Archive for the ‘Website Stakeholders’ Category

Top 3 website strategic goals?

Imagine you could stop designing, developing, editing or webmastering and take the time to talk about your website strategic goals with your director, VP, Dean or even with the President — of the University/College. Imagine you could ask all your stakeholders about their high-level expectations for the website (we’re not talking about more photos, colors […]

Your university website needs more than a Content Management System

In “Content management systems only part of solution,” Georgina Hibberd from the University of Sydney reminds us that a CMS will only help manage content: A fully automated system that makes the entering of content easier does not make it easier to produce interesting, well-written and timely content. Someone has to take responsibility for the […]

Why get an “award-winning” university website?

Getting one of the numerous awards for your last website redesign won’t make you rich. But, showing your VP (and the rest of the campus community) that your redesign team has built an “award-winning” website will be priceless — especially at budget-discussion time. I know, I know: the biggest reward comes from happy users and […]

When a Dean blogs for her students, faculty, staff and alums

While current students’ blogs are used more and more as promotional channels by marketing offices, you (at least, I) wouldn’t think that Deans were the blogging type. Somehow, I thought they just didn’t fit the blogger’s profile. Well, I was wrong… The Dean of Park School of Communications at Ithaca College in NY, Dianne Lynch, […]

What role does the Website play in the college admission process?

This question (not word-for-word) was answered by more than 1,700 members of the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC) as part as a broader study about college admission. The good news is that NACAC has just published the results of this study in its latest “State of the College Admission,” a 152-page report available […]

It’s 10PM – Do you know where the hackers are?

Sorry for giving into cable-TV-style news headlines, but it seems that some inspired hackers have realized how much information is (easily?) available on higher education servers. After Boston College and California State University, another security breach was discovered at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management on March 20, 2005 as reported in NU business school […]

Plan for the next big thing(s): trends to watch in higher education

Websites are not developed and/or maintained in a vacuum. Because the Web is more flexible and dynamic than traditional communication channels, Website Stakeholders tend to expect quicker responses from their Web services. That’s why it’s crucial to stay ahead of the game to be able to plan for (or suggest — if you’re in the […]

Campus emergency alerts: time to switch to RSS?

Email was a great way to communicate a message to the masses, before spammers realized how much money they could make by delivering their junk directly to our inboxes. Nobody likes spam: it wastes a lot of our time and eats up a lot of our internet service providers’ (ISP) bandwidth. As a result, millions […]

Any Social Security numbers in your alum database?
Make sure your security experts check it

Well, Social Security numbers are probably not the best unique id for your alums (or students). With identity theft horror stories in the news and computers never totally safe from hacker attacks, it’s definitely time for some changes in higher ed alum databases. At least, fo the sake of your good relations with your alums… […]

How to measure the ROI of the college website?
Step 2: set up a website dashboard

Website development and maintenance cost money. That’s why we are all looking for ways to show how expenses associated to the Website shouldn’t be seen as costs but investments. Measuring the website ROI (return on investment) is a good way to make this point in your annual website reports. Once the website strategic goals have […]

Online donors are better givers than regular givers

You might want to share this article, Getting to Know Your Online Givers Can Pay Off (PDF file), with your favorite fundraiser on campus. In his paper published by CASE, Peter B. Wylie presents the results of a study performed in 2004 on the records collected in the following way: Five four-year higher education institutions […]

From homepage to furniture: a controversial take on higher ed website design?

People don’t like change, especially on “THEIR” homepage. The new furniture-inspired metaphorical redesign of the Ohio University’s website caught my attention last week. I thought it was a “bold” move in terms of web design (graphic-based) and marketing (mainly targeted to high school seniors). According to this follow-up article, written by Meghan Crosby for The […]

How to measure the ROI of the college website?
Step 1: define strategic goals

In its latest issue Educause Review features an article by Brian L. Hawkins and Diana G. Oblinger that deals with The Myth about Saving Money in IT. The authors introduce the topic with the following statement: “Claims that investing in information technology will save money for a college or university have rarely proven true. In […]

It takes a crossover pro to manage the university website

I’ve just read “Do You Know a Crossover Pro?”, an article written by the consultant John Savarese for Campus Technology. What’s a crossover pro? “A new breed of administrator (…): the crossover specialist who understands both IT and functional sides”. Even if web professionals are not mentioned in this article, people taking care of higher […]

Freshman blogs: new marketing tools for admission offices

More and more colleges are surfing on the blogging wave to boost prospective students’ interest in their institution by supporting and promoting a few hand-picked freshman bloggers. Simmons College does it. Furman University and Alfred University , too. By reading these blogs, high school seniors and their parents (as well as anybody interested in what […]

Program and department web pages play a big role in college selection

Are you proud of the web pages featuring your academic majors and departments? According to a survey conducted by Stamats in 2004 and published in their newsletter, you’d better put your best efforts in these pages as they are at the top of your prospective students’ list when they visit college websites. “Stamats 2004 TeensTALKâ„¢ […]