From the UCEA online marketing bootcamp...
Always hard to imagine ahead of time, but 3.5 hours sure does wiz on by. In this session we covered the basics of Writing Right for the Web, Search Engine Optimization, Persuasive Web Advertising and Continuing Engagement.
Web 2.0 and Audience Content Control
Lots of questions and comments right from the start. Hard to say which topic was of most interest, but there was much discussion on the advent of Web 2.0 and the possible clash between increased generation of content by students enrolled in educational programs and an apprehension that content not generated by the organization might not be the "right" content for the web.
The good news is that most of the 60 or so people in this session are actively involved in preparing content for their websites, either placing it directly on the web or sending it along elsewhere.
2 Basic Design Examples in Continuing Education
And of course there's always the question of time spent on design vs. time spent on content, with design continuing to most often win out.
- I used the example of Ryerson University on Wikipedia to point out that while design isn't unimportant, some of the most popular websites today clearly rely more on content that advanced design features.
- Another example was from the very well designed front page of the Indiana University Fort Wayne continuing education website.
Check the Ryerson example at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryerson_University
And the IUFW front page for continuing education at http://www.ipfw.edu/dcs/