again as a great use of a small photo as accent and the photo itself is a head shot that is easy to see. If that were a crowd or group shot, the value would be much less and might even be considered a "frustration point" that really weakens the page.

Also consider the option of allowing a visitor to see a larger version of a photo. That might be appropriate, for instance, on pages for athletic events. Just make sure that the photo retains detail when enlarged."

The perfect web page at Smith College

The Smith College page used in the presentation is one of the best I've ever seen on a college website to illustrate the value of being able to scan quickly from the primary headline to a connected subheading. You don't have to "read" a thing on this page to get the key message in a second. And the photo used is the perfect accent that breaks up the text without getting in the way of the message.

See it at http://www.smith.edu/about_howsmithfeels.php

 

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Quest University won't enroll a first class of students until the fall of 2007, but the president of this private university in British Columbia is already making his mark in the advance marketing effort for the school.

In the first entry, the new president imagines how Quest University students will  become involved in future incidents similar to a recent oil spill along the British Columbia coast. And he adds that the first students "can’t come soon enough for all of us working together on this incredible project."

David Strangway blogs at http://strangway.blogspot.com/

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Mountains are moving when new position titles begin to emerge, reflecting the reality that websites are best viewed as publications and publications need editors and publishers and writers to make them work best. How many "web editors" existed just a few years ago? Not many, for sure.

Today, the landscape is changing. That's great news for anyone who uses websites regularly. Content is becoming more relevant. It is becoming easier to read. And it is becoming easier to engage in ongoing communication with the people who produce it. Higher education websites are coming alive.

To encourage the changes already taking place, I've created here a list of titles that emphasize copy and content in some way. The original list was built almost entirely from people who registered for my Writing for the Web seminars for CASE in February 2006 and for Academic Impressions in August 2006. About 397 colleges and universities registered for one of those sessions. That was encouraging at the time and this list has been growing ever since then.

If your college hasn't yet caught the spirit, best wishes that it will happen soon.

If your college should be listed here, send me the information at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com

Web editors, content managers, and more at 48 colleges and universities.

Ball State University, Web Managing Editor

Bethel University, Director of Electronic Communications

College of the Holy Cross, Writer/Reporter, College Web Communications

College of Saint Benedict/St. John's University, Director of Electronic Communications

Colorado State University, Web Content Manager

Concord Academy, Web Editor

Connecticut College, Web Content Editor

Cuyahoga Community College, Web Editor

Dalhousie University, Web Editor

Drury University, Web Editor

Eastern Menonite University, Web Content Editor

Excelsior College, Web Content Administrator

Fairfield University, Web Managing Editor

Greenville College, Web Content Coordinator

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Web Editor

Laval University, Web Communications Manager

Longwood University, Director of Web Communications

Malone College, Web Content Manager

Metropolitan State College of Denver, Director of Web Communications

Mount Saint Mary's College of California, Web Editor, College Communications

Nazareth College, Web Content Editor

Northwood University, Web Content Writer

Oral Roberts University, Web Editor

Princeton University, Web Editor

Sacred Heart University, Director of Web Content Management

Saint Anselm College, Managing Editor/Director of Web Publishing

Saint Louis University, Web Marketing Coordinator

Skidmore College, Alumni Web Editor

Stonehill College, Web Editor

Stony Brook University, Web Content Coordinator

St. Edward's University, Web Editor

SUNY Plattsburgh, Web Editor

Tarrant County College District, Web Content Editor

Tomball College, Web Content Coordinator

University of Denver, Web Editor (two positions)

University of Exeter, Web Editor

University of Louisville, Director of Web Communications

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, Web Writer

University of Missouri - Columbia, Director of Web Communications

University of Redlands, Web Publisher

University of San Diego, Electronic Publications Editor

University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, Web Editor

University of Waterloo. Faculty of Environmental Studies, Web and E-Communications Coordinator

University of West Florida, Web Content Manager

University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, Online Editor

Washington and Lee University, Web Editor

William Paterson University, Web Information Manager

Yale University, Communications Web Editor

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How important is SEO? Without a conversion plan, not much.

That's the message from Stoney deGeyter at www.searchengineguide.com/degeyter/007360.html

While rankings are important, too much attention is paid to the "search" element of a marketing campaign and not enough to conversions after a prospect visits your website. deGeyter wisely notes that the key evaluation figure here is percent of conversion, not number of conversions. Focus not only on increasing traffic to your website but also on increasing the conversion percent from your visitors.

If you need ammunition to convince anyone on your campus that creating special landing pages to increase conversion in indeed a wise investment of time and money, have them read this article.

Building a relationship after the first conversion from Search Marketing

Shari Thurow's advice at www.clickz.com/experts/search/results/article.php/3587096 in her article "Debunking Search Engine Myths" can't be repeated often enough.

No matter how successful you are in bringing people to your website, if the website itself doesn't provide a valuable experience for the visitor then "a positive branding experience can disappear with only one click."

The most valuable message here: start an Internet Marketing effort by first building a strong website based on the interests of the audience you wish to attract. Build content first, and make it easy to find. Then begin your SEO and other marketing efforts. If you just add a Search Marketing program to get people to an indifferent website, you're heading for diappointment no matter how high you are ranked and no matter how strong your special landing pages.

Always remember the bottom line for any website: Content, Content, Content.

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The first Canadian college in our collection of presidents who blog is Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Jeff Zabudsky's blog started in September 2005 at "the largest and most comprehensive institute of applied learning in Manitoba" with "32,000 full and part-time enrolments each year."

There's a very obvious link to the blog from the President's Message page and many of the postings generate comments from readers on topics ranging from the growth in international students to the provincial budget for the college.

Read the blog at http://connectrrc.net/president

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To have an intelligent conversation about how the four top search engines... Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask... evaluate websites and decide to rank them in their databases, Jim Hedger's article, "Grand Slam SEO - Can My Site Rank Well on all Four Major Engines?" at http://www.searchengineguide.com/hedger/007824.html is a great place to start.

From the main points that Jim lists for each site, you'll see that Google is the most complex. And since it has nearly half of all search engine traffic, it is clearly the most important as well.

Google: Incoming Links, On-page SEO, Site Design Spiderability, User analytics, Outgoing links, Inclusion in other Google indexes, Document Histories

Yahoo: On-page SEO, Links and Link Patterns, Site Design, User analytics, Inclusion in other Yahoo indexes, Document Footprints

MSN: On-page SEO, Site Design and Structure and Sipderability

Ask: On-page SEO, Site Design, Site Structure and Spiderability

The most important criterion for Google is the number and quality of links that lead to your website. When you read Jim's article you'll get much more detail about that and other words of wisdom that will help you plan a search engine optimization strategy.

How important is SEO to your overall Internet Marketing efforts? How much time and energy should you spend on it? My next post in the category, in a few days, will try to shed light in that direction.

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How do Search Engines work?

Nothing is hotter in Internet marketing right now than search engine marketing, from paid search advertising to search engine optimization.

If you don't have expertise in this area yet, a fine place to start is with a visit to www.webopedia.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2003/HowWebSearchEnginesWork.asp to explore "How Web Search Engines Work."

Your credibility is bound to increase after you read definitions of things like a "spider trap" and a "deep link." Be sure to click through to the section that explains "Keyword Stuffing" and why you don't want to do it.

Nobody you meet can tell you exactly what to do to ensure that your website will come up near the top of search lists. The criteria of search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask.com are closely guarded secrets that change often to keep the search engines several steps or more ahead of the people who try to fathom how they work. That's part of what keeps a huge and profitable industry afloat giving guidance on how to achieve higher rankings.

Content is King

If there's a consensus on what's most liable to work regardless of how the search engines change, its about the importance of content that's important to the audience you want to attract.

I'll have more entries about that as August unfolds and we build a guide to better search engine performance for the "normal human being" like you and I. Lots of good stuff out there.

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