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Category: Higher Education Marketing

Stairway to Higher Ed Website Heaven: Seven Steps to Engage Prospects and Students
This post was updated by Ariel Tusa on September 24, 2020 to reflect recent trends and refreshed statistics. It was originally published on May 2nd, 2019.

Key Insights
- - Make sure your website is an easily accessible tool that prospective students can use to find information.
  - Cater to mobile users by having a mobile-friendly site that loads quickly.
  - Maximize your public relations staff and media contacts for mentions and high-quality backlinks.
Universities have a leg up in search rankings, thanks to the authority of “.edu” domains and brand recognition. However, many university websites aren’t set up to make the most of these advantages, and the added uncertainty of COVID-19 has put a strain on the marketing budgets of organizations around the world. So, what’s an educational institution to do? Maximize the potential of your university’s brand with our seven tactics to improve your search visibility among prospective students!

To market effectively, it’s important to understand the buyer’s journey—or in the case of higher education—the student journey. Online searches are a critical part of the student journey that help people decide where they will apply.

According to a study by Google, 58% of students use search engines to begin their research for higher education.

With that in mind, let’s dive into our seven steps! We’ll take a look at some examples from one of our education clients, Tulane School of Professional Advancement.

1. Mobile Experience: Mobile Experience Must Be on Par With (or Better Than) Desktop

Beginning in the summer of 2018, Google rolled out their “mobile first” algorithm, making your mobile site more important than ever. Sometimes, developers edit websites on a computer without testing them on both a desktop and a mobile device. However, most prospective students will only visit your site on a mobile device. For Tulane SoPA, mobile traffic has increased from just under 43% in 2016 to nearly 75% in 2020.

Many websites end up with a user experience that looks like the “before” image when their design focuses on desktops. When you set your sights on improving the mobile version of your site, you’ll end up with something that’s more like the “after” image. Providing a high-quality experience to mobile users can improve your conversion rates and boost your search rankings.

PRO TIP: Google offers a free Mobile-Friendly Test that reviews the size of graphics and technical elements to assess the user experience on mobile devices. The test’s assessment generates feedback you can pass on to your web development team to review and update your website.

2. Site Speed: Your Site Should Load Quickly

Keep more of your visitors on your site by solving the most common speed issues for websites. Google wants to provide a seamless experience and answer a user’s query as quickly as possible, meaning that site speed is becoming a more important factor for keyword rankings.

This chart illustrates how important your site’s speed is to users. A study by Google equated the cognitive load of waiting for a slow mobile website to be on par with solving a math problem and watching a horror movie… and worse than standing on the edge of a cliff!

On a more positive note, sites with load times under 3 seconds garner the most sessions and peak conversion rates, showing that load time has a real impact on user experience and, therefore, conversion. The ideal load time is 3 seconds or less. Even just improving load time from 3.3 seconds to 2.4 seconds, you can increase your conversion rate by 27%.

Google free Mobile Site Speed Test tool can demonstrate how your site compares to those of other universities. The report generated by the Mobile Site Speed Test estimates how much you’ll speed up your load time by implementing its recommended changes.

3. Content: Should Provide Helpful Information to Prospects (and Search Engines)

Universities often think of their websites as tools for current students and less about prospects. When creating your content strategy, think about where users may be in the student journey—their decision making process—and speak to them at all levels:
- - Some are just starting to search for answers to everyday problems
    
    Some might be further along in their journey, researching options at your school
    
    Some may be even further in their journey and are ready to take action and need to find a way to contact you QUICKLY!
Many universities lack specific content for their programs, degrees, and courses, requiring prospects to speak to an advisor to get details. Instead, break down barriers for prospects by assuring this info is easily accessible on the site. As you begin identifying ideal content for a page, whether it’s a homepage or internal page, think about the different ways people consume content:
- - Skimmers read the headings, bullets, and key stats to quickly make a decision on how to move forward.
    
    Swimmers may read some of the sub-content, watch a video, and click onto a deeper page.
    
    Divers will read all of the content on the page, watch a video, and most certainly would go to other pages on the site.
Having a dedicated page for a topic also makes it more accessible to search engines, which helps prospects find the information more easily. When building content for your university’s website, use this content checklist:

✓ Does your site have dedicated pages for each program/degree?
✓ Is content crafted to speak to “skimmers, swimmers, and divers” (a mix of bullets, infographics/media, and paragraphs with details)?
✓ Are online and on-campus options clearly stated?
✓ Do you have one-pager downloads that require visitors to input their email address to build a prospect pool for email marketing?
✓ What are the top five questions your front desk and advisors are asked?

4. Optimize for Branded Searches

Branded searches describe searches conducted by prospects that include your school’s name in the query. They may search by name only or with a combination of your name and a degree, major, or academic program. Optimizing for branded search supports prospects who are in the consideration and decision phase of their journey—they’re already familiar with your school and searching for it by name.

Help prospects and students find information more easily when searching for specifics like “Tulane SoPA Tuition” or “Parking on Smith campus” by optimizing for branded searches.

When performing a branded search for your own university, you should see your website. If your site is established, you’re also likely to see “sitelinks,” which are Google’s top suggested pages for users. The Knowledge Panel on the right offers location information from Google My Business, Wikipedia, and reviews from around the web. Of the many parts of the SERP (search engine result page), there are pieces you can and cannot control.

What you can control:
- - Your website
    
    Info on Google My Business (photos, accurate location data, posts)
    
    Content you’ve posted on other websites (YouTube videos)
    
    First-party reviews
What you can’t completely control, but can work on:
- - Third-party reviews, including Google
    
    Third-party mentions
    
    Wikipedia (more on this later)
5. Earn Backlinks That Are Relevant to Your Target Audience

Links to your website from other sites are like positive reviews to search engines. Building links supports your university’s website ranking by building authority and relevance. Google uses backlinks to judge if you are a trustworthy and relevant source for a topic. Which websites link to your site is more important than how many. Backlinks from authoritative national sites, like The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, give you national authority in Google’s eyes. Earning backlinks can be a challenge, but approach this tactic with a quality-over-quantity mindset. A strong PR strategy is critical to earn genuine, valuable links.

Any accredited university should also pass the “notability” test and be listed on Wikipedia. If you are established, you likely already have a Wikipedia page. Wikipedia pages can be edited for accuracy and provide links to your website. However, the language should be strictly factual and have a neutral tone.

When authoritative local sites, like a local news outlet, link back to your site, this adds to your local authority.

Sites that are both relevant and authoritative, like a list of the Top 10 humanities programs on USnews.com, support both your relevance and authority even when you are simply on the list and don’t get a backlink! Some lists require payment for inclusion. Here are the key questions we ask when considering paying for placement:

✓ Is it a reputable website?
✓ Does it rank well on Google compared to competitors within its industry?
✓ Does the feature include a link back to your website? (Remember, if not, that’s okay)
✓ Do you get to approve the content that will be listed about your school or program?

6. The Press and Media Are Highly Effective Tools

Media mentions are one the best sources of links and branding. Your university may receive some attention from the media, but you can’t sustain or control this without a PR strategy. Local media sources are often excellent contacts to work with.

The key is finding a strong PR partner—someone who already has relationships in the industry—and a process. Most colleges and universities have enough going on to produce newsworthy stories consistently. With a dedicated PR effort for Tulane SoPA, they are earning an average of five to six media appearances per month. To be successful, you need to frequently communicate with your PR team, as well as ensure that your staff is available for interviews, providing quotes, and more.

Here’s a checklist your marketing team can use for quality backlinks and media mentions:

✓ Wikipedia
✓ Top lists
✓ Partner community colleges, universities, and high schools
✓ Scholarship search websites
✓ Scholarship partners
✓ Local directories
✓ Local media outlets
✓ National media outlets

PRO TIP: When responding to requests for quotes, be sure to include which specific page should be linked to (don’t always choose your homepage).

7. Technical Elements Support Search Success

Key technical settings on your site can help Google understand and process the info on your webpages, which leads to a stronger search presence. Master these four elements:
- - Your site runs HTTPS and you have purchased and properly installed an ”SSL certificate.” This tells Google and users that any information a user inputs on your site (such as their name, email, or phone number) is being transmitted securely. Google’s most recent version of Chrome calls out non-secure sites more strongly by making the text red, instead of a subtle gray warning.
    
    The robots.txt file is the first file that Google crawlers read when they visit your website. It provides a directory that tells crawlers which pages you want to appear in search results and which you do not. If configured improperly, prospective students may see this in search results. There’s a technical check your web developer can do to assure this setting is accurate.
    
    An updated sitemap hands your list of URLs to Google on a silver platter. HTML sitemaps are good for users and search engines. XML sitemaps are more technical and exist primarily for search engines. While this may sound redundant, you want to take advantage of all of these elements to make it as easy as possible for search engines to index all of your important website pages. Your developer can list your sitemaps within your robots.txt file, which, again, gives Google what it needs to know.
    
    Schema is a technical tactic for labeling your data on the backend of your website to help Google better understand the content. Google can usually understand and parse content easily, but this helps avoid any ambiguity. The simplest example of schema is labeling your address and phone number data. On the front end, it looks the same to the user. On the backend, you’re saying “Hey, Google. I have three distinct locations. This is location one, and this is the address and phone number.” Things get really interesting when you start to mark up more niche types of content on your website, like your course information. Schema.org is your source for the details you need to do this. This can improve your rankings for niche keyword searches because Google can then understand very specific details about your offerings. Leveraging schema markup language can also help you achieve “rich answer snippets,” which is when Google serves up the answer directly to the user in the search result, citing your website as the source.
Here is an example of a very specific search, for which a “rich answer” comes up—this is also often referred to as “Position Zero.” Google is beginning to show more and more of these “rich answers.” Schema markup is the first step to earning them.

PRO TIP: Once you’ve worked on these four technical elements, create a custom 404 Page for your university’s site. When a user lands on a page that no longer exists, they’ll then be taken to a page on your site that can help them find the information they were looking for initially.

Congratulations! With our seven key steps to search success, you’ve officially graduated! Wondering how to take your learnings and apply them to your institution’s website? Download our self-assessment to score your marketing strategies and uncover the opportunities you have to drive leads into and down the funnel!
September 24, 2020
Search Influence to Host Education Marketing Webinar, “Top 7 Ways to Drive Prospects Into and Down the Funnel”
Prospective students are showing growing interest in online learning.

Many wonder if now is the time to continue their education rather than competing for opportunities in a shrinking job market. Those once resistant to the idea of online learning now feel comfortable pursuing experiences remotely.

Take advantage of these changing sentiments to drive enrollment! Join Search Influence Director of Sales and Marketing, Paula French, and Account Supervisor, Ariel Tusa, for the free webinar, Top 7 Ways to Drive Prospects Into and Down the Funnel.

Paula and Ariel will share knowledge from real-world examples and first-hand experiences to demonstrate how to nurture prospects from awareness to application using website optimization, content, targeted advertising, and email marketing. The webinar will also include dedicated time to address your questions.

You will learn:
- How COVID-19 impacted education search trends
- Tactics to get your programs in front of career changers
- Ideal formula and structure for program and degree page content that converts
- Opportunities to create innovative conversion points on your website that help you qualify leads
If you can’t make the live session, be sure to still register and we will send you a recording of the webinar.
July 23, 2020
In Uncertain Times, Stretch Your Budget with Online Advertising
Throughout these past few months, our industry has experienced roadblocks, challenges, and changes that alter the way we look at the work we do for our clients. We will take a look at three clients and how their experiences measure up to what the experts say about advertising and marketing in the current landscape.

March/April 2019 vs. March/April 2020
- All cost metrics have improved across the board—aligning with the fact that experts say it is cheaper to advertise right now.
- Campaigns with Brand Awareness, Lead Gen, Reach, Traffic, and Video View objectives perform especially well.
- Engagement has increased, demonstrated by a 25% improvement in Click-Through-Rates (CTR)—the percent of impressions who clicked on an ad.
March/April 2019 vs. March/April 2020
We see that increased digital ad inventory and lower competition generate low-cost ads. Digital media and social media usage are up with advertiser competition down, which means it costs less than ever right now to reach larger audiences.
- Campaigns leveraging video ads, Cost per ThruPlay decreased 64%.
- Cost Per Engagement has decreased for every objective, which demonstrates a higher level of engagement.
- CPM and Cost Per Click (CPC) decreased for every objective.
- 32% in Cost Per Lead (CPLs) for conversion campaigns.
Client Impacts

Audiology and Speech Therapy Client

Since the start of COVID-19, an audiology and speech therapy client found itself in flux due to restrictions on non-emergency medicine & procedures. The practice was quick to adopt teletherapy and virtual speech therapy options for its patients. New services and forced closures of the physical clinics created an urgent need to inform existing patients of these new services. It was also imperative to continue the acquisition of new prospective patient leads. The client needed a new gameplan.

Strategy & Tactics
- Communicate clearly on the website and via email marketing for current patients.
- Implement Facebook and Instagram Display Network ads with careful monitoring & adjusting.
- Change advertising creative quickly to promote teletherapy options.
- Pause all other messaging.
The client found success running advertising in March. The campaign hit a new performance threshold and exceeded the typical monthly lead volume by 69%, at the lowest CPL to date. In April, the lead volume grew an additional 25% and CPL reduced further, by 16% month-over-month. This indicates that the campaign budget is being spent more efficiently than ever on the Facebook Ads platform, with a highly engaged audience.

Higher Education Client

This client offers degree programs and continuing education for a non-traditional student with a focus on online classes. The client was poised for potential growth due to the online nature of their product, but new uncertainties surrounding the future of higher education and the traditional in-person instruction created potential problems.

Our client had to focus on yield while building their pipeline for future semesters. Also, the non-traditional student decision cycle and the journey are typically a long one.

Strategy & Tactics
- Transition remaining courses online.
- Play up financial aid, transfer policies, credit for life/work experience messaging.
- Continue digital advertising—no spending reduction.
- Leverage client-produced Facebook Live Series for top-of-funnel.
- Shift blog post strategy focus to online learning & other timely topics.
In March, Facebook Display generated the highest number of inquiries in a single month since its launch, primarily from our lead generation campaign. We saw a 111% increase in inquiries from Google Smart Display month-over-month. In Q1 of 2020, our client achieved 47% of 2019’s inquiries and spent only 29% of the budget.

Reconstruction Surgery Client

A multi-physician cancer reconstruction client with national and international clients had their operations limited by state restrictions on non-emergency medicine. Unfortunately, cancer doesn’t stop in a pandemic, but with fewer people attending routine medical appointments, we wondered if the diagnosis would slow down? With restrictions in place requiring the practice scale back, the client also had to figure out how to be productive and build the pipeline for the future. It was clear we needed to keep their medical marketing plan running full-steam.

Strategy & Tactics
- Communicate clearly on the website and via email marketing for current patients.
- Add to top-of-funnel strategy.
- Continue paid advertising with careful monitoring and adjusting.
During the month of March, our client continued advertising in paid search and saw its lowest CPL in three years on Google Ads and patient inquiries were up 27% in March compared to February 2020 (on Google). In April, based on a drop of impressions, we decided to redirect the budget from Google Paid Search to Facebook Advertising while still keeping the Google Paid Search campaign on.

After this adjustment, we hit our lead volume goal and reduced the CPL acquired via Facebook by 14%. All-in-all, this resulted in exceeding our pre-COVID-19 stated goal for leads from Facebook & Google advertising.

Lessons
- Rapid pace of technology adaptation among the greater population has changed consumer behavior for the long haul—those who already offered online options and services see growth.
- The low cost of Facebook Ads make budgets stretch farther than ever. On Google, while search volume is down, those who search have high intent.
- Online courses within your industry could offer new revenue stream opportunities. Do you have a special way of doing something that you can share with others in your industry?
- Facebook lead generation campaigns are making up for volume drops in other lead gen avenues, due to a massive increase in usage of Facebook’s platform.
June 15, 2020
Don’t Miss Out on the Recession Boom in Graduate School Applications
Research by The New York Times, Stanford, and other sources suggests that interest in graduate school will hit new highs in the coming months and years due to the global recession. Instead of looking at how your organization can cut costs by reducing its marketing budget, you should make the most of this opportunity by allocating marketing dollars to get in front of audiences receptive to your messaging.

Now is the time to make a push to drive more applications to your programs. You need to ramp up your efforts to ensure that your advertisements are being seen by prospective students who are wondering if they should apply to business school, law school, or another graduate program.

Increased Online Activity Enhances Targeting Efforts

Online activity has surged in the past few months due to stay-at-home orders. With more active users browsing online, it’s clear that budget allocations and targeting should shift to align with this change. Advertisers can adjust their marketing strategies and find more cost-effective ways to use their marketing dollars.

Now is the perfect time to push your messaging on Facebook because costs have dropped. Like any marketplace, supply and demand drives Facebook ad pricing. As the platform’s ad inventory has increased due to more activity, the amount it can charge advertisers has decreased. Facebook saw a 50% surge in the use of their messaging apps, as well as a similar increase in the time people spend on Facebook and Instagram.

Right now, it costs a lot less to reach potential students on social media and on mobile apps. From March 1 to May 20, 2019 it cost an average of $3 for 1,000 impressions (CPM) on Facebook and Instagram. Due to increased online activity in 2020, the CPM fell to an average of $1.22. The first three months of 2020 also saw unprecedented spending ($23.4 billion) and activity (a 20% increase year-over-year) on mobile apps, which grad schools can take advantage of by running ads on Google’s Display Network.

How to Market Your Graduate School Programs: Proven Industry Results

Our higher education clients have seen a sharp increase in inquiries during the past few months. Several factors drove this spike, including a 20% surge in searches for online degree programs and an increased appetite for applying to grad school. However, increased consumer interest doesn’t mean much if you can’t capitalize on it.

In March, most states issued shelter-in-place orders. Data from one of our clients, a professional and continuing education school at a private university, shows a record-breaking number of inquiries since this time. Although this organization has a competitive advantage because they already offered many of their programs online, online programs will increasingly become the industry standard.

Here’s a checklist of tactics our clients utilized to pivot their strategies, which you can use to benefit your institution:
- Make every course available online
- Emphasize messaging that provides details about policies regarding transfers, financial aid, and credit for life/work experiences
- Maintain a digital advertising budget
- Leverage Facebook Live to increase awareness
- Shift blog post topics to address the current climate
Implementing these adjustments yielded significant improvements in digital campaign performance: In March, one higher education client received more Facebook inquiries than they have in any other month since we began working with them. During Q1 2020, they achieved 47% of the total inquiries that they received during all of 2019.

Marketing Strategy Changes For Your Institution: What You Need to Do Right Now

The cost of advertising on Google, Facebook, and other platforms are lower than they have been for years; now is the perfect time to get in front of new audiences and build a student pipeline for upcoming semesters.

Take the next steps:
- Adjust your marketing budget to accommodate the surge in online activity
- Leverage video content and mobile platforms
- Update your messaging to communicate any changes to your services relevant to the current climate
Millions of Adults Will Consider Graduate School

In times of a strong economy, individuals interested in graduate school have to balance the
the impact of two or more years away from their full-time jobs to attend graduate school with the potential of career advancement (or a career change) a graduate degree provides.
- Loss of full-time salary
- Forgoing chance of promotion
- Taking on tuition debt
Wondering how to ensure your website reaches these expanding audiences? Download our self-assessment to score your marketing strategies and uncover the opportunities you have to drive leads into and down the funnel!
June 5, 2020