Bob Johnson's Blog on Internet Marketing

I've just added another position to the growing list of people with "Web editor" and related titles to the original August 8 posting.

This one, at Drury University, came along on the registration list for the Aslanian Group seminar in Chicago in November. Carol and friends are doing a new focus with these Chicago and Orlando meetings, an emphasis on "New Techniques for Reaching Adult and Graduate Students" through Internet Marketing. We're very happy to see that the first Chicago event has sold out at about 100 people. The end of the month meeting in Orlando still has space available as registration builds.

One of my two presentations is "Writing Right for the Web," including some new examples selected for Carol's audience. If you recruit in these areas and haven't already seen the seminar content, you'll find it at http://www.aslaniangroup.com/

Excited today to be leaving soon for the University of Waterloo and an on campus presentation of Writing for the Web on Thursday. Should be a fine drive through Ontario this afternoon. Nearly 70 people are expected. It really is good to see the continued strong interest in improving content presentation to web visitors. Without that, Internet Marketing will not deliver the results we all expect from it.

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As these posting of college and university presidents who blog has grown over the last few months, I've been remiss in not adding one of the original bloggers in the presidential ranks, Patricia Maguire at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C.

President Maguire's archives go back to September of 2005 and she's missed posting in only one month since then. When you visit, you'll see that she doesn't avoid tough issues that some presidents would rather not talk about in public.

Curiosity made me search for "marketing" on the blog site. That turned up one reference to a May 8 entry about a marketing campaign in support of a new Nursing program.

Comments direct to the blog are not accepted, but there's a convenient form to send a response to the president. The form includes a place to give permission to include your comments in upcoming blog entries and a note that the president responds to responses as often as weekly.

President Maguire blogs at http://www.trinitydc.edu/offices/president/blog/

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Just back from the CASE Annual Conference for Publications Professionals, a wonderfully creative event in San Antonio where I did a version of my Writing for the Web session. Congratulations to co-chairs Nancy Bartosek (TCU) and Ron Lambert (Montana State University-Billings) for building a fine program.

A query to the audience resulted in two more positions to add to my earlier list of colleges and universities with web editor position. I've added both to the orginal posting that now includes 26 schools that have made a commitment to an this essential function.

• Connecticut College, Web Content Editor
• University of Texas at Austin, McCombs School of Business, Web Editor

If your school has or is searching to fill a position like this, let me know at bob@bobjohnsonconsulting.com. The more comprehensive this list becomes, the more valuable it is to those of you struggling to convince someone of the value of this investment.

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From time to time here, I'll write about especially interesting aspects of the viewbooks arriving in my mail as the result of competitive web reviews. Those reviews always include completing the website inquiry form and that soon bring along the print response. The proverbial "full flavor" of these isn't possible without actually having a copy. I'm recommending you add a copy of

Flying down to San Antonio for the CASE Publications Professionals meeting on Monday was a good chance to read the 52-page Worcester Polytechnic Institute viewbook that arrived in the mail a few days earlier. And to find several features worth noting that set it apart from many of the "usual" items like this.

Student stories and profiles... 34 percent of the page space

The most unique content? Three "Transformation" reports from students reporting how they changed during the WPI years from freshmen to senior. Brief, easy to read copy under three transformation headings: Global, Social Transformation, and Academic. Just a few lines for each year but the 2-page spreads make this a can't miss feature that is an unusual way to demonstrate on aspect of the "outcomes" of a WPI education. Well written. Nicely presented.

The book also includes four 2-page student profiles with large, up close portraits of each student and a modest amount of copy. Those are supplemented with three other single page profiles.

Subtracting for the front and rear covers, that's letting students tell stories in 34 percent of the book.

Direct content links from print to web

The viewbook also makes good use of direct links from key content to more of the same on the website. Did you like what you read about the Humanities and Arts project in the freshman and sophomore years? You can read about more projects at http://www.admissions.wpi.edu/Academics/projects.html

Easy to find alumni outcomes information

And most readers won't miss the four pages on "Alumni Outcomes" near the rear of the book. An unusual touch? WPI average starting salaries in six areas from Biomedical Engineering to Management Information Systems that are all above the national average for college graduates.

Quite a stack of viewbooks to read in the next 10 days. More here soon. Meantime, add WPI to your viewbook collection.

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I've been working this morning to complete a competitive web review of five universities for a client.

The immediate task today was to find and complete the undergraduate inquiry or information request form. After about 15 minutes of searching the front page and the admissions section of the site, I can't find the form. A site search for "inquiry form" and "information request" and "information request form" leads to forms for "aliens" and a professional school at the university, but not a form for undergraduates enrolling as freshmen.

In the past couple of years, it has become fashionable for all the right reasons to make the "apply for admission" path as obvious as possilbe for future students. Makes sense. When people are ready to apply, there's no reason to frustrate them by hiding the application form. Schools that have increased the visibility of the application usually report an increase in online apps.

Is the inquiry form as visible as the application form?

But what about people who are not ready to apply for admission? Folks who want to do more than learn about your school on your website? Surely they should be able to request information just as easily as they can later find the application form.

Yes, this instance is an extreme case. But it is also an early warning sign to focus attention on engagement from the time of a first visit. Not everyone will want to identify themselves and request information from you. But some will. Give them the option and make it easy to find.

Beware of front page flash

FYI, this is a major Eastern university. The first admissions page has a long flash feature that's impossible to skip even though there is a button you can click to skip it. Problem is, the flash keeps flashing when you click it. Somebody at this university is no doubt proud of the flash. Maybe even excited.  But don't let attention to the fancy stuff get in the way of attention to basics. Such as an easy to find inquiry form.

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If you're debating the value of search marketing on your campus, be sure to read the latest from Marketing Sherpa in a 19-page report on "Search Marketing Benchmark Guide 2007" taken from a larger version you can buy for $247.

In-house search efforts produce lower results

The report starts on a note of surprise that the search marketing business failed to grow at the rate projected in the 2006 report. What happened? Widespread decisions to do search marketing "in house" rather than spend money to hire a professsional search marketing firm. The report notes that this comes at an ROI price. Outsourcing, according to this study, produces "significantly" better results. You'll see just how "significantly" for yourself in the report.

Top half of the left side of the page is most powerful location

You'll find lots of interesting nuggets in this free version. Google, by far the largest search engine source, correctly receives most attention. Be sure to review, for instance, the Eyetracking page, where you'll see why search results are "explosively better" for those listed in the upper half of the left hand part of the page than for a listing anywhere in the right hand column.

People don't read full search headlines

A point I found interesting and will add to my Writing for the Web presentations was the fact that few people read the entire headline even in a search result listing. What counts most in the first one or two words people see. That gives new meaning to the ability of people to quickly scan a page for most valued content.

Press releases optimized for the web have high impact

This is one of the areas where most colleges and universities can improve search performance at relatively little cost. Most press releases on college and university websites are not written right for the web and therefore are missing opportunities to be found by search engines exploring for new and relevant content.

Instead of just putting up a traditional press release on your website, take the extra time to create a new headline with strong keywords, use those keywords in the title tag for the page, and add two or three subheads in the press release. Take those relatively simple steps and search engine results should improve. Alas, only the longer paid version actually identifies keywords that did best for press release visibility.

You'll find the Marketing Sherpa report at www.marketingsherpa.com/exs/SearchMarketing_BG07_ExeSumm.pdf

Posted by Bob at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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You can''t find a more valuable source of ongoing research about how people use the Internet than the reports from the Pew Internet and American Life project.

The latest is "The Future of the Internet II" and is just out this past September. You'll find it at http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/188/report_display.asp

One of the "major surprises" in this report is the strong belief by many people responding that we are going to lose control of the technology behind the Internet. People are almost equally divided over whether or not increasing loss of privacy (both voluntary and involuntary) will be balanced by increased benefits for Internet users.

The 115-page report presents opinion about how 7 possible scenarios will unfold between now and 2020. Whatever your own opinion, you'll always find at least a significant minority agreeing with you about how the future will unfold.

If you're involved in discussions of any type at all about where the Internet is headed over the next few years, this is indispensable reading.

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