Put Your Web Site to the Test

Here’s How to Evaluate and Assess Your Web Site

If you’re like most marketing directors, you’re always looking for ways to improve the results you get from your Web site. Measuring your Web site’s performance reaps knowledge, improvement and rewards for your school.

You have no doubt defined your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), such as the total number of applications successfully completed, requests to speak with an admissions rep, campus tour sign-ups and views of the virtual tour, just to name a few. And you have metrics for measuring each KPI. But what happens when you identify a page or sequence of pages that is not performing well? How can you determine what adjustments to make? To make that determination, you must assess and evaluate your Web site from the perspective of the online visitor.

Testing for Excellence

Perform a Web site self-test every few months to evaluate the quality of the online user experience for visitors to your site. Compare the strengths and weaknesses of your site to those of your competitors’ sites. Your results will provide a greater understanding of what changes your site needs, which should translate into improved customer service and better-qualified and productive leads.

How do you begin to analyze your site's strengths and weaknesses, and decide which improvements to make? You can perform a comprehensive, comparative assessment of your school’s Web site based on these eight essential methods:

1. First Impression

First impressions are lasting impressions. They set the stage for a successful enrollment. First impressions can be formed from a site’s home page, a section’s home page, or any page on your site ― since you never know where a visitor will enter to your site from.

Focus on answering these questions:

1.    Does the first page a visitor sees grab his or her attention at the get-go and motivate the user to learn more?

2.    What is your first impression of your competitors?

3.    Do you adequately differentiate yourself from your closest competitors?

4.    Who makes the best first impression? Why?

5.    Is it clear what action you should take or are there too many choices?

When it comes to your Web site’s first impression, communication is key. Clutter is a common mistake, since an overcrowded page confuses people and increases your bounce rate. Give your most important desired action top billing and communicate clearly what is in it for the user ― what value he or she will get. Decide what action you want visitors to take, and why it is in their best interest to do so.

2. Navigation

A site that's easy to navigate is a site that makes it easy for people to do business with you. Imagine that you are a new user to your site. Do you know exactly where to find what you are looking for? Ensure that information is provided quickly and intuitively. Make it as simple as possible by reducing the amount of clutter and organizing your information in a logical manner.

3. Branding

Advertising grabs their minds, but branding gets their hearts. The best brands strike an emotional cord and set you apart from your competition. What's more, strong branding projects credibility. Your brand is a factor in each page on your site. Make sure it brings out your uniqueness and gets your visitors to connect with your school.

4. Writing

Deliver your message clearly, communicate quickly and motivate the reader to take the desired action. Effective copywriting communicates its message with as few words as possible. Recent university studies show that the average consumer spends only two to three seconds deciphering the gist of a text passage, without reading the entire body of text. If you have too much copy, your audience may not absorb the information you are trying to convey. Make sure it is easy for visitors to understand what your school has to offer, and let them see ― quickly and effectively ― why your school is the right choice for them, or why it may not be the right match.

Remember: Strong headlines draw them in, communicative sub-headlines keep them reading, and short but persuasive descriptions motivate them to action.

5. Graphic Design

Visitors need a clean and professional image of your school to take it seriously. The design should tell a story and bring about a more human, personal touch as selling an education requires human interaction. Effective visual design highlights your school’s good reputation.

6. Visitor Wait Time

Attention spans are decreasing, and your visitors will not wait long for a page to load. Pages that load fast have a clear advantage. If your site is graphics heavy, make sure those graphics are optimized for the quickest load-time possible.

7. Functionality

First, your site must work correctly and be coded properly. Make sure your code is W3C compliant. W3C  (World Wide Web Consortium, www.w3.org), is an international organization that seeks Web interoperability. W3C develops standards, software and guidelines that ensure Web technologies are compatible with one another. Go to http://validator.w3.org and enter your URL to verify that your code is compliant with w3C standards.

The next step is to offer tools with which students are familiar. This will allow potential students to read, chat and apply with optimum ease.

Web tools to consider for your school:

•    e-newsletters / permission-based e-mail marketing
•    blogs
•    discussion groups / message boards
•    live chat
•    student surveys and polls
•    online student communities
•    personalized digital catalog / view book
•    TXT recruitment, announcements, emergency broadcast

8. Internet Visibility

Use alexa.com to see where your U.S. traffic rank falls. Then compare your rank to that of your competitors. Next, visit Google, Yahoo and MSN(bing) and test all your search terms. Take note of each competitor and what their current rankings are, and compare those rankings to yours. If your site isn’t ranked high enough, or in the top 20 positions for important search terms that would connect prospective students to your school, then you have work to do.

Increasing visibility on the major search engines begins with keyword research. For proper optimization, develop a list of relevant, high-traffic keywords for each page in your Web site. Once a targeted keyword list is created, the site should incorporate several dozen search engine optimization (SEO) components that are necessary to increase rankings.

If you already have a keyword list, determine how each keyword is performing. Which keyword is getting you the best results, and which are just costing you money? Play up your winners and kill off your losers. You should always be testing and measuring new keywords.

More ways to increase visibility are on-page and off-page factors.

On-page factors include keyword mapping, keyword density, the implementation of optimized meta titles, descriptions and keywords, as well as paragraph headings or H1 & H2 tags in a keyword-friendly format.

Off-page factors include trusted inbound links, e-books, hub pages, your own blogs, other blogs, SEO article sites, social bookmarking, networking and other relevant social media sites.

These are just a few of the dozens of optimization factors that go into creating a high-ranking site on the major search engines. Initiation of link building programs and being actively involved with social media will further improve visibility and create more listings in the natural or free results area of Google, Yahoo and MSN for keywords that will drive prospective students to your school.

Conclusion

Once you have played the role of visitor to your site and analyzed its strengths and weaknesses with an unbiased eye, you can determine where to go from there.

Your next step should be a strategic plan with blueprints. Decide on new goals and objectives, and create a plan for implementation. Be sure to roll out changes slowly to avoid disorienting frequent visitors. Your efforts will help your Web site receive the attention ― and the enrollments ― that it and your school deserve.

Questions? Comments?